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From TTC: Mobile Advocacy Toolkit Working Meeting wiki
[edit] The Mobile Advocacy Toolkit
This wiki is for the team working on the new Tactical Technology mobile advocacy toolkit prepared in partnership with Fahamu. The toolkit is aimed at advocates and campaigners in the global South - and particularly in Africa - to help them use mobiles and telephony in their work.
As mobile telephony grows in the global South, so does the potential for advocacy organisations to use mobiles in their work - to communicate, collect data, organise and mobilise their constituents. But despite their increasing popularity, using mobiles for any kind of organised activity or in tandem with other technologies such as the internet is still challenging. Many NGOs still need to go through a steep learning curve in order to take full advantage of this technology.
[edit] Five things NGOs need to know about working with mobiles
Before starting to work through the wealth of material on this site please note the following issues.
- Whilst mobiles are an invaluable tool in advocacy work the mobile landscape is extremely challenging to navigate
- The tools that are available can work on your mobile phone, on your desktop computer or on a computer server
- Security is an absolutely vital issue as so much sensitive information is stored on a mobile phone
- The tools that are currently available are mostly very challenging to use and require specialist technical support
- The mobile landscape is changing rapidly
[edit] What is the toolkit?
The aim of the mobile advocacy toolkit is to provide a set of tools and a knowledge base for those wishing to explore and develop the use of mobile phones in campaigning and advocacy work.
It is particulary focussed on advocacy organisations in Africa but will be of use to any NGO wishing to explore this area.
It will initially be available in English and in French.
To read more about the toolkit Go here...
[edit] How is the toolkit meant to be used and how is it structured?
The toolkit is structured around scenarios with related case studies demonstrating the potential of mobile telephony in advocacy work.
The toolkit can be navigated via the scenarios or through the tools contained in the toolkit as the tool descriptions contain links to their potential advocacy uses.
The tools included can be installed on a mobile phone on a server - desktop/laptop. They range from tools such as FrontlineSMS which enables the sending of 'bulk SMS' messages to Asterisk which enables the user to set up an interactive voice response system.
The tools and scenarios are linked so the toolkit can be explored either through the tool which is of interest or an advocacy scenario which is relevant to the user's area of work.
Please note that the toolkit will be presented differently when it is completed and boxed up for distribution. The current wiki wersion doesn't allow for downloading of the software which we have been testing. These can be downloaded directly from the source web sites which are linked from the tools pages. The final version of the toolkit will contain this software.
Before browsing the content - have a look at the structure of the toolkit:
[edit] Toolkit contents
The toolkit also contains general articles on the following issues;
- Security - covers the issue of how to use mobile technologies safely and securely; how to protect you and your organisations' data
- Budgeting for mobile advocacy - covers how to budget effectively for a mobile advocacy project.
- General article about mobile phones and advocacy - an introduction to the mobiles advocacy
- Introduction to the Toolkit and how it can be used - a short guide on how to use the toolkit
- Toolkit methodology and family - the background of the toolkit methodology
[edit] Scenarios
The toolkit is structured around the following potential scenarios for mobile phone use. The scenarios all follow a standard structure and contain links to the tools and services you can use for a particular scenario and also case studies relating to the scenario.
[edit] Tools
Take a look at the types of tools that you can use - What types of tool are available?
[edit] How-to's
We have also included some How-tos for organisations wishing to get started with mobile telephony projects. Please note that most of these require a significant degree of technical know-how.
Read the How-tos.
[edit] Case studies
Inspiring Case studies from around the world showing how mobile telephony has been used in advocacy and activism.
[edit] Other toolkit content
- Editorial Team - who is behind the toolkit
- Other resources - links to other resources, tools, services and documentation which are not included in the toolkit
- Disclaimer - the licence under which it is produced
- About Funders - organisations supporting the development of the toolkit
- About Partners
The articles below are coming soon:
[edit] What inspired the toolkit
Tactical Tech recently held a working meeting in Nairobi, bringing together activists and technologists from around the world to outline the scope, contents and purpose of the toolkit.
To read the meeting minutes click below. Read more
If you want more information about the meeting click on the link below to read about the background to the project and the meeting participants.
Mobile Advocacy Toolkit Working Meeting in Nairobi
[edit] Toolkit Mission and Vision
During the toolkit working meeting in Nairobi (more about this below) an international group of activists and technologists agreed on a mission for the toolkit. This was to enable all communities to have access to information and tools to help them to use mobile technology to achieve their goals.
[edit] How can I participate?
We'd love to hear from you if you're interested in participating in this project through offering your expertise or knowledge of mobile technologies and the mobile industry. You can email us at mobiles (at) tacticaltech (dot) org
[edit] Summary of comments from the testing of the toolkit
We just concluded testing of the toolkit - here is the summary of major issues and comments testing notes
