Think Creative Issue 8

Moalimuu broadcasts news in a BBC radio studio.

Moalimuu Nur Ensuring voter education for a fair election

In his 20-year career as a journalist inMogadishu,

roles, including most recently as a host for political dialogues. Initially, his focus was on Somalia’s one-person, one-vote elections, which would have been a major democratic milestone in the country. When the pandemic hit, informing and engaging the public became even more critical to ensure voter education and avoid confusion. “Time is really important,” says Moalimuu. “Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, there are a lot of developments going on in the country which are so import- ant for civil society to contribute.”

Mohamed Ibrahim “Moalimuu” Nur has survived four terrorist attacks, including a car bombing, in a country that the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Global Impunity Index consistently ranks as the world’s worst at prosecuting the murderers of reporters. In Somalia, says Moalimuu, being a journalist “is indeed a matter of life and death.” After working for Reuters, the BBC and local media, Moalimuu brought his communications skills to the USAID Bringing Unity, In- tegrity, and Legitimacy to Democ- racy (BUILD) project in multiple

and needs during the lockdown, as well as to spread the word on prevention and safety for vulner- able communities. BUILD has used this information to adapt its support for public information on political processes. “We give voice to the voiceless communities,” Moalimuu says. “Therefore, I believe that we need journalists who show resilience, reporting to the world what is going on in Somalia.” n

Moalimuu independently orga- nized a virtual training for 70 jour- nalists on how to cover elections safely during COVID-19. Through BUILD, he hosts dialogues on key political topics among government officials, civil society and election stakeholders and broadcasts them on TV, radio and social media. Moalimuu also visits internally displaced persons (IDP) camps inMogadishu to interview people about their political participation

Tech engineering for social good Karla Hernández & Mario Gómez

high-violence areas. “We hope that this will help kids invest their time in a positive way,” Karla says. “Now, with the lockdown, they may be more exposed to violence or delinquency. So, we are trying to reach them at home with activities or positive ways to use their free time.” Karla says it’s important for El Salvador Conectado to be built around open-source programs and focused on problem-solving. “I come from a modest family. So, by immersing myself in this community and pushing myself technically, I’m in the process of paying forward what I’ve been able to achieve thanks to access to information,” she says. After the pandemic, Mario hopes El Salvador Conectado will continue to be a wellspring of innovative ideas that aids those who often fall behind as technology advances. “The commitment is to distribute the benefits of technology, not just at the personal level, but at the community level,” Mario says. “With open- source work, we say it’s the mechanism that lets us return knowledge to the community in the hopes that this knowledge will then transform into ideas that can help development.” n

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments, schools and businesses to rapidly rethink how they can use technology to stay connected to the people they serve. For Mario Gómez and Karla Hernández, looking for tech-driven solutions is nothing new. Mario and Karla are part of a thriving tech commu- nity in El Salvador focused on using open-source technology and programs for social good. They have both been involved with the USAID Crime and Violence Prevention Program and Creative’s subsidiary CREA El Salvador. In March, they helped launch El Salvador Conectado, a collective of more than 300 developers, software engineers, programmers and others outside the industry as a testing ground for tech-based solutions that can serve the public. “It’s a group of volunteers that has assembled around different projects with the objective of meeting needs in the context of COVID-19,” Mario says. “But we hope that in the future, we’ll keep collaboratively developing technological solutions to social problems.” El Salvador Conectado is also a platform for its members to share their ideas, one of which led to a partnership with the Ministry of Education on a virtual education program reaching youth in

Above: Karla and Mario are both involved with Hackerspace, an open lab for programmers and developers in San Salvador

Photos provided by Moalimuu Nur, Karla Hernández

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