The 2008 USAID Development 2.0 Challenge is underway and proposals are stacking up in the USAID Project Gallery.  You can read proposals, star your favorites, leave comments and collaborate with project teams, or submit your own!  Here are some of the most recently submitted projects - check them out!

From the Project Gallery:

• Mobile tools linking Teachers, Students and Parents to boost Education

  Education institutions often need to evaluate the academic performance of their students and teachers. Students also need to monitor their own progress. Parents/Guardians also need to monitor their student's progress.

  Teachers frequently give tests or exams to their students during the term and this data is rarely used for analysis, apart from that given at the end of term/semester. The reason is that they do not have time to aggregate this data to a format suitable for easy analysis. These days, most academic institutions have atleast a computer which can be used for this kind of work. But there are cases where the number of computers is not enough for all teachers to enter student marks as often as analysis would be required. Also some teachers are part time employees and hence may not be at the school when their marks are needed.

• Ushahidi v2 - Mobile.Crisis.Reporting

  Why Mobile
  Mobile phones are the one ubiquitous technology found all over the globe -if the goal of Ushahidi is to let ordinary people submit reports during a crisis and know of incidents happening around them, then we must ensure that any phone can be used for this purpose. 

  What
  The following features will be incorporated into Ushahidi’s mobile development: 
  •    ability to send and receive SMS alerts;
  •    ability to set up a local or international alert number at short notice;
  •    ability work on different smartphones;
  •    ability to send MMS messages (images and video);
  •    ability to send GPS coordinates.

Participate in 4 easy steps:

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

Visit the USAID Development 2.0 Challenge Project Gallery to check out proposals, vote on your favorites, and comment and collaborate with the project teams or learn more about the Challenge.