How can ICT be used to enable citizen-government collaboration and democratic deliberation on matters of local governance? How can ICT tools help Civil Society Organizations in strengthening their pursuit of public interest affairs? In this project, we challenge the traditional dogma of tech determinism and try to answer these questions through socio-technical approach.

Pokhara Sub-metropolitan is the second largest and one of the most rapidly growing cities in the nation. Unfortunately, the western segment of Nepal on which this city is situated also lies on the Main Himalayan Thrust fault that has not ruptured for the past 500 years. Moreover, this region suffers from landslides, floods and lightning strikes that claim hundreds of lives each year. Due to its susceptibility to such natural events and the presence of a highly dense population, Western Nepal is now considered as one of the most natural disaster prone regions in the world. The 2C project aims to build a resilient Pokhara and a prepared Western Nepal in the face of disaster by creating, expanding and leveraging the power of an open tech and information ecosystem.

While traditional mapping agencies target mapping needs of big organizations and expert users, everyday needs of map data for small organizations and citizens at large remain unmet. Moreover, conventional way of map making do not leverage the local knowledge of people about their own surroundings. Kathmandu Living Labs is leading a digital movement to create a free, wiki-style map of Nepal which is free to view, edit, download and even reuse.

Digital Internhsip and Leadership (DIAL) is a three months long extensive internship program which equips young (under)graduates with a broad understanding of open data, technology, civic learning and prepares them to be the next gen leaders in open data movement. DIAL is one of the capacity building initiatives under Digital Volunteers initiative of Kathmandu Living Labs.

Immediately after the earthquake, many people were desperate for help while volunteers and organizations were scrambling to find out how to help effectively. The post-earthquake response was scattered and disorganized. In response, KLL developed QuakeMap.org: an online portal that connected earthquake survivors to relief efforts by bridging the information gap through means of telephone calls, sms, web, mobile app, emails and social media reports. 2,200 reports from QuakeMap.org were used as first source of information by volunteer groups and response organizations including the Nepal Army.