Mobilisr - Enterprise Open Source Mobile Messaging

Mobilisr is an open source enterprise class mobile messaging platform for NGOs around the world. Mobilisr is a collaboration between Cell Life, a South African NGO, and the Preaekelt Foundation, members of the Open Mobile Consortium.

The Problem

NGOs are often in need of communicating via SMS with a broad number of constituents, patients, or clients - both boradcasting out as well as for two-way communications. However, right now, robust broadcast, two-way, voice, and USSD communications for NGOs are primarily serviced by individual applications or commercial vendors, limiting the options for organizations.

In response to this need, the Praekelt Foundation and Cell Life, South-African based organization, are collaboratively developing an open source enterprise-level messaging platform. It allows users to:

  • broadcast SMS information to a wide audience of contacts; subscription services
  • send interactive USSD requests for certain standard HIV information, for example; polls which allow a question to be asked via SMS to a group of people, who can reply giving their view; and free-text question
  • Voicemail: users send a PCM (Please Call Me - which is a free message) to the system which, in turn, send a short pre-recorded voicemail to their inbox, which they can listen to at their convenience.
  • WAP module for delivering WAP-content directly to WAP-enabled mobile phones.

Mobilisr is currently in private beta with two large-scale pilot projects running in South Africa.

Mobilisr supports the work of Soul City, a large HIV-aids organization in South Africa, for example, with their broadcast communications and also their ‘Soul Buddyz Clubs’-initiative. Soul City primarily works on prevention of infection and general health messaging. The 'Soul Buddyz'-initiative focusses on children and youth. Mobilisr is used in prevention messaging to the club members. We are also planning to provide cellphone information to support Soul City's mass media programmes, particularly their radio programmes, to be broadcast in 9 South African languages.

More Information

Mobilisr can be found here Mobilisr. The software is currently in private beta.