Ushahidi takes over Kenya National Theater to reveal new crowdsourcing service

Kenyan-born tech company Ushahidi took the stage Wednesday night at the Kenya National Theater in Nairobi to announce a total re-imagination of its flagship service, empowering anyone to gather reports from anywhere, anytime.

"You may have many problems, but technology won't be one of them," said Ushahidi Executive Director Daudi Were, who's presentation detailed the company's historic social impact in human rights activism, crisis response, and civilian empowerment.

Were was joined onstage by Angela Oduor Lungati, Ushahidi's director of community engagement, who highlighted Kathmandu Living Labs' work collecting reports from Nepali citizens impacted by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that devastated their region in April 2015. She also showcased Harassmap; an Ushahidi deployment founded by two women in the streets of Egypt to monitor incidents of gender- and sexual-based violence.

Ushahidi also featured Declan Ottaro, director of Making All Voices Count, who told the story of Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta's commitment in December 2013 to evacuate Kenyans hoping to escape escalating violence in South Sudan. Ottaro said senior government officials contacted and deployed Ushahidi's software to assist in identifying where Kenyans were in South Sudan, what condition they were in, and if they wanted to be evacuated.

Ushahidi Executive Director Daudi Were later walked through the company's re-imagined service, showing how teams are using it to collect meaningful data, create workflows around that data, and make smart decisions. He also announced the birth of Ushahidi software-as-a-service model, which organizations can use to easily create deployments at ushahidi.com and outfit to fit their needs.

For complete video coverage of the event, watch the appended video. More information about the announcement is available in Ushahidi's companion press release.