Technology and Advocacy for Open Societies

The Technology and Advocacy for Open Societies initiative promotes the strategic use of digital technologies and information tools with the goal of enhancing the capacity of civil society groups to advocate their causes through the many channels now available. We support expert organizations, individuals and networks whose mission is to introduce advocates to new ways of approaching information and communications projects, and to the tools available to put these new skills to use. Through support for these experts, the initiative aims to transform the way that civil society organizations, particularly those engaged in monitoring and advocacy, use and produce information.

The use of new technologies by advocates involves a darker side that ranges from outright threats to freedom of expression such as online censorship and DDoS attacks to more subtle challenges to open society values and institutions in the online space. We see an expanding need to address these threats and we therefore support expertise-building in digital security for NGOs, and development of software tools and tactics to defeat online censorship.

Who We Support

Past and current grantees include Frontline SMS, Tactical Technology Collective, Ushahidi, Witness, Open Street Maps, Global Voices Online, CiviCRM, Aspiration Technologies, the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, and Citizen Lab. Although this initiative rarely provides direct support to individual advocacy groups for the development or implementation of their new media strategies, we regularly work with initiatives within the Soros foundations network on specific projects for the benefit of their grantees.

Past examples have included joint support for grantees of the Public Health Program to attend WITNESS's Video Advocacy Institute, and joint support to information projects of local Soros foundation grantees. Finally, this program also occasionally supports research into related, emerging areas that demand critical insight.

If you are considering applying for funding under this initiative, please email the relevant program manager (see link, below) with a brief description of your project. They will be able to advise you if your proposal is suitable for funding from OSI, and guide you through the application process from there.

View contact information for this initiative.