September 9, 2010
Refugees in Uganda use mobile phones to trace family
Refugees will now have the possibility to initiate searches for their loved ones scattered by conflict or disaster using a simple mobile phone. GenevaLunch reports.
The service is anonymous, free and secure. It was launched as a pilot project in Uganda 3 September, and 500 users have already registered to use it in the first four days.
Danish NGO Refugees United, which designed a web-based family tracing platform for refugees, has partnered with Geneva-based UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), mobile phone maker Ericsson, and MTN, Africas largest mobile phone operator, to make the tracing service available to refugees with access to a mobile phone.
The availability of internet access in Africa is low, but mobile phone penetration is almost 50 percent. 75-80 percent of refugees have access to a mobile phone in Africa and can use the service.
For the first time, refugees themselves are drawn into the equation to trace family members, he says, paving the way for the bottom of the pyramid to take charge of their lives. The platform is open, and users decide just how much information they wish to share. Typically, traces are made based on nicknames, birthmarks or other distinguishing features that only a family member would recognize.
Read full article. Image from CERF
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