PROJECTS: U-report application revolutionizes social mobilization, empowering Ugandan youth

KAMPALA, Uganda, 14 March 2012 – U-report, a new communications technology developed by UNICEF Uganda and launched in May 2011, is revolutionizing social mobilization, monitoring and response efforts. The initiative equips mobile phone users with the tools to establish and enforce new standards of transparency and accountability in development programming and services.

By sending the text message, ‘join,’ to a toll-free number and submitting a few personal details, anyone with a mobile phone can become a volunteer ‘U-reporter’, sharing their observations and ideas on a wide range of development issues.

In less than a year, the population of U-reporters has grown to over 89,000, with 400 to 500 joining the network daily.

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NEWS: Young People speak out on education for human rights

A new 12-minute film, “Education for Human Rights… Young People talking”, aims to raise awareness of key human rights issues in schools around the world.

Produced by UNESCO and realized by pupils of UNESCO Associated Schools in 10 countries, it shows adolescents of secondary-school age freely expressing their opinions about gender, diversity, violence, exclusion and other questions.

Viewers are invited to appreciate how young people understand and experience concepts and ideals of human rights in countries as different as Albania, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Canada, Dominican Republic, France, Indonesia, Lebanon and Uganda.

The film can be used as a teaching tool for secondary schools to introduce core topics of human rights education and initiate classroom discussions.

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ARTICLES / IT: Uganda conference addresses cutting-edge issues of technology for development

By Terra Weikel

KAMPALA, Uganda, 19 November 2010 – How can applications for mobile phones help to meet the world’s toughest development issues? That was the big question at the Mobile Communication Technology for Development (M4D) conference held in Kampala last week.

To address this issue, the UNICEF Uganda Technology for Development (T4D) Unit teamed up with some of the most influential trendsetters in this emerging new field to offer a free ‘BarCamp’ at Makerere University.

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