Digital Democracy’s mission is to empower marginalized communities to use technology to defend their rights. As technology becomes cheaper and more accessible, we believe it can and should be used to bring more voices to the table. Digital Democracy helps our partners achieve transformative change and works toward a world where all people can participate in decisions that govern their lives.
Over the past eight years, we’ve seen firsthand that change does not come from technology, but from how people use it. Our local partners represent marginalized communities around the globe. We have worked with communities from Haiti to Burma to Peru. Working at the intersection of human rights and technology, Dd supports local leaders with the strategic use of tools to catalyze community-driven solutions.
Our process is both technology and issue agnostic – that is, not bound to one platform or cause. We recognize that our partners’ issues are diverse, but many of the challenges they face are shared. Using a listening-based, human-centered design process, Dd helps to strengthen our partners’ access, communication, resources and reach.
Equipped with the tools they need, our partners become better storytellers, advocates and leaders. Together, Dd and its partners are empowering communities to become their own voice for change. Digital Democracy works in three primary ways:
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Direct Implementation: We train communities to use basic digital tools, such as cameras, mobile phones, maps and data collection tools. We conduct ongoing support and capacity building for our partners whose projects are designed to defend their human & environmental rights.
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Tool Building: We co-create tech solutions with our partners and help them adapt existing tools to their needs. We also collaborate with other technologists to support the greater eco-system of open-source tools which can support our partners’ needs.
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Local-to-Global Engagement: We scale our impact beyond our direct partners. Through events, workshops, and tool-kits, we build bridges between our work and the work of advocates and decision-makers around the world.