The following is an full example of using Ushahidi toolkits to document a large community project. While is was the largest of all our Community Events so far, the extensive documentation stands a Use Case for how document and execute a successful project.

What is Uchaguzi

Kenya held holding elections on March 4, 2013. We used Ushahidi software for the Uchaguzi project. The goals were to: share the information from the crowd, verify details and respond. We give voice and amplify issues by describing and mapping reports.

 

Overall Project:

Uchaguzi is an Ushahidi deployment to monitor the Kenyan general election on March 4th 2013. The Uchaguzi project aims to contribute to stability in Kenya, by increasing transparency and accountability through active citizen participation in the electoral cycles. Rather than introducing a new concept or organisation, the project seeks to leverage on existing (traditional) activities around electoral observation, such as those carried out by the Elections Observer Group (ELOG) in Kenya. Uchaguzi will assist in the creation of a more rapid reporting and alert system in traditional electoral monitoring, as well as bring in the voice of citizens as a new dimension in electoral monitoring through crowd sourcing of data.

Kenya will hold its first election since the new constitution. Ushahidi started with the post-election violence in 2008. Since that time, we have deployed for the Ushahidi post-election violence in 2008 and the 2010 Kenya Constitution. Last fall, the Standby Task Force collaborated with the Ushahidi team as a simulation for 4 constituency elections.

Ushahidi has build partnerships with local civil society organizations, official NGOs, governments and PACT (local election monitoring groups.). We will be launching for the Kenya elections. There is expected troubles.

The key partnerships are:

  1. OFFICIAL PARTNER: members of the  Constitution & Reform Education Consortium (CRECO) - 2000 people deployed (they are part of
    Election Observers Group(ELOG) )
  2. OFFICIAL PARTNER: Peacenet - umbrella body of CSOs working on peace at the grassroots level.

We also have a number of unofficial partners.

Three key components:

Crowd: the main focus of Uchaguzi and the source of most of the reports. We want people to send us any information on the election/electoral process that they feel is significant
Verification: the process through which Uchaguzi evaluates information and determines how credible it is
Response: Getting verified information to organizations and individuals who can intervene positively and monitoring that response to measure its effectiveness.

The Uchaguzi project is being lead by Daudi Were. You can reach him via dwere@ushahidi.com.

Uchaguzi Events:

Note: Daudi Were has hosted Partner trainings with the CRECO and Peacenet communities. These are outside the general Community Trainings. Partner members will also be joining our community training sessions.

  1. Uchaguzi Community Meetup in Nairobi - January 16th: Register - COMPLETED
  2. Uchaguzi Working Group Meetings - January 23rd / Jan 30 - COMPLETED
  3. Uchaguzi Community Meetups in Nairobi - February 19th - Completed
  4. Uchaguzi Training: February 21 - Completed
  5. Uchaguzi Training: February 23 - Nairobi 12:00 - 16:00 EAT - completed
  6. Uchaguzi Training: February 25 - Global 20:00 EDT - completed
  7. Uchaguzi Training: February 26 - Nairobi 18:00 EAT - completed
  8. Uchaguzi Training: February 27 - Global 15:00 EDT - completed
  9. Ucahguzi Training: February 28 - Global x 2 : 15:00 and 20:00 EDT - completed
  10. Uchaguzi Training: March 1 - Nairobi - 17:30 EAT completed
  11. Uchaguzi Training: March 2 - Global 11:00 EST completed
  12. LAST NAIROBI TRAINING - March 3 12: 00 - 14:00 EAT: http://www.meetup.com/Ushahidi-Community/events/107286302/  - completed
  13. Uchaguzi Live - Kenya elections - March 4th

NOTE:  over 200 folks have been trained globally and locally so far.

Get involved in Uchaguzi:

Uchaguzi Ushahidi will be a large local and global community project. There are a number of ways to get involved.

Two key ways to contribute 

1. Join the local Kenya-based Working Groups.  About these teams: Uchaguzi Community Working Groups

2. Join the Online Digital Response Teams.  About these teams: Uchaguzi Digital Teams

To join a team, register here. (NOTE THE LAST DAY TO JOIN A TEAM IS SATURDAY, MARCH 2nd. Only those who have completed training will be able to join the digital Uchaguzi teams. You can also help by spreading the word #3002)

#algo