In Burkina Faso, corruption and racketeering practices in public health services are a big issue. In Ouagadougou, the capital, patients are often asked to pay bribes to skip the line and we see hospitals embezzle money and corrupt healthcare providers receive promotions, according to VOA Afrique. The outdated civil registration system has only exacerbated these problems since the lack of current vital statistics poorly impacts planning and policymaking around public service delivery.
Through support of the Francophone Open Government Support Project (PAGOF), Burkinan open gov reformers created practical guides for both the public and health and civil registry actors to address these issues. These guides had a lot of potential, but they couldn’t reach a wide audience and were too technical. The practical guides contain official and legal information, but also face important challenges. The guides are not available in a digital format, which makes it hard for citizens to access the materials in a timely manner and for us as organizers to frequently update the information. The printed format also does not allow citizens to give feedback on the quality of services.
That’s why my organization, Youth Open Data, and the nonprofit BEOG NEERE teamed up to create Yeeli. Youth Open Data is a youth-led and founded community of about 50 members with various skills and backgrounds that specializes in open data and application development. Yeeli dematerializes the practical guides to better spread and vulgarize their contents.
The Yeeli App | Credit: Youth Open Data
In partnership with BEOG NEERE, we sourced open data and set up a mobile application accessible to all, which allows citizens to consult all the necessary information related to access to health and civil status services and ask questions or express concerns about anything that is not clear. Citizens can then use this information as a reference when they are paying for healthcare services to avoid being overcharged. Citizens can also give feedback or denounce eventual acts of corruption, which we know are sadly recurrent in these sectors and are seriously undermining the quality of public service delivery. Yeeli then reports these concerns to the Ministry of Health. So, this digital solution gives access to information to reduce acts of corruption, misinformation, and fake news, which considerably harm the sustainable development of our countries. It also improves citizens’ experience receiving healthcare by reducing the waiting lines at the reception services of the health center since they can find information about the costs of care and services available through the app.
Charles Bazie, Malick Linganie (BEOG NEERE Cofounder), Cédric Taspsoba (PAGOF Burkina Coordinator) at the 1st Forum of Francophone Africa on Civic Tech held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire in June 2022. Credit: Youth Open Data
In Burkina Faso, people often wait until their condition begins to worsen before going to the hospital due to concerns about the costs because they do not have access to the right information. This leads to a lot of self-medication, which can be harmful and result in deaths. By arming citizens with accurate healthcare information, we restore the trust between the citizens and the health centers and improve healthcare.
The challenges we have overcome to develop this solution are multiple. The first challenge is related to access to data to develop our solution. We have worked with organizations and institutions that are signatories to the principles and values of open government, such as BEOG NEERE and OGP Burkina.
Access to the internet is a challenge in certain areas, so we set up a solution that uses almost no internet connection to operate. During the installation, the database is installed on the user’s phone, which allows them to consult the information later without internet.
Since its official launch on May 19th, Yeeli has counted more than 5,000 downloads on the Google Play Store. We have been able to reach more than 10,000 people through our communications on social networks about access to public service information and Yeeli. In addition to that we were able to present Yeeli at the 1st Forum of Francophone Africa on Civic Tech held in Abidjan June 28 to 29, 2022.
In the near future, we aim to share the platform with other members or aspiring members of the Open Government Partnership. It should be remembered that the platform is open source and well documented, which will facilitate its adoption and adaptation in other countries.
Caption: Sinatou Saka moderates an event about the Yeeli platform at the 1st Forum of Francophone Africa on Civic Tech held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire in June 2022. Credit: Youth Open Data
