Introduction to Mobilisr

Background:  Mobile Phones in Africa

Across the globe, mobile phone technologies are proving to be a key tool for those working for social change. Africa is cited as the fastest growing mobile phone network in the world and South Africa in particular has mobile phones in the hands of over 90% of the population.  Mobile phones can have a positive impact on economic development and social capital. Within the health sector, studies are beginning to indicate that mobile phone technologies are enabling greater efficiency and access to services.

About Mobilisr

In an attempt to harness this power of mobile phone technology and make it easily available to civil society, a consortium of companies, led by Cell-Life and Praekelt Foundation, are collaborating to build an open source enterprise class mobile messaging platform.

Broadly, Mobilisr is designed to:

• Increase access to information in any sector such as health, employment, or public safety
• Facilitate two way communication between citizens and service providers

In the health arena, Mobilisr is specifically designed to:

• Enhance patient adherence to ARV drugs, and increase links between the health system and the patient
• Build the capacity of organizations working with HIV/AIDS
  
• Support mass messaging to prevent new infections, to give information to support treatment of those infected, and to reduce isolation of those infected or affected by HIV
• Strengthen the healthcare system

We work with government, non-profit organizations, private sector, research institutions and other organizations that share our commitment to improve health and wellbeing in Africa.

Through Mobilisr, our objectives are to:

• Build a best practice, open source, enterprise-class messaging platform
• Create a tool that is robust and powerful but also easy-to-use
  
• Allow NGOs to easily plan and manage any form of communication over any mobile channel
• Bring together a vibrant community of collaborators and users of Mobilisr
  
• Simplify the integration of other communication tools into Mobilisr
  

How can Mobilisr be used?

• Human rights monitoring
• Election monitoring
• Emergency alerts
• Mobilising task forces
• Field data collection
• Conducting public surveys
• Interactive health care info requests
• Organizing protests
• Mobile education programs e.g. Explaining acronyms
• Coordinating fundraising efforts
• Subscription services (e.g. Positive living messages daily)