Awaaz.de

All over the world, people are using the internet as a way to communicate and share information. However, over two-thirds of the world’s population still do not have access. This is due to the digital divide that exists between urban and rural areas. In the developing world, the impoverished  living in rural areas do not have the infrastructure or money needed to gain access to the internet. Thus, they are not able to access the information available on the internet that would improve their livelihoods. Also, many development organizations are not able to reach these marginalized areas because of geographic difficulties, lack of reading and writing proficiencies, and other language barriers.

An innovative software program, awaaz.de, allows development organizations to connect with these poor, rural and marginalized communities by providing on-demand information access through mobile phones. These organizations use awaaz.de to host voice-based information portals, forums for discussion, classifieds, and to broadcast market prices and weather reports to help with crop cultivation. The only thing the members of the community will need to do is to know how to use a phone. They have to dial a regular phone number through their mobile phone and navigate through an automated message board to listen to messages about the particular information that can benefit them. This program is very beneficial for these communities because it allows them to access similar types of information that other people in the world have through the internet.

This development initiative represents a very well thought out plan as it is very human-centered. It takes the wants and specific needs of these rural communities to help improve their livelihoods. The use of voice content makes it much easier for these people to use it because it is conducted in their native languages and they do not have to worry about their literacy. So far, awaaz.de is implemented in six states throughout India. So far it is working out really well and hopefully it can be implemented in other parts of the developing world very soon.