Tech Meets Good: Kiwanja

Most of us in the Western world take our cell phones for granted. I have had one mobile phone or another since 1996.  According to The New York Times, it took about 20 years for the first billion phones to sell worldwide. The second billion sold in four years, and the third billion sold in two. By the end of 2006, 68 percent of the world's mobile subscriptions were in the Third World.

In many cases, families and entire communities use cell phones to communicate with each other and to enhance their income.  A number of organizations and companies have a vested interest in this final cell phone market frontier. Ken Banks runs an organization called Kiwanja, which:

"...believes that all non-profits, whatever their size and wherever they operate, should be given the opportunity to implement the latest mobile technologies in their work, and actively seeks to provide the tools and the environment to enable them to do so."

Ken, who founded Kiwanja in 2003, has married his IT background, social anthropology degree and a long-term interest in Africa, to bring technology solutions to poverty in the developing world. As a primary focus, Kiwanja has brought SMS text messaging to citizens in these rural communities. Access to text messaging has enabled nonprofits working in these areas to communicate with entire villages and families conveniently. Nonprofits are messaging communities about everything from health monitoring, agricultural information, disease treatment and the movement of elephants and poachers.  While some rural communities may have access to the internet, land lines and other means of communication, Ken told me that text messaging remains the "lowest common denominator to reach the largest amount of people." I asked Ken how text messaging and phones are reaching the last two billion non-users. He reports that Sub-Sahara Africa, for example, has 30 percent penetration, or about 300 million cell phones. In many cases, a single cell phone is shared within an entire community — with up to 80 villagers sharing a single device. The impediment is that many of these people live off the power grid but are using solar and other alternative energy to charge their phones. And more phones are on the way as developing countries send many of their "old" cell phones to these countries.

Ken has developed Frontline SMS, a text messaging platform that allows nonprofits to mass-text entire communities. He told me that Frontline SMS was used in a recent Nigerian election to share information with people about hte voting process and candidates. "The Frontline SMS technology allows technology automation — we can tell 100 people in a village when an organizational meeting has been changed or moved." With such speed, efficiency and coverage, it is clear that kiwanja is in a position to help people and save lives. When was the last time you received a text message that saved your life? Ken Banks has helped make such messages an everyday reality. A great example of technology doing good. Learn more about kiwanja here.

Photo Source: Images courtesy of kiwanja.net. “Technology Meets Good” is a regular Monday feature at Tonic News.  If you have cool examples of technology doing good in our world, please email dan@tonic.com.