Freetown, June 2018 — During Sierra Leone’s elextions in March (round 1) and April (round 2) 2018, while most citizens were glued to radios, tvs and phones trying to verify what was true and what wasn’t, a group of young innovators at aLabs Africa quietly built something extraordinary.
Equiped with laptops, creativity, and determination, they turned to open-source platforms – RapidPro for SMS messaging and Ushahidi for online reporting and mapping, to create a simple but powerful system that kept people informed in real-time.
For the first time, thousands of Sierra Leoneans received official election updates directly on their mobile phones. Whether it was information about voting procedures, polling station guidance, or critical alerts on election day, the SMS service gave people clarity when rumors and misinformation were spreading fast.
“Not everyone has internet access, but nearly everyone has a basic phone,” one of the team members explained. “We wanted a system that could reach the farmer in Kono, the trader in Bo, and the student in Freetown – all at the same time.”
The innovation didn’t stop at SMS. Through Ushahidi’s web-based platform, citizens and observers could also report incidents, track developments, and see a map of what was happening across the country. This online window became especially important for Sierra Leone’s diaspora community, who wanted to stay connected to election events back home.
The impact was immediate. The system helped calm election tensions, reduce the spread of fake news, and promote confidence in the election process. Journalists and civic groups praised it as a vital tool for transparency.
For ordinary people, it was a lifeline of trusted information during a crucial moment in the nation’s democratic journey.
In the end, the project showed how aLabs Africa works with young innovators together to strengthen democracy. What started as an experiment at aLabs Africa became an inspiring story of how local talent can solve big national challenges, with ressearch, development, and innovation at aLabs.