It’s been a busy year – highlights from 2015 from Praekelt Foundation
As is often the case this time of year, the team at Praekelt Foundation has been spending the last few weeks reflecting on everything we’ve accomplished in 2015. We’re grateful for all of your support and encouragement over the last 12 months. Thanks to you and our committed and hardworking partners we’ve made great strides in our mission to use technology improve the lives of people living in the developing world.
Maternal health at scale
The National Department of Health’s MomConnect platform is now serving over 700,000 pregnant women in South Africa in more than 95% of clinics across the country. Thanks to our collaborators USAID, Johnson and Johnson, MAMA, Baby Center, ELMA Foundation, HISP and Jembi Health Systems, hundreds of thousands of women who are preparing to give birth in 2016 have the power to improve their health in the palm of their hands.
Connecting youth across the globe
With every year that passes, our youth engagement platform continues to grow and mature. In 2015, we worked with the National Department of Health and WitsRHI in South Africa to launch B-Wise. With the support of the UNFPA and Ford Foundation, we launched Tune Me in Zambia and Malawi. With Girl Effect, we’ve launched mobisites for vulnerable girls in more than 30 countries in over 15 languages. Through our youth platforms, we deliver essential information to young people, equipping them with the knowledge they need to make healthier choices, support from their fellow users and links to vital services.
Accelerating access for millions
Just last month we announced a partnership with Facebook to create an incubator programme that will provide 100 social change organisations with the tools and support they need to build online services for feature phones in low-bandwidth environments. Already, more than 10 million users have visited the sites we’ve created for UNICEF, MAMA, Malaria No More and Girl Effect on the Free Basics by Facebook, but with the incubator, and the tools we’ll develop with our friends at Torchbox, we’ll expand the range of life-enhancing services available to millions more.
Unlocking the power mobile messaging
Since 2012, Praekelt Foundation’s mobile messaging platform, Vumi, has been used to send more than 100 million messages to over 10 million people. This year, with the support of UNICEF Innovation, we’re amplifying the reach and impact of Vumi with a new project codenamed Junebug. Junebug is a messaging gateway which connects governments, NGOs and enterprises to local mobile network infrastructure, allowing them to send and receive millions of mobile messages faster and more efficiently than ever before.
A time for new beginnings
We’re immensely proud of what we’ve achieved this year and in the history of our organisation. Over the last 5 years, Praekelt Foundation has grown from a team of seven people working mostly in Johannesburg, to an organisation of over 40 people working in 6 offices across 4 continents. Next year is set to be a landmark year and we’re excited to be sharing some new developments in early 2016.
A reggae rhythm, soulful and sultry vocals make for an ever perfect combination. Thandi Phoenix has been quite the busy artist, having attained listeners attention in 2014 but not being one to rest on her laurels she’s been busy for the past creating new tracks as well as touring with Tinashee recently.
THIS WEEK PHENOMENAL SPECTACLES IS A 3 TRACK HIT
B-WISE- Return of the Non Stick Pan
Remix of Rebirth of the slick by Digable Planets
CHECK OUT THE ORIGINAL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTXogy3WepM
