The Nation Newspaper

Tag: impact Journalism

  • Leveraging the potential of media to end harmful practices

    Op-ed by Jaha Dukureh, Regional UN Women Good Will Ambassador for Africa and Activist

    The turn of the century has introduced media as a means of global connectivity. Depending on who is utilizing it, media channels may be unethical sources for false news, or it can be a way for families, friends and communities to connect. Recently, media is also being used as a tool for ending harmful practices against girls and women. In recent years, two of the biggest media campaign’s in the history of The Gambia have involved protecting the rights of girls and women, namely the campaigns to end Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), and right after that, Child, Early, and Forced Marriage (CEFM).

    Utilizing media has always played a major role in the work my organization, Safe Hands for Girls, does. It’s been through media that our campaigns first gained traction and international recognition, and it has also been through media that FGM survivors have the platform to discuss what it means to be a survivor and what resources need to be put in place to support them and ensure that the practice of FGM no longer continues. Our number one tool of outreach and mobilization has been media. Throughout the years, we’ve hosted radio programs, plays, social media campaigns and media personnel training sessions just to name a few.

    There has been an increased use of social media amongst young people, and this medium has been a very relevant tool to share information. Social media has helped to disseminate information about previous and current projects on ending FGM, and it has also helped secure partnerships with other organizations and people we currently work it. It has served as a platform to run end FGM campaigns, and it has also been a means to dismantle outdated ideas that people have held about the practice. The use of social media is also a way to connect survivors with one another, so they may be able to support one another and also build on each other’s work.

    It’s been through media use that we’ve been able to have access to hard to reach target populations. One of our most successful programs, the Radio Listening Group targets older women who work in village farms and often don’t have access to our events or documents. These women had very little access to news about FGM because of the nature of their work and didn’t have time to listen to the radio by the time they got home. In order to reach them, we designed a radio program during their hours at the farm that talks about FGM. From there, we supplied each group with a mobile phone so that they have the opportunity to call into the show and discuss their views on FGM. Through this, women in those communities had the opportunity to talk amongst each other on why they were for or against FGM and what the myths and misconceptions they held about FGM were. This program inspired women within those communities to take lead in the advocacy process by arming them with knowledge on FGM and also the laws surrounding FGM. The program has led to an increased change in attitude about FGM, with more women looking at the practice less favorably than they did initially.

    Another crucial aspect of using media to influence change, has been changing the language being used to report on FGM and other sensitive topics. The importance of training media personnel on socially conscious and survivor centered methods of reporting cannot be overstated. In 2017, Safe Hands for Girls hosted the FGM Media Awards to recognize significant efforts made my individual journalists and media houses who reported on FGM and did so factually and holistically. This was done to encourage reports to hold themselves at higher standards and to ensure that the information being spread on FGM would be beneficial in ending the practice.

    If used the right way, media may be the most powerful tool we have in ending harmful practices against girls and women, such as FGM. We have only scratched the surface, but I look forward to a future where people are more interested in stories being told with a socially conscious lens, that centers survivors and the work of activists instead of whether a celebrity has gained weight.

  • Safe water in a ceramic pot

    One by one, the pupils of Bright Little Angel Primary School rush toward a blue and white water dispenser, colorful plastic cups in hand. The dispenser, a “Purifaaya,” is one of four that stand at different corners of the school. Since this primary school in Nakawuka, in the Wakiso District of Uganda, lacks a canteen, this free drinking water is essential. “We emphasize the importance of drinking water because we want the pupils to get used to it,” says Basajja Kirinya, the school principal.

    According to WHO, more than 800 million people around the world lack access to clean water. In Uganda, water-borne diseases remain a leading cause of infant mortality for children under age five. The World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program notes that diarrheal diseases from poor sanitation and time spent fetching water cost the country more than USD 170 million every year.

    Before a good Samaritan donated the Purifaaya water dispensers to the school, its pupils drank mostly boiled water. “At times, the water would still be hot by lunchtime or we would find ourselves leaving it out in the open to cool. The Purifaaya changed much of this,” says Kirinya.

    The Purifaaya is manufactured in Kampala by a US-based social enterprise, Spouts of Water. Its co-founder, Kathy Ku, spent a summer in Uganda and was struck by the lack of access to safe water, so she partnered with fellow Harvard student John Kye to create the organization in 2012. In July 2015, Uganda’s Ministry of Water and Environment determined that Purifaaya was 99.9% effective and its water safe for consumption.

