Post Status: Complete
Main Project Location: Nairobi
Project country/countries: Kenya
Project dates: 2020 –
Last updated: 31 October 2023

Brief overview of the Case Study   

“The Demography Project is an independent youth-led civic technology and data journalism community based non-profit that undertakes fact-based analysis, visualization and interpretation of demographic data to inform evidence-based community-centred development programmes and for public awareness.

What began as a casual conversation on the worsening conditions of homeless families in our community during the global COVID-19 pandemic, started a wave of responsible citizenry to collect data to support charitable initiatives targeted at alleviating their status in Kiambu and Nairobi Counties.

We seek to build empowered communities where individuals thrive and households flourish, and to promote an enlightened and responsible Kenyan citizenry committed towards democratic principles and actively engaged in the practice of democracy and sustainable development. We focus on monitoring, interpreting, evaluation and disseminating accurate and objective demographic, democratic, health and related socioeconomic data to enhance information awareness and collaborative action. In addition, we seek to improve data use for decision making and strengthening the technical and organisational capacity of communities to collect, analyse, and use data.

Our core values are transparency, integrity, impact, and community.”

The challenge or problem

In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic was wreaking havoc on society. This shone a light on the importance of responsible citizenry and the necessity of data collection alongside the supporting of charitable initiative aimed at alleviating poverty in Nairobi and Kiambu in Kenya.

The solution that was implemented

We commit to establish a public and OPEN data repository accessible to ALL Kenyans; to use technology responsibly produce quality, fact-based information useful to the community; to produce quality, fact-based information useful to the community and place it in the hands of the community, journalists, researchers, activists and ordinary Kenyans; to empower the community to initiate local interventions and initiatives towards good governance, public accountability; to support the development of evidence based community-centred sustainable development programmes.

What results were achieved?

All support to The Demography Project goes towards our primary mission of promoting an enlightened and responsible citizenry committed towards democratic principles and actively engaged in the practice of democracy and sustainable development. Through your support, we are able to conduct research and democratise access to independent, neutral and fair information on the Kenyan social, economic and political landscapes for hundreds of thousands of Kenyans annually.

Lessons and recommendations

The Demography Project is designed as a one-stop open data solution to comprehensively bridge the information gap between prospective voters, electoral candidates, journalists, diaspora and Kenya’s electoral system.

The primary intent is to create an information portal to enhance grassroot voter education and citizen data journalism to provide accurate, timely and informed electoral intelligence for informed decision making. is designed to bridge the information gap between prospective voters and the Kenyan electoral system.

As such, the key expected outcome will be is to enhance the capacity of Kenyan voters to actively participate in making rational electoral decisions and meaningfully participate in democratic processes before, during and after the 2022 General Election. This will especially address the voter apathy among the youth, young women and disenfranchised groups. Additional expected outcomes of the project includes enhancing citizen journalism during elections, inculcating a spirit of volunteerism amongst the youth, supporting inclusive civic education for diaspora voters, first-time voters and youth and women voters; and the creation of a community of practice with actors in the civic-tech space in the development and deployment of citizen electoral intelligence platforms across Africa.

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