-
Election Monitoring System In Ethiopia Election Monitoring System In Ethiopia
Violence is closely correlated to elections in the minds of many voters in young democracies. With elections and democracy correlated as well, there’s a dangerous chance that people will draw causation between violence and democracy. Read more…
-
Future Now: NYC’s Digital Storybook Future Now: NYC’s Digital Storybook
What does real-time mapping with NYC school kids look like? On Saturday, Digital Democracy was invited to work with 120 young people from all 5 boroughs as part of the Department of Education’s “Future Now” program. Having gone through the system myself, I jumped at the chance to help them innovate. While technology access is growing, so is censorship, and I worry about the education we’re giving kids when the banned website list resembles the one in Tunisia. Access to engaging curriculum is also key. One of the girls I taught was named “Tunisia” and when I made a crack about her being named after a country, she didn’t know what I was talking about. Read more…
-
DdTv Episode 12: The Dreams of Stateless Youth DdTv Episode 12: The Dreams of Stateless Youth
In this episode of DdTv venture back with us to January 2008 to see the origins of Project Einstein. Mark and Emily spend several days working with youth in Kutupalong refugee camp in Southern Bangladesh, home to thousands of Rohingya refugees from Burma. Stateless, the Rohingya, a muslim ethnic group from Western Burma have fled to Bangladesh to escape the human rights violations they’ve suffered in Burma, where they are also denied citizenship. Read more…
-
12 U.S. Senators Back Protection Of Haitian Women 12 U.S. Senators Back Protection Of Haitian Women
This week the U.S. Senate votes on a $60 billion supplemental aid bill for Haiti. Our work with Haiti helped bring together a coalition of twelve U.S. Senators to take up the issue of sexual and gender based violence in Haiti and ask that funding be earmarked for the protection of Haitian women and girls. Thank you to Senators Mike Johanns (R-NE), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Sam Brownback(R-KS), Tim Johnson (D-SD), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Charles Schumer (D-NY), George Voinovich (R-OH), Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), Robert Casey, Jr. (D-PA), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) for advocating on behalf of Haitian women. Read more…
-
“Big Brother” vs. Little Brother Book Covers “Big Brother” vs. Little Brother Book Covers
On the border of Thailand and Burma/Myanmar, I met Aung Zaw, who told me about risking his life to document human rights abuses performed by the government of Myanmar. His hope was that this information could help to defend his people. At the end of our talk, he asked if we could become Facebook friends. This was the inspiration for our “Big Brother” vs. Little Brother Kickstarter campaign. Read more…
-
Election Monitoring in the Philippines Election Monitoring in the Philippines
Elections are an important part of any democracy, but only when they’re properly executed. When an election happens, how can one be sure that they’re actually free and fair? Is it international monitors that ensure this or local grassroots organizations? The answer is complicated and varies in different places. Read more…
-
Media & Peacebuilding Live Webcast Media & Peacebuilding Live Webcast
What is the connection between media and peacebuilding? This is the question being tackled at the upcoming “Seizing the Moment” summit being put on by the United States Institute of Peace and the Independent Television Service, in collaboration with Sesame Workshop. I’m proud to announce that Digital Democracy is an online partner for this event. Read more…
-
Introducing Project Einstein Guatemala Introducing Project Einstein Guatemala
Project Einstein started as photo training with a group of youth in a refugee camp in Bangladesh, so named by one of the participants because “Einstein was a refugee but could still do great things.” Read more…
-
Reflections from a week among Haiti’s women Reflections from a week among Haiti’s women
After a whirlwind six days in Port au Prince, Emily and I have much to share. Our trip actually came two weeks ahead of schedule. We received a request from the Protection Officer for Sexual Exploitation and Abuse working on behalf of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, who relayed the enormous and immediate need for mechanisms to streamline protection, documentation, and service provisions around gender-based-violence. Her mandate was to create this mechanism and she asked whether we could join an “interagency working session” just a few days from our initial phone call – in Port Au Prince – to provide technical expertise at the meeting. Read more…
-
Haiti trip a great success Haiti trip a great success
Abby and I just returned from an inspiring and full week in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. We couldn’t have done it without your support, and we’re thrilled to announce that, thanks to a donation we received this week, we have met our fundraising goal of $7,500 for the trip! Thanks to all the donations, we were able to leave four digital cameras with women’s organizations in Port-au-Prince. Read more…