    Unlike most other systems that provide safe water in developing countries, the Purifaaya has a ceramic filter inside the plastic dispenser made entirely with local materials: clay, sawdust and a thin layer of silver nitrate to enhance bacterial removal. This ceramic pot permits water to trickle through, maintaining its taste and scent, while trapping viruses, pollutants, and organic and inorganic materials larger than half a micron. Its gravity-based filtration process allows a flow rate of up to three liters per hour.

    Spouts of Water employs 35 local workers at its factory while developing a vast network of partnerships to ensure distribution and reach everyone regardless of economic status or location. For a single family, a complete set of Purifaaya sells for 100,000 Ugandan shillings (USD 27). Spouts of Water aims to provide safe water to at least 10 million Ugandans who still lack access to it, and has started supplying neighboring Congo, too.

    While all Purifaaya filters are the same size, they come in two different sized dispensers – one with a 20-liter capacity, purchased mostly by families, and another with a 65-liter capacity for companies or institutions. Since November 2015, more than 1,600 filters have been distributed to schools thanks to a partnership program with the NGO Save the Children, ensuring safe water for roughly 30,000 students.

    Annet Nakibinge, a counselor in Nakawuka, is one of 110,000 Ugandans who have gained access to clean drinking water since Spouts of Water was launched – she has been using the Purifaaya for five months. With a family of nine, she notes that boiling water every two days was both costly and time consuming. “Before we acquired the dispensers, we would boil water and strain it,” she explains. “We consume about 10 liters every two days” – or about one dollar’s worth of charcoal in a country where some 10 million people earn less than $1.25 a day.

    The major sources of water in Nakibinge’s area are a well and a borehole. But with the well usually contaminated due to frequent use, people turn to the borehole for water instead, which appears clean yet often contains metallic objects and bits of rust.

    Nakibinge has been instrumental in ensuring that more families in the area acquire the dispensers. She helps organize meetings where locals learn about the importance of clean water. At these meetings they receive a 15 percent discount on the purchase of a Purifaaya and can pay for it in monthly installments.

  • Skate Brothers, the antivirus for gangs

    The bike rider makes a silhouette in the air before landing on the ground and undertaking a few complicated acrobatics. You can clearly see the satisfaction on his face. He is one of many young people who, in a troubled area of Honduras, have swapped misdemeanors for sports thanks to the Skate Brothers.

    “I do these tricks on bikes, but I am also a skater. I was on the wrong track for six years; I was looking for an adrenaline rush on the streets and found one here that doesn’t put my life at risk. Here we are one big, happy family,” says Gendrik Torres, 19, before jumping his bike onto a multipurpose track that many others are enjoying.

    When the sun sets, a swarm of children and young people come together every day to demonstrate their skills on the track, while others show off their singing and dancing talents in a room next door. Some speed off on roller skates like arrows, others do tricks on their skateboards, still others take to the track with their bikes.

    “Pain is temporary, but satisfaction is forever. I love coming here because there is a family atmosphere and it stops you from thinking about getting into gangs or things like that,” explains young skater Bayron Rodriguez, 13, with the wisdom of an adult.

    He and Torres are just two of the many young people who gather every afternoon to take part in this program, which came along like a light in the darkness for younger generations in Cofradía, a community south of San Pedro Sula, one of the most violent places in Honduras. At the end of 2017, the country’s homicide rate was 42.8 per 100,000 inhabitants, one of the highest in the world.

    The inspiration to create the program came from Jessel Recinos, a Honduran who traded crime for skating and founded Skate Brothers to keep young people away from gangs.

    “I joined a gang when I was 15, but in 2005 my life changed after I was shot with a 9-millimeter pistol. The last bullet went through my back and came out above my heart,” describes Recinos, unbuttoning his shirt to show the scar. “As I watched the blood run out of my chest, I promised God right there and then I would leave this dark world behind. The doctors didn’t understand – I survived by miracle.”

    That vow to “become a good person” led him to start Skate Brothers in 2011, a nonprofit skating club that has become a model for young people tempted by drugs, crime and the maras (gangs). “We have prevented many people from falling into vandalism; we are the antivirus to this problem,” says the 27-year-old.

    At first, the project was located within Cofradía’s Outreach Center (Catholic Church aid centers for children and young people in high-risk areas) and was equipped thanks to a donation of 24,400 Honduran lempiras (USD 1,030) from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), via the Alianza Joven Honduras program.

    In 2017, also thanks to donations from USAID and the Catholic Church, they were able to open their own facilities, which include an office, a gym, a meeting room, football and basketball courts, a multipurpose track, bathrooms, a cafeteria and locker rooms.

