“As a small grassroots group, we are not supposed to have access to these kinds of systems,” Jocie Philistin, Program Coordinator for our partner, KOFAVIV, recently told us in Haiti. She continued, “Now, tech is at the core of our organization and allows us to be better at all parts of our work.” 

Jocie was referring to the systems we — Dd and KOFAVIV — have built together that, upon my first visit to Haiti, I was seeing with my own eyes: the 572 Call Center and KOFAVIV database.

The database secures case information for each survivor of sexual violence who comes to KOFAVIV. It allows them to track cases and care from medical, legal and psycho-social providers. It also allows them to track trends, create reports and analyze the data they have about each case without jeopardizing the safety of the victims.

The Call Center runs 24 hours a day, providing resources to anyone who calls 572 and serving as the only emergency response system for sexual violence in Haiti.

A grassroots women’s organization started by poor women in Port-Au-Prince, KOFAVIV — the Commission of Women Victims for Victims — has worked for almost a decade to serve survivors and empower the community to address rape, and sexual and domestic violence. Jocie was acknowledging the societal glass ceilings that prevent them from accessing tools to streamline work, create new jobs and advocate for change through dialog with police, the Haitian government and international players like the UN, USAID and US Congress. Except, now, with these systems, that is exactly what KOFAVIV does. The once impossible has become possible with technology access and training.

Over the last two years, Digital Democracy has worked with women from KOFAVIV and other organizations in Port-Au-Prince. I also have worked with Dd for just two years. I remember when our team raised funds to take the first set of digital cameras to Haiti. They met with women including Jocie & KOFAVIV under tarps in the yard of BAI to participate in the first photo trainings. Leaders of the organization were still living in tent camps.

A couple weeks ago, I got to the KOFAVIV offices. Along with our full staff, our board and Marquise Stillwell of Openbox, a Dd champion & supporter, we spent one week in Port-Au-Prince.

We visited the KOFAVIV offices and met the technical team that is now running the systems we built together. We met the women of KOFAVIV and FAVILEK who participated in photo trainings in 2010. We met the leaders of Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) and saw their backyard where our first photo trainings took place. We visited Place St. Anne, a tent camp that remains in Port-Au-Prince where families are still living, and met those families and the women who lead many of them, women and children who have been victims of sexual violence, including members of KOFAVIV. We met with the Digicel Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the largest mobile phone carrier in Haiti and provider of the 572 short code. We met with representatives from the International Rescue Committee (IRC) doing a variety of projects throughout Port-Au-Prince.

In the context of our largest program, we stood witness to the complexity of a beautiful place, the progress of our collaborations and work there, reviewed and evaluated our work to date and made big decisions for our next steps as an organization. We were humbled and inspired.

This post was edited on August 15, 2012.

We’re excited to share the plans and prospects that lie ahead for Digital Democracy following the Board’s recent meeting in Haiti. The Board has outlined directives for programming in three categories: Direct Implementation, Tool-Building & Local-to-Global Engagement. The plans outlined mark significant growth for Dd. We are eager to share this overview of what lies ahead and invite you to join us in making it all possible!

(1) Direct Implementation: Digital Literacy, Digital Organizing & Digital Citizenship programs with direct partners, Internationally and Domestically.

(2) Tool-Building. To date, Dd has supported partners with tools that exist, and built custom systems to respond to specific needs (such as the Database or Call Center in Haiti). Based on our growing expertise on the user needs of marginalized & remote communities, we’re going to take a more pro-active approach to tool-building in collaboration with open-source technologists. See our proposal for Remote Access which outlines our vision for adapting existing mapping & data collection tools to be used by our partners fighting injustice in remote areas.

(3) Local to Global Engagement: While Dd remains small, nimble & focused on a few key issues and partners, part of our mission is to share what we’re learning with a broader audience. So, we’re excited to work with you and other communities around the globe to build bridges across geographic divides, share the lessons we’ve learned, and empower communities beyond our immediate partners. We will do this with events, writing and speaking on our work. Stay tuned…

Where will we be working? Haiti, Chiapas, New York City & beyond.

>>> Due to the strength and success of the phases of our program, we plan to wind down our work on the ground in Haiti by the end of 2012. For the rest of the year we’ll focus on fully transitioning the 572 Call Center & database system to local ownership, mapping national resources for gender-based violence and comprehensively documenting the scope of our work in Haiti and lessons learned.

>>> Digital Organizing in Chiapas. Based on the success of our pilot digital literacy trainings this spring, we are planning to begin phase 2 of our work there. We will be returning to the Lacandon Jungle to engage in a longer-term mapping project focused on environmental sustainability and dialogue between indigenous villagers & Mexican authorities.

