The Human Rights Center at University of California, Berkeley, is sponsoring a challenge - the HRC Mobile Challenge - to encourage innovations for applying mobile technologies for human rights investigations and advocacy.   There are just two weeks to submit your project, so get yours in soon! Here's a look at some of the recent project submissions and how you can participate; the top three selected projects will receive cash awards to implement the ideas.

UCB HRC Mobile Challenge Projects:

•  HarassMap - Reporting & Mapping Sexual Harassment on the Streets via SMS: This project will implement a system for women in Egypt to report incidences of sexual harassment via SMS messaging. This tool will act as an advocacy, prevention, and response tool, highlighting the severity and pervasiveness of the problem.
• Humans Being: A vital needs assessment tool  that enhances the participatory capacity of individuals through the use of Instant Messaging technology, both computer-based as well as mobile-based.
• Live a life - SMS alerts to save trafficking women in India and Nepal: Thousands of women from neighboring countries are trafficked to large metros of India. Police, community and victims can take immediate actions in various stages of such occurrences. Thanks to this project, victims can inform police through a simple SMS or by an IVR about the incident and possible location. Police will receive the SMS and take urgent action for rescue the victim.

How to Submit:

For more information on submitting a new or previously-submitted project, visit the UCB HRC Mobile Challenge page here.

Four Easy Steps to Participate:

• Register and/or Login
• Click on Username
• Click on "Submit a Project to the Project Gallery" under My Project Idea
• Select "HRC-UCB" from the Prize Tag menu located below Additional Cause Area Tags on the Submission Form

How it works:

Through a NetSquared Community vote, 10 finalists will be chosen. All 10 finalists will be invited to present their ideas at an international conference, "The Soul of the New Machine: Human Rights, Technology, and New Media," at UC Berkeley, May 4 and 5, 2009. A panel of judges, selected by the Human Rights Center, will choose three winners, to be announced at the conference. Winners will receive cash awards of $15,000 (first place), $10,000 (second place), and $5,000 (third place) to implement their ideas.