SMS for Change with U-Report Swaziland...Your Voice Matters!

Young people, the Super Buddies are excited to be part of the U-Report initiative. They are seen here with Swaziland's UNICEF U-Report National Coordinator, Nontobeko Mbuyane 

It's so exciting to see such international initiatives being implemented on Swazi soil. For the first time young people in Swaziland will have the ability to be the change they want to see.

You just state your concern and the authorities respond to you, which is quite cool because of the various ways that are presented to engage with the young people.

Check out how all this works below:

The important stuff

The Government of the Kingdom of Swaziland in collaboration With UNICEF country office will be introducing the utilization of the U-Reporting system.  This is a child youth (6 - 24 years) focus electronic media that allows for the exchange of ideas with government on specific areas of interest and is under use in a number of countries globally.

Consultations have been undertaken with all stakeholders on the use of the U-Report and it was agreed that its use and outcome be tested in Shiselweni and Manzini as informed by the population dynamics of the targeted group and the response plan by the stakeholders.

The areas of focus meanwhile have been agreed to be Health, Education and Child Protection with emphasis on gender based violence, health and reproduction and strengthening management information systems on children related activities.

The pilot will run over the next two months and will inform a full roll out in the coming year based on the interest stimulated and the preparedness by stakeholders to respond to the specific areas of children within the identified sectors.

U-Report is a Short Message Service (SMS) based platform that gives young space to voice out their opinions on issues that matter to them.

To join U-Report send the text “Join” to 8500, every SMS is FREE!

Hey you, yes YOU...Your Voice Matters!

Swaziland U-Report is on Facebook so do follow them for more updates on this groundbreaking initiative.

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