    “When we cut the ribbon, I sat down on the track, looked at my ‘sheep’ and it brought tears to my eyes to see how many young people were already safe,” says Recinos, who in 2016 was chosen by the U.S. Department of State as one of 10 Emerging Young Leaders across the world.

    Today, about 70 children and young people come to have fun for free at a place where they can practice rollerblading, skateboarding, acrobatics, modern dance, rap and football. “Some of them used to belong to gangs, and Skate Brothers has changed their lives. We don’t just teach them different disciplines, we are also mentors because we have become friends,” says Recinos.

    The club goes far beyond sports. This year, some 2,000 inhabitants of the region will benefit from a nutritional program sponsored by USAID. “We have a direct link with the public. Every September 15 [Honduras Independence Day] we take part in parades, put on shows at streets fairs, and go to every event that the community invites us to,” says Recinos.

    The institution makes ends meet thanks to meeting room rentals, a gym, sponsorships, raffles and other activities. “We do it out of love,” says the founder, but he admits that they need further financial support.

    Among their current objectives is obtaining legal person status so they can process any aid that comes to them, and also reaching out to other parts of the country. “One of our goals is to expand into parts of Honduras where there are conflicts. If we can find an organization to support us the project will keep on flourishing, because we want more young people to be reached by Skate Brothers,” says Recinos.

  • Dancing Parkinson’s disease away

    A stage is set in one of the exhibition halls of the Museo Civico (Civic Museum) in Bassano del Grappa, near Vicenza, Italy, during a contemporary art exhibition titled In-colore by an Italian artist, Daniele Marcon.

    Performers are dancing on the stage. Most are people with Parkinson’s disease, but there are also young – and very young – visitors, immigrants, and people from all walks of life dancing. They are invited to draw inspiration from paintings with geometrical patterns, squares and rectangles, mainly in dark colors, with sharp contrasts and well-defined lines.

    Their goal is to stimulate the audience’s emotional response, precisely because strong colors can convey the flow of life’s energy.

    The performers are part of a contemporary dance initiative called “Dance Well,” using dance as a therapy and integration technique for people with Parkinson’s disease.

    They take one-hour dance lessons in the museum’s exhibition halls each Monday and Friday.

    One Monday morning in April, during a lesson at the Marcon exhibition, the teacher-choreographer invites the participants – about 70 strong – to move along imaginary paths in space, following lines that the paintings on the walls seemed to suggest.

    They move back and forth, left and right, holding their outstretched arms above their heads or lying on the floor, alone or with a partner. Some seek out their own spaces while others create trajectories that cross other dancers’ paths, resulting in physical contact that can be therapeutic.

     

    “It all started from the idea, later confirmed by scientific research, that contemporary dance can help people who suffer from Parkinson’s disease to improve their ability to move, and therefore their quality of life,” says Daniele Volpe, director of the Neuro-Rehabilitation Department at Villa Margherita in Arcugnano (Vicenza), one of six treatment centers at the Fresco Parkinson Institute in Italy.

    Their efforts are all the more vital because Parkinson’s disease is fast becoming a pandemic. Parkinson’s is a degenerative disorder in the brain that causes sufferers to become increasingly hampered in their movement and balance. Experts say there were 6.9 million patients worldwide in 2015 and this number could double by 2040, with devastating economic consequences for health services.

    “We need to find new models of treatment and rehabilitation, beyond the conventional methods that have been used so far,” says Volpe. “There is a need to bring on board new professionals, like dance teachers, after undergoing a specific training, of course.”

    The Dance Well initiative was launched in 2013 in Bassano del Grappa by Roberto Casarotto, artistic director of the Operaestate Festival Veneto. “This project was inspired by a meeting we had with a Dutch organization called Dance for Health,” explains Casarotto. “But it developed independently, with particular focus on the artistic aspect.”

    People generally think of dance therapy as an activity that concentrates exclusively on movement and is carried out in gyms. But in the case of Dance Well, people dance in museum exhibition halls, attempting to translate modern and classic works of art into movement.

