Tag: SMS

SMS as an enabler of the Right to Health in Tanzania

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By Ashnah Kalemera |

In its pursuit to establish strategic mechanisms for the promotion and protection of human rights in Tanzania, the Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance (CHRAGG) is progressing awareness on the right to health among vulnerable communities and human rights practitioners in five regions in Tanzania.

CHRAGG’s recent drive which commenced in August 2016 and leverages the existing SMS for Human Rights reporting system has seen capacity building of over 100 staff at its head office in Dar es Salaam and three regional offices in (location of offices) to improve their understating of the right to health and enable them appropriately handle related violation reports received through the platform.

Furthermore, nearly 200 individuals including sexual minorities, the elderly, women, health workers and local leaders have been trained on the principles of right to health to increase their awareness and ability to monitor and report on the same. The training beneficiaries constituted 61% female.  Continue Reading →

SMS As a Tool for Tracking and Countering Misinformation in the Tana Delta

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The Una Hakika?project, which iHub Research is proud to support,focuses on creating an information system in which crowdsourced data is used to map the origins and flow of misinformation within the Tana Delta while also testing the effectiveness of countermeasures in order to reduce the influence of misinformation.

MORE ABOUT THE UNA HAKIKA? PROJECT HERE.

The team spent the last two weeks of November doing an impact assessment of the project on the ground, by conducting focus group discussions in a number of villages in the Tana Delta, where Una Hakika has been able to establish itself and be adopted by community members. The objective was to gain direct feedback from the users and engage them in better improving the service.

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ICT and Governance in East Africa: Preliminary Fieldwork Findings (Part 2) Mwanza, Tanzania

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BY VARYANNE SIKA.

The last week of August 2014 was an opportunity for the iHub Research team to explore the various ways in which ICT tools have/can successfully facilitate or hinder two way interaction between government and citizens towards effective public service delivery, curbing corruption, enhancing access to information and increasing transparency and accountability in Tanzania. The team visited Mwanza and Dar es Salaam to identify some of the innovative ICT initiatives that have facilitated the interaction between citizens and government as well as the (de)motivations for utilizing ICT tools among the various stakeholders (citizens, governments, civil society). While in Mwanza region we visited Magu district and Ilemela district.

READ ON THE PRELIMINARY FINDINGS IN DAR-ES-SALAAM HERE.

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ICT and Governance in East Africa: Preliminary Fieldwork Findings (Part 1) Dar es salam, Tanzania

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BY VARYANNE SIKA.

The ICT and Governance in East Africa study explores the various ways in which ICT tools can/have successfully facilitated or hindered two way interaction between government and citizens towards effective public service delivery, curbing corruption, rights/access to information, as well as increasing transparency and accountability. Further we are looking into the innovative ICT initiatives that have facilitated the interaction between citizen and government as well as the (de)motivations for utilizing ICT tools among the various stakeholders (citizens, governments, civil society).

READ MORE ON THE PROJECT HERE.

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ICT4Democracy in East Africa: Promoting Democracy and Human Rights Through ICTs

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Established in 2011, ICT4Democracy in East Africa is a network of organisations working to promote democracy and human rights through Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Across the three countries, partners are leveraging on mobile short message service (SMS), toll free call centre, FM radio, social media, crowd sourcing platforms and direct community engagement to implement projects that tackle issues such as corruption, service delivery, respect for human rights, freedom of expression and access to information.

The projects are driven by the shared vision of the immense potential that ICTs have in increasing citizens’ participation in decision-making processes and strengthening democratization.

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SMS System Boosts Reporting of Human Rights Abuses in Tanzania

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Growing the capacity of citizens and civic groups including human rights networks to use Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to foster free speech, human rights, access to information and open governance is one of the objectives of the ICT4Democracy in East Africa Network. Since April 2014, the Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance (CHRAGG) in Tanzania has conducted a campaign to raise awareness about the SMS for Human Rights system throughout Tanzania.

The system, which was launched on Human Rights Day in December 2012, has made it easier for citizens to report human rights violations to the Commission. In 2013, a total of 173,493 complaints were received through the system. Since then, the number of complaints filed with the Commission has averaged more than 100 per week compared to 10 per week prior to the system’s installation.

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Celebrations of the Human Rights Day in Tanzania

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The Human Rights day which takes place on the 12th of December was celebrated in pomp and color with the guest of honor being Hon. Mizengo Pinda, the Prime Minister of Tanzania. The Chairman for CHRAGG, (Retired)Chief Justice, Captain Amiri R Mamento gave his opening address which focused on Human Rights and the prevention and combating of corruption.

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