The Indigo Trust has awarded a grant of €13,500 to TRAC.fm to expand the network of organisations that use its data collection software to inform their social campaigns.
Trac FM provides radio stations in Africa with software and support to involve their listeners in reporting on failing governments services through SMS. Through Trac FM’s online interface, radio presenters get a clear and instant overview of SMS-poll results which they present to listeners during radio debates. Stations invite local leaders to comment on collected data and Trac FM makes sure data reaches responsible authorities. Trac FM wants people to be part of the running of their society and provide them with a platform to participate and discuss policy issues in an accessible and objective way.
Interesting initiative. Would be interested in finding out whether they measure their impact on service delivery and, if so, how.
DemocracySpot 
Would be interested to learn if there are plans to visualize the SMS data into maps, showing the spatial distribution of polling results by area and demographic? The collection of time- and location- stamped SMS messages would need to be implemented into the service delivery mechanism and share with civil society — perhaps through MMS response. Interesting article on citizen participation!
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Hi Mark,
Thanks for your positive response on what TRAC FM does!
We actually also visualize the incoming SMS’s into maps. Click on this link and scroll down to see an example: http://www.tracfm.org/p/view/450/
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@tracfm