OUR HISTORY
FROM FIELD CHALLENGES TO GLOBAL SOLUTIONS
While conducting field research in conflict-affected Iraq, KoboToolbox Co-Founder Dr. Patrick Vinck saw firsthand how instability had left resources and infrastructure severely limited or nonexistent.
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Humanitarian organizations urgently needed timely, accurate data from communities on the ground—but paper-based data collection caused delays that cost time and resources. ​​
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That's when the dream for KoboToolbox began: adaptable, innovative data collection tools built for the world's most challenging environments—enabling faster, more effective responses to the world's most urgent crises. ​
How we got here
2005: KoboToolbox First Founded
​2005: Founded by Phuong Pham and Patrick Vinck (HHI) and adopted for fieldwork
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2019: Kobo NGO Established
2019: Kobo established as an independent nonprofit organization
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2024: Launched KoboToolbox Ambassadors Program and Kobo Partner Services
2024: Launched the KoboToolbox Ambassadors Program;
Launched Kobo Partner Services to provide expert data support for nonprofits
2010: UNDP
Adopts
2010: Adopted by UNDP as their primary data tool in demobilization efforts​
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2022: Gold Anthem Award And DPG Recognition
2022: Gold Anthem Award for Best Humanitarian Product, Innovation, or Service; Officially recognized as a Digital Public Good by the DPGA
2025: Awarded WSIS Prize Champion and Top-Rated from GreatNonprofits
2025: Selected as WSIS Prize Champion 2025; Received a Top-Rated Award from GreatNonprofits
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2013-14: Available Globally
2013-14: Expanded to a global platform, through partnership with OCHA and IRC; Available to individuals and organizations worldwide via our public servers
2023: OCHA server transfer and KoboToolbox Academy launched
2023: Ownership of the OCHA humanitarian server transferred to Kobo; Launched the first KoboToolbox Academy Course​
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2025: Launched Kobo Research
2025: Officially launched Kobo Research with flagship project in Colombia
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2016: UNHCR
Adopts
2016: Adopted by UNHCR to improve data collection for refugee and IDP assistance
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2024: Awarded Pizzigati Prize and Candid Platinum Seal
2024: Awarded the Pizzigati Prize for Software in the Public Interest
and the Candid Platinum Seal of Transparency
FROM PAPER TO KOBO: THE ORIGIN OF A NAME
In 2005, while ​conducting field research in Northern Uganda, Dr. Patrick Vinck and Co-Founder Dr. Phuong Pham again faced the same inefficiencies of paper-based data collection.
Together, they developed the first prototype of their handheld digital data collection tool for low-resource and low-connectivity environments.
The local Ugandan survey team named it Kobo—from the Acholi word meaning "transfer."
It symbolized exactly what the tool was built to do: transfer critical information from the field to the decision-makers who needed it most. ​​
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​​In 2010, the open source Android software—now known as KoboCollect—was piloted by the UN Development Programme in the Central African Republic. ​
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Kobo's Chief Innovation Officer, Dr. Tino Kreutzer, used the tool to collect data for the demobilization of thousands of former combatants, without access to electricity or mobile networks.
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The success of that pilot proved what the team had hoped: if it worked there, it could work anywhere.
TRUSTED ON THE FRONTLINES
KoboToolbox was quickly recognized as a game changer by field researchers and frontline responders in crisis-affected regions across the globe, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, and Northern Uganda.
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Today, Kobo remains true to its roots: open-source, locally adaptable, and driven by a mission to close the gap between what's happening on the ground and the decisions that shape our world.
