The Open Cities Lab Story

OCL was born out of a desire to implement dynamic, living solutions to problems faced by urban communities in South Africa, and to contribute to developing a vibrant, inclusive society where all residents and stakeholders have an active role in decision-making. The founding committee observed that residents in South African cities have lost trust in public processes, and often do not have access to critical information, and forums or structures to be involved in decision-making. OCL sought to move plans and interventions out of the static and inefficient long reports that gather digital dust on officials' shelves, and into problem-focused, user-centred interventions that are crafted in such a way that acknowledge vulnerability and build in inclusion and sustainability.The team has gathered and developed technical capabilities and innovative approaches to build tools for evidence-based decision-making, as well as a desire to learn and adapt to different contexts as we journey on this mission. We like to partner with other awesome communities, CSOs and NGOs, government departments, academic partners, and the like, to strengthen the social fabric of the areas in which we work, towards building a better future.

Our Team

Abigail
Kemper

Research Consultant

Aliasgher
Janmohammed

Project Lead

ANELE
NGCOYA

Researcher

AYANDA
MHLANGA

Product Owner

Brian
O’Leary

Data Scientist

Dev
Ninja

Lead Developer

Ella
Alcock

Project Lead

Heiko
Heilgendorff

Data Scientist

Joanne
Parker

Cities Programme Lead

Lerato
Mosehle

UI Designer

Matthew
Adendorff

Lead Data Scientist

Megan
Hallett

project delivery manager

Megan
Wadge

Operations Director

Paul
Figueira

UX/UI Designer

Richard
Gevers

Director & Founder

Sarah
Findlay

Project Lead

Tshiamo
Motshabi

Software Developer

Our Team

Tshiamo Motshabi

Software Developer

Sarah Findlay

Project Lead

Richard Gevers

Director & Founder

Paul Figueira

UX/UI Designer

Ayanda Mlhanga

Product Owner

Megan Wadge

Operations Director

Megan Hallett

Project Delivery Manager

Matthew Adendorff

Lead Data Scientist

Lerato Mosehle

UI Designer

Joanne Parker

Cities Programme Lead

Heiko Heilgendorff

Data Scientist

Ella Alcock

Project Lead

Dev Ninja

Lead Developer

Abigail Kemper

Research consultant

Aliasgher Janmohammed

Project Lead

Anele Ngcoya

Researcher

Brian Oleary

Data Scientist

Our Values

“We believe that through empowering citizens, building trust and accountability in civic space, and building capacity with government, we will enable participation in decision-making, evidence-based urban intervention, and inclusive co-design that will improve the lives of residents in urban spaces.”

Citizen Empowerment

We empower citizens to know their rights and understand the data, knowledge, mechanisms and processes they can use to make their lives, and those of their communities, better. ‘Better’ means more inclusive and participative, both in ‘hard’ topics such as service delivery and built environment, as well as social cohesion, dignity, place making, and community building.

Building Government Capacity

We work proactively with the government to build capacity for informed decision-making and evidence based policy and planning, with a focus on areas where this can uplift vulnerable and excluded communities. We enable co-design of existing and new processes and mechanisms for including citizens in decision-making, including sharing and opening data and information, and ‘crowding-in’ of intelligence and insight.

Trust & Accountability in civic space

We work with key actors including communities, the media, academia, and government to build accountability and trust in civic space. This includes fair and independent media, monitoring and transparent oversight of power, such as state-owned enterprises, and increasingly, the use of AI and machine learning in areas that affect privacy and democracy.

Mission Statement

Our organisation is made up of Researchers, Software Developers, Economists, Data Scientists and Designers who get to constantly expand their knowledge and learn peripheral skills as part of the job. We are all driven by a common purpose as a non-partisan community founded on the belief of equality and inclusion through openness across all aspects of society.

Click here to view full mission statement