In the last week alone, there have been more than 200 covid related maps created on our hosted service, and many other self hosted ones. They’re collecting information, organizing their communities, and making sure that those who need supplies, food, or help are connected to those who can give it. And this number is growing daily.

These deployments are being run by non-Ushahidi staff, using our platform. This is important, we’re a small team of 11 full-time staff, which means we have a binary choice to make: dig into a single deployment of the software (as we’ve done with elections in Kenya and the locusts invasion) or support many at a global level. We’ve chosen the latter: to effectively serve everyone who needs our support.

Guest blog post by Sean Bonner, Co-founder & Director of Safecast, and Associate Professor at Keio University, Tokyo, Japan ( adapted from original safecast map launch announcement )

Guest blog post by Pablo Ruiz-Muzquiz, FrenaLaCurva Maps Technical Coordinator on how they're using Ushahidi to help spanish speakers connect to critical resources during Covid 19 lockdowns

In response to the growing need for platforms like ours to surface additional information and support coordination efforts, we want to do our part in making Ushahidi accessible to those who need it.

As a result, for the next 90 days, starting March 18th 2020, we will be waiving full fees for the Ushahidi basic plan, allowing all users to access the full feature set of the platform

Ushahidi is currently building a new public technology product called Dispatcher, which helps communities build resilience through peer-to-peer engagement and machine learning. Dispatcher builds upon our deep experience in crisis response, and is the next chapter of Ushahidi’s mission to understand and improve how communities come together and help each other, both in times of crisis as well as during everyday life.

In order to best design a product that is responsive and thoughtful to the needs of our user base, we will be hosting a community research study at iHub in Nairobi on 1 March 2019, from 08.30am until 18.00pm. We are opening this event up to the public for participation, and would like to invite anyone who is interested to sign up for a 20-minute time slot to chat with us and answer a few questions about your community involvement.