[kictanet] ICTs for civic and political engagement

[Steven Clift]

Warigia, thank you for passing along my request.

I've joined your forum to help me become better informed about current
examples of online engagement in Kenya - I have a hunch I will humbly
learn far more than I will ultimately share with my upcoming speaking
trip.

This is me: http://stevenclift.com  - I've spoken across almost 30
countries on "e-democracy" but this is my first opportunity to visit
Sub-Saharan Africa. I run, http://E-Democracy.org which created the
world's first election information website in 1994 and today focuses
on hosting local online discussion that matter. We have a special Ford
Foundation funded effort in the Cedar Riverside neighborhood of
Minneapolis which has large Somali and Oromo populations:
http://e-democracy.org/inclusion

So I've put out a few global queries:

Digitial Inclusion Network:
http://forums.e-democracy.org/groups/inclusion/messages/topic/2AiHjJ1MZ8Hr8dsz2vOoeT

Democracies Online Exchange:
http://groups.dowire.org/r/topic/3Y7NmSTaw3sb7cm7SGvtKz

See the links for the great responses so far.

Here is a query for your network ...

I am interested in discovering both local and national Kenyan or
African politicians who are quite active with social media. Being able
to point out examples at a more local level where the feedback loop
and closeness to the public is often stronger is quite useful.

I am also interested in any political, government, or NGO-based
"engagement" or "consultation" sites that have jumped on the mobile
bandwagon. I am particularly interested in any mobile website or apps
that are taking advantage of the increasingly popular smartphone
broader net access beyond SMS. I am interested to understand what
percent of Kenyan mobile phones are used to access the Internet in
some way beyond SMS.

Any suggestions? Links? Comments?

Thanks for having me as a guest here.

Sincerely,
Steven Clift





Steven Clift - http://stevenclift.com
  Executive Director - http://E-Democracy.Org
  Follow me - http://twitter.com/democracy
  New Tel: +1.612.234.7072