    “Tango and Irish dancing are invaluable for people affected by Parkinson’s disease,” explains Volpe. “They stimulate specific areas in the brain, such as the motor and sensory cortex, that have an impact on movement. But contemporary dance inspired by art has been shown to stimulate a greater number of cerebral areas such as the limbic system, which enhances emotions and creative processes.”
    Eva, 48, has lived with Parkinson’s disease for 15 years. “In the last four years, dance has been a real game changer in my life, and I’ve been able to resume doing what I was doing before the illness,” she says. “But above all, I have overcome the stigma attached to Parkinson’s disease. I don’t feel judged anymore and my self-esteem has increased tremendously.”
    Scientific research shows that “the most important aspect is to keep moving,” Volpe says, “because movement can trigger neuroprotective mechanisms in the brain, encourage neuroplasticity and lead to the creation of new synapses. This means we can slow down the disease.”

    Some Italian neurologists deplore the excessive use of medication to treat Parkinson’s disease, including dopamine, which can have serious side effects such as uncontrolled movements or even interruption of movement – the so-called freezing effect. Dancing can help reduce the need for drug therapy.

    Dance Well focuses primarily on people with Parkinson’s disease, but the project is trying to involve others in the community, namely young people and immigrants. Some 300 people gather every week at the exhibition halls of the Museo Civico.

    “Our lessons are open to asylum seekers as well,” says Casarotto. “We believe this initiative can foster integration in the community, and we also have a special project to this end, despite some objections raised by certain politicians.”

    After an hour, the dance lesson comes to an end. Some of these performers will have a new audience at the annual Festival Veneto Operaestate Bassano next July.

    The “Parkinson’s dancers” will step onstage for a short program to show the audience what they have been practicing, proving that disability isn’t always an obstacle. Sometimes it is an opportunity.

  • Impact Journalism Day: 45 newspapers unite to bring readers uplifting, solutions-based news  

    Impact Journalism Day: 45 newspapers unite to bring readers uplifting, solutions-based news  

    Reading the news on a daily basis can be a depressing affair. Worldwide, readers and audiences repeatedly report that they are put off by how negative the news seems to be.

    Yet the media’s role is to bring major issues and problems to the foreground and to keep us alert. Must the headlines conform to the age‐old adage that “when it bleeds, it leads”?

    The idea behind Impact Journalism Day is to show that the media also fulfill their role by reporting on inspiring solutions to the world’s problems.

    The alliance of 45 newspapers, united by Sparknews, presents a different vision of journalism: problems AND solutions can make the news together. This view, along with the conviction that quality, solutions‐based news is something readers aspire to have more of, is part of a growing movement in the press to feature stories of hope and change.

    Impact Journalism Day is just the beginning. Each edition has seen a steady increase in the number of newspapers and newsrooms onboard, excited to show their commitment to solutions‐based reporting. Some journalists were initially concerned this content might be naïve or simplistic, but are now eager to participate and uphold this philosophy in their day‐to‐day activities. They are fueled by conviction and also by seeing firsthand that this type of reporting has a measurable impact on the ground.

    When the public learns of real solutions, the results can be tremendous. Readers gain greater understanding of the problems and are given the means to engage and the hope to believe that they can become changemakers.

    Every reader can and does make a difference. Last year’s articles helped contribute to the growth of the projects featured, via an increase in awareness, volunteering, orders, investments, donations or even via replication in new countries.

    Now it’s your turn to be part of the movement!

    Show the media that this kind of news matters. Tell your friends and family about Impact Journalism Day, buy an extra copy for your children or your colleagues, share the articles you like on the web and be part of the conversation on Twitter and Facebook.

    You can take part in our selfie contest by posting a photo of yourself and this newspaper via Twitter (#ImpactJournalism and add the @ thenationnews) or the Facebook page of our founding partner, AXA (facebook.com/AXAPeopleProtectors).

    Help the innovators and entrepreneurs featured in these stories to overcome the challenges they face by joining a brainstorming session (beta.makesense.org/ijd).

    And suggest projects we might consider for next year’s Impact Journalism Day (www.sparknews.com/ijd).

    Enjoy your read!

    Christian de Boisredon and the Sparknews Team.

    Christian is the founder of Sparknews and an Ashoka Fellow.

    For more information: impact@sparknews.com

  • Texting people out of poverty

    Texting people out of poverty

    A bank account is one step on the road to financial stability. A program called Juntos “talks” to its users to ensure that the newly banked actually put their money aside, writes Laura Shin

     

    Carmen Hernandez, 34, lives in Dallas with her husband and five children. Her husband works in construction, earning about $50,000 a year. Hernandez makes party decorations and tailors clothing, making $800 to $1,000 a month.

    In February 2014, the family only had $300 in savings. That month, Hernandez began using a program called Juntos that sends text messages to her mobile, a basic cell phone.

