In recent articles, we have been looking at the power of mobile technology and how it has been aiding various companies to expand their services and reach out to a customer base that previously, they never would have been able to reach on such a personal level. We are seeing the use of mobile technology expand from company and brands to organisations, NGO’s, charities and other establishments, all in the name of creating a mobile community that can come together behind a cause.
Here are three examples of inspiring mobile communities and how these organisations are utilizing mobile technology to bring about change in their environment.
Last week marked the beginning of parliamentary elections in Nigeria. The area is known for acts of violence and corruption during election time and in order to bring some sort of calm to the elections this year, activist group Reclaim Naija was created. A group of civic advocacy organizations have created this mobile portal in order to give voters a voice in addition to a vote. Voters can report negligence, fraud or violent incidents via their mobile phones and these reports will be shown on their site – hopefully bringing about a free and fair election for all. This cause is also linked to a mobile app called Revoda which lets citizens report election happenings via their mobile phone.
2. World Bank
World Bank has been highly supportive of mobile technology in order to harness information and help those in need. Recently, they launched a competition to let the public develop apps for their data, so that their information could be more readily available to the public. The winners of this competition was StatPlanet (where you can view and compare country performances), Development Timelines (which educates you in world events throughout time) and Yourtopia (a development app). Creators of this competition hope that the app will educate the globe on world dynamics, statistics and hopefully address issues and create solutions.
3. BBC Janala
This app will help with communication the world over. In collaboration with BBC Learn English, BBC Janala will help people learn English via their mobile phone, therefore helping those in Bangladesh contribute to the economy and get involved with economic growth. With 50 million or more individuals using mobile phones in the area, BBC Janala lets you access language tutorials by just dialling a simple number. Organisations are working at making these lessons as cheap as possible and already call costs have been reduced significantly.
For a list of mobile apps that have been specifically designed for social changes, you can visit Mobile Active.
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