News

Collaborative Learning Across Continents

How can students studying environmental issues in different parts of the globe learn from and contribute to one another’s understanding? Connecting students and professors in Africa and the United States via mobile technology was a key goal of the Dunia Moja pilot project.

Initiated by Stanford University, Dunia Moja engaged universities and colleges in South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda in a collaborative effort to combine technology with learning. Learn more in an interview with Reinhold Steinbeck, Director of Stanford’s International Outreach Program.

MILLEE: Learning While Having Fun

The Mobile and Immersive Learning for Literacy in Emerging Economies (MILLEE) Project develops language learning games for mobile phones. Through research conducted in rural India, MILLEE has refined its approach to teaching children a “power language”– while having fun.

“In India, almost half of school-age going children in the rural areas can’t go to school regularly,” says Matthew. “They need to work to help support their families. We needed to bring school to them."

Documenting the World’s Invisible

More than a billion people in 120 developing countries have no record of their existence. Without documentation, these uncounted poor are unable to access public health care, register to vote, open a bank account, or obtain credit and other essential services. Mobile Metrix, a social enterprise, uses mobile technology to document the "invisible" poor – linking overlooked communities to important resources. Learn more in an interview with Mobile Metrix Founder and CEO Melanie Edwards.

“We pursue a grassroots, bottom up approach,” says Edwards. “Our solution lies in employing the community in assessing their own needs then distributing critical products and services to meet these needs.”

Mobile Filmmaking Tutorials

Looking for pointers on how to capture your story on video? MobileJamFest can help. Four online tutorials on mobile filmmaking walk viewers through the process of planning, shooting, and editing a video.

Mobile Education Program Expands to Tanzania

Primary school teachers in rural Tanzania will soon be accessing educational videos and text content ‘on demand’ with the aid of a mobile phone. Through the Bridgeit program, mobile phones will be equipped with a software catalogue and player that downloads educational content directly from the server to a TV in the classroom.

Initially launched in the Philippines where it has benefitted more than 100,000 5th and 6th graders, Bridgeit in Tanzania is being supported through a $2 million grant from USAID to the International Youth Foundation.

Next Generation FrontlineSMS Launched

Kiwanja.net just released a new version of its free text messaging platform – FrontlineSMS – opening up the potential of two-way group text messaging to the global nonprofit community.

Since it was first released in 2005, FrontlineSMS has been adapted in over 40 countries for a range of activities, including blood donor recruitment, assisting human rights workers, promoting government accountability, election monitoring, the capture and exchange of price information, coordination of healthcare workers, and the reporting and monitoring of disease outbreaks. A new FrontlineSMS website also enables NGOs to connect and share experiences.

mPedigree: Combating Counterfeit Drugs

The growing incidence of counterfeit drugs poses a serious public health threat worldwide. To address the issue, the founders of mPedigree in Ghana have piloted an SMS-based drug authentication system. Learn more in an interview with co-founder Bright Simons.