Fwd: [mHealthSA] The Soul Beat Issue #157: Mobiles for Development in Africa

FYI.  Many projects are in our mDirectory and we have written up in  
more detail in case studies and blog posts. Enjoy!

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Peter Benjamin <peter@cell-life.org>
> Date: July 28, 2010 9:41:25 AM EDT
> To: mhealthsa@googlegroups.com
> Subject: [mHealthSA] The Soul Beat Issue #157: Mobiles for  
> Development in  Africa
> Reply-To: peter@cell-life.org
>
> The Soul Beat Issue #157: Mobiles for Development in Africa
> July 28 2010
>
> In this issue of The Soul Beat:
> * Health videos on mobiles and mobiles to monitor malnutrition...
> * Mobiles to improve literacy and economic development of women...
> * Resources on SMS activism and getting started...
> * Mobile for Development Conference...
> * New Communication Award...
>
>
> This issue of The Soul Beat provides a selection of programme  
> experiences, strategic thinking documents, and materials related to  
> the use of mobile phones for social change.  Specifically, it looks  
> at mobile technology for health, education, and economic  
> empowerment. It also offers some recently published reference  
> resources on mobile technology for development and highlights an  
> upcoming event and an award.
> If you would like your organisation's communication work or research  
> and resource documents to be featured on the Soul Beat Africa  
> website and in The Soul Beat newsletters, please contact soulbeat@comminit.com
> ===
>
> MOBILE TECHNOLOGY FOR HEALTH
>
> 1. CommCare - Community Health Mobile Platform - Tanzania
> Initiated by Dimagi, Inc. and D-Tree international, in collaboration  
> with Pathfinder International in Tanzania and many other partners,  
> CommCare is a mobile-phone based application that is designed to  
> help support community health workers and home-based care providers  
> to provide better, more efficient care while also enabling better  
> supervision and coordination of community health programmes. Home  
> based care providers are supplied with a phone running CommCare that  
> is designed to assist them to manage household visits, as well as  
> collect and report data that will help monitor and evaluate  
> community health programmes themselves.
> http://www.comminit.com/en/node/320774/38
>
>
> 2. Mobile Video for Community Health Workers in Tanzania Implemented  
> by a volunteer working with BRAC Tanzania and D-Tree International  
> in May 2010, the project involved the creation of a series of health  
> education videos that could be played on cell phones by Community  
> Health Volunteers (CHV) during home visits. The videos were designed  
> to provide the CHVs with additional support material they could use  
> in conjunction with a mobile phone based tool, CommCare, which is  
> designed to help support home based care providers (see above  
> summary).
> http://www.comminit.com/en/node/320595/38
>
>
> 3.  Behaviour Change Communications: 3 Pilot Projects
> By Katherine de Tolly and Helen Alexander This document, published  
> in March 2009, explores initial work that has been done in the  
> Cellphones4HIV project, asking: "Can content delivery via cellphones  
> impact on HIV-related behaviour?" Key insights to emerge from this  
> research include the need to test assumptions before implementing  
> projects, as well as a series of other observations about language  
> of choice, technical ability, and project cost. Challenges around  
> measuring the impact in behaviour change communication are also  
> briefly discussed.
> http://www.comminit.com/en/node/308917/38
>
>
> 4. Project Masiluleke - South Africa
> Initiated in 2009, Project Masiluleke is a collaboration among  
> PopTech network members including iTeach, the Praekelt Foundation,  
> frog design, MTN South Africa, Nokia Siemens Networks, and National  
> Geographic Society. It is designed to harness the mobile phone as a  
> high-impact, low-cost tool in the fight against HIV/AIDS and TB in  
> South Africa. The first stage of the project is built around the use  
> of specialised text messages, delivering approximately one million  
> HIV/AIDS and TB messages to the general public each day, for one  
> year. http://www.comminit.com/en/node/317076/38
>
>
> 5. Freedom HIV/AIDS Game - India, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique,  
> Namibia, Tanzania, Uganda Freedom HIV/AIDS is a gaming initiative  
> that uses mobile telephones to engage people in entertaining,  
> awareness-raising activities regarding HIV/AIDS. One of the games,  
> "Mission Messenger", is an adventure game where the gamer flies over  
> the African continent, from village to village, collecting condoms  
> and red ribbons, and distributes them to the villagers based on  
> their specific needs and demands, spreading the messages of HIV/AIDS  
> awareness, prevention, transmission, and safety.
> http://www.comminit.com/en/node/133100/38
>
> 6. Malawi RapidSMS Nutrition Surveillance - Malawi UNICEF Malawi and  
> the Government of Malawi deployed RapidSMS in three districts in  
> January to April 2009 to address constraints with the national  
> Integrated Nutrition and Food Security Surveillance (INFSS) System,  
> which was facing slow data transmission, incomplete and poor quality  
> data sets, high operational costs, and low levels of stakeholder  
> ownership. With RapidSMS, health workers are able to text message a  
> child's data, and receive instant feedback on the child's  
> nutritional status.