    The texts would ask her things like, “Do you want to save more?” If the answer was yes, she would respond with an amount, which would be deposited into her savings account.

    Or, they might ask if she had an emergency and remind her that she could use her savings. Or, they might just encourage her to continue saving.

    A year later, the family savings was closing in on $5,000.

    “All the messages they send really help me,” said Hernandez, with her 14­year­old son acting as translator. “If I didn’t use it, I would save less.”

    The San Carlos, California­based company behind the program, Juntos Finanzas (which goes by Juntos), promotes financial inclusion and helps first­time bank account holders, or the “newly banked,” to manage their money. “Our hope is to increase active client rates and active balances in accounts,” said Katie Nienow, cofounder and vice­president of business development.

    The company got its start in 2009 at the Institute of Design at Stanford, when a student named Ben Knelman (now CEO) created a simple app to help the school janitors.

    Initially, a janitor named Karina laughed at the idea that she could save on her $21,000 salary. But a year later, she had saved $2,000 by using the app. Juntos went on to win the innovation award for financial inclusion at the 2012 G20 summit in Mexico City.

    In a pilot study in Colombia, participants working with Juntos ended up with 50 percent higher balances than the control group. Many users, who already feel connected to their phones—one referred to hers as her baby—end up feeling such a personal connection to the app that they respond with messages like, “I just want to thank you for your help.

    Your motivation has been very useful.”

    The company now has 200,000 users, obtained through partner financial institutions, in Colombia, Mexico and Tanzania. A team of writers with backgrounds from psychology to design use behavioral economics and on­the­ground research to customize each version to the dialect and culture of that country. Juntos also has a version for users in the United States, which is targeted at recent immigrants who are new to the banking system.

    “In recent years, innovations like branchless banking, mobile banking and mobile money have meant that banking services could be provided to the poor at cheaper cost, so access to financial services was becoming a reality for the poor,” said Nienow. But while banks have an easy time getting people to open accounts, customers often immediately let their accounts fall dormant, or unused. Dormancy rates for the newly banked range from 40 to 90 percent around the world.

    People who don’t have active accounts may engage in behaviors that put their money at risk. They may keep cash at home, where it might get stolen. Or they may use risky or difficult­to­liquidate informal savings vehicles, such as asking a family member to hold their cash or buying inventory for their small business.

    “When the poor have their money weighing too heavily on their minds, they’re not able to give their mind to other things with their full presence, which has implications for their job performance and their future earning potential,” said Nienow, citing studies that showed that people perform less well on IQ tests when money is scarce.

    Dormant accounts also cost the banks, which spend time and money to develop, advertise and maintain them. That makes Juntos and financial institutions natural partners: the banks have customers that Juntos can target for financial inclusion, and Juntos can help banks lower dormancy rates.

    After enrollment, which may or may not be automatic, depending upon the institution, a user receives a note from Juntos explaining that the service acts as a free financial coach.

    The company will try several different texts to see what gets the person to write back, then refine its algorithms based on the responses it receives. “We’re constantly testing different messages to see what resonates the best,” said Nienow.

    Once a customer replies, Juntos will ask her if she’s interested in a particular aspect of the account. For instance, if she gets free health insurance for maintaining a certain balance, the company will send reminders of that.

    Antonique Koning, a financial sector specialist at The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, says that Juntos’s use of algorithms to analyze big volumes of customer data and continually update responses is innovative among organizations tackling financial inclusion. She feels that the Juntos platform helps people to believe in their banks.

    “Providers need to become much more focused on the customers, better understand the customers’ realities, needs and preferences, and develop solutions that help,” she said.  “People don’t trust the financial system because the system doesn’t speak their language.”

     

    For more information

    Website: http://juntosglobal.com/

    Video: http://www.sparknews.com/fr/video/juntos­finanzas­positive­financial­impact-

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  • Safermom: Using technology to reduce maternal and infant mortality

    Safermom: Using technology to reduce maternal and infant mortality

    Justice Ilevbare writes on a technology based initiative; Safermom has been put in place to address the issues relating to the maternal healthcare care crisis in Nigeria by using interactive and low cost personalized text/voice messages.

     

    The joy of Mrs. Ariyo, knew no bound when she delivered her baby few years ago. Before her new bundle of joy, she had suffered repeated loss during childbirth ‐a situation which earned her several name tags from her in‐laws.

    Today, the story is different. Mrs. Ariyo, an Ekiti‐based mother and several others are beneficiaries of SaferMom initiative – a platform that addresses the issues relating to maternal healthcare care crisis in

    Nigeria by using interactive and low cost personalized text/voice messages.

