The RLabs team joined JamiiX in partnership with MXit to provide mobile support to mobile phone users in Indonesia. This initiative by the World Health Organisation (WHO) will allow MXit users to have access to information like what to do in disasters like floods, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and cyclones, as well as how to prepare for evacuation. The service will also give info on safe hospitals and ways to support the WHO. Through this partnership RLabs hopes to provide similar services in other countries who could benefit from these community empowerment programmes through mobile phones. Read more about the collaboration here.
This year is the launch of the RLabs Academy and it is with great excitement that we see how community members will be empowered through education, entrepreneurship and innovation. RLabs will be offering 10 courses to the community at NO COST. With only a few weeks remaining before the opening of the Academy the courses are already more than 75% booked. Through the academy more than 120 members will have access to Social Media, Entrepreneurship, Multimedia, Software Development and Leadership programmes. Looking forward seeing the academy in operation and will keep you updated on the progress.
It is with great excitement that we would like to introduce our latest project part of the RLabs family. Uusi (meaning “New” in Finnish) is the latest exciting product being incubated in RLabs and will be officially launched in 2011. Uusi is a mobile social network that will provide its community members access to employment opportunities and basic educational services. The brainchild of this new Social Innovation, Terence Hendricks, is excited with it prospects and during its testing phase have already attracted more than 1,200 users who joined the Uusi network in South Africa.
The goal of Uusi is to provide its members the opportunity to have a new beginning in their careers, education and future. Although still early days Uusi will soon announce the details of its partnership with Africa’s largest mobile social network MXit and Finnish educational mobile learning platform Ympyra. Over the next few weeks we will make more announcements on how Uusi and its partners are addressing unemployment through the use of Mobile Phones.
Today we are excited to announce the first RLabs donor funding partner in the Vodacom Foundation who have come on board to support our JamiiX Mobile Advice services who currently reaches more than 250,000 users accross South Africa addressing issues such as Substance Abuse, HIV/AIDS, Depression, Abuse, Suicide and other emotional support services. The Vodacom Foundation was established in 1999 as the primary vehicle for Vodacom to implement its Corporate Social Investment initiatives. In its 10th year of operation its primary focus on education and health, and its secondary focus on security, the Vodacom Foundation supports sustainable projects that help counter social deprivation. These projects provide a channel through which the company shares the profits with the communities in which it operates.
This partnership will provide RLabs with the infrastructure and operations to run its mobile support services for 2011 with a specific focus in the Western Cape addressing the substance abuse problems the province is facing. Vodacom Foundation also ensure that their 4 sponsored Matrix Drug Outpatient Clinics would be available for mobile phone users who seek face-to-face support. Thanks to the Vodacom Foundation and RLabs partnership we are now able to expand its support base to reach more people throughout the Western Cape.
The computer game “Fast Car: Travelling Safely around the World” aims to provide young people with accurate and reliable information about HIV prevention, intending to educate and entertain as well as promoting healthy behaviour.This game is a project by UNESCO and can be downloaded for FREE.
It was a great 2010 for RLabs and we have so much to be thankful for and what a year it has been. We’ve gone through many changes and experienced so much growth in the projects and work we involved in. This was also the year RLabs registered as an official non-profit in South Africa with the hope of growing the work started in Cape Town to the rest of the world. Below we share some of the highlights for 2010 and how we enjoyed the explosion of this year:
January
The year started with a bang as we grew the RLabs Team and also launched our training and consulting programme, The Social Media Factory. This programme would provide employment opportunities for community members who’s done the Social Media training through RLabs. It was also the day when the first Social Media Surgery was launched in Africa at a local shopping complex on the Cape Flats.
February
This was also the year where we added more skills empowerment courses and it included the Mobile Journalism Programme in partnership Cape Community Newspapers, Social Media training with Health Care Workers and training with Non-profits. We also launched our Twitter Schools where we showed community members the power of Twitter for community upliftment. We continued with our social media programmes with youth at risk, senior citizens, women and the reconstructed. RLabs also featured on The Digital Edge where some of the team were showcased during the programme.
March
Jamiix - Social Change
As the year progressed we commercialised our first product, JamiiX, with the hope of taking the product global. JamiiX was also an example of how grassroots innovation can be transformed into a commercial product to sustain work at a grassroots level. JamiiX was launched in June this year with subsequent launches in Finland, Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Since its launch JamiiX have Department of Social Development (Western Cape), National AIDS Helpline and World Health Organisation using its services. RLabs also featured in an international publication by COFISA and was represented in Finland as part of a knowledge exchange programme hosted by SAFIPA. SAFIPA also gave JamiiX a grant of $200,000 to ensure its sustainability.
