Digital Democracy

Digital Democracy  supports communities who are working to defend their human and environmental  rights, but who lack the tools to do so. Their local partners represent marginalized communities worldwide, including Indigenous Peoples and ethnic minorities, whose human rights are most severely impacted by environmental abuse. They train partners to use basic digital tools to gather, share, and manage information about environmental and human rights infractions. 

FIELD PROGRAMS

Their work lies in deep, trusting relationships with local partners. Digital Democracy supports communities who are working to defend their human and environmental rights, but who lack the tools to do so. Our local partners represent marginalized communities worldwide, including Indigenous Peoples and ethnic minorities, whose human rights are most severely impacted by environmental abuse. We train partners to use basic digital tools to gather, share, and manage information about environmental and human rights infractions.

TOOL BUILDING 

Based on years of work with local communities, Digital Democracy observed persistent technological gaps that weren’t being met by corporate technologies. In  2013 Digital Democracy began to co-create tech solutions with their partners in the Amazon to develop a tool that would meet their needs, resulting in Mapeo, an open-source tool for frontline defenders. 

Mapeo is a mobile and desktop application that allows users to map land, monitor threats, share data, and document human rights and environmental abuses from anywhere. It is free, easy to learn, and works offline for communities in remote areas. With Mapeo, communities own and manage their data using a decentralized, peer-to-peer sharing system. Mapeo is customizable so that communities collect the  information they decide is most important. Today, earth defenders representing hundreds of communities worldwide are using Mapeo to protect biodiversity hotspots and secure land tenure. 

LOCAL TO GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT

Digital Democracy scales their impact beyond their direct partners. Through events, workshops, and toolkits, they build bridges between their work and the work of advocates and decision-makers around the world. Highlights include the recently launched Earth Defenders Toolkit, a collaborative platform to support and connect both new and experienced earth defenders worldwide. Their goal with this initiative is to promote approaches to using technology in a way that supports local autonomy and ownership over tools and data, and reduces reliance on outside support.

COLLABORATION

Digital Democracy partners with local, primarily Indigenous-led organizations in over a dozen countries, including Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, Kenya, Peru, Thailand, and Vanuatu. They also work closely with international partners including Amazon Frontlines, Forest Peoples Programme, Open Development Institute and many more. On the tech side, they work with volunteer programmers as well as Mapbox,
Conservation Metrics and Tech Matters.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS