Congratulations to the eMazingira team for being selected as a Runner-Up in the 2011 World Summit Youth Award! The eMagingira Environmental Campaign has been selected by the WSYA Jury 2011 as the WSYA Runner-Up in the 2011 competition and will be issued with a certificate/trophy at the Winners’ Event 2011 in Graz, Austria on November 10-13th 2011. As such, it has been chosen from among over 700 contributions as examples of creative and innovative e-Content worldwide which address the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The solution is developed by BTI Millman Limited based in Nairobi and came about as a result of the company’s desire to use their information technology skills in environmental conservation. They were convinced that there was a need for a platform that would enable the citizens to actively participate in environmental conservation and take full charge of its state with special regards to safeguarding it for the future generations. They were able to submit a proposal to the Kenya ICT Board and were awarded a grant to develop the solution in November 2010. The beta version of the eMazingira Solution is currently operational and is available on www.emazingira.org. The goal as a company is to impact society through the use of technology.
eMazingira: "electronic" plus "mazingira" (Swahili for "environment")
The eMazingira Environmental Campaign is an application build on the Ushahidi platform which enables citizens in Kenya to report environmental related cases such as deforestation via their mobile phones through text messaging. Once these reports are mapped on an online portal for public viewing after verification, they are automatically directed to the relevant environmental bodies in the country for action. All this is aimed at enhanced environmental conservation and ownership of the process by citizens.
The solution is developed by BTI Millman Limited based in Nairobi and came about as a result of the company’s desire to use their information technology skills in environmental conservation. They were convinced that there was a need for a platform that would enable the citizens to actively participate in environmental conservation and take full charge of its state with special regards to safeguarding it for the future generations. They were able to submit a proposal to the Kenya ICT Board and were awarded a grant to develop the solution in November 2010. The beta version of the eMazingira Solution is currently operational and is available on www.emazingira.org. The goal as a company is to impact society through the use of technology.
Can you help sponsor the eMazingira team?
To attend the Award ceremony, the eMazingira team will need USD 6,000 to cover travel expenses from Kenya to Austria and within Austria for three project team members, as well as all other expenses during the 4 day stay in Austria excluding accommodation charges which the Award organizers have offered to provide. If you can assist, please contact Dunstan Machoka of the eMazingira project team at dunstan at btimillman dot com.About the World Summit Youth Award
The World Summit Youth Award (WSYA) is a follow up activity of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) and its action plan towards the year 2015 to help bridge the digital divide and create a sustainable information society. The WSYA selects and promotes best practice in e-content and serves as a platform for young people from all UN member states who use Internet and Mobiles to get action on the MDGs. It demonstrates young people's potential to create outstanding digital contents and serves as a platform for people from all UN member states to work together in the efforts to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). They work to:- Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
- Achieve universal primary education
- Promote gender equality and empower women
- Reduce child mortality
- Improve maternal health
- Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
- Ensure environmental sustainability
- Develop a Global Partnership for Development