isma’at

A proposed United Nations Global Pulse initiative

In post-revolution societies, citizens demand action from a government that listens to their concerns. isma’at (Arabic for listen) is a platform that evaluates the progress of a nation’s rebuilding process while fostering dialogue between the government and its people.

isma’at empowers citizens by letting them share their voices online and offline (via Question Box and community meetings). Posts are aggregated to show a macro view of the public’s concerns and opinions. Simultaneously, isma’at tracks the country’s progress towards a UN-administered set of baseline metrics for an ideal society and generates reports that illustrate the direct connections between the public’s feedback and the government’s actions.

isma’at is a powerful platform that uses an iterative action research model to help government and people work together towards long-term success. The platform’s value comes in letting people vent their immediate concerns while managing their expectations to give the government the time it needs to work towards transformative change.

In collaboration with Russell Flench, Kareem Hindi, Collin Smith, and Selena Xu