U-Report Project - Uganda

The idea for U-Report was conceived based on the goal "to harness both the high level of connectivity and the proliferation of mobile phones in the country to give young people a voice." UNICEF subsequently worked with telecoms providers and other partners to create U-Report.

The launch:
The launch was built on partnerships with community organisations, national associations, and other non-governmental organisations. In particular, the Uganda Scouts Association played an important role in U-Report’s launching and the recruitment of participants. In the first years, the platform was also promoted through regular radio programmes broadcasting U-report stories. A television programme, hosted by young U-Reporters, introduced the concept of U-Report, what it is, how it works, and how to get involved. The U-Report team also travelled across Uganda to meet young U-Reporters and seek one-on-one views and opinions about the system. U-Reporters then shared their views on what they like about U-Report and what topics they would like to see discussed by the system.

How it works:
Young Ugandans are invited to become volunteer U-Reporters by sending the text message 'join' to a toll-free number and submitting a few personal details. Each week, UNICEF sends a question via SMS text to U-Reporters, who can respond either with a simple menu-based reply or with personal messages. The UNICEF team analyses and interprets the responses, often following up with additional questions or suggestions. The results are published in newspapers, radio, and television, and are used to engage members of parliament and other leaders in dialogue. The poll results are also available on the U-Report website and U-Report Facebook page.

As of 2016, 386 Members of Parliament are registered U-Reporters with respective accounts, so they have a direct link to their constituencies. All 112 local government chief administrative officers receive SMS text updates from U-Report, which gives them access to information from U-Reporters' responses. Moreover, government agencies/public administrators have utilised U-Report to make more informed decisions based on participant responses and to communicate more directly with the public, namely in Uganda’s Budget Monitoring and Accountability Unit, Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Health.

As of March 2016, U-Report Uganda has a total of 279,646 U-Reporters out of the overall Ugandan youth population of 7,310,386. Of these U-Reporters, 65% are male and 35% are female, and approximately 41% are ages 20-24 and 31% ages 25-30, with 25 years old being the median age for U-Reporters. The team of U-Report Uganda is comprised of one project manager and one data analyst, with a steering committee of about 30 partners including faith-based organisations (FBOs), community-based organisations (CBOs), and Government.

Examples of the impact from U-Report include the following:

Banana Bacterial Wilt (BBW) Response - With BBW response, U-Reporters’ participation enabled real-time mapping of the BBW outbreak and dissemination of methods to contain its spread. Targeted efforts were made towards communities in which the incidence of BBW was reported to be highest, and extension programmes were oriented towards these communities.

Ebola Outbreak Response - During the Ebola outbreak, U-Report was able to spread information about the outbreak and refer participants to the Ministry of Health for additional information. They had sessions to solicit feedback about the community Ebola response. Some responses provided expressed desire for the government to utilise U-Report to respond to more viruses aside from Ebola.

Emergency in the Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement - U-Report is an especially important tool for refugee camps, as alternative opportunities to shape public decision-making and to increase agency are limited. Aside from providing feedback and participating, in one case, a U-Reporter was able to send an SMS text to alert authorities to a woman with a medical emergency after childbirth.

Community Disaster Preparedness - In this application, U-Report was utilised to map risk-prone zones and improve community disaster preparedness. Communities were provided with training on how to properly identify, report, and respond to emergency signals/signs. 100 volunteers were leveraged to expand the reach of the community disaster preparedness initiative.

The Children Act Amendments - For the creation of the Children Act Amendments, public participation was used to gauge parliamentary approval for the legislation regarding corporal punishment in schools. Members of Parliament that requested more information were subsequently invited to a workshop on the issue. This tool was used to incorporate participation into amendment provisions.

Youth, Governance, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)

According to UNICEF, "Uganda has one of the youngest populations in the world, with more than 55% of its people aged zero-18 years. On the other hand, access to mobile phones was estimated at 48%, which meant that creating a mobile-based application to amplify youth voices and empower them to speak out on issues affecting them was realistic."

In terms of challenges, a primary challenge identified by the project is the low response rate to U-Report polls. The project also has some concerns regarding self-selection bias, as by giving direct access and information to participants, the agency of non-participants could be affected. Another concern was the lower participation of women, which has led the project to make efforts to increase their participation. For more information on the challenges and lessons learned, see the report Enabling Youth Participation Through Technology: U-Report Uganda.