Toolbox #1

Self-Assessment

Why do the toolbox? These tools are based upon the rich experiences of people and organizations that have used

the Ushahidi instance. The following toolboxes are crucial to your success!

Checklist TOOLBOX 1- SELF ASSESSMENT   TOOLBOX 2- IMPLEMENTATION TOOLBOX 3 - USING YOUR INFORMATION

TIP: An Ushahidi project doesn’t start with setting up the platform and putting it on-line. You need to prepare your strategy, study the context, understand the implications, secure cooperation and knowledge of the tool for all of the actors involved. The launch of the platform is the last step of the project, not the first one. (Anahi Ayala Iacucci)

Tips on using these toolbox documents:

These toolboxes are in beta (draft). We are using this content to test for the final web and print versions toolboxes. Please provide feedback. Print documents do not include the extra notes which appear in the online versions. Online documents will show rotating tips, which are shown as extra comments in the notes field.

Helping you take the first steps to determine if the Ushahidi platform is a fit for your project -  Learn about Ushahidi

-  Find out if Ushahidi will fit into your project goals & objectives

-  Think about partnerships for your project

-  Identify the information, communication and technology needs for your project

-  Think about what resources are necessary to make your project successful

Toolbox 1 Self-Assessment

Let’s Begin….. First Name:____________ Last Name: ____________ Are you an individual or part of an organization?

Organization

Individual

Email Address:___________________

Organiza(on  Name:  ____________  

Uchaguzi-­‐Kenya  Sudan  Vote  Monitor  Unsung  Peace  Heroes    

icon  Point  on  a  Calendar  

For  events  like  elec(on  monitoring,  media  campaigns  with  ending  dates….  (more  text)  

Deployments  

icon    Hot  Flash   For  emergencies  like  natural  disasters,  unexpected  

events….(more  text  here).  Ushahidi  Prototype  Hai(  Crisis  Map  Uk  Riot  Cleanup  Chicago  Blizzard  Japan  Earthquake  

icon  Slow  Burn   For  ongoing  or  complex  emergencies,  to  track  changes  

in  communi(es  or  responding  agencies  ….  (crime  mapping?)  

War  on  Gaza  DRC  Zim  Poli(cal  Crisis  

icon  Long  Term   For  ongoing  programs  and  ini(a(ves  (human  rights  

monitoring,  media,  environmental  mapping,  local  gov  mapping,  resource  mapping  )  

Voice  of  Kibera  KANCO  (health)    Uchaguzi-­‐Kenya    

You  can  use  the  Ushahidi  Pla[orm  for  informa(on  collec(on  and  sharing,  visualiza(on  and  interac(ve  mapping.  There  have  been  over  3000  uses  of  Ushahidi/Crowdmap.  Here  are  some  common  types  of  uses  of  the  Ushahidi  pla[orm  (Ushahidi  video  introduc(on)  (FAQs)..  And  more  

EXAMPLES..  

Here  are  some  things  you  might  want  to  think  about  before  you  start  using  the  plaAorm…..  This  toolbox  will  help  you  answer  many  of  these  quesFons..  

Who  is  your  target  audience?      

What  is  the  incen(ve/mo(va(on  for  people  to  use  your  pla[orm?  

 

How  is  mapping  going  to  contribute  to    your  project?  

 How  are  you  collec(ng  and  using  data  now?      

 

Do  you  just  want  to  use  a  new  cool  and  free  tool?  Is  there  a  gap  you  are  trying  to  fill?    

 

Thinking about How Ushahidi will Help your Project

Example:  Linda  Racree  and  her  team  wanted  to  gather  informa(on  on  the  amount,  types,  and  loca(on  of  violence  happening  in  communi(es  where  they  were  working  on  a  Violence  Against  Children  project.    They  wanted  to  know  where  the  violence  is  happening  most,  and  what  kind  of  violence  it  is.    The  informa(on  was  then  going  to  be  used  by  the  youth  and  project  par(cipants,  staff,  and  relevant  local  or  na(onal  

authori(es.    The  goals  were  to  generate  awareness,  inform  programma(c  efforts,  and  advocate  for  more  aeen(on  and  services  to  prevent,  respond  to,  and  treat  violence  against  children.  

