Mobile Monday (MoMo) and mGovernance Workshop Maputo Ends on a High Note
Civil Society, government, private sector practitioners and international agencies came together during the last week of September to deliberate on conversations around the use of mobile technology to facilitate citizen participation, citizen engagement and government responsiveness in an effort to contribute to effective and efficient service delivery, strengthen democracy and promote good governance; making MoMo Maputo and mGovernance workshops a huge success.
The MoMo event held on Monday, Sept 29: 6.00 – 7.30 pm; another mobile Monday chapter in Maputo; involved 2 minute pitches from Ushahidi, Making all Voices Count, Uganda Budget Transparency Initiative, Jornal @Verdade, Ulula, and Txeka. Followed by an interactive session to allow participants to learn more about individual projects based on the 2-minute pitching sessions.
The half-day m-Governance workshop held on the 30th September 2014, involved a larger group of participants including government representatives from the Ministries of Justice, State Administration, Science and Technology, and Public Service.
The Success of m-governance projects relies heavily on the good will of our governments at National and Sub National Level: Gerald Twijukye, ODI Uganda
MoMo Maputo is a great avenue for organizations and practitioners to gain understanding on the mobile tech industry in Maputo as well as learn avenues of engaging with funders and government for potential collaborations in addressing issues such as transparency, accountability and corruption through mobile tech.
Current priority themes/gaps for m-governance projects in Mozambique are in the Health and Agriculture (access to various markets) sectors, as reiterated through the breakout sessions at the event. The National Deputy Director of Registration, Mr. Daniel Muma, talked about ongoing plans by the Ministry of State Administration to introduce registration of births by mobile; a potential area of partnership between government, mobile service providers and funders.
Technology is gaining space in Mozambique:Mr. Daniel Muma; National Deputy Director of Registration, Maputo
Ushahidi/Making All Voices Count is grateful to have been part of this initiative that played a significant role in connecting tech entrepreneurs, civil society, citizens and government to address the gaps and challengers in the use of mobile tech in Mozambique.