Building Open Knowledge Brazil and an Open Gov Data Ecosystem
From Grassroots to Government: Navigating Power, Policy, and Code to Create Open Data Tools and Networks
04.07.2025
Barcamp
Everton Zanella Alvarenga
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2011 (May-Ago) Innovation Trip travelling accros 12 countries to bring ideas to home country
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2011 (Jul) Proposal during OKCon, in Berlin, the Open Knowledge Foundation chapter is suggested
3
2011 (Oct) Start invited to work for the OKFn during the Open Government Data Camp, in Warsaw
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2014-2015 Growth Google Social Impact Challenge, Worl Bank, Avina, FGV etc.
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2013 (Sep) Founding organization created after circa two years
6
2016 Change new direction - moving to Europe
Network
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Hosted local meetups, translated key documents, built communication channels.
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Engaged with journalists, civil society, government and early open data advocates.
You can't just import an NGO model into a new country and expect it to work. We had to localize and co-create it with local stakeholders.”
💲Financial Growth
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From an initial amount of 15,000 USD, we successfully raised approximately USD 330,000 in one year.
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We are dedicated to building innovative tools to track public spending and ensure political accountability.
💬 Engaging Government and Civil Society
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We advocated the publication of data standards in collaboration with civil servants and government institutions.
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We organized informative workshops and engaging hackathons with journalists and various NGOs (School of Data).
🔧 Built Open Source Civic Tools
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We created powerful platforms that made government data both usable and easily accessible.
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Our focus was on ensuring reusability, localization, and advocating open data.
Google Social Impact Challenge
Challenges
💸Funding and Sustainability
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Civic tech work is often funded as short-term innovation, but long-term maintenance is needed.
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There is limited local philanthropic infrastructure for digital public goods.
🏛 Institutional Resistance
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Despite access to information law (LAI), many government agencies were reluctant to release meaningful datasets.
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Navigating bureaucracy and politics required coalition building and persistence.
Key Learnings
Building and Maintaining a Civic Tech Nonprofit
- Start small, stay agile, and build legitimacy before scaling.
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Balance activism, technical capacity, and institutional diplomacy.
How to make mistakes
- Be generous when offering criticism. Represent opposing views in their strongest form before disagreeing. This builds trust and keeps the dialogue productive.
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Admit your mistakes publicly. Being transparent about failure can foster credibility and community growth.
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Don't be afraid to change your position. Progress requires flexibility and the courage to adapt.
Suggestion: Daniel Dennett's article on mistakes
Minimal
By Everton Zanella Alvarenga
