Later this month, Souktel, a Palestinian NGO, and UNICEF will host a two-day bootcamp and mobile programming workshop with young Palestinian developers in Ramallah. The bootcamp hopes to jumpstart a mobile open source developer community in the region.
“There are a lot of young Palestinians who are unemployed. […] We wanted to work with young people who have time and are creative. We hope to create the first mobile open source community in the Middle East,” says Souktel’s Katie Highet.
In many developing countries, labor markets are in chaos--not because there’s a lack of job opportunities, but because there are no good information networks to help job-seekers and employers find each other: Web access is low, public/private resources are few, and infrastructure is poor. As a result, many skilled workers get trapped in cycles of joblessness and hardship. However, a huge number of people in developing countries have basic cell phone access, even in rural areas. Recognizing this reality, Souktel has created a simple, phone-based JobMatch service--a software application that reduces unemployment and poverty by helping ordinary job-seekers get key job information on their phones.
Our solution is simple: from any phone, job-seekers create SMS "mini-CVs" that include basic data on their skills, location, etc. These are then sent by mobile to our central database--which hundreds of employers search daily, via web or phone. From their side, employers create similar “mini job ads” and post them on the same database—so that job-seekers can search these jobs from their own phones. The database also matches job-seekers/employers who have similar profiles, sending them SMS alerts with each other’s data.
Tool Category:
App resides and runs on a server
Key Features :
SMS-based querying of information databases
SMS-based user profile creation
SMS-based matching of similar user profiles
Main Services:
Bulk SMS
Voting, Data Collection, Surveys, and Polling
Mobile Social Network/Peer-to-peer
Information Resources/Information Databases
Tool Maturity:
Currently deployed
Platforms:
Linux/UNIX
Windows Mobile
All phones -- SMS
Current Version:
2
Program/Code Language:
.NET Compact Framework
PHP
Other
Organizations Using the Tool:
Employers - Middle East:
Ernst and Young
Red Cross/Red Crescent
CARE International
Deloitte
YMCA of East Jerusalem
Education Development Center, Inc.
Institutional/Funding Partners - Middle East
US Agency for International Development
World Bank - Quality Improvement Fund for Higher Education
Souktel, an SMS service based in the Middle East and East Africa, is all about connections. The service, launched in 2006, uses SMS to connect users to everything from jobs and internships to humanitarian aid and youth leadership programs.
The name comes from "souk," the Arabic word for "marketplace," and "tel," or "telephone. Although at least 80 percent of people in Palestine have access to mobile phones, most people have Internet access only in cafés or public places, said Jacob Korenblum, co-founder of Souktel. "Getting information about medical care, jobs, and food bank services can be difficult," he said. And even at Internet cafes, Korenblum said that many people, especially women, lack access to these services. "We wanted to develop a very simple service," he said. "That's how Souktel started."
Getting information in the West Bank in Palestine can be difficult. Public transportation is fragmented and some 500 checkpoints around the area make travel time-consuming and difficult. Most people don't have regular Internet access, and newspapers are expensive. A project called Souktel has stepped in to fill this information gap. The service, launched in 2006, uses SMS to connect users to two services: job opportunities and humanitarian aid. The name comes from "souk," the Arabic word for "marketplace," and "tel," or "telephone."
Jacob Korenblum, co-founder of Souktel, talked with MobileActive about the project. "At least 80% of people in the West Bank have cellphones, but Internet access is a problem for people here," Korenblum said. "So getting information about medical care, jobs, and food bank services can be difficult." Although there are Internet cafes, Korenblum said that many people, especially women, lack access to these services. "We wanted to develop a very simple service," Korenblum said.
