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 aim is to develop an interactive tool that enables organisations to send multiple sms message from a computer to numbers collected in a database as well as to receive message in an “inbox” environment.
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. For the pilot a KPN volunteer developed a beta version of the tool. After piloting it with two organisations, one on Kenya and one in Namibia, the decision was made to develop the tool further.
The current status of the project is that the development of version 1.0 is complete with the following functionalities:
- sending of bulk SMS via an internet application
- receiving of response SMS in the internet application
- maintenance of the list of Mobile-numbers in the internet application
At the moment the SMS bulktool is used by the following organisations:
- Aro Mozambique
- Yoneco, Malawi
- Manaso, Malawi
The further roll-out of the project is recently launched and activitated. All participating HIV/AIDS organisations received training on the sms bulktool during the second regional workshop (July 2007). The participating organisations can now apply for an account by filling out the apllication form.
All relevant documentation of the sms bulktool will be uploaded here. Manual and application form can also be find under our "tool" chapter.
At the moment two volunteers are working on the implementation of the sms bulktool version 1.0