>>> We are bringing our work home. Building from past projects with the New York City Department of Education and high schoolers in Indianapolis, we are excited to have a green-light from the board to explore possibilities for a domestic Dd program. We’ll keep you posted as we meet with the coalition fighting Stop & Frisk in NYC, opportunities working with youth on data literacy in Newark, NJ and partnerships with other marginalized groups in NYC.

>>> New Partnerships: We will continue bringing our process and expertise to support the work of other great organizations. New opportunities will be filtered through the intake process approved by our Board.

Get Involved. Have ideas? Something above resonate with your passions or interests? Want to be a lead investor in this work? Drop us a line at info [at] digital-democracy [dot] org.

Off the coattails of our recent Board Retreat and Meeting in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, we want to take a moment to officially introduce the three members of the Digital Democracy (Dd) inaugural Board of Directors: Michael Gaouette (Chair), Janet Harris & Vince Warren.

They have expertise in peace-keeping, international development and humanitarian work, human rights law, non-profit management. And, to the governance process they bring passion for what Dd can achieve as a nimble, lean organization using technology to catalyze change. Learn more about Michael, Janet and Vince here.

Our board building began when Dd was granted 501(c)3 status in September, 2011, starting our path separate from the Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy (IMTD), the organization who incubated us as a fiscal sponsor and helped us build an idea at our launch in 2008 to an independent tax exempt organization ourselves, ready to stand alone. Being designated under the 501(c)3 tax status is no small endeavor, especially for tech-oriented non-profit organizations, and the process of building governance standards and setting the tone for how the board will direct Dd has been a fascinating process, in no small part thanks to the effort of our Directors.

These three founding Directors will not stand alone on the board, though.The board is currently seeking nominations for interested and eligible candidates to join them in the coming year.

Please read more about what the role entails here and nominate candidates here.

Rebecca Joy Norlander is a PhD candidate focused on the intersection of digital tools and social transformation. She first joined Dd as a volunteer in 2011 and is now one of our Strategic Advisors, helping us broaden our exposure to the many different ways digital tools are creating opportunities for empowerment and peace.

Check our her recent journal publication, A Digital Approach to Human Rights Education? or her other articles and presentations on her website.

Curious to learn more about her academic research or get involved? Don’t be shy. Email her at rnorlander [at] digital-democracy [dot] org.

In September of last year Dd launched the first emergency response hotline for rape and sexual violence in Haiti with our local partner KOFAVIV.  As of May 1, we are proud to announce the 572 Emergency Response Hotline is open 24 hours a day. No matter the time of day or night, survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) including rape, sexual violence and domestic violence in Haiti can call 572 to access critical support and services.

Wired captures the essence of the call center in a short video here.

With support from UNHCR, we worked with KOFAVIV to expand the technical team on the ground to include 6 dedicated call center operators and 2 call center supervisors. Call center staff provide basic education on women’s rights and legal recourse, and connect survivors to free medical, legal and psychosocial services. The impact of the call center on the lives of callers is hard to over-state.  As one operator explained, “the call center number gives women a lifeline and access to vital information that can help them find solutions to the problems they are facing.”

During the first week of May, Dd collaborated with a local call center specialist to provide 3 days of training to call center operators and supervisors on call handling, tele-counseling, referrals, documentation and confidentiality. The core call center staff will receive ongoing coaching and support throughout 2012 to continue to improve their process and ensure that 572 is as effective as possible.

Since its formal launch in September 2012, the call center has fielded over 1700 calls and the expansion to 24-hour service closes a critical gap, allowing women and girls to access resources and support during nighttime and weekend hours, when many cases of rape and GBV are happening.

The call center is part of Dd’s systemic approach to using technology to address rape, sexual violence and abuse in Haiti. The program includes comprehensive trainings and work focused on leveraging data, mobiles and media. Learn more here, view our slideshow overview of the program, and/or view photos of our work here.

A team of Dd supporters will climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in July… and to prepare they are raising funds and awareness about Dd.

Digital Democracy is proud to shout out the team of mountaineers Dd supporters Dan Fredinburg, Sara Pelosi, Michele Battelli, Andrew Swerdlow, Sam Gilbert, Lindsey Smart and Megan Ezell, who have committed to fundraise for Digital Democracy as they prepare to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in early July. But they can’t do this without your help… If you can help them raise $5,000, your donation will be matched!

This team of technologists and adventurers are an impressive bunch – five of them currently work for Google, Sara has climbed Everest with Dan, Lindsey and Andrew before, and Megan is a high school student inspired to change the world. They are inventors, security and privacy specialists, skilled relationship and team builders, and they are fun.

Next month, the group will climb Africa’s tallest mountain with one goal: to raise $10,000 that will help support our projects to empower marginalized communities to leverage technology to fight for their human rights. These funds will go directly towards our work across the globe; from our program in Haiti to our recent work in Chiapas, Mexico, Digital Democracy is working to use technology to fight rape, defend human rights, circumvent censorship, and change lives for the better. Support the Kili team today to help us continue to do our work around the globe!

