RapidSMS is a web framework based on the
Django web framework which extends the logic and capabilities of Django to communicate with
SMS messages. Initial development was done by
UNICEF's Innovation Unit for use in mobile data collection and polls.[2][3] A side effect of the work was
pygsm, a Python library for interacting with
GSM modems, including cell phones which handle the
Hayes command set.[4] The software has been deployed in numerous countries, including
Senegal,
Mauritania,
Uganda,
Somalia,
Zambia,
Kenya,
Nigeria,[5]Malawi,[6] and
Ethiopia.[7][8]
In 2009,
UNICEF won the Gov2.0 Summit Award in the 'Government as a Provider' category for their work with RapidSMS in Malawi.[13][14]
Frog Design won two
IDSAIDEA Awards (Gold in the Social Impact Design category and Silver in the Design Strategy category) at the 2012 International Design Excellence Awards for their work with UNICEF on
Project Mwana.[15]
In 2010,
Matt Berg was chosen by
Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the year for his work with RapidSMS and
ChildCount.[16]
mTrac, a disease surveillance and drug tracking system developed by
UNICEF and the
World Health Organization in Uganda, is one of only a handful of mHealth projects being scaled up nationally. In August 2012, it was featured in "The Wireless Issue" of
Time Magazine.[19]
U-Report, one of the largest SMS social networks of community crowd sourced volunteer reporters in the world, with approximately 200,000 registered users in Uganda as of April 2013, reporting on development issues and engaging directly with national and local government through the platform.[20][21]
RapidSMS MCH, is a system for monitoring pregnancy and reducing bottlenecks in communication associated with maternal and newborn deaths in
Rwanda. The project was developed by
UNICEF and
Pivot Access.[27][28][29]