April
RLabs also started its training and consulting services through the Social Media Factory and April this year we had the privilege of managing the Social Media for the World Bank at an Innovation Event in Cape Town. The event was a wonderful opportunity for the RLabs Community to showcase its Social Media skills and to partner with the World Bank. Since then RLabs also provided Social Media services to a number of organisations and Higher Education Institutions. This was also a wonderful month for us as we’ve surpassed the 50,000 users barrier providing mobile phone support services for people across South Africa using our JamiiX platform and in partnership with MXit.
May
A partnership with Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) produced a mobile application, Kujali, that assists home-based health care workers in communities. Kujali also won an award at a major ICT conference in Africa for best demonstration. A collaboration with Silulo Ulutho Technologies saw the beginning of a great relationship of possibly starting a RLabs in Khayelitsha. The RLabs team trained their facilitators in the use of Social Media for educational purposes. RLas also received an invite from the WORLD BANK to present how we are using technology to empower communities at their Global Youth Forum in Zambia.
June
It was a big month for South Africa with the Football World Cup but also for RLabs as we officially launched JamiiX in Cape Town. It was also a busy month in the media because we had the BBC Digital Planet and E.TV Tech Report visiting us at RLabs where we shared some of the stories of the team and how we a leveraging Social Media for Social Change. Our Mobile Support services also reached 130,000 users and we saw an increase in number of conversations through the use of our JamiiX system.
July
A getaway with the core team was the basis for new Vision and Mission statements considering the global focus of RLabs. We also welcomed the new board of directors to the RLabs family and great excitement for the future. Partnerships with a Gauteng based group, MobieG, to provide a life skills mobile counselling services and the Youth Research Network provided us the opportunity to expand our services and partnerships to other parts of the world. We also received positive reviews from the Western Cape provincial government for the work we’ve been doing through our mobile support services.
August
Jamiix was launched in Europe and the first international RLabs Social Franchise was opened in Porto, Portugal. These exciting events was the start to a new type of RLabs that we never anticipated. Our skills empowerment projects continued growing from strength to strength with a new Social Media for Social Change programme being launched for the community. RLabs was also invited to the International Digital Transformation conference in Portugal where we shared how we use digital media for social change.
September
RLabs were the Social Media partners at an International Sports Conference hosted by the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and received an award of excellence for their contribution to the event. RLabs presented at the One Percent Event and presented at theTEDxChange programme in the Netherlands where the possibility of a RLabs Netherlands was established in partnership with the Amsterdam School of Business. However, one of the highlights was when it was announced that RLabs and one of its programmes (She’s The Geek) won at the South African Blog Awards. We won awards for the Best Group Blog, Best Company Blog and Best Science and Technology Blog at a very prestigious awards ceremony in Cape Town.
October
The launch of JamiiX in the United Kingdom was a great event with RLabs generating interest in a possible franchise opportunity in Southampton. RLabs was also a finalist and runner up for an international BEES award for best use of mobile being a true testament to how our work has reached a global market. We also had our first graduation for the home-based care social media training programme in partnership with Cape Peninsula University of Technology.
November
The RLabs mobile support services reached 200,000 users and in celebrating this achievement we extended our services into Africa providing information and counselling services. In partnership with the Amsterdam School of Business RLabs hosted a group of Executive Masters Students where they assisted us in developing the new RLabs business model. We also featured at the TEDxAmsterdam event in the Netherlands with a great response from the audience and organizers. We also decided that we will be moving into a new space where we will have the first official RLabs Global head quarters.
December
With the year coming to a close we still had much to do and one of our team members were representing RLabs at the Africa-EU ICT Summit in Helsinki, Finland but it was also one of our favorite times of the year, being our annual graduation. This year we wanted to make sure our graduation is bigger and bolder than before and the team did not disappoint. We had more than 35 graduates in total with a number of people receiving special prizes for their contribution to the classes during the year. We were also excited when we broke the 250,000 user mark through our mobile support services and expanding our work in partnership with MXit and World Health Organisation into Indonesia. We also started preparation for our new RLabs in the Eastern Cape with training in Grahamstown.
Looking back 2010 has been a year filled with many highs and we are truly thankful for everyone who has made this year so special. With such a great year behind us we are looking forward to taking RLabs Global to the next level always changing the lives of people through Innovation.
