Code for South Africa is looking for a new name!

Code for South Africa is rebranding. At three years old, we’ve done some exciting work, learnt a lot and it is time to ensure that our name matches up with our vision, mission and values.

We’re starting by looking for a new name that is less code, more us. “Code for South Africa” has served us well, but it does not do justice to what we do: use data and technology to promote more informed decision making that drives social change.

Let us know what you think our name should be and why it suits us on this Google form.

Yes, we code, but we don’t code for a living. It is not our core offering, it is simply one of the tools we use to achieve our goals.

So this year, between building some awesome civic tech tools, like Open Gazettes, Municipal Money and our Android App, Pocket Reporter, we did some serious self-reflection. And found that changing our brand identity is much harder than we thought.

Change is never easy, or comfortable. We’ve realised that we know ourselves best, but that this is both a blessing and a curse. We know why we exist and what we seek to achieve, but because it’s so familiar to us we need outside perspective on whether we convey this accurately.

So we’re asking you - partners, donors, stakeholders, community members - to help us. While we have no official guidelines and it’s a blank canvas, here are some words and phrases that resonate with us: open, access, technology, civic, citizen, data, information, action, empowerment, liberation, democracy, informed decisions, activism, advocacy, active citizenry.

Let us know what you think our name should be and why it suits us on this Google form.

For more inspiration, have a look at What We Do, browse through the projects we’ve worked on, and download a copy of our Founding Principles, that has more information on why we exist, and what we hope to achieve.

We look forward to receiving your input on this important next step.

The Team formerly known as Code for South Africa