Tag: Africa

VoxAfrica TV on Africa, ICT and aid

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VoxAfricaLast week I was contacted by the Production Co-Ordinator at VoxAfrica TV, a Pan African, bilingual, independent TV channel which broadcasts throughout the African continent via satellite. Following Michael Joseph’s recent comments that mobile technology has had a greater impact on Africa’s development than international aid, the producers were keen to explore the state of ICT across the continent, and I was invited to take part in a live broadcast with another guest, Tunde Adebayo, on Sunday evening.

The one hour programme – “Shoot the Messenger” – was hosted by Henry Bonsu, and features appearances from Tim Unwin (Royal Holloway), James Mbugua (Radio Africa), Samuel Burke (Hearts to Africa) and Mariéme Jamme (SpotOne Global Solutions Group and Africa Gathering).

Sadly this video is no longer available online

The video is also available on the VoxAfrica TV website.

Taking on the grassroots challenge

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Over the past four years FrontlineSMS has taught us a lot, and I write about it frequently (see my recent misconceptions and observations posts). One of the biggest – and most underestimated – challenges is outreach. If you’re building a tool for grassroots NGOs, particularly those working on the margins, promoting social mobile tools to them is inherently tricky.

Over the past year, and over the past few months in particular, increasing numbers of local, national and international NGOs have begun promoting FrontlineSMS themselves, to their own field offices, partners and NGO friends. This is hugely significant for us, amplifying our own efforts considerably. This short video, courtesy of United Methodist Communications (UMC), shows a handful of delegates at a recent crisis management conference talk briefly about their thoughts on the software.

They may only be a few words, but for us they speak volumes. We took on the grassroots challenge, and it’s great to see others joining in to help us.

After all, it doesn’t matter how good your mobile solutions are if no-one knows they exist.

SMS registration for Maker Faire Africa

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Attendees of next month’s Maker Faire Africa will be able to register their attendance by text message, thanks to a clever hack by  Henry Barnor and Henry Addo, two Ghanaian developers.

Maker Faire AfricaIn the true spirit of Maker Faire, the two Henry’s have built the system using a phone with a Zain SIM card connected to a laptop running FrontlineSMS. When the software receives an SMS it sends the data via HTTP to a python web application running on Google’s App Engine infrastructure, where it’s processed and a registration code sent out to the originating handset. It’s another great use of the software and kudos goes out to the guys behind it. You can read their full post here.

Maker Faire Africa (MFA), a celebration of African ingenuity, innovation and invention, will take place between August 14th and 16th at the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT in Ghana’s capital, Accra. Wish I could be there.  🙁

Caught on film: Mobiles in Africa

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One of the highlights of yesterday’s Africa Gathering in London, this must-see video on mobile phones in Africa was put together by good friend Martin Konzett of ict4d.at during a recent trip to the continent. Great editing, combined with priceless on-the-ground footage and perspective, gives a wonderful flavour of some of the entrepreneurial activity spurred on by the arrival of mobile technology (something I previously wrote about here).

You can also follow Martin and his work on Twitter: @martinkonzett