Is  this  a  new  or  exis(ng  project?  

new  

old  

What  are  the  project  goals?  (user  enters  text  here)            What  are  the  project  objec(ves?  (user  enters  text  here)    

Example Goals Violence Against Children Project Voice of Kibera Uchaguzi Kenya

Example Objectives Uchaguzi Kenya

What  kind  of  project  are  you  working  on?  (please  check  all  that  apply)      Health      Water  and  Sanita(on      Media      HIV/AIDS     Environment/Conserva(on     Women’s  Issues     War/Conflict     Natural  Disasters     Human  Rights  

 Children  and  Youth    Educa(on    Gender  Based  Violence   Economic  Development     Security/Protec(on     Poli(cal  Violence     Elec(ons/Elec(on  Monitoring    Other,  please  describe______  

Is  this  a  development  or  humanitarian/crisis  project?  (defini(ons  and  examples)    

     Development/Governance       Humanitarian/Crisis  

   Community  Programming     Other  

TIPS: How will you achieve your goals? How will the collected information achieve the goal.  

Project Goals and Objectives

icon    Type  

Your  project/program’s  goals  and  objec(ve  are:      

With  the  goal  to  _____Users  can  correct    the  auto-­‐  inserted  text  here________.    The  program/project  objec(ves  are  Users  can  correct    the  auto-­‐  inserted  text  here__.  

What  are  the  expected  outcomes/impact?  ___________________________________________________________________  ___________________________________________________________________  ___________________________________________________________________    How  will  the  Ushahidi  pla[orm  help  you  achieve  your  expected  outcomes/impact?    ___________________________________________________________________  ___________________________________________________________________  

TIPS: How will you achieve your expected outcomes?  

Expected Outcomes / Impact

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Mapping  data  is  important  for  creaFng  responsibility.  The  fact  that  people  see  their  report  is  the  biggest  moFvaFon  to  engage  them.      -­‐  Oscar  Salazar,  Cuidemos  el  Voto  

Mapping  informaFon  will  benefit  your  project  by:            What  kind  of  informaFon  will  you  map?  How  do  you  intend  to  use  it?          Who  do  you  want  to  view  the  map?            

TIPS:  The  mapping  system  in  Ushahidi  is  not  automa(c:  you  need  to  geo-­‐reference  informa(on  manually.  You  can  do  it  at  the  admin  level  with  volunteers  or  other  people.  If  you  plan  to  use  it  as  a  crowd-­‐source  system,  you  need  to  have  a  big  number  of  people  mapping  those  messages,  or  you  need  to  do  it  only  by  web-­‐submission  (it  means  also  forget  about  the  media  monitoring,  SMS,  e-­‐mails  and  twieer  submissions).  What  level  of  precision  does  the  mapping  require?  Do  you  want  data  points  or  data  areas?  (Anahi  Ayala  Iacucci)  

Mapping and Visualization Why use a map? What is the benefit of using mobiles or mapping to track your information? The information does not need to be crisis related. You might want to map existing community resources within a geographic area or raise awareness of local events. (Linda Rafferty)

Our  users’  experience  to  date  has  humbled  us  to  realized  that  the  much  of  the  success  from  organizaFons  using  the  Ushahidi  plaAorm  comes  from  the  project  planning  and  preparaFon  around  the  technology  itself……  

Just  because  you  bought  a  domain  name  and  ran  the  Ushahidi  installer  doesn’t  mean  that  anyone  is  going  to  use  the  system  —  and  even  if  you  somehow  get  a  lot  of  reports,  you  might  not  be  relevant  to  the  exisFng  systems  (that  is,  all  the  other  people  who  are  working  on  the  same  problem).  So  as  Ory  said  in  Cape  Town,  “Don’t  get  too  jazzed  up!  Ushahidi  is  only  10%  of  soluFon.”    Systems  like  Ushahidi  have  turned  enormous  communicaFon  barriers  into  a  trivial  installaFon  and  training  process.  But  there  is  a  whole  other  90%  of  real  work.  (Chris  Blow)      

Let’s focus on that 90% and identify potential partners in your project.

