RapidSMS is a web framework based on the Django web framework which extends the logic and capabilities of Django to communicate with

SMS Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...

messages. Initial development was done by

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...

's Innovation Unit for use in mobile data collection and polls. A side effect of the work was pygsm, a Python library for interacting with

GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such ...

modems, including cell phones which handle the

Hayes command set The Hayes command set (also known as the AT command set) is a specific command language originally developed by Dennis Hayes for the Hayes Smartmodem 300 baud modem in 1981. The command set consists of a series of short text strings which can b ...

. The software has been deployed in numerous countries, including

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 � ...

Mauritania Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...

, and

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

Awards

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

and UNICEF won the 2008 USAID Development 2.0 Challenge for their work with RapidSMS in Malawi. * In 2009,

won the Gov2.0 Summit Award in the 'Government as a provider' category for their work with RapidSMS in Malawi. *

Frog Design frog (styled as ''"frog, part of Capgemini Invent"'') is a global creative and design consultancy founded in 1969 by industrial designer Hartmut Esslinger in Mutlangen, Germany, where it was initially named “esslinger design”. Soon after the ...

won two IDSA

IDEA Awards The International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) is an award program previously co-sponsored by ''BusinessWeek'' magazine, and in 2010 ''Fast Company'' magazine and the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA). According to the IDSA, IDEA "i ...

(Gold in the Social Impact Design category and Silver in the Design Strategy category) at the 2012 International Design Excellence Awards for their work with UNICEF on

Project Mwana A project is any undertaking, carried out individually or collaboratively and possibly involving research or design, that is carefully planned to achieve a particular goal. An alternative view sees a project managerially as a sequence of even ...

. * In 2010,

Matt Berg Matt Berg is the CEO of Ona, which he co-founded with Peter Lubell-Doughtie, Ukang'a Dickson and Roger Wong. Previously, he was the ICT Director for the Millennium Villages Project at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, the Technology Director ...

was chosen by

Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Mar ...

as one of 100 most influential people of the year for his work with RapidSMS and ChildCount. * In 2013,

Christopher Fabian Christopher Fabian (born April 18, 1980) is a technologist who works for UNICEF. He founded technology and finance initiatives in both the public and private sector, including the creation in 2006, of UNICEF's Innovation Unit. Fabian is an advo ...

and

Erica Kochi is a humanitarian and a technologist who co-leads UNICEF's Innovation Unit with Christopher Fabian. In 2013, she was chosen by ''Time (magazine), Time'' magazine as one of the Time 100, 100 most influential people in the world.Jack Dorsey, Dorse ...

were selected by Time Magazine to be on the

Time 100 ''Time'' 100 (often stylized as ''TIME'' 100) is an annual listicle of the 100 most influential people in the world, assembled by the American news magazine ''Time''. First published in 1999 as the result of a debate among American academics, po ...

list of the 100 most influential people in the world for their work with RapidSMS at

.Time 100
/ref>

Projects

RapidSMS is the basis for a few notable projects: * mTrac, a disease surveillance and drug tracking system developed by

and the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

in Uganda, is one of only a handful of mHealth projects being scaled up nationally. In August 2012, it was featured in "The Wireless Issue" of

. *

U-Report U-Report is a social messaging tool and data collection system developed by UNICEF to improve citizen engagement, inform leaders, and foster positive change. The program sends SMS polls and alerts to its participants, collecting real-time res ...

, one of the largest SMS social networks of community crowd sourced volunteer reporters in the world, with approximately 200,000 registered users in Uganda as of April 2013, reporting on development issues and engaging directly with national and local government through the platform. *

Birth Registration A birth certificate is a vital record that documents the birth of a person. The term "birth certificate" can refer to either the original document certifying the circumstances of the birth or to a certified copy of or representation of the ensui ...

and Timba Objects developed a system with RapidSMS that is used for birth registration nationwide in Nigeria. *

uses RapidSMS to improve early infant diagnosis of HIV and post-natal follow-up and care.

was developed by

and

and has been deployed in

and

won two IDSA

(Gold in the Social Impact Design category and Silver in the Design Strategy category) at the 2012 International Design Excellence Awards. * RapidSMS MCH, is a system for monitoring pregnancy and reducing bottlenecks in communication associated with maternal and newborn deaths in

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

. The project was developed by

and Pivot Access. * ChildCount, developed by the

Millennium Villages Project The Millennium Villages Project (MVP) was a demonstration project of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, the United Nations Development Programme, and Millennium Promise aimed at proving that its integrated approach to rural development ...

and deployed in Kenya.

has been chosen by

as one of 100 most influential people of the year for his work with RapidSMS and ChildCount. * RapidAndroid, developed by

and

Dimagi Dimagi, Inc. is a for-profit social enterprise based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, that delivers open-source software technology suitable for low-resource settings and underserved communities. The company designs clinical interfaces, health in ...

, is a port of RapidSMS to the

Android operating system Android is a mobile operating system based on a modified version of the Linux kernel and other open-source software, designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Android is developed by a consortium of deve ...

* Jokko, developed by

, and

Tostan Tostan (meaning "breakthrough" in Wolof) is a US-registered 501(c)(3) international non-governmental organization headquartered in Dakar, Senegal. The organization's mission is "to empower communities to develop and achieve their vision for the ...

to help teach literacy in West Africa. * Textonic, developed by students in

Clay Shirky Clay Shirky (born 1964) is an American writer, consultant and teacher on the social and economic effects of Internet technologies and journalism. In 2017 he was appointed Vice Provost of Educational Technologies of New York University (NYU), aft ...

's 2009 Design For UNICEF course at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

Interactive Telecommunications Program The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...

to extend RapidSMS to use

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economi ...

Amazon Mechanical Turk Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) is a crowdsourcing website for businesses to hire remotely located "crowdworkers" to perform discrete on-demand tasks that computers are currently unable to do. It is operated under Amazon Web Services, and is owned ...

service.

References

External links

Nutrition RapidSMS
{{Web frameworks Python (programming language) web frameworks Free software programmed in Python Software using the BSD license