Ashepet, M. G.,  Huyse, T.,  Jacobs, L.,  Anyolitho, M. K.,  Nyakato, V.,  Wigerinck, B.,  Kagoro-Rugunda, G.,  Vranken, L. & Michellier, C. 2024. ‘Can citizen science-generated data induce policy changes? Insights from policy actors from Uganda’. The European Citizen Science Association (ECSA) conference 2024. Book of abstracts. DOI: https://2024.ecsa.ngo/.

Conference abstract

Citizen science has received recognition as an appropriate tool to address global challenges, shape policy and foster sustainable change. While examples of how citizen science has induced policy changes are present in the Global North where the approach is well established, scaling the uptake of citizen science-generated evidence demands insights into the perceptions of key actors influencing policy, be they government or not. However, in the Global South, where citizen science is largely untapped, much remains unknown about how citizen science is conceived by policy stakeholders. This study addresses this gap by examining perceptions of policy actors towards citizen science in Uganda, focusing on the factors that either facilitate or hinder their trust in citizen science-generated data. To achieve this, the study targeted three citizen science initiatives implemented in southwest Uganda to monitor natural hazard disasters and freshwater snails transmitting schistosomiasis. Purposive sampling was employed to select both elected and technical leaders relevant to the objectives of these citizen science initiatives. Eighty semi-structured interviews and nine focus group discussions were conducted with leaders at the district, sub-county, and community levels, followed by a thematic analysis of the data. Preliminary results indicate that there is moderate trust in citizen science- generated data amongst the leaders. Trust is attributed to factors such as the presence of supporting evidence for the data and participant selection procedures. Distrust seems to stem from concerns about the data quality reported by the community members as well as the ‘quality’ of participants. To foster trust in citizens’ science-generated data and facilitate impactful citizen science, respondents suggest constant supervision by local stakeholders particularly to verify the data. This underscores the importance of actively involving local community members right from the inception of the project.