> http://www.comminit.com/en/node/320930/38
>
>
> 7. Majalisar Mata Manoma - Nigeria
> Initiated in 2009, Majalisar Mata Manoma was a project that involved  
> creating spaces for women farmers in the rural community of  
> Gwagwada, Nigeria to meet and engage with radio. The project, which  
> was carried out by the African Radio Drama Association (ARDA),  
> involved the development and broadcast of a radio programme designed  
> for rural farmers, particularly women, as well as the establishment  
> of a listening club in Gwagwada. As part of the project, the  
> listener's club was given a mobile phone to allow the women to  
> engage with the radio programmes. Members were trained to use the  
> phone to make and receive calls and text messages. The women also  
> started using the phone to generate income for the club. http://www.comminit.com/en/node/312117/38
>
>
> ===
>
> JOIN THE MOBILE NETWORK
>
> MobileActive.org connects people, organisations, and resources using  
> mobile technology for social change.
> Visit the MobileActive.org website - http://www.comminit.com/redirect.cgi?m=ba0f44e373a5e5a5dc032cad948bdf15
> ===
> EDUCATION, AND ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL EMPOWERMENT
>
>
> 8. Mobile Phones in Education - Kenya
> This pilot project, launched by the Aga Khan University's Institute  
> for Educational Development, East Africa (AKU-IED, EA) in 2008, was  
> designed to explore the possible use of mobile phones in education  
> in Kisumu, Kenya. The trial project involved AKU-IED course  
> facilitators supporting their participants (head teachers at local  
> Kisumu schools) though SMS, rather than physical site visits.  
> Participants met regularly in groups of three to discuss issues in  
> establishing new practices in their schools and shared their  
> learning with AKU-IED, EA through SMS messages, which were then  
> uploaded to Moodle, a virtual learning environment that helped  
> faculty track individual comments and provide support to the larger  
> group.
> http://www.comminit.com/en/node/321044/38
>
>
> 9. Kontax - South Africa Launched in 2009, Kontax is a project  
> involving an m-novel (mobile-novel) created for the Shuttleworth  
> Foundation?s m4Lit project, which seeks to improve literacy levels  
> in South Africa using cell phones. The m-novel story, which is about  
> the adventures of a group of teenage graffiti writers, was told in  
> 21 chapters which were sent over 21 days to cellphones and  
> computers. The m4Lit project aims to explore whether teens are  
> interested in reading stories on their cellphones, whether and how  
> they write using their cellphones, and whether cellphones might be  
> used to develop literacy skills and a love of reading. http://www.comminit.com/en/node/307276/38
>
>
> 10. Jokko Initiative - Senegal The Jokko Initiative, implemented in  
> Senegal by Tostan and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), forms  
> part of Tostan's existing Community Empowerment Programme (CEP),  
> which aims to provide African communities with skills and knowledge  
> to improve their living conditions in a sustainable way. The project  
> is based on the idea that mobile phones and SMS texting can provide  
> a more economical means of communication than a phone call; serve as  
> a practical tool for learning and reinforcing literacy and numeracy  
> skills; and offer other applications to practice the organisation  
> and management skills taught in Tostan?s CEP programme. http://www.comminit.com/en/node/312209/38
>
>
> 11. Ever Upwardly Mobile: How do Cell Phones Benefit Vulnerable  
> People? - Lessons From Farming Cooperatives in Lesotho
> By Katharine Vincent, Tracy Cull and Nicholas Freeland
> This report, published by the Regional Hunger and Vulnerability  
> Programme (RHVP) in February 2009, chronicles the findings of a 2006  
> RHVP pilot project that distributed 10 cell phones to three women's  
> farming cooperatives in Lesotho and sought to understand how cell  
> phones could benefit vulnerable populations. Despite existing  
> arguments against using cell phones to distribute cash transfers,  
> researchers found the phones were effective in reducing economic  
> vulnerability in two main areas: 1) improving communications between  
> members, as well as between cooperatives and agricultural bodies  
> while decreasing transport costs, and 2) generating extra income.
> http://www.comminit.com/en/node/303074/38
>
>
> 12. Bridging the Gender Divide: How Technology Can Advance Women  
> Economically
> By Kirrin Gill, Kim Brooks, Janna McDougall, Payal Patel and Aslihan  
> Kes
> This 2010 International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) document  
> analyses the process of enabling women to increase their resources  
> and economic opportunities and strengthen their ability to compete  
> in market economies through technology. It offers recommendations on  
> how to improve the way technologies are developed and deployed so  
> they benefit women and enable them to be more successful economic  
> actors. One example shared is the village mobile phone which allows  
> women entrepreneurs to sell mobile phone usage to other women and  
> men. http://www.comminit.com/en/node/314673/38
>
>
> 13. Catching the Voice of the Born-free Generation of Namibia  
> Through Mobile Phones
> This paper, published in December 2009, shares information about a  
> project initiated by UNICEF, in partnership with the Southern Africa  
> Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF), and the Namibia  
> Institute for Democracy (NID) to enhance civic participation of the  
> "born-free" generation in democratic processes. The project involved  
> a mobile based platform that was set up to gather opinions of the  
> youth on a range of matters affecting them. Youth were able to call  
> into the system and answer the series of questions by choosing a  
> range of options via their mobile or fixed line phones. http://www.comminit.com/en/node/320880/38
>
>
> ===
>
> MORE INFORMATION ON MOBILE PHONES ON THE SOUL BEAT AFRICA WEBSITE
>
> If you are looking for more information on mobile technology and  
> their role in development in Africa, go to any of the sections on  
> the Soul Beat Africa website: Programme Experiences, Evaluations,  
> Strategic Thinking documents, Materials, etc.). Under Regions,  
> choose Africa (or a country/countries of your choice), and under  
> Communication Tools select Phone/Mobiles and then submit. OR go to  
> the ALL SECTIONS section which will give you the full range of  
> summaries on the Soul Beat Africa website from all knowledge sections.
