Samson Omondi, from Kenya's National Commission on Human Rights, talks to us about the power of people's data for systems change.
Click above to watch the interview on The Gram !
When is data NOT something to celebrate? As Omondi tells us "when it’s poorly collected, analyzed, or shared. " On the otherhand, citizen-generated data— what we call People’s Data— done right can reshape policies and transform politics.
Looking for an example? Each year, countries report their progress on the SDGs. In 2024, Kenya used citizen-generated data (provided by ALLIED) to highlight human rights violations, especially against Indigenous, land and environmental defenders .
In this interview, Samson Omondi from the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights explains why this is a game changer. He also shares top advice for civil society organizations working on people's data.
What surprised you most about the process of validating data about abuses against human rights defenders?
I think the bravery of human rights defenders when it comes to collection of data, when it comes to the advocacy that they do, when it comes to sharing information, the bravery is just on another level. It is the state which is the primary perpetrator of this. And we all know the kind of power that state has.
Holding the state to account is not easy. And, the fact that you're dealing with killings, you're dealing with torture. At times you ask yourself, wow, was it worth it?
People do risk a lot to get this information out. why is People’s Data like this so important?
Citizen generated data is transformative. I don't know whether you've been following what has been happening in Kenya over the last few months -- the uprising by the Gen Z's and all that group. I mean, we can attribute that to citizen generated data. People can access that data and use it for purposes of making change.
If you need to protect and promote human rights, you need to have the right data in terms of numbers. You need to have the right data in terms of quality that you can use for making decisions. Let's say the data that you have says only 10 people are killed during a certain period. When ideally during that period, 14, 20, 30 people are killed.
Your interventions would not be right because of the wrong numbers that you have. Poorly collected, analyzed and disseminated data is worse than no data
Why are civil society organisations such important allies in this process?
Because there are a lot of data gaps. If you look at data that comes up at the national level, civil society allies are very important. You notice that neither the Kenyan National Commission on Human Rights nor the National Statistical Office work all the way at the grassroots level. Therefore, when it comes to the conversation of leaving no one behind, civil society organisations are the ones that are really operating at the local level.
Additionally, civil society work on a particular area. Let's say there's an organization that works on your land issues. If you need any information on land-related violations, you will go to them, as opposed to national organizations that work on a range of issues. In the process, you find that there are issues that get lost.
I think specialty and reach at the very local level [makes a lot of differenc]. These factors provide an opportunity for the CSOs to work directly with the governmental organization so that the issues that they have are channeled all the way up.
what is your advice to people and organisations working on people’s data who want to collaborate with government institutions?
Number one is -- generate data. Generate as much as is possible data. While the data may not be acceptable by the national institutions, the fact that that data is available -- citizen generated data -- it's helped in filling in the data gaps.
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