SPIDER Stories 2011

Foreword

“Our vision is an interconnected world built in the spirit of digital solidarity for future generations. Spider has supported since its inception.”

What difference does ICT4D make? And what difference does Spider make in ICT4D? In this publication, we hope to give you a better idea of some of our activities during 2011. This report is not exhaustive, nor particularly detailed; it is not scientific, nor bureaucratic. Those who wish to read a more formal account of our activities in 2011 are welcome to read the Spider Annual Report 2011, which is freely available on our web site. This publication aims to give you a different insight into our work, and especially the efforts of our collaborating partners who are using their time and effort to build a better future with the help of ICT.

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ICT for Democracy in East Africa: Project Update

Launched in May 2011, ICT for Democracy in East Africa (ICT4DemEA) is a network of organisations undertaking collaborative projects where Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is used in various ways to promote transparency, accountability and democracy. The network, with seed funding from the Swedish Program for ICT in Developing Regions (Spider) comprises of organisations in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. These are the Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET); Transparency International Uganda (TIU); The Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA); iHub (Kenya) the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) and Tanzania’s Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance (CHRAGG).

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ICT4Democracy in East Africa’ Project Launched

This article was published by the Swedish Programme on ICTs for Developing regions (SPIDER) on June 28, 2011, about the ICT4Democracy in East Africa project, which brings together various partners in the region.

Recently, we have seen a number of projects, pilots and tools where ICT is used in various ways to promote democracy. Many of these initiatives have been launched in East Africa: crowd-sourcing platforms such as Ugandawatch2011, uReport and Ushahidi (and variations thereof such as Uchaguzi, Huduma and Map Kibera); innovative SMS applications such as Grid 6464, CU@SCHOOL, 3356 shortcode by City Council in Nairobi and Trac FM; and of course the widespread use of social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

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