>
> ===
>
>
> MOBILE TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES
>
> 14. SMS Quick Start Guide
> This introductory guide, created by Changemakers and kiwanja.net in  
> 2009, is intended to demystify SMS and help organisation to set up  
> and use text messaging in their work in the shortest possible time.  
> The guide is not intended to serve as a comprehensive look at the  
> use of SMS, but rather a short overview of SMS considerations and an  
> introduction into how it works.
> http://www.comminit.com/en/node/308844/38
>
>
> 15. SMS Uprising: Mobile Activism in Africa
> By Sokari Ekine, ed. This collection of essays, published by Fahamu  
> Books/Pambazuka Press in 2010, includes contributions by people  
> engaged in using mobile phone technologies for social change,  
> providing an analysis of the socio-economic, political, and media  
> contexts faced by activists in Africa today. The essays address a  
> broad range of issues including inequalities in access to technology  
> based on gender, rural and urban usage, as well as practical  
> examples of how activists are using mobile technology to organise  
> and document their experiences. The essays also provide an overview  
> of the lessons learned in making effective use of mobile phone  
> technologies ?without any of the romanticism so often associated  
> with the use of new technologies for social change?. http://www.comminit.com/en/node/313134/38
>
>
> 16. The Citizen in Communication: Re-visiting Traditional, New and  
> Community Media Practices in South Africa By Nathalie Hyde-Clarke  
> (ed.)
> Published in April 2010, this is a compilation of material from  
> academics with an interest in the South African media and the  
> changes that are currently impacting on the public's ability to  
> engage with it. The book addresses two sections of the communication  
> landscape in South Africa. It introduces notions and practices of  
> citizen journalism in the growing trend of civilians providing media  
> footage, blogging, and SMS commentary. Secondly, it looks at the  
> prevalence and effectiveness of community media, as well as the  
> challenges such media face on a day-to-day basis. http://www.comminit.com/en/node/319183/38
>
>
> 17. Mobile Communication Technology for Development (M4D) 2010 (Nov  
> 10-11 2010) Kampala, Uganda
> HumanIT, a multidisciplinary research centre based at Karlstad  
> University exploring the impact of information technology on  
> society, in collaboration with the Makerere University Faculty of  
> Computing and Informatics Technology, are hosting the 2nd  
> International Conference on Mobile Communication Technology for  
> Development 2010 (M4D2010). M4D2010 is intended to be a forum for  
> researchers, practitioners, and all those interested in the use of  
> mobile communication technology for development.
> http://www.comminit.com/en/node/320857/38
>
>
> AWARD
> http://www.comminit.com/en/africa/awards.html
>
>
> 18. Excellence in New Communications Awards
> Deadline: September 10 2010 Organised by the Society for New  
> Communications Research (SNCR), a group which studies new  
> communications tools, technologies, and emerging modes of  
> communication, and their effects, these awards honour the work of  
> individuals, corporations, governmental and non-profit  
> organisations, educational institutions, and media outlets that are  
> pioneering the use of social media, information and communication  
> technology (ICT), mobile media, online communities, virtual worlds,  
> and collaborative technologies in the areas of business, media, and  
> professional communications, including marketing, public relations,  
> and advertising, as well as entertainment, education, politics, and  
> social initiatives.
> http://www.comminit.com/en/node/16000/38
>
> ===
>
>
> Previous issues of The Soul Beat related to mobile technology include:
>
>
> The Soul Beat 137 - Mobile Phones for Development
> http://www.comminit.com/en/africa/soul-beat-137.html
> The Soul Beat 109 - Mobile Phones for Social Change in Africa
> http://www.comminit.com/en/node/271574/38
>
>
> To view all archived editions of The Soul Beat Newsletter see http://www.comminit.com/africa/soul-beat-archives.html
>
>
> ===
>
>
> Please send material for The Soul Beat to soulbeat@comminit.com
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Katrin Verclas
MobileActive.org
katrin@mobileactive.org

skype/twitter: katrinskaya
(347) 281-7191

A global network of people using mobile technology for social impact
http://mobileactive.org