While individual contributions represent only one kind of funding for our organization, your donations are what make our work with communities around the world possible. Please donate to the ‘Climb Kili’ team as they prepare for the climb of a lifetime.

You can check out our profile on Crowdrise and support the climbers by clicking here. Give to the whole team or choose a Kili Climber of your choice to sponsor. Also look out for more from the JUST launched Iceland Half-Marathon campaign… Thanks to our inspiring supporters on the Kili team and to you for your help.

Deep in the Lacandon Jungle of Chiapas Mexico, indigenous groups are facing the fight of their lives. Caught between conservation policies and the slow pace of land reform, villagers are fighting to prevent forced evictions from the land where they have lived for generations. If evicted, they face urban slums, poverty, and the necessity of adapting to an entirely new way of life.

Last month, I traveled with three colleagues and collaborators (including Dd’s friend and collaborator Schuyler Erle) to one of the communities facing eviction in Chiapas. Thanks to support from the Arca Foundation and Dd’s individual supporters, we brought down tools and training materials to help build the capacity of the communities to negotiate on more equal footing with the Mexican government.

Due to the complexity of the current negotiations, we must currently obscure some details such as the names of people and places where we worked, and the circumstances of the threat the communities are facing. However, we do have permission to share photos and details of our work in the following two slideshows. Take a look, share your thoughts, and stay tuned this summer as we continue to share media produced by the local communities themselves.

Our partners at the Engine Room are working to coordinate and streamline digital activism and advocacy around the globe. Participation is the key to doing that successfully. They need your input. Please take the Social Tech Census here and check out the blog post below from their Susannah Villa to learn more.  

***

From the Arab Spring to Occupy, the events of 2011 highlighted the potential of new technologies for advocacy. But new tools are more likely to facilitate social impact if they’re used by people with the right training and support.

This isn’t happening as much as it could. Why? I think it’s because of a few big challenges facing the field of support for digital advocates. First, there’s a lack of information from the ground about what is actually needed. Second, trainers are too often flown in from thousands of miles away for a few days of workshopping with no incentive to remain in contact with the advocates they trained. Third, remote training resources (like guides) often sit on the web without reaching those who might be able to benefit from them.

Part of why we founded the engine room was to address these challenges. Our first project, the Social Tech Census, aims to map the best resources for integrating digital media into advocacy work in order to inform the work of the communities of practice that we work with: advocates, support organizations and technologists.  The Census is an important foundational step for us and (if all goes according to plan) will also be a useful tool for our partners.

But how, exactly, will it be useful for them? We decided to ask, and here’s what we found out. There are four main ways that groups we partner with will be able to act on the information that we’re gathering.

1.   New program ideas based on empirical evidence for who needs what and where

Any attempt to compile an exhaustive database of resources will ideally end up spotlighting gaps in what’s out there. We suspect this will be the case with regard to regions (where are all the francophone tech trainings on mapping tools?), issues (say, digital security versus strategy for online video) and types (ad hoc communities built on email lists or formal organizations) of support.

By shedding light on these gaps the Census should make it easier for our partners to better identify and understand demand in order to meet it. Here’s an example: say WITNESS is writing a proposal for a training program in a region that they’ve never worked in before. They could use the Census to identify and include hard data about the relevant training gaps in order to underline the importance of the proposed program.

2. Adapting existing training programs to on-the-ground contexts

The first step in launching any capacity building program (technology-focused or otherwise) is often to identify local stakeholders. You need these networks to engage with the most nuts and bolts aspects of your training effort (for example, identifying the right participants). This process is both time consuming and expensive. The Census aims to allow trainers to identify local actors – and get necessary information from the ground in order to maximize the impact of their projects.  New Tactics in Human Rights, for example, could use it to connect on the ground trainers with people who are already there providing support – helping both to maximize their impact.

3. Getting resources for remote learning into the right hands

A lot of our partners have put quite a bit of very laudable effort into creating resources for remote learning so that they can help more people to become effective digital advocates. Take WITNESS’ Video Advocacy Toolkit, Access’ guide to addressing DDoS attacks or the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Surveillance Self Defense project. If they’re going to have as much impact as possible, these resources need to get into the hands of those who need them most.  Partners should be able to use the Census to identify outreach partners who clearly understand information needs in target communities.

4. Working together to enhance the current model by which advocates get tech support

Will the the Census minimize the degree to which trainers have to be parachuted into new contexts in the first place? We hope so. The best thing we heard from one of our partners was that they didn’t want to fly across the world to give a training (or send one of their staff). They’d rather use the Census to connect local need to local support.

Do you work with an international organization or network that supports technology use in advocacy? We’d love to get your opinions- take this survey- it only takes 5 minutes.

