Congratulations to Kubatana Trust!
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ahorwart's picture
Posted May 27th, 2008 by ahorwart
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Kubatana LogoThe Kubatana Trust works in Zimbabwe to spread information about human rights to Zimbabweans from a centralized, electronic source. They have been researching and trying out new ways to reach people using email and internet strategies as well as assisting other NGOs in Zimbabwe with similar strategies and technology. The Kubatana Trust is a grant recepient from New Tactics in Human Rights.

Knight Foundation LogoKnight News Challenge just announced that Kubatana has received an award of $876,000 dollars to implement another innovative way to make sure that everyone in Zimbabwe has access to news about human rights. This new tactic is called the Freedom Fone. Kubatana will use the Freedom Fone to give Zimbabweans information from either their land, mobile or internet phones. People can call in and then dial specific numbers to get the news and public-interest information that they want. The Public can also pose questions on the Freedom Fone line. Also, independent radio station content will be broadcast, along with frequently updated audio reports created specifically for Freedom Fone. The point of Freedom Fone is to allow anyone in Zimbabwe access to information as well as the ability to interact by asking and answer questions despite their economic status.

Please share comments on this new project as well as experience with similar projects, or ideas and congratulations for Kubatana!

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    kantin's picture

    Freedom Fone v1.5 now available for download!

    Submitted by kantin on Tue, 04/13/2010 - 12:06.

    Freedom Fone v1.5 is now available for download!

    Freedom Fone is innovative telephony software, which takes the fastest growing tool for round-the-clock personal access to information – the mobile phone – and marries it with audio voice menus and SMS.  It provides a new far-reaching communication medium – for information activists, service organisations and NGO’s – to deliver vital information on demand, to communities who need it most.

    • Freedom Fone is free open source software.
    • It’s easy to install – as easy as popping a DVD into the drive of an extra computer – and 20 minutes later saying hello to the Freedom Fone interface.  Yes, that's right, it's a system replacer, so make sure to use a spare computer.  Windows will be overwritten with the popular Linux version called Ubuntu.
    • The telephony based applications – audio voice menus, voice messages, SMS messages and SMS polls – are easy to manage via a user-friendly, browser based interface.
    • Delivering information with audio overcomes barriers associated with literacy and language and enables users to move past the 160 character limitation of an SMS.
    • Freedom Fone has been designed to connect to GSM (mobile) networks and run using low cost and low powered equipment.
    • No internet is required for the users and callers alike.
    • There are no geographical or community size limitations to implementing Freedom Fone.
    • The leave-a-message functionality opens the door to two-way communication, which means Freedom Fone can be used as a platform for citizen journalism.

    For more information, visit the website www.freedomfone.org

    Kristin Antin, New Tactics Online Community Builder

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