The Sentinel Project

What The Sentinel Project does

The Sentinel Project is a Canadian non-profit organization founded in 2008 with a mission to prevent mass atrocities including genocide through early warning systems and direct cooperation with threatened communities. The organization is headquartered in Canada with members in several countries worldwide and operates active programs in Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Burma/Myanmar, plus monitoring situations in Yemen, Sri Lanka, and Somalia. Its core constituents are communities at risk of mass atrocities, refugees and displaced populations, and youth in conflict-affected regions, with a vertical segmentation by geography rather than industry.

The Sentinel Project's product portfolio centers on four core technology platforms alongside several regional project implementations. Hatebase (launched March 2013) is described as the world's largest online repository of structured multilingual, usage-based hate speech, offering a Wikipedia-like classification interface and an authenticating API for developers. WikiRumours (released 2014) is a free, MIT-licensed open-source web and mobile platform for moderating misinformation and disinformation. Una Hakika (Swahili for 'Are you sure?') is an SMS-based rumour verification service operating in Kenya's Tana Delta via toll-free short code 21512, supported by 200 trained volunteer community ambassadors across 17 villages and the Amani FM peacebuilding radio station. Sarus Humanitarian Aerospace (launched 2014) deploys unmanned aerial vehicles and satellite imagery for humanitarian projects. Regional implementations include Hagiga Wahid (Uganda/South Sudan), Kijiji Cha Amani (DRC), Peaceful Truth (Myanmar), and the Kenya Election 2022 violence-prevention initiative.

The organization's revenue model is structured as a non-profit, sustained primarily through donations from individual supporters and institutional grants from government and multilateral donors including the International Development Research Centre, the Australian government, the New Zealand government, and Global Affairs Canada. All services are provided free of charge to beneficiary communities, with no fees, subscriptions, or commercial revenue from program participants. The go-to-market motion is community-led: field staff deploy alongside trained local ambassadors, with services distributed through SMS networks, community radio, local NGO partnerships (Kenya Red Cross, Community Development Centre, iHub Research), and an open-source software distribution channel. The organization distributes verified information directly to subscribers via SMS and voice calls, while WikiRumours is made available for self-serve adoption by other organizations under the MIT license.

Name

The Sentinel Project

Legal name

The Sentinel Project

Website

https://thesentinelproject.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Sentinel Project is a Canadian non-profit founded in 2008 that prevents mass atrocities and genocide through technology-enabled early warning systems, misinformation management, and community-based peacebuilding in conflict-affected regions across East Africa, Central Africa, and Southeast Asia.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Humanitarian and Genocide Prevention Services

NAICS

Emergency and Other Relief Services (624230), Human Rights Organizations (813311)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Emergency Response & Search-and-Rescue (SAR) (BPAGAAAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Human Rights & Anti-Discrimination Organizations (BPAGAFAB), Humanitarian Health & Emergency Medical Relief NGOs (HLAJAKAE)

Keywords

• Genocide prevention
• Mass atrocity early warning
• Misinformation management
• Hate speech monitoring
• Humanitarian technology

Headquarters

HQ city

Toronto

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Charitable Contributions: The Sentinel Project is a non-profit organization funded primarily through donations from supporters. Donations are described as 'an investment in a world without genocide.' The organization also receives funding from institutional donors including government agencies.
2. Institutional Grants: Funding received from institutional donors such as the International Development Research Centre, Australian government, New Zealand government, and Global Affairs Canada. Grants support specific projects like Hagiga Wahid in Uganda and South Sudan.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Sentinel Project delivers technology-enabled genocide and mass atrocity prevention services, including multilingual hate speech monitoring (Hatebase), open-source misinformation moderation software (WikiRumours), SMS-based community rumour verification hotlines (Una Hakika), humanitarian UAV/aerospace programs (Sarus), and country-specific misinformation projects in Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, DRC, and Myanmar. All offerings are delivered free of charge to communities at risk, supported by a network of trained community ambassadors and local NGO partners.

Product overview

The Sentinel Project is a non-profit genocide prevention organization that operates a portfolio of technology-driven products and projects focused on early warning, humanitarian aerospace, and misinformation management. The core offerings include Hatebase (multilingual hate speech repository), WikiRumours (open-source misinformation moderation platform), and regional misinformation management projects (Una Hakika in Kenya, Kijiji Cha Amani in DRC, Hagiga Wahid in South Sudan/Uganda, Peaceful Truth in Myanmar). Supporting infrastructure includes Sarus Humanitarian Aerospace (drone technology for humanitarian contexts). The products work together to detect early warning signs of mass atrocities, verify and counter misinformation, and provide communities with accurate information to prevent violence.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Hatebase: World's largest online repository of structured multilingual, usage-based hate speech launched March 25, 2013, designed to help researchers detect early stages of genocide. Offers Wikipedia-like interface for classifying location-specific sightings and authenticating API for developers.
• WikiRumours
• Una Hakika
• Sarus Humanitarian Aerospace
• Hagiga Wahid
• Kijiji Cha Amani
• Peaceful Truth