    With just about two years of its establishment, SaferMom already have not less than 2,500 subscribers on the platform, “we have registered 2,500 subscribers to our platform, some which are fathers or relatives in case the mother has no access to a mobile phone,” Lanre Adeloye, CEO of SaferMom said.

    SaferMom basically engages mothers with vital health information in form of SMS and personalized voice call to improve maternal and child health. Apart from pregnancy follow ups, tracking of immunization, nutrition guides, child health and safety tips, SaferMom also send messages that help disprove superstitious believes to women.

    Adeloye and his team are poised to eradicate the cases of maternal, neonatal and child mortality using mobile health technology in underserved communities in Nigeria, expressed satisfaction of the success recorded so far since the introduction of the SaferMom initiative, “the testimonies we receive have been one of the best thing that happened to us and also our driving force. Maternal and child health illiteracy is considerably high in Nigeria,” he added.

    The team which comprise of experts of Physiologists, public Health practitioners, Physicians, Designers, programmers came together to reduce this phenomenon, presently works in South West Nigeria with hope to make it a pan Nigeria project with time.

    For Adeloye and his team, the idea to introduce the SaferMom initiative is more than just hype but the passion to provide a solution to the scourge ravaging poor women in the society. A passion driven by the result of a research, “Our research shows that most solutions available aren’t targeted at mothers below the poverty line but rather with mothers with smart phones or internet enabled phones. Our innovative and unique solution allows mothers to access our platform irrespective of the kind of phone they use or their location,” Adeloye said.

     

    He added, “As we speak, a mother had just lost her life due to complication related to pregnancy and child birth according to reports by World Health Organization. In a core village in Northern Nigeria, an unskilled health practitioner is probably battling with a life of a child which has little or hope of surviving.

    “These are few realities of a country that loses about 40,000 mothers and 260,000 new born babies yearly due to preventable health challenges. With about 50% of total population of Nigeria living in low income communities, access to comprehensive healthcare is a luxury. Many new and expectant mothers travel for several hours away to access healthcare thereby reducing antenatal care by 40% in the developing world.

    “Many new mothers fail to present their babies for immunization routine for several reasons ranging  from distance barrier, contrary religious believes, high transportation cost, negligence and illiteracy. In slum areas where health facilities are present, wards are densely populated due to poor schedules, disease burdens on health workers mainly due to communicable diseases such as TB, Malaria and HIV/AIDS.

    “A skilled medical attendant has to deal with about 20,000 patients with varying degrees of ailment in very harsh conditions. In some communities, modern medical healthcare is seen as abomination. Women are barred from receiving modern health care thereby seeking native approaches which may be unsafe and hazardous to health.

    “Our focus basically is to help as many mothers by providing key health care information through their pregnancy phases to child developmental stages which is key to their survival.”

    Eventhough it has recorded some successes, Adeloye outlined a number of challenges to include:

    * Messages fail due to network subscriptions used by mothers

    * Not all mothers still has access to Mobile phones

    * Since mothers receive our contents via their phones, their phone is not always charged (might take 2 or more days before gets charged again)

    * Registering more mothers to ensure national scale is still a huge task

    * Raising funds, getting professional translators of our contents to local languages, getting more volunteers to register more mothers among others.

    Amongst others, the SaferMom allows pregnant mothers to constantly listen to targeted NGOs, corporate firms working towards MDGs. Other programs of the team include; tracking of vaccination,  education on breastfeeding, safe health/family campaigns and follow up of pregnant or nursing mothers.

     

    SaferMom also allows health workers to track/follow up health behaviours of pre and post‐natal activities of mothers and receive feedbacks immediately.

    Additionally, SaferMom helps to provide information and reminders to mothers and entire family on  hygiene, family health and preventive health tips and with just a click, rural dwellers/mother’s health  can be reached and accessed.

    In an emergency situation, SaferMom is used to reach rural communities in just a fracture of minute.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Electricity from your garden

    Electricity from your garden

    Solar panels on our roofs will soon be a thing of the past, says Markus Weingartner. That’s why the part­time inventor builds solar furniture, writes Christian Zürcher, Tages­Anzeiger, Niederglatt (Switzerland)

     

    The table in the garden of a family home in Niederglatt, not far from Zurich, looks like many  a garden table – simple design, chromium steel, matt finish. But there’s a difference: one leg reveals a cable that runs along the ground and ends up in a power point.

