kiwanja.net continues to make good use of a wide range of skills picked up during an early career in computing and IT to design and build tools for both non-profits and engaged citizens. The first of these, FrontlineSMS, was at its peak one of the most widely used messaging platforms in the NGO sector.
‘for my children’Please note that the app is no longer available.
In late 2016 kiwanja launched its first iOS app. ‘for my children’ let users create their own memory book of special places so that friends, family, children – and their children – could one day walk in their footsteps and revisit them. Although not intended, the app generated some interest among people caring for others with dementia and Alzheimers. You can read more about the launch in this blog post.
One Beautiful Road
One Beautiful Road is a new kind of mobile giving app, helping people create the kind of change they want to see in the world in a new and engaging way. The app was originally known as altruly and it started life in 2016, remaining a work in progress over a number of years before it was dropped. In 2026, the idea was brought back to life under a new name, One Beautiful Road. You can read about the development of this new app, and the revised thinking behind it, on the app website and in the launch announcement here.
FrontlineSMS
Developed by Ken Banks in the summer of 2005, FrontlineSMS was one of the earliest and most prominent mobile tools for development, setting the bar for the design of appropriate, grassroots mobile messaging tools. It was free, open-source software that turned a laptop and a simple mobile phone (or low-cost modem) into a two-way messaging hub, with no Internet connection required.
Over the years it’s been used to monitor elections in Nigeria, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe, deliver rural healthcare in Malawi, respond to disasters in Haiti, share farming and market information with communities, and keep citizens informed and connected. At its peak it powered thousands of projects in over 190 countries, benefiting tens of millions of people.