A year ago today, Pollicy started out in the SQ behind Neema’s house. Two months later, Pollicy moved into the Design Hub. At the end of May, we hired our first staff member. In August, we brought on board our first Program Manager and two Fellows. By November, we moved into a bigger office space and a Code for Africa fellow joined our team. In 2018, both Pollicy fellows became full-time staff and we brought in our first Data Lead.

We’re growing!

But we’re also building and doing. Here’s a list of highlights from the past year!

  1. The Civic Technology Fellowship

Jarvin Mutatiina and Esther Ndagire

In August 2017, we welcomed in our first cohort of the Civic Technology fellowship. Jarvin Mutatiina and Esther Ndagire joined the team to build up their data and technology skills through engagements with mentors over a 12 week period. They also worked on individual projects, networking with the government, civil society, and private sector organizations.

2. Our Civic Technology Projects

Program Manager Patricia Navvuga talks to local communities

We launched two projects in 2017.

Wetaase is an anti-human trafficking platform using mobile and digital technology to create awareness as well as to collect data to better advocate for improved response to migration in and out of Uganda.

WeSpeak is a citizen-government feedback platform testing out the viability of different mobile technology tools to provide a channel for communication, monitoring, and reporting for local governments, specifically around waste management.

3. Uganda’s First Civic Technology Breakfast

At Pollicy, we’re very interested in movement building. In October, we held our first CivicTech breakfast to bring together the community and learn about what we are all working on. We had interesting presentations from Sparkplug on URB, from Evidence and Methods Lab, and from ACODE on their SMS feedback project.

4. Data Club #1

In November, we brought together over 100 participants interested in learning about data at our first Data Club Uganda event. We had a short tutorial on Atlas by Lydia Namubiru, followed by three lightning talks by GeoGecko, WeFarm, and Thinvoid and then opened up the event to drinks, music, and networking!

5. Data and Design Workshop

On December 5th, Pollicy and the Collaboration in International ICT Policy for Eastern and Southern Africa (CIPESA) brought back the civic technology community in Uganda, but this time, with a focus on data and design. As issues of data ownership, digital security, censorship become more pertinent in our society, so does the need to appropriately harness the benefits of big data. Through a series of interesting panel discussions, lightning talks, and hands-on design training, we took participants through a journey on how data can be used to revolutionize how citizens and governments interact for mutual benefit.

6. Wetaase Community Champions

The Wetaase Community Champions are a group of volunteers tasked with visiting different local communities across Kampala to educate people about safe migration, human trafficking, and how to access information, services, and resources. We chose 5 bright and young Kampalans who were passionate about the subject.

Despite some hiccups, the volunteers were happy to be invited back to some communities like Kyambogo to talk to larger numbers and pass on knowledge on safe migration to fellow students who seem to know very little about the topic. Overall, they reported that people were excited to learn about safe migration and explore the Wetaase platform.

7. Data Journalism Trainings (StoryLab with Code4Africa)

In January, we gave training on data journalism to reporters and journalists covering EAC issues from several media houses in Uganda. In February, as part of Code4Africa’s StoryLab project across the continent, we gave training to Daily Monitor journalists and will continue our training with journalists over the next few months.

8. DataLadies Meetups

The First Data Ladies event was hosted at Design Hub Kampala on 15th February 2018 from 5 pm to 7 pm. It was attended by the lucky few ladies who expressed interest in the need to deal with data and learning how to do that. Our newest staff member, Lorna, is excellent at breaking down and explaining complex lessons.

Pollicy Data Lead, Lorna Maria Aine

One of this year’s goals at Pollicy is to build a data ecosystem by bringing together data enthusiasts from different sectors, backgrounds, and organizations to share knowledge. While embracing this we have also always wanted to look into inclusion and that was the birth of the idea of Policy’s Data Ladies meet-up.

9. Building out our Blog

Our most popular blog to date is, “Where’s the ‘Civic’ in CivicTech?”.

Other notable mentions include “Can our Government run as a Business” and “Digital Advocacy: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”.

10. Collaboration with #VizforSocialGood

After a few discussions on Twitter, and later via Video Chat, we were ecstatic to partner with #VizforSocialGood, an initiative founded by Chloe Tseng. As part of this collaboration, we pitched VOTE: Women, a project that we are building out that seeks to build political leadership amongst women in ssAfrica.

Here are some of the amazing visualizations produced by the community:

2017 was a year of growth, learning, and having fun. Starting out from scratch was definitely a challenge as can be navigating the legalities of running a business, attracting resources, and defining our strategy over the next few years. But, it’s all been worth it and we can’t wait for what the next year holds for us.

We hope you’ll follow along!

We hope you’ll follow along!

For more information, visit pollicy.org or follow us on Twitter!