    The table leaf is black and turns out to be made of glass, covering a set of solar panels. “My solar table – an energy-producing piece of furniture,” says Markus Weingartner, an engineer, father of two, hobby innovator and furniture creator. The “solar table” generates 280 kilowatt­hours of electricity a year, enough to cover 30 per cent of a person’s energy consumption or to power an e­bike for 70 kilometres every day.

    The Swiss authorities did not warm to Weingartner’s concept for a long time because unlike rooftop panels, the electricity generated by the table is fed directly into the private grid through a power point. It does not have to be sold into the public grid and then repurchased, and it can be used instantaneously.  “Most people don’t even know that this is now possible,”

    Weingartner says. Although the Federal Inspectorate for Heavy Current Installations (ESTI) took a lot of convincing (Weingartner: “It was a battle”) it eventually sanctioned the idea.

    This made Switzerland only the second country after the Netherlands to allow such a feed­in.

    Originally, railways were Weingartner’s abiding passion. He studied electrical engineering,  joined ABB, the Swiss­Swedish engineering group, and began developing railway software programmes. He moved to South Africa for several years to help develop the country’s railway network. Upon returning to Switzerland in 2005, Weingartner redirected his professional career by adding a post­graduate diploma in photovoltaics. (“I’d been interested in this area since I was 18,” says Weingartner, who is now 49.)  He founded his own business for solar installations and employs five people. He calls it his “routine business”.

    He broke out of the routine in 2013, when he designed his solar table because he anticipated a change:

    “Ten years from now we won’t be seeing a lot of solar panels on small roofs anymore.”

    Although solar technology becomes ever cheaper, he says, installation costs will remain high while feed­in tariffs (i.e. compensation rates) will fall. For an individual, installing rooftop panels will become less and less viable. “The trend goes towards large­scale installations and cost­efficient solar parks.”

    Weingartner, who also builds solar panels for flower pots and side or coffee tables, sees a niche market for his solar furniture: “Ecology­minded people can do something for the environment without needing to obtain a building permit and having to spend 30,000 francs on a solar installation.” So, is the table, which costs CHF 3,400, also a mission statement?

    “Possibly,” Weingartner says, but he prefers to paint a broader picture. He uses phrases like

    “The sun is a democratic source of energy” or “The electric grid is today’s energy internet”. Anybody can feed into the grid and purchase from it, it has become a “free market”.

    While energy producers once pretty much cornered the market with their power plants, photovoltaics now gives many people the opportunity to become electricity suppliers. In short: for Weingartner, the solar table is the first step on his family’s path to “energy self­sufficiency”.

    At least that’s the idea, his vision. The reality is different: Weingartner’s solar table is hardly a bestseller. He has sold some 30 pieces so far, but he needs to sell at least 300 to cover his expenses – high in the hundred thousands. It’s difficult to find his furniture on the internet, let alone in the social media. “There’s room for improvement,” he concedes. Nor have any of the big furniture chains, such as IKEA, Interio or Micasa, added his invention to their product lines. Weingartner knows why: “The margins are too low.” Micasa’s Service Centre told “Tages­Anzeiger”: “We take suggestions from customers on board and evaluate them on a supply­and­demand basis.”

    This leaves the furniture and garden shows. Weekend after weekend Weingartner carts his solar furniture around Switzerland. The experience is not encouraging: “People stop, have a look, say ‘Wow, what a super idea’ and amble off.” So, is the willingness to invest in renewable energy overestimated or eroded by double standards? Weingartner wouldn’t put it that harshly, but says: “It’s what people do that counts, not what they say.”

    India, the dream market Florian Stahl teaches marketing at the University of Mannheim in Germany and knows a thing or two about launching innovative products.  “It takes time to market new ideas and inventions,” he says, because human beings are basically tradition­bound and it is difficult to sell them change. “The important thing here is communication.

    You have to convince people that the product is the same, but better.” Small companies find this difficult, he says, because they lack the resources for broad­based advertising campaigns. An alternative would be guerrilla marketing via social media or trying to sharpen the distribution process – either direct distribution to the end­seller (Stahl: “In this case rather difficult”) or via production licences (Stahl: “Probably the best solution”). Weingartner sees some merit in the licensing option since he considers himself more of an innovator than a furniture maker. “In future, we will also offer a do­it­yourself solar table.”

    He has a longer­term vision as well: he wants to travel around India in ten years’ time and see lots of furniture connected to power points – “now that would be it!”

