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Is Guardian Connector right for me?

This page is for you if you're interested in seeing whether Guardian Connector is a good fit for your organization to help you better manage data and information to protect your land, traditions, and future.

Guardian Connector is more than just a software tool; it's a system built to empower Indigenous communities to take charge of their own data. Grounded in principles of data sovereignty, community-driven design, and long-term sustainability (see Design Principles), Guardian Connector is designed to be a tool that is owned and operated by Indigenous communities.

What kind of organization is a good fit for Guardian Connector?​

Guardian Connector is designed for Indigenous communities and organizations that are committed to data sovereignty and are looking for strong, flexible, and lasting ways to manage their information. Its suitability for your organization is assessed by how well it aligns with your goals and resources.

1. Projects and goals that benefit from Guardian Connector​

Your organization is poised to benefit from using Guardian Connector if it has clear goals that involve using data.

Guardian Connector is particularly helpful for projects like:

  • Watching over your territory: Setting up community-led monitoring programs to track threats like illegal mining or logging, or to keep an eye on local plants and animals.
  • Mapping your land and traditions: Creating maps to show your territory boundaries, mark sacred places, map how you use resources, or record cultural heritage sites.
  • Collecting community information: Administering surveys to gather important details about your community, such as population changes, economic situations, or access to justice.
  • Bringing old data together: Gathering and organizing information collected in the past that might be scattered across different devices, old paper records, or held by outside groups.
  • Understanding and showing your data: Turning raw data into easy-to-understand charts, maps, and reports (dashboards) to see trends and impacts. This helps leaders make informed decisions for the village.
  • Creating powerful reports: Producing actionable reports for advocating for your rights, for legal needs, for sharing within your community, or for fundraising.
  • Preventing data loss: Ensuring that valuable information collected by your community is backed up and safe from being lost due to device problems or staff changes.

2. People in your organization who will use Guardian Connector​

For Guardian Connector to be most successful, your organization should have:

  • Committed Leadership: Leaders who understand and support the project, providing the necessary backing (like time, equipment, or funds) to keep it going. They are key for making decisions on how data is used.
  • A Dedicated Team Member: At least one person who is eager to learn and lead your organization's data efforts. This person doesn't need to be a technology expert from the start, but they should be willing to learn how to manage your data. They might be a monitoring coordinator, a GIS officer, or a data manager. This person could also train others in the organization or community.
  • Ability to Organize Projects: Your team should be able to organize and carry out data collection projects (like mapping or surveys) with some independence. Our goal is to empower your team to use these tools on their own, with our support.
  • Interest in Local Experts: A desire to grow your own Indigenous data analysts within the community, ensuring that data is truly understood and used by your the community's own people.

3. What kind of information can Guardian Connector store?​

Guardian Connector acts like a secure central repository for all your organization's important information, bringing together data that might otherwise be scattered and at risk of being lost. It can safely store:

  • Maps and Location Data: This includes GPS points, maps made with tools like Locus Map or CoMapeo, and spatial data that show your territory, sacred sites, and resource use.
  • Survey Answers: Information collected from surveys using tools like KoboToolbox, ODK, or Survey123.
  • Satellite Alerts: Warnings about changes in your territory, like illegal gold mining, logging, or deforestation.
  • Wildlife Data: Information from camera traps and bioacoustic sensors.
  • Photos and Videos: Images and video clips from camera traps, drones, or collected during fieldwork.
  • Old Project Data: Any information from past studies or projects that you want to keep safe.

Guardian Connector can hold huge amounts of diverse data in one private and secure place, helping to prevent data loss that often happens with lost devices or unorganized files.

4. Technology that you will need​

To use Guardian Connector effectively, you'll need some basic technology:

  • Internet Access: A regular internet connection is helpful, even if it's not always perfect. With Starlink becoming more common, this is easier for many communities. However, we know that remote areas often have unreliable internet, so Guardian Connector is also being designed to work well by integrating with offline-first tools such as CoMapeo and KoboToolbox, meaning you can do a lot of your work without being connected and sync the data later.
  • Computers and Phones: Access to desktop computers and mobile phones is needed for collecting, managing, and viewing your data. It's best if your main data person has their own dedicated computer.
  • Ability to Meet Online: Being able to participate in regular online meetings helps provide ongoing support and work together.

5. What Guardian Connector is NOT (important things to know)​

It's good to also know what Guardian Connector isn't, so you have a clear picture:

  • Not a full mapping program like QGIS or ArcGIS: While Guardian Connector can store and organize your map data for use in other tools, it's not a complete map-making or editing software on its own. However, it can feed data to these tools.
  • Moving towards self-hosting: Right now, most Guardian Connector systems are set up by CMI in the cloud (online). But we are actively working towards making it easy for communities to host it themselves. The goal is always for you to own and control your data, no matter where it's hosted.

How you can work with CMI to use Guardian Connector​

Guardian Connector is open-source software, and can be self-hosted. However, CMI can also work with you to set it up to meet your needs, and provide ongoing support. Currently, we are doing this for the partner organizations of Nia Tero.

A successful partnership with Guardian Connector involves:

  • Clear Goals and Timelines: We'll work together to agree on realistic goals and a timeline for our collaboration.
  • Support from Your Leaders: It's important that your community leaders and decision-makers understand and support this initiative. Their involvement helps ensure the project has strong backing and aligns with community priorities.
  • Working Together to Build what's needed: Guardian Connector is always improving, and we want to work closely with your community to make sure it truly meets your specific needs. Your feedback helps shape the tool.
  • Ongoing Support: While Guardian Connector is designed for you to use independently, we provide initial setup and ongoing technical help for tasks that might be more complex. We are here to support you throughout your data journey.