FrontlineSMS

FrontlineSMS is an SMS gateway.   CellAlert is a keyword matching job alert tool that sends info about positions that people in developing countries can bid on and help pull themselves out of poverty.

3 aspects to the project:
  Technical: Its 2 way sms
  Sustainability: focused towards the developing world but also can apply to inner city areas
  Grassroots: It directly enables people to help themselves

With FrontlineSMS is possible to bring 50,000 job alerts to people in the developing world.  

Q. There are plenty of for-profit services like you, how do you compare?
A. 23 other companies who could offer this to the developing world, but we're the only ones targeting the developing world.   There are about 1 million freelancing opportunities but there is an imbalance between the no of jobs and job seekers.   This is a fundamental problem.  

The top job sites' reputation are biased away from developing countries.

Q. How do people directly access the information?
A. Develop toolkits, and enrich them and put the stories and successes of grassroots movements to enhance the quality of education.  
This is not just a job alerts tool.   Blockade alerts, emergency alerts, education tools.

Q. I'm a microloaner in S America.   Most of the people we loan to are illiterate.   What kind of microprojects could these people do?   How do you marry rural skills with modern needs?
A. Camera phones enable pp to record success and stories.
In agr, healthcare, even in societies where people don't have these skills people can begin to train through tele-opportunities.   In the case of illiterate people, the slightly technically literate can raise the voices and tell the stories of the illiterate.