Chronicle Editor
Courage Nyamhunga Correspondent—
The advent of information communication technology has spurred remote communities and hard to reach citizens into the spotlight. Innovation has made it possible to hear and include their voices in critical, national issues so that they can participate and they are not left behind.Young people have embraced, various communication tools that are amplifying their concerns and voices, especially with the coming of social media. In a bid to tap into young people’s positivity and passion, Unicef Zimbabwe in partnership with the Zimbabwe Youth Council are encouraging young people and the general citizenry to use U-Report.
It is a free short message service (SMS) social monitoring tool that collects data in near or real time. This tool is aiding young people, government, policymakers and those in the development space to make informed decisions, choices and be able to allocate resources efficiently.
U-Report is complementing development partner’s efforts, in creating an information health society for young Zimbabweans. For young people to thrive in this world, access to quality information is now a key ingredient to the success equation. U-Report is enabling young people to find opportunities that empower them to navigate the world and make it a more even playing field.
The Zimbabwe Youth Council through the use of U-Report are minimising the effects of information poverty among the youths. Providing young people with connectivity has proven that better choices are made, and it has a ripple effect on how young people can make informed decisions. Through knowledge sharing and identification of opportunities U-Report is enabling adolescents to prepare for the workforce.
On August 12, 2016, U-Report Global conducted a poll on bullying and the responses showed that more than four out of 10 young people from the 10 provinces believe bullying is a pervasive problem in their communities.
Through the poll, young people were asked via SMS, Facebook and Twitter a series of questions relating to the impact of bullying in their community, their own personal experiences of bullying and what they think can be done to end this type of violence. Thus, through using U-Report young people are empowered with options to know what to do when bullied; they can survive more encounters and help others in turn and eventually stop the challenge.
The Ministry of Local Government is using U-Report through various City Councils to efficiently and effectively engage citizens in their planning and budget processes. U-Report has proven to be a cost effective platform for citizen engagement since it is free and also by shifting from the traditional meeting in council halls, which is costly and time consuming.
Citizens are now being engaged on the go and in real time. U-Report is more flexible for residents who are normally preoccupied with other things and may not find time to participate in the council planning or budget meeting.
It is the solution to the “convenience gap” by giving residents an opportunity to participate in key decisions away from council halls. Through working with the Bulawayo City Council, the council ensured that a critical mass of citizens was registered on the platform.
In addition, the use of dashboard monitor makes it easy for council authorities to process and analyse the responses from the citizens. The responses will create better outcomes through informed decisions. U-Report is also creating confidence and credibility in the budgeting process through enhancing citizens’ participation.
To date, a total of 10 requests from various City Councils have been received to adopt U-Report in child participation in planning and budgeting. This will contribute to strengthening of citizens’ capacity to hold authorities accountable.
U-Report as a tool is aiding us to tell the maximum impact the Government and other development partners can make with minimum amount of resources. It is helping us to advocate for the amplification of the voice of young people in decision making. By measuring this impact, U-Report will help us fight information poverty, thus creating a better Zimbabwe where every child or young person has access to information, opportunity and choice.
Courage Nyamhunga is the U-Report Coordinator for Unicef Zimbabwe. For views and comments he can be contacted at: [email protected]
Online Reporter