Problem

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) worldwide collect massive amounts of data relating to human rights violations to bring attention to the victims and justice to the perpetrators. However, a large part of this information is lost due to confiscation or destruction, neglect, time or because the NGO lacks the resources to document and communicate information systematically and securely. At one NGO in Sri Lanka, termites ate seven years of collected information that was stored in paper form.

The Gift

Your donation will provide one hour of Martus training by Benetech Human Rights Program (HRP) field staff. The HRP staff will to go out into the field to train project leaders on the Martus tool and provide assistance throughout their projects collecting and securing data on human rights violations.
Martus – Greek for “witness” – is an open-source program that helps non-technical human rights NGOs capture, backup and protect their most valuable asset: information. It provides users with control over the decision of which information is kept securely (cryptographically) and which information is publicly and widely disseminated.
By empowering grassroots NGOs to securely catalogue and store their records with easy-to-use software, Martus helps to preserve crucial evidence for research, investigation and prosecutions. Without the secure collection and use of such information, social justice advocates would have a limited chance of success.