Uganda using technology to do impact their communities

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U-Report is the project operated by UNICEF Uganda to correct views and establish discussion via mobile devices. The project is using SMS mainly Rapid SMS to correct these views from the people in the local community. Mainly through the use of these SMS people discuss matter that is affecting their communities in one way or the other. The topics which are discussed include female genital mutilation, inflation, violence, education, early marriage and service delivery. Currently there are 81, 500 members who have been registered all over Uganda through a short code. 

Hint: RapidSMS is a free and open-source framework for dynamic data collection, logistics coordination and communication, leveraging basic short message service (SMS) mobile phone technology.

In order to achieve impact, they partner with 9 NGOs, as well as research institutes and the World Bank, who devise questions and use the data to plan projects.  They also use the reports for advocacy and significant media work.  They take critical issues identified through the SMS polling and explore them on radio and television shows e.g. early marriage, child beatings.  An expert and an MP are then asked to respond to questions from the public.  The challenge is that this is expensive, particularly as the radio stations are local, but UNICEF believes it is worth the high costs as radio is still currently the most effective way of reaching the majority of citizens.

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Transparency International’s Uganda branch has recently piloted utilizing a toll free call center and SMS platform to track health absenteeism, late opening times in clinics and other challenges in the health sector in Uganda.  They also ran a radio talk show which reported on the performance of health centers and provided training to communities on their right to health information and other health rights and on how to report violations.
                        Hint: The project, called uReport, allows users to sign up via a toll-free short code for regular SMS-based polls and messages. Citizen responses are used both in weekly radio talk shows to create discussion on community issues, and shared among UNICEF and other aid organizations to provide a better picture of how services work across Uganda.