Infrastructure

The Ureport initiative implements an innovative package of interventions that builds on the unprecedented growth of telecommunication infrastructure, including network coverage (all areas with significant population in Uganda) and high rates of mobile phone penetration (estimated currently at 34% in Uganda). Ureport is built on RapidSMS, an open-source software framework for developing server-side applications that work with any phone currently on the market. By leveraging mobile phones that already exist in the communities which we are targeting, we have the opportunity to implement – at very low cost and at scale – tools that capture relevant data and connect communities in ways that were not previously possible. Ureport is completely free and now relatively easy to download, configure and quickly deploy.

Innovation approach

While traditional monitoring systems have proven effective in tracking medium to long term development trends, they were never designed to generate light weight, low cost real-time information directly from the community level. Now, emerging technologies and new methods in crowd-sourcing data represent an extraordinary opportunity to close the information gap. While recent crowd-sourcing initiatives such as crisis mapping in Haiti after the earthquake have shown the potential of harnessing the “wisdom of the crowd”, these networks of social monitors are rarely set up in advance of emergencies or used in non-emergency settings. In developing and strengthening these networks now, UNICEF can build a trusted community of volunteers invested in playing a key role in their nation’s development.

The process

In early September 2010, UNICEF Uganda launched an initiative called Ureport meant to address these challenges. Three hundred Boy Scouts from across Uganda were trained as “social monitors”, tasked with reporting via SMS directly from their communities on issues important to their region. They have now returned to their homes and are earning badges by training and signing up more social monitors, virally building a network of community level reporters. UNICEF is currently recruiting additional Ureporters from organizations like BRAC, the Girls Education Movement, World Vision, faith-based youth groups, and the general public. By mid 2012, there were 130,000 members across the country.

These reporters are providing UNICEF and project partners with a real-time “pulse” from every area in the country. Polls are now being conducted on a regular basis and visualised on a web-based user interface. In mere minutes, UNICEF and partners can now find out how many youth are within a ten-minute walk of safe water, what issues are important to them, and where the disparities are the greatest.

One area where the Ureport initiative is expected to have an immediate impact is around access and availability of essential medicines. In Uganda, stock-outs of Artemisinin-based Combination Therapies (ACTs), the primary medicine used to treat malaria, is routine at public health facilities. In coordination with the Ministry of Health and WHO, UNICEF is in the process of rolling out a project that will strengthen official health sector data collection while using Ureport networks to support accountability and governance components.

Information collected from these channels will be used to build a real-time “accountability chain” within the formal health sector at all levels, with external stakeholders playing an active role in supporting and overseeing the health sector to ensure they are addressing bottlenecks in a timely manner. Data collected through Ureport channels will be used as a check against official data, as well as to produce qualitative and more nuanced information. With information readily available, transparent across all levels, and problems clearly identified for follow-up, the focus can then shift to finding solutions.  

To ensure accountability, information will be routinely sent to stakeholders outside the formal health sector. Customised messages are broadcast as short “news style” feeds directly to stakeholders such as parliamentarians, local area councilors and civil society groups. Methods of broadcast include SMSs to their mobile phones and emails, with news feeds for example focusing on advocacy issues for civil society and governance issues for parliamentarians. “Champions” are identified at each level to provide pressure where needed. Public officials are praised where the health system is functional, and have to answer for breakdowns when they occur. 

This aspect of the project is expected to have national coverage, with nearly 5,000 health facilities targeted in 2012.