   

Technology and “the rest” – Allocating Time

Allocation of Time In an Ushahidi Deployment

Ushahidi setup • Requires some tech skills and training, but not much work • Set up a server, run installer, poke around

All the other stuff that makes a project successful • Outreach, branding, translation, annotation, verification, documentation, integration with other systems, SMS debugging, taxonomy development

Learn More: Why technology is 10%- Anahi Ayala Iacucci Allocation of Time –Chris Blow

Who  are  your  partners?  (lisFng)  •     •     

TIPS-­‐  One  of  the  major  partners  in  project  is  a  technical  administrator.    If  you  envision  customizing  your  instance  a  lot  you  should  think  about  having  a  developer  as  a  partner  if  you  do  not  have  one  in  your  organizaFon.    

   

What  roles  will  they  play?  •     •     •     •         TIPS-­‐  Which  partner  will  provide  the  overall  project  manager.    Will  it  be  your  organizaFon?      

Who  are  your  Audiences?  Why  do  you  think  they  will  use  your  plaAorm?  •     •     •     

TIPS-­‐One  of  the  fundamental  parts  of  your  project  is  the  definiFon  of  your  audience.  Who  do  you  want  to  visit  the  site  and  use  your  informaFon  and  who  you  want  to  be  your  reporters?      

    Trust & Partnerships

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Partnerships & Audience Key to the success of your project

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(ExisFng  project)-­‐  What  informaFon  are  you  currently  collecFng?  What  informaFon  do  you  want  to  add  with  this  project?        (New  project)  What  informaFon  do  you  want  to  collect?          How  will  this  informaFon  allow  the  project  to  achieve  it’s  goals?              

                   

TIPS:  Does  someone  else  have  exisFng  indicators  or  iniFaFves  or  informaFon  needs  or  formats  that  you  should  be  linking  in  with  and  following  or  supporFng?  (Linda  Radree)  

IMPORTANT!  What  is  the  exis(ng  informa(on  flow  and  how  the  informa(on  flow  you  propose  will  change  or  modify  the  exis(ng  one?  The  idea  is  that  the  more  you  modify  the  exis(ng  informa(on  flow  the  

less  your  project  will  be  successful.    

Information Your Ushahidi instance will help you collect,

organize and communicate information for the goals of your project

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From  slide  11,  this  is  your  audience:  ___________________________________________________    How  do  you  plan  to  tell  people  about  your  project  and  how  to  send  informaFon  into  the  plaAorm?      

     Television  AdverFsements          Radio            Newspaper        Flyers        Internet  

 How  do  you  plan  share  the  informaFon  with  your  audience?          

                   

     SMS       Othe     word  of  mouth     Morning  shows     Twifer     Facebook    

TIPS:  think  about  how  your  audience  commonly  views/accesses  informaFon)-­‐  and  what  way  they  are  most  likely  to  view  informaFon  during  a  crisis.  

Example  “The  people  who  Media  Focus  on  Africa  FoundaFon  are  targe(ng  do  not  have  Internet  access  -­‐  We  want  to  bring  the  results  back  to  the  people  using  mass  media.”  As  a  result  of  MFAF’s  goals,  Internet  is  only  one  part  of  the  larger  project  and  campaign.  This  is  not  only  true  for  the  Unsung  Peace  Heroes  campaign  but  for  all  of  MFAF’s  work.  Bueerfly  Works  uses  mul(ple  media  types  in  their  work  as  well  so  the  mul(media  approach  for  Unsung  Peace  Heroes  was  familiar  to  both  organiza(ons  and  important  to  achieving  their  goals.  Bueerfly  Works  and  MFAF  used  a  mul(media  approach,  including  a  website,  newspaper  ads,  radio  and  television  appearances,  par(cipa(on  in  live  events  and  word-­‐of-­‐mouth.  (Melissa  Tully)        

Communication Your Ushahidi instance will help you collect, organize and communicate information for the goals of your project.

