A week ago I was in Washington DC for the first of
USAID's Development 2.0 Challenge Awards. Ushahidi was one of the three winners, along with
ClickDiagnostics and
RapidSMS Child Malnutrition Surveillance.
Administrator Fore handed out the award, and we each gave a talk on our projects. I admit to being quite impressed with each of the other projects, and knowing some of the other 115
worthy initiatives that didn't make the cut, I counted us highly privileged to be there at all.
One of the reasons that this was such an interesting event was because this was the first time that such a large US federal organization has done anything so open. For an organization that's as big and bureaucratic as USAID, the fact that they pulled this off in just a few months, kept it open and adjusted to fit the situation was remarkable.
Why this is important
The main reason I was glad that Ushahidi was there was because it put us in front of a completely different group of people than what we are used to. It will be telling to see if government organizations can stretch themselves to use free and open source software like Ushahidi that can do much more, much faster, than they can necessarily do with just their money alone.
We do not represent the establishment. We're open, free and are apolitical. We're not concerned with whether big government likes us or uses our software. As we move towards an open and real-time web of users across the internet and mobile phones, tools like Ushahidi cannot be ignored, because they tap into the public and can bypass almost all established lines of control. It's time to get on board or become increasingly irrelevant.
By using an open selection process where the public voted on the entries, they allowed a tool like Ushahidi to float to the top and actually get in front of this establishment. That's a good sign. It means that USAID is willing to go outside their normal organizational architecture that props up ideas and technology around what they do, to at least
hear about the new technology out there - from the mouths of the creators themselves. So, a big thanks to USAID for the opportunity, and we're looking forward to future interaction with them and other larger entities.
