Community Forum Using SMS — Jokko Initiative， Senegal

Practical， low-cost system to encourage group decision making in Senegalese villages -- Tostan’s and UNICEF’s experience show that communication is critical to spreading positive social change. But it can be difficult to communicate with large numbers of people in rural areas due to a lack of financial resources， transportation infrastructure and communication technology. However， mobile phone networks are rapidly expanding to cover a majority of African citizens and mobile phones are already common in even the most remote villages.

The Jokko Initiative is collaboration between UNICEF and Tostan， an NGO in West Africa that implements human rights-based community empowerment programmes to provide communities with skills and knowledge to improve their lives. The partnership links UNICEF’s reach， resources and technical expertise with Tostan’s ground-level experience and understanding of local realities and challenges.

Jokko， which means “communication” in Wolof， a regional language in Senegal， aims to become a practical， low-cost system to encourage group decision-making in Senegalese villages. The Jokko Initiative makes it possible to communicate with a network of people by simply sending a text message. Through Jokko’s RapidSMS Community Forum， a user can send an SMS text message to a “magic number” that then forwards the message to all phone numbers belonging to the network. The module also introduces mobile phones as pedagogical tools to teach and reinforce literacy as well as the organization and management skills taught in Tostan’s Community Empowerment Programme.

The Community Forum allows a nurse， a literacy leader， a representative of a women’s association or the village imam to communicate with community members about events and activities like a vaccination campaign or a literacy group meeting. Not only does the Community Forum raise awareness about events， but it also involves the entire community in decisions and spreads the news of positive social change in their villages.