konbit

New: Health Workers in Guatemala and Jobs in Haiti, Guides on Safer Mobile Media

Posted by KatrinVerclas on Mar 15, 2011

In case you missed it!  We have some great new content on the site: Two new case studies on building a local jobs database in Haiti and TulaSalud, a mobile health project; and two new how-tos (that nicely complement each other). 

Melissa, our staff writer, explores Konbit, a project to build a mobile job database and matching service in Haiti: Konbit: Using Mobile Tech (and Your Voice) for Local Jobs in Haiti.

Our former intern Mohini describes her recent work with community health workers in Guatemala who are using mobiles for data collection and transfer: Up Close and Personal with TulaSalud's m-Health work in Guatemala.

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New: Health Workers in Guatemala and Jobs in Haiti, Guides on Safer Mobile Media data sheet 1439 Views
Countries: Haiti

Konbit: Using Mobile Tech (and Your Voice) for Local Jobs in Haiti

Posted by MelissaUlbricht on Mar 15, 2011

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Konbit: Using Mobile Tech (and Your Voice) for Local Jobs in Haiti data sheet 1698 Views

Konbit is a service that aims to help communities rebuild themselves after a crisis by indexing the skill sets of local residents, allowing NGOs to find and employ them. Konbit development started after the earthquake in Haiti, and in response to complaints that NGOs were typically bringing in their own labor, rather than hiring locally. The service allows Haitians to describe their everyday skills and talents, in their own voice and language, over a mobile phone.

This audio content is then transcribed and translated into job skill categories that can be searched by NGOs and employers in the area. In this way, Konbit combines mobile and Internet technology with something more accessible to the Haitian community: their own voice.

Website URL: 
http://konbit.media.mit.edu/
Organization involved in the project?: 
MIT Media Lab
Project goals: 

The goal of Konbit is to make job distribution more equitable by ensuring that Haitian nationals get jobs.

Brief description of the project: 

Konbit is a service that helps communities rebuild themselves after a crisis by indexing the skill sets of local residents, allowing NGOs to find and employ them. Konbit development started after the earthquake, in response to complaints about how NGOs were typically bringing in their own labor, rather than hiring locally. The service allows Haitians to describe their everyday skills and talents, in their own voice and language, over a mobile phone.

Target audience: 

Konbit's target audience is Haitian nationals who seek employment.

Status: 
Ongoing
What worked well? : 

Konbit established a good working relationship with local mobile operator Digicel Haiti. The team also relied on a platform and approach that is familiar to the target audience: basic mobile phone and voice.

What did not work? What were the challenges?: 

Translation is taking longer than expected. Actual job placement has yet to happen. Forming relationships with NGOs and local job providers has been a challenge for Konbit.

Links to any evaluations/reports/research: 
http://konbit.media.mit.edu/
Countries: 
Haiti
Last Name: 
Elliott
First Name: 
Greg
City: 
Cambridge
State/Province: 
MA
Country: 
U.S.A.
Email: 
greg@media.mit.edu