kiwanja's blog

As part of its mission to ensure that the Web is available to all, W3C invites participation in a public Workshop on the Role of Mobile Technologies in Fostering Social and Economic Development in Africa in Maputo, Mozambique, on 1-2 April 2009. Participants will explore ways to fulfil the potential of mobile phones as a platform for deploying development-oriented ICT services towards the poorest segments of populations in developing countries, with an emphasis on the African context.

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation have today announced a major grant in support of kiwanja's ongoing activities. The grant, worth a total of $400,000 over two years, will see the ongoing support and development of FrontlineSMS, the creation of an MMS (multimedia messaging) version of the platform, FrontlineSMS outreach, the creation of a non-profit online text messaging aggregator, and the scaling of the nGOmobile competition

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation makes grants to address the most serious social and environmental problems facing society, where risk capital, responsibly invested, may make a difference over time. The Foundation places a high value on sustaining and improving institutions that make positive contributions to society

Over the past six months or so I have been talking with about a dozen high-profile mobile companies, IT companies and mobile specialists to gauge interest in a new project, one which builds on the work of Nathan Eagle in East Africa (see http://web.mit.edu/eprom for details). I have also been speaking with a major US Foundation, who have expressed interest in funding the initial scoping phase of the project.

During my recent presentation at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, I met up with Stephane Boyera from W3C, and we talked about a workshop he was organising. I've since been appointed a member of the Program Committee, and would like to take this opportunity to spread news of the event among members of the Kabissa community, since some of you may well be interested in, and able to contribute to, the event.