Small Media is a London-based action lab established in 2011 to provide digital research, training and advocacy solutions to support the work of civil society actors that assist risk communities globally.  SMF began empowering Iranian civil society organisations and now they also work implementing programs in wider Middle East and East Africa. They work in close collaboration with local organisations.

SMF provides capacity building services: media advocacy training and support, digital security training and support services. They work with CSOs to visualise their data to expand the reach of their advocacy work, secure hosting and technical support for websites under threat, and developing robust technology solutions. All SMF’s projects are based on a triangulated approach (research, training, technology). SMF’s approach is grounded in a focus on innovation and local leadership, and on fostering partnerships to accelerate the progress of social impact initiatives.

Regional partner: DefendDefenders (Uganda)

DefendDefenders is a NGO established in Uganda in 1989. They seek to strengthen the work of human rights defenders (HRDs) throughout the region in East and Horn of Africa by reducing their vulnerability to the risk of persecution and by enhancing their capacity to effectively defend human rights. DefendDefenders serves as Human Rights Defenders Network representing more than 70 members.

This project aims to increase the data collection, analysis and visualisation capacities of Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya Human Rights Organisations (HRO) focused on empowering Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transsexual-Intersex (LGBTI) people, women facing exploitation, abuse and/or violence, as well as indigenous groups and ethnic minorities.

The action comes from their research work in East Africa, where HRO in Tanzania and Uganda need training and collaborative innovation opportunities that support them to collect and present human rights documentation data. One of the questions this project aims to investigate is how to improve their offering of innovation and strategic guidance in design, development and social media for ongoing advocacy initiatives.

This project called Data4Change is inspired by a successful pilot project in Beirut that has proven responsive to regional and local HRO needs in the Middle East North Africa region. Inspired by the insights of this model, it has been useful for human rights organisations to learn the fundamentals of research methodology, data gathering, data analysis, data storytelling and data advocacy.

• How can we improve our selection of the HROs that will benefit the most from such an engagement?
• How can we strengthen the engagement of the programme with targeted marginalised groups?
• How can we improve our methods for assessing the current skill levels, needs and advocacy capacity of the selected HROs?
• How can we improve our training curriculum for the workshops?
• How can we improve the hosting and logistics of the training workshop, with a focus on value for money as an objective?
• How can we improve our offering of innovation consultancy and strategic guidance in design, development and social media for ongoing advocacy initiatives?
• How can we improve the management of our relationship with our partners based on their feedback)?
• How can we improve our impact measurements?