Kelsang

Our last two blogs about the last month, May 2021, focused on the Chat For Impact Summit and the Keynote Speaker, Alicia Garza. This final blog looking back at May 2021 will put the spotlight on some of the incredible organisations that took part at the Chat For Impact Summit 2021.

1. The first organisation we’d like to talk about is the ‘Basic Rights Watch’, a Nigeria based non-governmental organization {NGO}, whose mission is “to use creative ideas and technology to simplify public information, use available data to empower marginalized groups and communities” [1]. This organisation works to strengthen government institutions and local communities by creating programs that support a community of active citizens to make effective use of public information in demanding accountability from the Nigerain government. 

 

1. The second innovative and extremely mission focused organisation we love is called ‘Social Income’ [2] .Social income believes that Universal Basic Income and direct cash transfers to people living in poverty is a promising path to building a more equal and inclusive society and that. Their solution lies in sending regular, long-term cash contributions to people in need using mobile phone-based money transfer services in developing countries. 

 

1. The next organization whose mission and program we are inspired by, is called ‘Internews’ [3]. This organisation believes everyone deserves trustworthy news and information to make informed decisions about their lives and hold power to account. Internews’s program revolves around training journalists and digital rights activists to tackle disinformation, in partnership with local communities. This very participatie model supports independent media in over 100 countries across the globe. Therefore, Internews is a big, international NGO with 30 offices around the world, including headquarters in California, Washington DC, London and Paris, and regional hubs in Bangkok, Kiev, and Nairobi. 

 

1. Now for an amazing organisation whose vision finds some resonance with us at Turn the Bus- Digify Africa! [4] Digify Africa’s mission is to help all young people in Africa to become empowered and successful by providing free education, demand-driven skills and work opportunities for youth across the continent. They carry on their mission by their youth-led network of digital professionals, entrepreneurs and trainers. Digify Africa stays on top of digital trends and makes sure that eir educational program is directly relevant to digital skills that are in-demand in the market, so that their students are employed and empowered in real life. 

 

1. Finally, we would like to end this list with an organisation whose mission touched our hearts at the Summit (among others, of course). Mobile Pathways [5] mission is simple and clear- “everyone deserves fair access to justice so they can live a better life.” Mobile Pathways explained to us that immigrants face lack of access to reliable legal information and can be trapped in uncertain and dangerous vulnerability while immigrating. This is where they come in as a “bridge” that connects immigrants to advocates and services via trusted mobile technology. They carry on their mission by partnering with immigration-based nonprofits and attorneys and help immigrants begin  and further navigate the complex immigration process by using text messages. 

​References:
[1] https://basicrightswatch.org/
[2] https://socialincome.org/
[3] https://internews.org
[4] http://www.digifyafrica.com/
[5] http://mobilepathways.org/