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"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. Rashid."The traditional PSTN phone system in Tanzania is very poor", says Rashid. "It is linked by microwave and really only operates in two major cities. Mobiles, on the other hand, have pretty much total coverage. Mobile calls are expensive, but SMS messages only cost 5 cents apiece. That makes a big difference in a country where 90% of the population earns less than $70 per month".Red Oxygen began working with UNICEF several months ago and their software has quickly become a central part of UNICEF's work. Mr. Rashid reports that the organization uses Red Oxygen's software for Lotus Notes to send SMS messages for a wide variety of purposes. "Because Red Oxygen makes it possible to easily send and receive SMS from within our email application, we use it for everything - scheduling meetings, communicating with staff in the field, telling people to read an email and just tracking people down all over the country. It's easy to type messages and straightforward to keep track of responses when they come back into my inbox. In our circumstances, SMS is a must".In order to help UNICEF with their important work, Red Oxygen is sponsoring their operations in Tanzania with free software and messages. Red Oxygen CEO Tom Sheahan says that UNICEF's work is an exciting example of the effectiveness of SMS. "Red Oxygen is really proud to be supporting UNICEF's work. We've seen through our own customers how SMS can become an essential part of business, but it's gratifying to see that it has a role to play in improving people's lives. SMS is truly a global form of communication and I think that we're still discovering what it can do".