WikiCred/2022 CFP/Liberia Election Data Project: Improving the Credibility of Electoral Information and Environment

Liberia Election Data Project: Improving the Credibility of Electoral Information and Environment
A WikiCred 2022 Grant Proposal
Project Type	Research + output
Author	Albert Luogon - iLab Liberia ()
Contact
Requested amount	USD 10,000
Award amount	Unknown

What is your idea?

The project intends to capture verifiable data on Liberia electoral results, the aspiring candidates and cities, towns, and villages where the election will take place on Wikipedia. iLab Liberia will achieve this through campaigns and edit-a-thons.

Why is it important?

The project is important because of the following reasons:

1. Liberia as a post conflict nation is going to its fourth post-conflict election in October 2023

2. Misinformation is pervasive during election processes in Liberia

3. Providing verifiable information will improve and protect the 2023 election processes

4. Users of Wikipedia will access verifiable content about election on Wikipedia

Link(s) to your resume or anything else (CV, GitHub, etc.) that may be relevant

www.ilabliberia.org

Is your project already in progress?

No

How is this project relevant to credibility and Wikipedia?

The project outcome will add credibility to the 2023 election information and environment. The project outcome is also relevant to Wikipedia because it provides real time data about candidates, districts, cities, towns and all other notable elements that will serve the project purpose on Wikipedia.

What is the ultimate impact of this project?

1. Promote the visibility of elections, districts, cities and locations in Liberia

2. Bridge the contents gap about the Liberian election on Wikipedia;

3. Improve partnership with organizations involved in election misinformation campaigns

4. Strengthens and builds Wikidata capacity for volunteers; and

5. Improves visibility of Liberian districts on the Open Street Map.

Can your project scale?

Yes. As the project will be the first of its kind in Liberia, I–Lab anticipates that the idea of profiling candidates, locations of where activities of the 2023 election will take place (cities, districts and villages) and this sort of concept will be used for other electoral processes in Liberia to provide accurate information about elections in Liberia.

Why are you the people to do it?

iLab Liberia is a non-profit organization that supports development actors, civil society organizations and local businesses through integrating tech to enhance their services; works closely with Governments on technology initiatives that promote access to information, peace and security, elections, Health emergencies, Open Governance, climate change, research, data collection, while developing platforms and systems for anti-corruption, Freedom of Information, Elections Monitoring, Open Cities Monrovia, Productivity and Pollution Impact, Mapping Healthcare facilities for COVID-19, accountability and the rule of law. Evidence of iLab Liberia work puts the organization in a better position as the first local tech hub that is capable of doing the work.

What is the impact of your idea on diversity and inclusiveness of the Wikimedia movement?

The project will promote openness as a hallmark for the Liberian electoral process. As such, its outreach will cut across all spectrum of the electoral process to work with the National Elections Commission, independent elections monitoring networks (Election Coordinating Committee, Liberia Election Observers Network), the media, politicians, youths, students and the private sector from all fifteen counties across Liberia in order to make the project successful.

What are the challenges associated with this project and how you will overcome them?

Challenges that are associated with the project include:

1. The availability and accessibility of credible information about the profiles of approximately 75% of candidates cleared by the NEC in Liberia;

2. Candidates ownership and protection of digital platforms during elections in Liberia is very limited;

3. The information about cities, towns and locations in Liberia is not well shared in the public domain and available for educational and research purposes, but has rather become polarized and contentious.

4. There may be difficulties with recruiting volunteers to work on the project because…why?

5. Gathering information from key stakeholders and political parties will be time consuming and hectic as open data is a taboo in Liberia.

6. The need to draw the attention of stakeholders to the need to push national data into the public domain.

How we will overcome the challenges

1. The project will work with passionate young people who make up about 65% of the Liberian population to provide profiles of candidates on Wikipedia, creating new information and improving existing information about the October 2023 Liberia elections.

2. The project will run a series of edit-a-thons to create and improve profiles of the cleared candidates on Wikipedia.

3. iLab Liberia will partner with the original owner of photos of the mentioned people to release their images under the Liberia citizen privacy laws. iLab will also collaborate with youth groups and student communities to recruit Wikipedia enthusiasts to work on the project.

4. iLab Liberia will provide support for volunteers to undertake project activities. We provide participants with local travel, data/internet subsidies, and refreshment during the edit-a-thon, and prizes for the top campaign contributors and edit-a-thon participants.

5. With our long-time history of working across these actors, we will use our profile, contacts and networks to speed up the process of collecting the needed information within the work plan. This would mean starting the engagements as soon as possible.

6. iLab Liberia will initiate various advocacy initiatives, e.g. meetings, seminars, talks and campaigns, to engage stakeholders on the benefit of releasing content into the public domain.

How will you spend your funds?

1. Transportation

2. Internet, communications and stationery

3. Platform setup and configuration

4. Volunteer stipends

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fN3gmhOSB2JC6EsJrgtk1VOFeAgpr0THZ_v1DEwYcqA/e dit?usp=sharing

How long will your project take?

6 months

Have you worked on projects for previous grants before?

Yes, since 2011 with and for donors, local and international organizations