Using civic tech to supercharge lobbying transparency
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Discover Open Access, the tool from Transparency International which makes lobbying data in the UK more accessible to all. Within the area of climate, analysis shows patterns of lobbying by fossil fuel companies.
Learn how the tool uncovered this — and how to conduct a similar analysis around your own interests, in this TICTeC 2025 presentation by Rose Whiffen from Transparency International UK.
Civic tech for investigative impact: how data-driven journalism strengthens transparency and democracy
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Discover the measurable impact of civic tech to enhance transparency, accountability, and environmental protection, and how investigative journalism can utilise data tools to drive democratic outcomes.
As shared by Reinaldo Chaves from the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism in his TICTeC 2025 presentation, case studies involving Brazilian journalists show how by connecting disparate datasets, patterns of corruption, environmental violations, and misuse of public resources can be uncovered.
What MPs really do: turning data into democratic power in Spain
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‘Qué Hacen Los Diputados’ (What MPs Do) addresses gaps in parliamentary transparency and accountability, addressing a persistent reality: public institutions often lag in transparency and accountability without citizen pressure. The project organises parliamentary data in an accessible, user-friendly format — invaluable for citizens, journalists, researchers, and civil society, and fostering informed participation.
Hear more in this TICTeC 2025 presentation by Celia Zafra and
Pablo Martín from Political Watch, Spain.
The impact of the Promise Tracker tool
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The Promise Tracker from Mzalendo Trust, launched in 2023, tracks government and opposition promises to enhance accountability and foster participatory democracy.
Hear more about its impact in this TICTeC 2025 presentation by Mzalendo Trust’s Gitungo Wamere and Caroline Gaita.
Q&A for ‘Defending democracy, internet freedom and digital security’ TICTeC 2025 session
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Question and answer session for the presenters of the following TICTeC 2025presentations:
– What digital security solutions [don’t] work for civil society organisations – Mykola Kostynyan (RESIDENT.ngo, Lithuania)
– Six months of African pro-democracy innovating: what have we learned? – Carl Jacobs (OpenUp, South Africa)
– New Belarus: showcasing digital innovation to strengthen democracy, transparency, and civic participation – Pavel Liber (Nation – Digital Society Platform, Lithuania)
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Anti-Corruption, Collaboration, and Capacity: How African Civil Society is advancing Pro-Democracy Innovation
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There is a growing global democratic crisis, whilst civic actors in Africa have decreased access to funding and resources, and suffer significantly from massive digital inequalities. What does it take to build sustainable civic tech capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa and how can past innovations inform scalable support for digital democracy?
Hear from Carl Jacobs from OpenUp in this TICTeC 2025 presentation.
What digital security solutions [don’t] work for civil society organisations
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Civil society organisations combat dictatorships, corruption, election falsifications, etc — and so are natural enemies to actors with huge amount of resources and motivation to fight back.
In this TICTeC 2025 presentation, hear RESIDENT.ngo’s experience with recent sophisticated attacks in Eastern Europe, and learn what measures actually work for small to medium civil society organisations.
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Redefined civic tech: community-centric impact stories from Georgia
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AskGov in Georgia, based on mySociety’s Alaveteli platform, hosts 1,118 datasets. What sets it apart is that the data does not remain confined to the platform: through contests, fellowship programmes and datathons, storytelling and data visualisation projects are distributed to a mass audience, with topics such as the environment, corruption, transparency, gender and occupation.
This TICTeC 2024 presentation by Vero Melua from ForSet shares more.
Can robots lobby? AI, democracy and political persuasion
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Lobbying is a negative influence often connected to corruption, secrecy and poor behaviour. But can AI change things for the better, improving the abilities of those who monitor lobbying, or helping raise awareness of problems? Conversely, will AI bring increased powers for political persuaders, perhaps even introducing the robot lobbyist?
At TICTeC 2024, Ben Worthy from Birkbeck College presented a paper asking how AI can change lobbying for better or worse. It looks in turn at how AI can allow different groups to do the same things but better; and do new things. It draws on examples from the UK and US, as well as wider academic studies, to predict what may happen, and offer a framework.
Q&A for ‘Civic tech for transparency’ session at TICTeC 2024
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Question and answer session for the following TICTeC 2024 presentations:
– How civic tech is unveiling corruption and championing democracy and environmental protection in Brazil – Maria Vitória Ramos (Fiquem Sabendo, Brazil)
– Empowering communities: Budeshi’s impact on transparency and accountability in Nigerian government projects – Nnenna Eze (Public and Private Development Centre, Nigeria)
– Have you empirically improved transparency and accountability? – Shaun Russell (OpenUp, South Africa)
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Have you empirically improved transparency and accountability?
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How can you say empirically that the work you are doing has made things more transparent in your field? If your work is nebulous and difficult to measure in real world impact, this is a challenge — and one faced by a collaboratively-made data visualisation tool aimed to make the South African parliament more transparent and accountable. For tips on how to measure the impact and effectiveness of your civic tech tools, check out this TICTeC 2024 presentation from Shaun Russell from OpenUp in South Africa.
Empowering communities: Budeshi’s impact on transparency and accountability in Nigerian government projects
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Hear from Nnenna Eze (Public and Private Development Centre, Nigeria)’s TICTeC 2024 presentation on Budeshi, the open-contracting tool, which has emerged as a pivotal platform facilitating transparency and accountability in public procurement. Data from Freedom of Information requests is published on the platform to allow thorough monitoring exercises across various Nigerian states. Journalists have been trained and communities empowered to independently investigate and report on discrepancies.
How civic tech is unveiling corruption and championing democracy and environmental protection in Brazil
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Hear from Maria Vitória Ramos (Fiquem Sabendo, Brazil) about two award-winning initiatives that address the power imbalance between society and the state, using Freedom of Information and a multidisciplinary approach integrating journalism, advocacy, training, and civic technology to monitor governmental spending and provide oversight of lobbying. The results? Pivotal public reports and significant legislative reforms.
TICTeC 2024 keynote address: Putting Democracy back into Climate Action
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Nick Mabey from E3G (Third Generation Environmentalism)’s TICTeC 2024 keynote speech. Nick emphasised the need to put democratic values, institutional strengthening, and governance innovation back at the heart of climate action if we are serious about protecting everyone from catastrophic climate damage.
TICTeC 2024 keynote address: Joining the dots on civic tech and anti-corruption
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At TICTeC 2024 María Baron from Directorio Legislativo shared insights drawn from a rich career working from different angles to support and defend democracy across Latin America and globally. She shared insights into Directorio Legislativo’s digital anti-corruption solution, and approach to consensus building across polarised stakeholders, the latest milestone in their work to strengthen democracies across Latin America and beyond.