uReport: Citizen Feedback via SMS in Uganda data sheet 3460 Views
For aid organizations, knowing what local communities and beneficiaries want and need is the key to running successful, sustainable programs. In Uganda, UNICEF is using mobile phones and broadcast media to get direct feedback from Ugandans on everything from medication access to water sanitation. The project, called uReport, allows users to sign up via a toll-free shortcode 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.
Sean Blaschke, a Technology for Development specialist at UNICEF Uganda, explains that uReport gathers information from participants and informs citizens of their rights and available services. Recent polls have included questions about school dropouts, water point availability, mosquito net usage, and youth employment, all collected via SMS polls.
From January 9th to January 15th, Southern Sudan held a referendum to decide if the region should become independent from North. Although results have not yet officially been announced, estimates indicate that the referendum will pass with an overwhelming number of pro-independence votes. During this time, keeping citizens informed of new developments is crucial, and one of the best ways to reach large numbers of people is through the radio. The Sudan Radio Service, which has been operating since 2006, recently began incorporating mobile technology into its work to both monitor the reach of its broadcasts and to solicit reader feedback.
Mobile panels. Software as a service. The United States State of the Union adress by the American president. These are things not typically viewed as “sexy,” but the team behind SurveySwipe is trying to change that.
SurveySwipe is a mobile application that allows a user to take simple surveys or participate in live pulse polling. The app is from IdeaScale, a company that provides services for online and mobile crowdsourcing endeavors -- they work with groups from small non-profits to government agencies to large companies and brands.
The company has been doing Software as a Service (SaaS)-based marketing since 2003, or as Rob Hoehn of IdeaScale said, since “before it was cool.” SurveySwipe is a foray into qualitative data analysis and feeback; for our MobileActive.org audience, it is also an example of a creative, two-fold approach to mobile data collection.
Acquee.com is a SaaS offering of survey/form designer + mobile portal where data can be collected online. No software installation is required on the desktop or mobile side. It is a web based mobile data collection service designed for use with modern mobile devices.
Paper based data collection (e.g. surveys, Monitoring & Evaluation data) is very cumbersome. It's time-consuming and prone to problems like data loss. Mobile phones are an ideal tool for data collection: many people have them, they're portable, and users are familiar with them as devices. It's also very cheap to send data wirelessly to a central server.
EMIT is a mobile and web data collection system, allowing you to collect, analyse and report using live data from the field. Features include: online form creation; online or mobile interface for data entry; built-in logic, error checking and decision support; generated reports.
Ways that EMIT can be used include: organisational monitoring & evaluation; on-site decision support; home-based care; field surveys; custom surveys; and subject follow-up.
Organisations in South Africa are currently using EMIT to get trainers to send in M&E data from the field (eg number of people trained), and to record counseling registrations at VCT clinics.
EMIT is as open source application and so is free to download and customise.
Tool Category:
App resides and runs on a mobile phone
Is a web-based application/web service
Key Features :
online forms creation
online or mobile interface for data entry
built in logic, error checking and decision support
We are looking for your mobile application! MobileActive.org is collecting detailed information about mobile applications used for health, social development, advocacy, education, civic media, human rights, and other civil society areas.
If you have or are developing a mobile application used in social development, please complete this survey! There is currently no comprehensive database of mobile applications for social development available and we want to change that.
So, we need your help in building as-close-to-complete Mobile Applications Database, and learn more about your mobile apps used for social development. Here is the survey!
We will share all applications widely on this site with organizations, press, and interested donors.
P.S. Feel free to forward to relevant organizations, lists, and individuals!
To ring in the New Year, MobileActive is conducting, with the UN Foundation and the Vodafone Group Foundation, a global survey of more than 25,000 civil society groups about how these organisations are using mobile phones in their work.
