May 31, 2011
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BRAC Uganda Communications and Knowledge Manager, Umbareen Kuddus, recently received exciting news about BRAC’s new partnership with Ureport, an SMS forum initiated by UNICEF.

BRAC Uganda Communications and Knowledge Manager, Umbareen Kuddus, recently received exciting news about BRAC’s new partnership with Ureport, an SMS forum initiated by UNICEF.

BRAC Uganda was introduced to an initiative called Ureport. Initiated by UNICEF, Ureport is an SMS-based forum designed to provide Ugandan youth with a platform to raise issues that concern them. The system uses mobile technology to allow youth to interact with each other and participate in a national dialogue process.

BRAC Uganda has partnered with the Ureport initiative by including the members from their youth clubs. BRAC Uganda’s Empowerment and Livelihoods for Adolescents program has 690 clubs for adolescent girls and a further 100 Youth Development Centers under its Access to Health, Education and Youth Development program in Karamoja. About 26,500 adolescent girls are now reached by these BRAC Uganda programs. Ureport is a great opportunity for BRAC to connect these girls through new mediums and a feedback based process. It fits nicely with our objective of supporting youth in becoming contributing members of their communities. Already more than 3,500 club members are being registered into the system along with nearly 9,000 young members from the microfinance and health programs. The hope is that these BRAC participants will spread the message and encourage others to join.

Ureport, questions are sent to youth, who are called Ureporters.Ureporters send their responses back to UNICEF through free SMS. The process, however, does not stop there; some responses are shared again with all Ureporters and sometimes suggestions and guidance are sent to the participating youth. Last month’s question was, ‘May 12th is Women’s Health Day! What can u do 2 reduce health problems associated with women in ur community?’ The responses received from participants have been wide ranging- starting from the need to encourage regular health check-ups to the problem of domestic violence. A message was then sent suggesting ‘women can visit their church/hospital/VCT center 4 counseling on domestic violence.’

The function of Ureport does not stop there. The Ureport initiative aims to ensure that the concerns raised by the youth are heard by both policy makers and the larger development community. The long term objective is to highlight the outcomes of these dialogues by using various channels including the media. Furthermore, Ureporters provide basic information about themselves when they register with the system thus there is huge opportunity to enhance knowledge and understanding of youth in Uganda.

To find out more about Ureport, see the attached newspaper insert. And if you are a young Ugandan you can register as a Ureport for free by texting ‘join’ to 8500 and raise your voice to be heard!
Unicef Ureport Newspaper Insert

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