Collecting information into Ushahidi platform is only half the battle. How will you communicate information to your audience? Partners? Media?

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The  Unsung  Peace  Heroes  project  

in  Kenya  used  a  mul(media  publicity  strategy,  including  placing  ads  in  the  newspaper,  making  TV  

and  radio  appearances,  handing  out  fliers,  par(cipa(ng  in  local  peace  events  and  having  an  online  

presence,  to  spread  the  work  about  their  project  and  to  collect  

nomina(ons  of  Peace  Heroes  throughout  Kenya.  This  strategy  allowed  them  to  target  various  diverse  audiences  and  in  the  end  

they  received  over  500  nomina(ons  for  Unsung  Peace  Heroes  

throughout  Kenya.  (Melissa  Tully)    

The communication strategy can be: 1)  Announcement of the project/service 2)  Setting expectations 3)  Plan for responding to individual messages 4)  Communicating information to different audiences

TIPS  Be  sure  that  you  get  clearly  the  message  out:  what  you  want  to  do,  why  and  if  the  issue  is  urgent  or  not.    

Example materials

How will you inform the crowd about your project? How will you communicate with your partners/audience?

Campaign, Messaging, & Communication Strategy Very important too is the communication strategy of the organization,

which should explain what the platform is and what it is not. (Anahi Ayala Iacucci)

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If  you  answer  yes  to  any  of  these  quesFons,  or  feel  that  this  topic  is  important  to  your  project  -­‐-­‐  we  encourage  you  to  take  the  mini  assessment  tool  here……….    Will  your  project  be  dealing  with  sensiFve  informaFon?  Will  your  project  potenFally  place  the  users  or  partners  at  risk?  Does  the  government  strictly  control  informaFon  in  your  project  area?  Are  you  prepared  to  address  any  informaFon/  privacy  breaches  if  they  should  happen?  Who  will  be  responsible?      

Take  the  assessment  

now.    

Information Security and Privacy can be a very important consideration for many projects that use the Ushahidi Instance. We encourage you and your organization to think about how the Ushahidi instance may affect community/organization safety, and the impact that mapping and information will have on your audience and partners.

Information Communication Technology (ICT), Privacy, and Secuity

1   Do  you  have  regular  power/internet  access?  

Yes        No     If  you  project  area  has  limited  power,  and  limited  access  to  internet  this  will  limit  the  ability  to  use  Ushahidi  /Crowdmap.  Consider  using  another  tool  or  start  with  a  small  pilot  project……  

2   Are  your  team  members  volunteers  comfortable  with  computers/the  internet,  etc?  

Yes        No      How  do  your  partners  and  audience  currently  communicate?  What  are  they  comfortable  using  to  communicate?  (cell  phones,  sms,  internet)  What  do  they  have  access  to  and  can  afford?  

3   Do  you  have  a  technology  person  on  your  project?  

Yes        No     If    YES,  then  have  this  person  take  a  look  at  the  Ushahidi  Manual  to  see  if  this  fits  their  capacity.  If  NO  then  take  this  technology  assessment  test  here.    

4   Is  he  or  she  a  PHP  developer  and/or  designer?  

Yes        No     If  NO,  then  consider  using  crowdmap.  Link  Here.    

5   Do  you  want  a  lot  of  customiza(ons?  

Yes        No     CustomizaFons,  or  ****,  will  require  a  developer  and  likely  a  designer.  And  you  have  YES’s  for  ques(ons  3  &4  

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What  is  the  local  use  of  ICT  in  the  country?        How  do  people  in  the  community  use  the  internet  and  mobile  phones?      

TIPS: How do your partners and audience communicate now? What are they comfortable using? (cell phones, sms, internet) What do they have access to and can afford?    

Take the tech assesment!

Technology Ushahidi is a software, which means it requires access to certain technologies.

