The sms bulktool project aims to utilise the fastest growing and most popular technology in African countries; the cellular technology or in this case; The Mobile Phone.

The SMS Bulktool is an online application which allows organisations to send multiple SMS messages to their target groups. This application is used by the participating NGOs to inform their audience about the risks of HIV/AIDS, upcoming events and to send reminders on taking medication.

The project is initiated because of a problem brought to our attention by an HIV/AIDS organisation in Kenya, Straight Talk. The organisation broadcasts a weekly radio show during which a lot of sms message are sent to the studio. All communication was done manually and requests became too much to handle. The STAR programme decided to develop a tool that would be able to automate such processes.

The previous version of the SMS Bulktool (version 2.0), launched in 2007, was used by 13 HIV/AIDS organisations. As this version needed to be improved it was decided to develop a new version 3.0 in 2008. The new version is user-friendlier and provides much better features for the users. This version was presented and tested during the SMS Manager & Communication Toolkit trainings in South Africa and Kenya in November 2008. Currently, it is used by 8 organisations.

STAR partners apply for an account (with 5000 sms messages sponsored) by contacting the STAR programme coordinator.