    For more information:

    Website: http://energiemoebel.ch/

  • Blood donors

    Blood donors

    Joel Barquez still remembers vividly that fateful day of December 12, 1997. Barquez,  founder of Blood Donors Network, was hospitalised for dengue fever at St. Luke’s Medical Center.

    “My platelet count had dropped to critical level and the only thing that would help me with my condition would be to undergo blood transfusion. Unfortunately for me, it was also the season of dengue. I realized that the supply of blood was low when the doctor had to tell my relatives to call as many people as they could who could donate blood. And they did,” Barquez said.

    Today, eighteen years later, Barquez said nothing much has changed.

    “Today in 2015, we are still in that same scenario that every time someone needs blood, the patient’s relatives have to call or text as many people as they can. Some hospitals ask  for replacement donors twice the amount that the patient had used in order to replenish their blood supply,” he said.

    According to Ernesto Datu, head of the Blood Bank at St. Luke’s Medical Center, during the summer break and Christmas season, blood supply is at its lowest level and cannot keep up with the demand.

    “People are more apt to be traveling and partying, enjoying the much­needed time off, which means fewer donors. Some medical procedures during December have to be suspended until January when blood would already be available,” Barquez said.

    He said that time as well as money are of the essence, yet just having to search for blood already means time and money wasted, not to mention the physical and emotional trauma that people can experience.

    As such, Barquez decided to set up Blood Donors Network, a web­ and mobile­based  application for hospitals, health centers and the Red Cross that provides direct access to compatible blood types from its network of 100 percent voluntary non­remunerated donors.

    The innovative idea is a crowd­sourced web and mobile platform for the Red Cross, hospitals, blood donors and recipients.

    Through these web and mobile applications, blood donation happens in the social sphere through gamification by providing these blood donors “hero badges.”

    As such, they would be recognized among the blood donors community, health organizations and agencies nationwide.

    Barquez said that hero badges have already been given to some donors when the app was launched in June 2014.

    The web and mobile­based app specifically provides a solution to help communities meet their blood supply needs by increasing the acquisition of new blood donors and more importantly, establishing a comprehensive data of donors.

    At present, the Network is currently beta tested in two products ­ the Blood Institutions and Blood Donor.

    The Blood Institutions is exclusive for international humanitarian organization Red Cross as well as hospitals.

    “Its features are available in the web and eventually in the mobile platform (iOS, Android, and Windows). These users can manage blood requests, check the number of donors and their blood type affiliated in their institution, as well as updates donation record of the blood donor,” Barquez said.

    To access the network, the username and password of the user are predefined when there is already an existing licensing agreement.

    “They can manage blood requests that could directly send to a maximum of 100 blood donors that are geo­ and blood type­targeted. This saves time and money when searching for the specific blood type needed instead of the usual random process,” he said.

    The Blood Donor on the other hand is available in web and currently developing the mobile platform.

    Under this platform, when an institution sends a request of B+ blood type, donors with that particular type of blood would receive an SMS.

    Participating hospitals in beta testing include St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City and Global Bonifacio City while Cardinal Santos has also expressed its intention to participate.

    The organization has also partnered with Smart Communications and Chikka both for SMS messaging.

    The Asian Development Bank and Microsoft Philippines support the project, Barquez said.

    Asked how many patients have benefitted, Barquez said there is no actual data yet but there are thank you notes through social media.

    “Currently, we do not have actual data regarding the number of patients who benefitted from the app. All we have got are thank you notes received through social media. I also experienced for the first time that I was personally thanked by the wife of the patient who was at the ICU that time last April 3, on Good Friday. I underwent platelet apheresis so that her husband would be able to have his immediate operation due to internal bleeding,” he said.

    Moving forward, Barquez said that once the Blood Donors Network is done with its beta tests with selected hospitals, the project would be scaled up by June 2015.

    “Once, we are done with our beta tests with selected hospitals, we are going to scale up by releasing the version 2 of the application by June 2015. We will propose the app to other hospitals in Metro Manila that have their own blood banks, as well as to university organizations that are very much involved in blood drives,” he said.

    By 2016, the goal is to go nationwide, Barquez added. Indeed, the days of searching for much needed blood by families of desperate patients may soon come to an end, thanks to the Blood Donors Network.

     

    For more information

     

    Website: http://www.blooddonorsnetwork.org

     

    Video: http://www.sparknews.com/en/video/blood­donors­network

  • What you should know about impact Journalism

    What you should know about impact Journalism

    “Local spark, global impact! 45 newspapers share solutions to world problems. Join the movement: #ImpactJournalism”