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Tools for Democracy

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Tools for Democracy is all about helping communities use digital tools to build inclusive political institutions. The project aims to harness an international community of open-source developers to build a platform that hosts tools that change makers can use to promote citizen engagement and accountability of political actors in their own countries.

Much more could be done to increase the quality of information about political decisions, elections, and local government. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen because it is expensive for local activists or governments to build the right software and websites for these purposes. Therefore, this project will create templates and toolkits that anyone can use and adapt to their local needs.

These tools will be built in three stages:
  1. An Election Information website template will be built that local organizers can use to upload information about who is applying for their national elections (e.g., applicants for members of parliament, party manifestos). This template will be built in a way that promotes unbiased and transparent information. Anyone around the world can download this template and spin up a website for their own elections, without requiring any IT skills.
  2. The Election Information website will have social features. It will be an advanced version of the election information website that allows citizens to comment on the manifestos and proposals of political parties. It will include a system for moderation.
  3. A local government information toolkit that local governments can use to engage with local communities will be developed. For example, this will include a mobile application to report incidents, a newsletter creation tool, and an information feed that alerts citizens for upcoming municipal meetings in which they can participate.

This project is inspired by the Portuguese citizen community Política Para Todos, which hosts a website with crowd-sourced information about parties and candidates for national elections.

Updated November 2022