USHAHIDI NETWORK

Their core work

Ushahidi Network is a Nairobi-based NGO that builds and deploys community-driven digital platforms for crisis response, civic participation, and peacebuilding in conflict-affected regions of East Africa. Their core expertise is translating grassroots community voices into structured, actionable information flows — enabling coordination during crises and dialogue during reconciliation processes. In H2020, they contributed field presence and community access in East African conflict contexts (Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda), grounding European-led technology projects in real-world post-conflict environments. They sit at the intersection of civic technology, conflict transformation, and community organizing.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their first H2020 project, COMRADES (2016–2018), addressed generic crisis resilience and social innovation without a geographic or conflict-specific focus — the keyword set is essentially empty for that period. By ISOOKO (2018–2021), their profile sharpened considerably toward post-conflict peacebuilding with explicit geographic anchoring in East Africa and topics like genocide legacy, reconciliation, and democratic participation. The trajectory is a narrowing toward high-stakes, conflict-specific community dialogue rather than broad crisis technology.

Ushahidi is moving from generic crisis response toward specialized conflict transformation and post-genocide reconciliation applications in East Africa — making them a strong fit for future projects combining ICT, peace studies, or transitional justice in the Global South.

How they like to work

Ushahidi participates exclusively as a consortium partner — never as coordinator — across both projects, suggesting they function as a field-access and community-engagement specialist rather than a project driver. Their consortia are modest in size (averaging 6 partners per project), which fits the applied, context-specific nature of their work. They appear to bring irreplaceable on-the-ground legitimacy and community trust that European technology partners cannot replicate.

Ushahidi has collaborated with 12 unique partners across 8 countries in just two projects — a relatively broad network for a small NGO, likely including European universities and ICT firms alongside East African civil society organizations. Their geographic footprint combines EU-based consortium leaders with direct community presence in Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda.

What sets them apart

Ushahidi is one of Africa's most recognized civic technology organizations, and their H2020 participation brings something no European partner can provide: established community trust and field infrastructure in fragile, post-conflict East African contexts. For any EU project needing credible deployment in Kenya, Rwanda, or Uganda — particularly around conflict, democracy, or crisis response — Ushahidi offers access that would otherwise take years to build. Their value is not technical development but community legitimacy and real-world deployment capacity in high-difficulty environments.

Highlights from their portfolio

• ISOOKO
  Largest budget of the two (EUR 640,145) and the most thematically defined — directly addressing post-genocide reconciliation and peacebuilding in Rwanda, Kenya, and Uganda through information-driven community dialogue.
• COMRADES
  Ushahidi's entry into H2020 funding, establishing them as a credible EU research partner for community resilience technology during crises — an unusual profile for a Sub-Saharan African NGO.