The African Union (AU) through funding from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) has begun funding an anti-corruption technology platform.
The civic engagement platform ‘ifollowthemoney’ seeks to empower youths with the right tools to seek and demand change and ultimately benefit from the dividends of democracy.
GIZ’s Adeshina Sylvester said the organisation partners and supports the AU on ways to connect with innovative actors in the continent, particularly in the governance and civic space.
Sylvester said this in Abuja at the presentation of the ifollowthemoney APK platform hosted on Web and Android play store by Connected Development (CODE).
He said: “GIZ supports the AU to think about ways to connect with innovative actors in the continent, particularly the governance and civic space. I am excited that CODE and particularly Follow the Money is a beneficiary of our Civic tech fund, we are glad that our support has contributed in a small way to the discussions we are having today. We are proud of the work so far, we would continue to seek opportunities and support the work that you do.”
Founder CODE and Follow the Money, Hamzat Lawal said ifollowthemoney is a tool that seeks to reach over seven million people across Africa.
He added: “Follow the Money is now uploaded into the web, android and IOS platforms in Kenya, the Gambia, Malawi, Cameron, Liberia, Zimbabwe, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Cape Verde and Nigeria. It’s going to be in six International languages which are Arabic, French, Swahili, Portuguese, English and Amharic.
“We are doing this to ensure that citizens in these countries are able to use data and evidence based outreaches to hold their countries to account.”
Lawal added that knowing that the African continent is plagued with corrupt practices where citizens most times do not have the platform to air their grievance or report some of these corrupt issues in their various communities.
The platform provides a unique avenue where citizens can document their needs and provide information on how governments is providing various interventions around basic education, health care, access to water, sanitation and hygiene and infrastructure.
