Category: Donations democracy, media and privacy

Bureau Burgerberaad‘s dream is a democracy in which politicians and residents work together to solve tough issues and shape the future together. Citizens’ councils play a crucial role in this – provided they are done well.

With support from Stichting Goeie Grutten, Bureau Burgerberaad is researching, on the one hand, the needs of non-attached residents of a (municipal) citizens’ council to be involved and what is the best form for that. And on the other, how to make it easier for municipalities to do so.

The European Digital Rights network (EDRi) is a collective of 50+ NGOs, experts, lawyers and academics who are all working to protect and advance digital rights in Europe (and beyond).

With support from SGG, EDRi can expand its work against spyware, encryption threats and other disproportionate state surveillance that impacts human rights and democratic principles.

This includes a special focus on groups such as journalists, whistleblowers, human rights defenders and racialised and marginalised groups, who have been systematically over-guarded and discriminated against.

Free Press Unlimited – which supports press freedom worldwide – is expanding its knowledge of Artificial Intelligence. This will help them develop suggestions for regulating AI technology and provide partners with relevant expertise. They hope this will strengthen access to reliable information.

Expertise center SPOON believes that everyone has the right to request information from the government through a Freedom of Information request (Woo request). They reinforce this right through policy advocacy, legal procedures, knowledge sharing, and smart tools.

The momentum is there, with the new Open Government Act and dissatisfaction with its practical implementation.

Artificial Intelligence is both an opportunity and a threat in the media industry. In 2024, investigative journalists at InvestiCo will experiment with setting up an AI workflow in four investigative projects. Code needs to be written, and collected data will be analyzed with specific expertise. This project is supported by the Goeie Grutten Foundation.

Saxion University of Applied Sciences has developed a digital tool that allows political office holders to gain insight into the formal and informal networks of politicians and administrators, to identify potential risks of undermining and integrity issues: the Saxion Resilience Scan.

The tool is now being further developed so that it can also be used by other target groups besides local administrators.

Globally, press freedom is under pressure. As a leading platform for photojournalism, World Press Photo is developing a strategy in this project to contribute more directly to the protection of press freedom, particularly for photojournalists in high-risk countries.