Earlier this month, Translators without Borders led a translation team in partnership with Ushahidi as part of the Uchaguzi Kenya 2013 deployment to ensure free, fair and peaceful elections in Kenya.

The Kenyan elections were held on March 4, 2013 and Translators without Borders offered 24/7 information sharing support prior to, during and following the event, as part of the digital humanitarian teams working on Uchaguzi.

How important is the translation effort during the Kenyan elections? The last election in 2007 sparked two months of unrest which led to more than 1,000 deaths. This time the goal was to make sure all voices were heard throughout the country.

Mobile phones are ubiquitous in Kenya. The most common languages of engagement and network socializing are English and Swahili. However, other regional languages, including Luo, Nandi, Kipsigis, Kikuyu, Luhya, Kamba, Meru and Kisii are also often used.

During the elections, the Translators without Borders team translated texts from all of those languages, while opening social media communications, and provided the information to the Uchaguzi crowd mapping team to help people have a voice wherever they were located in the country.

“We are founded on the principle that access to knowledge is paramount to humanitarian efforts around the world,” said Lori Thicke, founder of Translators without Borders.

“Just as we did three years ago in Haiti, we worked closely with the humanitarian teams in Kenya to make sure all texts, tweets, emails and more that came in were understood so that information can be logged and used to ensure a peaceful process.”

Translators without Borders was borne out of the Haiti earthquake crisis in 2010. Ushahidi was active in that crisis, making sure that text messages were distributed.