Products and services

• Hatebase The world's largest online repository of structured multilingual, usage-based hate speech, designed to help researchers detect early stages of genocide through a Wikipedia-like interface for classifying location-specific sightings and an authenticating API.
• WikiRumours Free and open source web- and mobile-based platform for moderating misinformation and disinformation, licensed under MIT, enabling community involvement, crisis moderation and transparency.
• Una Hakika SMS-based information service providing subscribers with neutral, accurate information in response to rumours in the Tana Delta, Kenya, using toll-free SMS short code 21512, voice calls, and volunteer community ambassadors.
• Sarus Humanitarian Aerospace Initiative utilizing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs/drones) and satellite imagery to assist humanitarian projects by providing new tools and perspectives to increase impact and efficiency, operating through practical deployment, research, and training.
• Kijiji Cha Amani Misinformation management project in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, supporting access to reliable information in conflict-affected northeastern region.
• Hagiga Wahid Misinformation management platform supporting peace processes in South Sudan and Uganda, providing accurate information to refugees and host communities through mobile-based communication.
• Peaceful Truth Truth and reconciliation project developed from the Una Hakika model, focused on information and misinformation management in Myanmar/Burma.
• Kenya Election 2022 Early warning and violence prevention initiative focused on monitoring and mitigating election-related violence risks during Kenya's 2022 general election.

Quantifiable outcome

• 200 trained volunteer community ambassadors across 17 villages
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability5 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Community Development Centre (CDC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal partner organization in Uganda that assists with reaching Rhino Camp refugee settlement and implementing the Hagiga Wahid misinformation management project. CDC has conducted interviews, focus groups, and community meetings as part of baseline research.
• iHub ResearchcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTechnology research organization in Nairobi that has facilitated strategic planning sessions and provided orientation for Sentinel Project's Kenyan staff members. Partnered in launching the Tana Delta Misinformation Project.
• Health Communication Resources (HCR)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerUK-based organization that works with developing countries on health communication. Invited Sentinel Project to stakeholder consultation meetings in Hola, Tana Delta.
• Kenya Red CrosscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational humanitarian organization that has been helpful in the rumour verification process for Una Hakika. One of several NGOs operating in the Tana Delta area.
• Patrick Meier (Qatar Computing Research Institute)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDirector of Social Innovation at Qatar Computing Research Institute and leader in crisis-mapping and early warning technologies. Working with Sentinel Project's Humanitarian UAV Working Group to advance drone deployments in Kenya's Tana Delta.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves13 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Ushahidi: Open-source crisis-mapping platform originally built to monitor post-election violence in Kenya; shares Sentinel Project's model of combining community-sourced reports, SMS, and technology to track conflict and humanitarian events.
• Meedan: Technology nonprofit building collaborative fact-checking and content moderation tools (e.g., Check) — directly comparable to WikiRumours as open-source rumour verification infrastructure for humanitarian and human rights use cases.
• Internews: International nonprofit that supports independent media and information access in fragile states; runs misinformation and community radio programs in many of the same geographies as Sentinel Project's field operations.
• Build Up: Nonprofit working on misinformation and intercommunal violence prevention, including projects in Kenya; closely comparable to Sentinel Project's Una Hakika and Hagiga Wahid programs targeting rumour-driven conflict.
• WITNESS: Human rights organization that uses video and technology to document and prevent human rights abuses; shares Sentinel Project's focus on combining technology with grassroots documentation in conflict-affected contexts.

Broad incumbents

• International Crisis Group: Larger, established think tank working globally on conflict prevention through analysis and policy advocacy; overlaps with Sentinel Project's mission of preventing mass atrocities but operates via policy reports rather than community-embedded programming.
• BBC Media Action: BBC's international development charity running media and information programs in fragile states including Kenya, Myanmar, and South Sudan; overlaps significantly with Sentinel Project's peacebuilding information work but with much larger institutional funding.
• International Committee of the Red Cross: Largest humanitarian organization with operations across all Sentinel Project geographies; provides broader humanitarian mandate but does not focus specifically on misinformation-driven atrocity prevention.

Regional players

• RefugePoint: Refugee-serving organization with significant programs in Kenya (including Kakuma, the same camp where Sentinel Project operates); focuses on refugee self-reliance and protection rather than misinformation management, but operates in overlapping field locations.

Emerging players

• Information Futures Lab (Brown University): Research center continuing First Draft's misinformation and trust work; shares Sentinel Project's evidence-based approach to understanding misinformation ecosystems and produces comparable frameworks for community-based verification.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/SentinelProject
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/sentinelprojectorg
• Facebookfacebook.com/stopgenocide
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sentinelproject
• Instagraminstagram.com/thesentinelprojectorg

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Sentinel Project