What is the ICT for Democracy Network
The ICT4Democracy in East Africa Network is premised on the recognition that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) enhances communication and the right to freedom of expression, as well as the right to seek, receive and impart information. In this respect, ICT has the potential to increase citizens’ participation in decision-making processes, thus strengthening democratisation.
News
New Report Shows How ICT is Aiding Citizen Participation in Uganda
A new report by the Collaboration on International ICT Policy in East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) illustrates how Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are aiding citizen participation in Uganda, but also points to the challenges that need to be overcome for these technologies to have a wider impact on governance. The report reviews various ICT [...]
ICT4Democracy in East Africa: March 2012 News
ICT for Human Rights and Democracy in Kenya ICT for Service Delivery in Northern Uganda iParticipate Uganda mGovernance in Kenya SMS for Human Rights in Tanzania ICT for Human Rights and Democracy in Kenya The Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) trained 22 grassroots-based Human Rights Network (HURINET) members in the use of ICT, especially social [...]
ICT4Democracy in East Africa: February 2012 News
Monitoring Public Service Delivery in Northern Uganda The Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) this February continued with its awareness campaigns on good governance and effective service delivery in Northern Uganda. During the Voluntary Social Accountability Committee (VSAC) meetings held to report on poor service delivery in the districts, discussions were dominated by the issue of [...]
Workshop on Mobile Democracy in East Africa
February 28, 2012, New Delhi, India The ICT4Democracy in East Africa Network will hold a stakeholder workshop on mobile phone enabled democracy at the 3rd International Conference on Mobile Communication for Development (M4D2012). The workshop will showcase innovative cases from East Africa. Organisations and individuals interested in the role of mobile phones in democracy are [...]
ICT for Democracy in East Africa: January 2012 News
SMS for Human Rights In addition to Lindi, Mwanza and Iringa regions, the Tanzanian Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance (CHRAGG) extended its field studies to gather user requirements to Dar es Salaam. With a clearer indication of what citizens want, the Commission has now started work toward the system requirements and features design [...]
ICT for Democracy in East Africa: November News
SMS for Human Rights The Tanzanian Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance (CHRAGG) in November started field studies to gather user requirements. Conducted through questionnaires and interviews, the survey was undertaken in the Mwanza, Lindi and Iringa regions. The results of the study, which will go toward the features design of the mobile phone [...]
ICT for Democracy in East Africa: October News
SMS for Human Rights The Tanzanian Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance (CHRAGG) is due to undertake field studies to gather user requirements this November. The results of the study will go toward the features design of the mobile phone based Complaints Handling Management Information System. Catalysing Civic Participation and Democracy Monitoring Using ICTS [...]
Governance Workshop at iHub Research
iHub Research hosted a governance workshop on Thursday, October 27th, 2011, bringing together governance stakeholders from academia, government, civil society and the technology community. The purpose of the workshop was to identify important issues within Kenyan governance structures, especially looking at different stakeholder roles and relationships. The workshop also explored areas where technology may be [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Blog
3rd International Mobile Communication for Development Conference in India
3rd International Mobile communication for development conference in India (New Delhi 28-29 Feb 2012) The major theme of the conference centered on how mobile communication could be used for development, presentation from different panelist provided knowledge sharing, giving success stories on how ICT is being used for community empowerment. It was noted that technology alone [...]
User Experience Pre-Test on M–Governance Applications
Leveraging the extremely high mobile penetration and uptake of mobile applications across the country, iHub Research is exploring the conditions needed for successful use of mobiles that could bypass the need for physical interaction and communication. The user experience pre-test conducted by iHub Research looked at three applications that have been developed to encourage communication [...]
M-governance: Exploratory Survey on Kenyan Service Delivery and Government Interaction
This exploratory study formed the basis for our accepted paper to the IST Conference (to be held in Tanzania in May 2012). We will be presenting these findings at the conference. A one-week of exploratory fieldwork was conducted in Nairobi in November 2011 , with the aim of investigating citizens’ opinions on the best methods [...]
Unchartered Waters: ICTs in Human Rights
Founded in 1992, the Kenya Human Rights Commission is one of the oldest and pioneer human rights organizations in Kenya and indeed a premier human rights body. The organization has often taken on difficult human rights initiatives mainly in the first generation rights of civil and political rights. Some of these initiatives include transitional justice [...]
WOUGNET builds Capacity in ICT skills in Amuru and Gulu Districts, Northern Uganda
Rural communities particularly women are prone to poor service delivery and corruption due to lack of awareness about Government functions and service delivery but through strategic use of ICTs, there can be improved access to public services, increased efficiency, transparency and accountability of Government political processes. WOUGNET in this regard has concluded a two day [...]
When Citizen Journalists in Kasese Investigated Why Taps Had Gone Dry
Using the digital camera and citizen journalism training given by CIPESA, staff of the e-Society Resource Centre in Kasese in December 2011, investigated water supply shortages in Mpondwe-Lhubiriha town council, and prompted authorities to take action. Situated at the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda, this is one of the new [...]
A Greater Calling
It was yet another beautiful day after heavy downfall, the question ringing in Simon’s mind was whether or not he could go for health center visits; imagining the road condition, from nowhere he found strength to move and visit health centers; it was 9:00am that he reached Amach health center IV in Northern Uganda, however [...]
Incompetence of Support Staff (Porters and Watchmen) at health centers
Transparency International Uganda Porters and watchmen are employed at each health center in Uganda by Ministry of health. Porters are tasked to keep and maintain hygiene of surroundings of their respective health centers. Noticeably these support staff are recruited from the same locality of the health centers, none of them has ever experienced transfers. It [...]
Empowering communities through ICT to demand for better health service delivery
Transparency International Uganda (TIU) is empowering communities in Northern Uganda to demand for better health service delivery, Oyam and Lira districts are the project implementation area; a total of 6 sub counties were selected out of the 24 sub counties in the two districts. After nearly five years of insurgency in Northern Uganda, health care [...]
M-Governance Exploratory Survey
After a comprehensive literature review and an informative workshop conducted last month (October 2011), the iHub Research team ventured into the field to find out whether wananchi’s (Swahili for citizens) reality on the ground matched the theory and rhetoric. The team conducted a brief exploratory survey from November 1st – 4th, 2011. The survey was [...]
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