In an effort to mark World Refugee Day, Safaricom, Ericsson and Refugees United joined together to provide a new and innovative service that enables refugees to register themselves, search for loved ones, and subsequently reconnect via an anonymous database.
This new initiative will help cut the time it would normally take to locate displaced family members using a paper based system. It particularly takes into consideration the increasing access to mobile phones: Safaricom has over 17 million subscribers in Kenya, compared to an estimated 820,000 people who have access to the internet via a PC. This represents only 2 percent of the population of Kenya.
In response to a call from UNHCR to “do 1 thing” to support refugees, Ericsson uses technology as a force for good in support of the refugee cause.
The World Refugee Day 2011 was hosted at the University of Nairobi Grounds in a day of celebrating different cultures from nationalities taking refuge in Kenya. Some of the acts that perfoemed included DNG, Emmanuel Jal, Juliani, Lam Tungwar, DJ Wesley, GKon, Shakila and several upcoming musicians.
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