***

By Susannah Vila, also posted on engine room’s blog as well as by  WITNESS, Small World News and other engine room partners

Susannah used to run outreach and training content for Movements.org, where she spent a lot of time developing online resources for digital advocacy and speaking with other support organizations and advocates in the field about their work.  She co-founded the engine room to address needs that were made clear through this work and through a series of in-depth interviews that she conducted with advocates in Cairo in the summer of 2011.

Image from infographic on IHub Nairobi (startupafrica.com)

Chiapas, Mexico: Three indigenous communities in the Lancandon Jungle are under urgent threat of eviction from the Mexican authorities. We need your help to halt the evictions and help the indigenous communities gain more equal footing to advocate for their human rights. There are three ways you can help today: 1) Understand this complex issue. 2) Sign up to to for our Urgent Alerts so that you can take action as the situation evolves. 3) Donate to get a rapid response team on the ground.

1) Understand the issue
For a year Dd has collaborated with civil society actors to build the concept for a community mapping program in Chiapas, Mexico. Chiapas is a region with a complex history of land tenure disputes between ethnic groups, timber companies and the government. There, the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve holds Mexico’s greatest concentration of biodiversity. In Montes Azules, 11 indigenous communities are under threat of imminent forced eviction by Mexican authorities. Last week, three communities were told they have only weeks left on the land.

Evictions would be devastating — especially to the women of the community. Evictions would force the 500 villagers into urban slums or onto flood plains. Though the community has committed no crime, they would likely be held in detention. When resettled, finding a livelihood would be a struggle. For indigenous women in the community, it is very likely that they would be pushed into prostitution to survive.

We believe that indigenous rights should not be in conflict with environmental rights. The communities in question are practicing sustainable land-use planning and want to protect the environment of their ancestral home. Dd is deploying a small team to work directly with the local communities to help them map their land and tell their own story. Our goal is to impart media & mapping skills so the community can better dialogue and negotiate – on more equal footing – with the Mexican authorities. In the short-term we hope to prevent evictions, but the long-term goal is for the government and communities to recognize they are all working for the same thing: to protect the Montes Azules Reserve.

2) Sign up for urgent alerts

The Mexican Government is responsive to international attention. As local communities produce maps and media telling their story, we want to be sure to connect them to an audience who cares. We will send you the most relevant work they produce as well as any petitions or calls to action they put out. We’ll need your help to read, retweet and share, so that their stories can reach key NGOs and government influencers, keeping you engaged as things evolve. We will only contact you when there is a pressing need, and you can opt out at any time.

3) Help Dd send a response team + equipment to Chiapas immediately: Donate
We have raised some urgent travel funds but still need support to get equipment and a team on the ground in time. Your donation will allow us to work directly with these communities at the most necessary point: NOW, in anticipation of the eviction. Your donation will directly contribute to our mission of empowering marginalized communities to fight for their human rights.

Stay tuned to our blog, Facebook or Twitter to keep in touch. Thank you for your support.

UPDATE:  Thanks to the Arca Foundation for helping support the travel component and WITNESS for contributing cameras to ensure that the communities will have tools to document the ongoing situation. (Check out Witness’ ongoing work on forced evictions.) We still need help to make the trip possible … please consider donating today!

We are excited to have both our co-founders on stage in Austin this week, participating in Tech4Good panels at SXSWi. If you’ll be at SXSWi, please come by and join the conversation.

Tuesday, March 13, at 3:30 in the AT&T conference center, come hear Emily Jacobi on the “Women Drive Change: Tech in the Global South” panel (#femtech is the hashtag) along with Catherine Harrington of the Women’s Learning Partnership, Jenn Sramek of Civic Actions, Ashoka Fellow Kara Andrade from Vozz (who has partnered with Dd on work in Guatemala) and Zawadi Nyong’o of the Africa Cancer Foundation.

They will be discussing how, from Africa to South America to Southeast Asia, women in the Global South are using technology tools in new and creative ways with astounding results. Sophisticated and coordinated social media campaigns are becoming the domain of women all over the world.

The speakers will talk about what this means for women in the Global South, how their online personas might differ from real-world personas in societies where women have fewer rights, and where technology tools need to go next in order to meet their specific needs.

Mark Belinsky will also be speaking. His panel, “How Not to Die: Using Tech in a Dictatorship” is on Monday, March 12 at 9 am in Room 9ABC. Mark will be presenting alongside Brian Conley of Small World News, Deanna Zandt of Techbologist and Sabrina Hersi Issa of Be Bold Media, discussing how technologies often built in the west are being used around the world in extremely dangerous situations. They’ll discuss how people have protected themselves around the globe, including concrete experiences and examples from Burma, Tibet, Liberia and Egypt.

See you in Austin.