Using Mobile Phones and Open Source Tools to Empower Social Workers in Tanzania data sheet 1698 Views
Author:
Dias, M. Beatrice, Daniel Nuffer, Anthony Velazquez, Ermine A. Teves, Hatem Alismail, Sarah Belousov, M. Freddie Dias, Rotimi Abimbola, Bradley Hall, and M. Bernardine Dias
Publication Date:
Dec 2010
Publication Type:
Report/White paper
Abstract:
Although para-social workers carry the primary responsibility in providing essential services to the growing population of orphans and vulnerable children in Tanzania, they are often not paid for this work. Moreover, these para-social workers are unable to access governmental resources due to the lack of an efficient means of reporting their needs to relevant government officials in a timely manner.
In this paper we describe a text message (SMS) based solution that harnesses the prevalence of mobile phones coupled with several Open Source tools to empower these para-social workers. Specifically, we build a more efficient mechanism for reporting summary data on orphans and vulnerable children to relevant government officials in a cost-effective and efficient manner. This paper reports on our needs assessment process, reviews the related work, describes the implementation and testing of our prototype solution, and concludes with a discussion of relevant future work.
Comprised of data from 17 articles representing 12 studies (five of which focused on disease prevention and seven of which focused on disease management), the authors draw conclusions on the effectiveness of using mobile phones (and more specifically, text messaging on mobile phones) to change health behaviors.
We are releasing today the first-ever Nonprofit Text Messaging Benchmark Study (PDF) The study, sponsored by Mobile Commons and mGive, takes a look at how organizations in the United States are using text messaging and how subscribers are responding. It reveals that mobile phones are becoming increasingly popular for advocacy with organizations.
Written by Michael Amoruso and Jessica Bosanko of M+R Strategic Services and Katrin Verclas of MobileActive.org, the report “provides benchmarks and metrics by which nonprofit organizations can measure their success with text messaging and illustrate the various ways in which organizations are using text messages.”
The earthquakes in Haiti earlier this year showed that SMS can be a powerful tool for fundraising (raising millions in just a few days); it’s clear that the time is ripe for non-profits to tap into the mobile market in order to engage their supporters. According to the Mobile Benchmark study (PDF), there are currently over 276 million wireless users in the U.S. and during the first half of 2009, users sent about 740 billion text messages. The report breaks down not only how non-profits can use SMS to interact with supporters, but also releases statistics on how specific organizations fared with their SMS campaigns.
SMS or text messaging is a feature available on all mobile phones which allows a small amount of text to be sent between one user and another. Text messaging has become increasingly popular in recent years, particularly among youth, and it is being adopted by non-profit organizations as a communications channel.
This “quick start” guide is intended to demystify SMS and help get you set up to using text messaging in your work in the shortest possible time. The guide is not intended to serve as a comprehensive look at the use of SMS, but rather provides a short overview of SMS considerations and an introduction into how it works.
Groundcrew offers features that non-profits, businesses, local communities, and individuals can use to mobilize support, simplify logistics, motivate actions, and respond quickly as situations arise.
rally community members around a particular issue
gather them in real life squads,
mobilize and address these squads in real-time,
coordinate them spatially, as individuals or in groups.
How to Run a Text-to-Screen Campaign data sheet 6388 Views
Author:
MobileActive
Abstract:
Imagine if every member of the legislature could see a message from your constituents, just by looking out the window. A text-to-screen campaign allows for exactly this: A large screen, for example right outside the State House, that brings your constituents’ text messages to legislators eyes.
Not only can people in front of the screen see the message, but anybody can watch a live feed of the messages on the screen on a website. "Text to screen allows people in remote locations to interact in a meaningful way with one location," said Jed Alpert of Mobile Commons.
Individuals interact with the screen by sending a text message (also called SMS) to a short code (a five or six-digit phone number). The SMS is then displayed on a so-called jumbotron, as well as on a web screen.
Text to screen can function as a unique way for advocacy groups to use interactive media to
build a database of mobile phone numbers for future use
show the opinions and demands of a constituency/the public to decision makers in a highly visible manner
generate media and public attention.
Introduction
Imagine if every member of the legislature could see a message from your constituents, just by looking out the window. A text-to-screen campaign allows for exactly this: A large screen, for example right outside the State House, that brings your constituents’ text messages to legislators eyes.
Not only can people in front of the screen see the message, but anybody can watch a live feed of the messages on the screen on a website. "Text to screen allows people in remote locations to interact in a meaningful way with one location," said Jed Alpert of Mobile Commons.
Individuals interact with the screen by sending a text message (also called SMS) to a short code (a five or six-digit phone number). The SMS is then displayed on a so-called jumbotron, as well as on a web screen.
In our ongoing reviews of mobile tools focused on the NGO sector, here is our latest edition: A review of FrontlineSMS, the much-written-about desktop SMs bulk messaging tool. We take a look at some use cases, outline technical considerations in using Frontline, and describe the tests that we ran.
Firstly, and most importantly for many users, FrontlineSMS provides a simple way to send and receive SMS on a laptop or desktp, with contact management and grouping ability for bulk messaging. Provided installation comes off without a hitch and you are using a supported phone, this should allow new users to get started quickly, after which they can explore some of the more advanced functionality.
Text messaging works to get out the youth vote. Researchers from Princeton and Michigan Universities, together with the US Student Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) New Voter Project and Working Assets finally released a study of their text message mobilization efforts in the United States elections in November 2006. The fact sheet is here, the full study with the different forms of text reminders and outine of the methodology is attached.
The study found that text message reminders to new voters increased an individual’s likelihood of voting by 4.2 percentage points. This is an increase similar to "quality phone call" reminders but at a fraction of the cost, indicating that partisan and nonpartisan voter mobilization efforts need to urgently get on the mobile bandwagon.
"SMS lowers the cost of operations for UNICEF - to help feed the children of Africa"SMS messaging has become an important communication tool for many of the most successful businesses in the world. Thanks to collaboration between the United Nations' UNICEF and Australian software company Red Oxygen, SMS has also become an essential tool for helping some of the poorest people in Africa.Tauhidur Rashid, the director of UNICEF's operation in the African nation of Tanzania, says that Red Oxygen's two-way email to SMS software has become an indispensable part of UNICEF's operations. "We've found that SMS is the best way for us to reach the wide variety of people all over the country that we need to keep in contact with. Red Oxygen's software has made that SMS communication easy and practical".UNICEF is a worldwide agency of the United Nations specializing in human rights, education, public health and development issues, primarily for children and women. With such a broad mission, the UNICEF team has a wide range of communications needs. SMS is the best communications option to meet those needs in Tanzania, according to Mr.
