RapidSMS

RapidSMS

Original author(s)	UNICEF
Developer(s)	UNICEF, ThoughtWorks, Dimagi, Millennium Villages Project, Caktus Consulting Group, Timba Objects
Written in	Python
Operating system	GNU/Linux, MS-Windows, Mac OS X, POSIX compliant systems
Type	SMS
License	BSD
Website	rapidsms.org

RapidSMS is a web framework based on the Django web framework which extends the logic and capabilities of Django to communicate with SMS messages. Initial development was done by UNICEF's Innovation Unit for use in mobile data collection and polls.^[1][2] A side effect of the work was pygsm, a Python library for interacting with GSM modems, including cell phones which handle the Hayes command set.^[3] The software has been deployed in numerous countries, including Senegal, Mauritania, Uganda, Somalia, Zambia, Kenya, Nigeria,^[4] Malawi,^[5] and Ethiopia.^[6][7]

Awards

• Columbia University and UNICEF won the 2008 USAID Development 2.0 Challenge for their work with RapidSMS in Malawi.^{[8][9][10][11]}
• In 2009, UNICEF won the Gov2.0 Summit Award in the 'Government as a provider' category for their work with RapidSMS in Malawi.^[12][13]
• Frog Design won two IDSA IDEA Awards (Gold in the Social Impact Design category and Silver in the Design Strategy category) at the 2012 International Design Excellence Awards for their work with UNICEF on Project Mwana.^[14]
• In 2010, Matt Berg was chosen by Time Magazine as one of 100 most influential people of the year for his work with RapidSMS and ChildCount.^[15]
• In 2013, Christopher Fabian and Erica Kochi were selected by Time Magazine to be on the Time 100 list of the 100 most influential people in the world for their work with RapidSMS at UNICEF.^[16][17]

Projects

diagram illustrating use of RapidSMS for antenatal care reminders, birth registration, and emergency response

Bags full of paper forms replaced by a RapidSMS data collection system

Users with training materials learning how to enter data via SMS instead of paper form

RapidSMS is the basis for a few notable projects:

• mTrac, a disease surveillance and drug tracking system developed by UNICEF and the World Health Organization in Uganda, is one of only a handful of mHealth projects being scaled up nationally. In August 2012, it was featured in "The Wireless Issue" of Time Magazine.^[18]
• Ureport, one of the largest SMS social networks of community crowd sourced volunteer reporters in the world, with approximately 200,000 registered users in Uganda as of April 2013, reporting on development issues and engaging directly with national and local government through the platform.^[19][20]
• Birth Registration, UNICEF and Timba Objects developed a system with RapidSMS that is used for birth registration nationwide in Nigeria.^[21]
• Project Mwana uses RapidSMS to improve early infant diagnosis of HIV and post-natal follow-up and care. Project Mwana was developed by UNICEF and Frog Design and has been deployed in Zambia and Malawi.^{[22][23][24][25]} Project Mwana won two IDSA IDEA Awards (Gold in the Social Impact Design category and Silver in the Design Strategy category) at the 2012 International Design Excellence Awards.^[14]
• RapidSMS MCH, is a system for monitoring pregnancy and reducing bottlenecks in communication associated with maternal and newborn deaths in Rwanda. The project was developed by UNICEF and Pivot Access.^[26][27][28]
• ChildCount, developed by the Millennium Villages Project and deployed in Kenya.^[29] Matt Berg has been chosen by Time Magazine as one of 100 most influential people of the year for his work with RapidSMS and ChildCount.^[15]
• RapidAndroid, developed by UNICEF and Dimagi, is a port of RapidSMS to the Android operating system

^[30]

• Jokko, developed by UNICEF, Dimagi, and Tostan to help teach literacy in West Africa.^[31][32][33]
• Textonic, developed by students in Clay Shirky's 2009 Design For UNICEF course at New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program to extend RapidSMS to use Amazon.com's Amazon Mechanical Turk service.^[34]

References

1. Kanani, Rahim. "An Interview with Erica Kochi on UNICEF's Tech Innovation". Forbes.
2. "UNICEF: 'TURN THE MOST INNOVATIVE IDEAS INTO REALITY'".
3. "pygsm".
4. "Text messages bolster world's largest distribution of mosquito nets".
5. "Malawi: SMS to Fight Malnutrition".
6. "RapidSMS Case Studies".
7. "Preventing Famine with a Mobile".
8. "The USAID Development 2.0 Challenge".
9. "UNICEF wins top US award for helping malnourished children". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 2009-01-10.
10. "Columbia University and UNICEF awarded top honour in USAID innovation competition".
11. "SMS Wins UNICEF An Award".
12. "RapidSMS system for monitoring nutrition in Malawi gets top tech award".
13. "Gov 2.0 Expo Showcase Winners Announced!".
14. "frog Earns Three IDSA IDEA Awards".
15. "Matt Berg - The 2010 TIME 100". Time. 2010-04-29.
16. Time 100
17. "UNICEF Staffers Make TIME 100 List "World's Most Influential People"". The Wall Street Journal. 2013-04-18.
18. "Time Magazine: Tracking Disease One Text at a Time". 2012-08-15.
19. "Ureport: Citizen Feedback via SMS in Uganda".
20. "UREPORT: COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT VIA RAPIDSMS - UGANDA".
21. "NIGERIA – USING RAPIDSMS FOR BIRTH REGISTRATION".
22. "Project Mwana".
23. "RapidSMS: Saving a life in 160 characters".
24. "UNICEF Project Mwana: Using Mobile Technologies to Improve the Lives of Underserved".
25. "UNICEF PROFILES MWANA PARTNERSHIP".
26. "Designing and Implementing an Innovative SMS-based alert system (RapidSMS-MCH) to monitor pregnancy and reduce maternal and child deaths in Rwanda.".
27. "Cell phones save lives in Rwandan villages". CNN. 2010-07-28.
28. "Rapid SMS Saves a Life".
29. "ChildCount.org Every Child Counts".
30. "RapidAndroid".
31. "The Jokko Initiative: Mobile Technology Amplifying Social Change".
32. "Women & Mobile: A Global Opportunity" (PDF).
33. "COMMUNITY FORUM USING SMS - JOKKO INITIATIVE, SENEGAL".
34. "Design for UNICEF – RapidSMS and Mechanical Turk".

External links

• Nutrition RapidSMS
• RapidSMS source code on Github
• RapidSMS page on the python package index
• RapidSMS group photo pool on Flickr
• RapidSMS overview in December 2011 issue of Linux Pro magazine