Win it on the ground.
Know every voter by name, ward and promise made. Reach them in their language on the channel they actually answer — and watch every reply, door knock and shilling turn into votes.
Kenyan elections are won ward by ward. Groundwork is built on the country's real map, down to the doorstep.
The people you sign up in year one run your polling stations in August.
Most campaigns run on spreadsheets, WhatsApp groups and a tally centre built the week before. Groundwork keeps one record per person and one roster of agents, from the first door knock to the last Form 34A.
Organise
Know who lives where, who's with you, and who still needs a knock.
- People CRM
- Voters map county to door
- Walk lists & door app offline
- Agents & stipends M-Pesa
Talk and listen
Every message in one inbox, every broadcast to the right doors, every trend before it's a headline.
- Inbox SMS · WhatsApp · email · DMs
- Broadcast & ads SMS · Meta · Google
- Listening news · TikTok · YouTube · Reddit
- Polling SMS · USSD · web
Protect the vote
Agents on every station, forms photographed, a parallel tally you can defend.
- Parallel tally Form 34A by USSD
- War room live
- Incidents chain of custody
- Election atlas 2013 to 2022
Every door, known.
Satellite imagery of every ward, each household your agents meet placed on the map, and the last three elections alongside. Pick a ward, send an agent, message the people there, and watch the reports come back.
- County to doorstep. Drill from a county to a ward to the people in it, and colour it by canvass, support or top issue.
- Who to knock next. Walk lists put the never-contacted first and go straight to the agent's phone.
- Past results, sourced. 2013, 2017 and 2022 results from IEBC's own forms, with what to do in each area.
One record per person.
A poll reply, a message, a website sign-up and a door knock land on the same record when the number matches, and the history stays.
- Every way in. Door knocks, SMS and USSD replies, messages, your campaign website's volunteer form in English and Kiswahili, and imports.
- Find them again. Filter by ward, support, consent and last contact, then message exactly those people.
- Consent on the record. Who agreed to what, on which channel, and when.
Ask the estate, hear it back.
Write a question in English and Kiswahili, pick the wards, and send it by SMS, USSD, WhatsApp or a web link. Results are weighted to the register before anyone reads them.
- Any phone. A reply of "2" or "maji" counts, and so does a USSD menu on a kabambe.
- Thank people properly. Airtime or M-Pesa, paid once per person, automatically.
- Honest numbers. Margin of error and response rate on every result.
Every message, answered.
SMS, WhatsApp, email, Facebook and Instagram DMs, X and USSD call-backs in one queue, each read for mood and issue in English, Kiswahili or Sheng.
- Social listening. News, TikTok, YouTube, Reddit and your rivals' own posts, swept every hour, with Google Trends for what people search.
- Broadcasts that respect STOP. Consent is checked per person, per channel, at the moment of sending.
- A 06:00 briefing. The morning's checked story and your day, to read or hear before the first meeting.
Every shilling, accounted.
Spend against the statutory limit, a supporting document on every line, stipends to agents by M-Pesa, and an authorised person who approves before anything moves.
- No document, no approval. The block is the feature.
- The limit, always in view. Spend against the statutory ceiling, marked at half, three quarters and 90%.
- Contributions on record. Every contributor and amount, where the candidate can see them.
The county, counted.
Agents key the counts from each signed Form 34A by USSD on any phone and send a photo of the form. The war room shows the parallel tally against the official stream, with coverage stated on every figure.
Kiswahili USSD screens walk the agent through each count and a final check.
A projection always says how much of the register it has seen.
Anomalies surface with the form attached, for a human to review.
Only the IEBC declares results. Groundwork tells you where you stand.
Built for sunlight.
Big targets, 2px borders, no data needed to keep working. The canvasser you train in November is the agent you deploy in August, on the same app.
- Offline first. Door visits queue on the phone and send when there's signal.
- Sign-ups at the door. A new supporter's name, number and consent, recorded on the step.
- Stipends by M-Pesa once the coordinator signs off.
Your data is your campaign's, and nobody else's.
Campaigns hold sensitive information about real people. Groundwork is built so the right thing is the easy thing.
Nothing is shared between campaigns, and we never pool your supporters with anyone else's.
Channel by channel, with who captured it and when. STOP works on the spot.
Agents see their walk list, not the county. Phone numbers are masked unless a role needs them.
Every export, message and payout is logged against the person who did it.
Priced by the ground you cover.
One workspace per campaign, sized to the seat. Messaging, airtime and M-Pesa payouts are billed at cost, with nothing added on top.
Ward
1 ward · up to 60 agents- People, map & walk lists
- Inbox & SMS broadcast
- Field app & tally
Constituency
Up to 8 wards · 400 agents- Everything in Ward
- Polling & listening
- Finance & approvals
County
Every ward in the county · unlimited agents- Everything in Constituency
- War room & projection
- Paid media & creators
National
47 counties · coalition workspaces- Everything in County
- Multi-county war room
- Dedicated support team
Start early: the 18 months before polling day are when the roster, the map and the supporter list get built.
Asked on every first call.
Do our supporters need smartphones?
No. Polls and sign-ups work by SMS reply and by USSD on any phone. The web link and WhatsApp are there for people who prefer them. Agents use the field app on a low-cost Android phone, and it keeps working without data.
Can we message supporters on WhatsApp?
Your team can run WhatsApp from their own phones and log conversations in the Groundwork inbox. Meta's WhatsApp Business Policy doesn't allow political campaigns on its automated Business Platform, so SMS and USSD carry the automated sends. We'll walk you through what works best for your seat.
Does it work in Kiswahili?
Yes. Polls go out in English and Kiswahili and count replies in either, USSD menus and campaign websites come in both, and the inbox reads the mood and issue of a message in English, Kiswahili or Sheng.
What does social listening cover?
News and the open web, TikTok, YouTube and Reddit by keyword, your rivals' own posts, Google Alerts and Google Trends, swept on a schedule. Each sweep says what it could not reach, so a gap never passes for silence.
Where do the supporter records come from?
From your own campaign: door knocks, rallies, polls, sign-ups, events and your existing lists. Every record carries its source and consent, and we don't sell or supply contact lists.
Is the parallel tally an official result?
No. Only the IEBC declares results. Groundwork records the forms your agents observe and shows you where you stand, how much of the register you've covered, and where the forms disagree.
How long does it take to get started?
A workspace with your wards and your first team can be live within a week. The more time before polling day, the more doors you'll have on the map.
Do you work with every party?
Groundwork is a product, not a political consultancy. Each campaign gets its own workspace, and nothing is shared between them.
See your ward on the map.
Tell us the seat you're running for. We'll show you Groundwork with your own wards loaded, in 30 minutes.