Human rights protected by OS |
| Organisation name: | Kisima Peace & Development Organsation |
| OSS Used: | Martus, an online reporting tool. |
| Reasons for using OSS | Security features; remote archiving. |
| Benefits of using open source software | Working offline; record management; security. |
| Challenges of using open source software | - |
| Does using FOSS benefit your organisation? |
Martus is ideal for human rights campaigners. It is currently being used in many hot spots all over the world. |
| |
| Organisation |
The Kisima Peace & Develpoment Organsation focuses on the protection and promotion of humn rights in the Jubba regions of southern Somalia.
It seeks to promote a culture of human rights, sustainable peace and stability, good governance, and democracy.
Headquartered in Kismayu, the organisation has working partnerships with the US-based National Endowment for Democracy and with the NOVIB Somalia Field Office based in Nairobi, Kenya. |
| Why does the organisation use FOSS? |
The Martus Human Rights Bulletin System has been developed with funding from the Open Society Institute and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and
is a unique information management tool.
It fulfills several key criteria required by human rights organisations all over the world:
* It is easy to use, works offline and on basic PC hardware;
* Records are easily searched and grouped into themes;
* Security is paramount to protect the identities of individuals and organisations. Records are encrypted on both the local drive and the remote server, and are stored in a distributed system involving multiple servers. |
| The benefits and challenges of using FOSS |
| See reasons for using open source software above. |
| Conclusions |
Martus is currently used all over the world, particularly in Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Guatemala, Russia, and the US. It has been downloaded in eight African countries, including South Africa, Gambia, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mauritius and Rwanda.
According to Marc Levine, Senior Project Manager, Martus use in Africa is growing steadily. In Sierra Leone Martus is used by the Campaign for Good Governance who have trained themselves and begun posting reports to the public server.
Parent company, Benetech, is currently consulting with working with dozens of social justice NGOs in Nigeria, Kenya, Algeria and Egypt to develop an African Martus training programme. Training was expected to commence formally towards the end of 2004. |
