Hola: Real-time Democratic accountability platform development - BC-982

Genre de projet: Innovation
Discipline(s) souhaitée(s): Génie - informatique / électrique, Génie, Informatique, Sciences mathématiques, Science politique, Sciences sociales et humaines
Entreprise: ChangeMaker Collective
Durée du projet: 6 mois à 1 an
Date souhaitée de début: Dès que possible
Langue exigée: Anglais
Emplacement(s): Prince George, BC, Canada
Nombre de postes: 1
Niveau de scolarité désiré: CollègeÉtudes de premier cycle/baccalauréatMaîtriseNouvelle diplômée/nouveau diplômé
Ouvert aux candidatures de personnes inscrites à un établissement à l’extérieur du Canada: No

Au sujet de l’entreprise: 

ChangeMakers Collective is a civic technology startup founded by six experienced professionals from marketing, enterprise software, and technology backgrounds. The company is developing HOLA, a mobile platform that transforms democratic accountability by enabling continuous citizen engagement with elected representatives between election cycles.

The platform addresses widespread voter apathy and democratic disillusionment by allowing citizens to create personalized issue priorities, track government performance on those issues through automated data analysis, and provide real-time feedback to their representatives. HOLA combines algorithmic performance tracking using public government data with instant polling capabilities, replacing costly traditional polling methods.

ChangeMakers Collective's vision is to leverage technology to build more accountable government by fundamentally changing how citizens and elected leaders interact - shifting focus from merely who gets elected to how they actually govern once in office. The company aims to position Canada as a leader in citizen-centered democratic innovation while creating a scalable platform for eventual international expansion.

Veuillez décrire le projet.: 

ChangeMakers Collective is developing HOLA (Hold Officials & Leaders Accountable), a mobile civic engagement platform that introduces two key innovations to democratic accountability: real-time pulse polling and algorithmic performance tracking of elected officials.

The innovation addresses critical gaps in current democratic processes where citizens have limited mechanisms to hold representatives accountable between election cycles. Traditional polling takes 8-12 weeks and costs significantly, while voters rely primarily on subjective opinions about political performance rather than objective data analysis.

HOLA's first innovation replaces costly traditional polling with instant, cost-effective pulse checking that allows elected officials to gauge public opinion on controversial issues in real-time. The second innovation involves automated systems that scrape public government data sources (Elections Canada, parliamentary records, RSS feeds) to track whether politicians deliver on promises and commitments, generating objective accountability scores through data analysis.

The platform enables citizens to create personalized issue priorities, which aggregate into community "citizens agendas" at local, provincial, and national levels. A red-amber-green coding system tracks government delivery on these priorities, while citizens rate representatives on four parameters: integrity, results delivery, accessibility, and constitutional centricity.

The candidate will work directly with the CTO to develop core application functionality using React Native and Node.js, including building user interfaces for issue tracking and representative rating, implementing API integrations with government data sources, creating algorithmic performance tracking systems, and developing real-time polling capabilities. The methodology involves agile development practices, progressive web application architecture, and integration with Canadian government open data APIs using CKAN protocols.

Currently at Technology Readiness Level 4, the project aims to launch beta testing within 10 months, followed by national rollout in 2026, positioning Canada as a leader in citizen-centered democratic innovation.

Expertise ou compétences exigées: 

Essential Technical Skills:
• Mobile Application Development and Application Development skills
• Proficiency in Node.js and React Native
• Strong understanding of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)
• iOS Development capabilities
• Excellent problem-solving and debugging skills
• Comprehensive understanding of mobile development lifecycle
• Effective communication and teamwork abilities

Additional Valuable Skills:
• Experience with agile development methodologies
• API development and integration experience (for government data sources)
• Database design and management
• Version control systems (Git)
• Experience with JSON/CSV data formats

Project-Specific Assets:
• Understanding of web scraping techniques for public data sources
• Familiarity with REST APIs and data parsing
• Experience with real-time data processing systems
• Knowledge of progressive web application architecture