FrontlineSMS provides an "entry-level text messaging solution for the non-profit sector." FrontlineSMS was started by Ken Banks, managing director of Kiwanja.net, a ICT geared to servicing the specific needs of the conservation and development community with a particular focus on Africa. FrontlineSMS's website explains the need well:
"...text messaging has allowed people to exchange information and communicate at both national and international level. The potential to provide some of the poorest people in the world with local, relevant, useful information has not gone un-noticed...
Patients receive reminders to take their medicine, saving time and money travelling to local clinics. Farmers receive details of market prices and demand for their products before heading off to market. National parks communicate details of dangerous animals, providing an early warning system to mitigate against human/wildlife conflict. Young people living in the slums of Nairobi receive texts alerting them to job opportunities in the city."
Check out the website for more technical and practical information, and contact Ken Banks who seems to be accessible and open to questions. Also see the first pages of a PDF report, "Mobile phones: An appropriate tool for conservation and development?" by Ken Banks and Richard Burge (2004) which will give you more ideas on how texting might add social value in these sectors.
Via Worldchanging
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