Gov-Engage is a civic tech tool that promotes promotes accountability from government and enhances citizens’ civic engagement processes with public officials. We use technology to bridge the gap between public officials and the citizens by helping citizens engage directly with their leaders and representatives in public office.
In 2021, Raising New Voices built a web portal that aggregated the contact of the members of parliament so that citizens could reach them via phone calls, emails and text message with a user journey that enabled every user to be able to identify their constituency, identify their representatives and reach them directly from the portal with the click of a button. Through collaborations with other civil society partners, word spread about the portal to encourage Nigerians to reach their representatives via the portal and let them know that electronic transmission of results was fundamental to the credibility of elections.
In two weeks, more than 5000 Nigerians had used the portal to engage their representatives. More than 2400 emails had been sent to different honorables and the Senate President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was reported in the media to have gotten more than 900 messages and calls on the issue of electronic transmission and is quoted to have denied that the National Assembly had such intention to prohibit what the people wanted. More than 3200 citizens received a message or email response from their representatives both at the Senate and at the House of Representatives. It was the first time some citizens had reached out directly to their representatives and the first time such a collective action campaign to engage representatives has worked so efficiently.
Gov-Engage is an initiative of Raising New Voices, a youth-focused organisation that leverages technology to promote youth participation and inclusion, policy advocacy, and good governance.