Grassroot, a non-profit organisation in Johannesburg, has developed a cellphone platform which allows low-income communities to effectively organise gatherings at grassroots level and exchange information.
The new communication tool is revolutionising the way communities come together and share ideas and information. Nokwanda Sihlali, Grassroot community builder, said the platform, founded by Luke Jordan, an ex-World Bank associate, is a free-to-use mobile phone tool that works across all phones and is available in Zulu, Sotho, Sepedi and Tsonga to bring together small social groups and massive community organisations.
Jordan explained, “Grassroot allows community groups to engage with their members by calling meetings, taking votes and recording actions. Whether it’s a small burial society, a stokvel, or people mobilising for a rally.”
Since Grassroot was launched 18 months ago, it has been used by 13 rural and urban communities across four provinces, including in Kya Sands in Gauteng, Marikana in the North West, and Limpopo’s capital city Polokwane. Almost 1 000 meetings have been called, 200 votes cast and 250 actions completed.
Unlike other applications, Grassroot is entirely free as it doesn’t require data, airtime or a Smartphone. The system is very simple – communities create a group, disseminate the joining code to members, who then dial in to join. Once part of the group, users receive meeting requests and information on group activities.
They can cast votes on issues relevant to their groups whilst in meetings or at a later date and there is a ‘record action’ tool that notes actions to be taken pre-, post- and during meetings that are marked off when completed. This is immediately indicated to all members, thereby creating real-time status monitoring.
Sihlali said communities require an easy and cost-effective way to call meetings, aside from the usual time-consuming methods in which the community is organised and mobilised using loudhailers, going from house to house, and making phone calls. By using the Grassroot platform they can do this in a much more efficient way.
Details: app.grassroot.org.za