TIPS:    Have a clear budget and take into account advertisement campaign, dev work, PHONE EXPENSES if you use SMS and alerts, server space, and time to dedicate to the project. Also fundamental, have a monitoring &evaluation line in the budget and in your project plan and do periodical review of the project according to goals. (Anahi Ayala Iacucci)  

Here  are  some  ?ps  to  think  about  when  looking  for  funding  to  support  your  project  or  idea:    ‣  How  does  my  proposal  address  the  problem?    ‣  What  are  the  goals  and  objec(ves  of  the  program?      ‣  What  is  the  budget  and  (meline  for  the  project?    ‣  Can  you  partner  with  others  for  non-­‐financial  support?    ‣  How  will  the  project  be  sustainable?    ‣  Is  there  a  geographic  focus?    (funders  ocen  support  specific  loca(ons)    ‣  What  are  the  expected  outcomes  and  how  will  you  measure  them?  

Funding  Uses  Examples  of  how  you  might  use  your  funding:    ‣  Funding  a  SMS  shortcode  number  to  allow  people  to  send  free  SMS    ‣  Funding  an  SMS  alert  campaign    ‣  Funding  a  web  designer  to  customize  your  Ushahidi  deployment    ‣  Funding  a  PR  campaign:  newspaper  ads,  online  ads,  to  raise  awareness  about  your  Ushahidi  instance    ‣  Funding  a  data  entry  resource  if  you  are  migraFng  exisFng  data  into  the  Ushahidi  plaAorm  

Resources & Funding

Resources Here are some resources you may need. Fill out the cost that you will need too.

Resource   Cost  Project  Manager  

Developer  

Designer  

Project  Manager  

Volunteers/Coordinators  

Campaign  Adver(sing  

Servers  

Computers  

Phone/SMS  expenses  

Monitoring/Evalua(on  

Training  Workshop  

Planning  Workshops  

General  Office/Equipment  

Other  

TIPS  Make  sure  you  have  a  clear  budget  and  think  about  the  resources  that  will  you  need  for  your  project.    

TIPS  “Find  out  about  any  poten(al  licenses  

you  might  need,  for  example  for  holding  a  compe((on,  this  can  ocen  be  bureaucra(c  and  take  (me  to  organise.  NOTE  Calculate  ?me  for  the  design  and  

prin?ng  or  produc?on  of  all  your  materials,  making  a  website  or  flyer  and  prin?ng  it  can  take  a  few  weeks.  

(Buferfly  Works  Toolbox)      

Planning & Project timeline

Example project timelines

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Planning your project, and allowing enough time to prepare for volunteers, customization, campaigns, and partner/community engagement will make you project more successful.

TIPS  If  you  are  looking  to  gather,  share  and  make  decisions  with  many  different  people  &  partners.      Consider:  •  Planning  mee(ngs&  workshops  early  to  make  sure  that  all  partners  have  similar  expecta(ons  and  understand  their  roles/responsibili(es  •  Plan  your  media/adver(sing  campaigns  early,  determine  the  cost,  and  how  you  will    inform  people  of  your  project  and  set  expecta(ons.    

 

PROJECT  EXAMPLES    

ELECTION  MONITORING    

Staff  and  Volunteers  for  the  Uchaguzi  Kenya  Project  

(  2010  Kenya  Referedum)  –  recommend  3-­‐6  months  for  planning  around  a  specific  

elec(on  days.    

Project  Goal/Objec?ves/an?cipated  impact  _____________________________________________________________________________  _____________________________________________________________________________  _____________________________________________________________________________    

Reasons  for  mapping  _____________________________________________________________________________  _____________________________________________________________________________    

Partnerships  _____________________________________________________________________________  _____________________________________________________________________________    

Informa?on/Communica?on  _____________________________________________________________________________  _____________________________________________________________________________  Marke?ng  Media  Plan    _____________________________________________________________________________  _____________________________________________________________________________  Technology  Assessment  _____________________________________________________________________________  _____________________________________________________________________________    

Below  is  informa(on  about  your  project  that  you  entered  in  the  first  toolbox  (On  the  online  tool,  what  you  have  filled  out  in  the  previous  panels  will  automaFcally  show  up  here!)  

I  would  like  to  make  

changes…..    

Let’s  move  on!    

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