People without internet have been able to take part in an online petition via an innovative mobile app.
The app, which has been awarded Third Sector’s Digital Innovation award, was developed by international charity Sightsavers to gather petition signatures from people in remote areas who would ordinarily be excluded from taking part in a digital campaign action.
“While data collection has been used on mobile phones previously, this was the first time the technology had been used for campaigning.” said Tessa Murphy, Sightsavers campaign manager.
“The Equal World petition app meant that people who normally have no access to online petitions could join others around the world in a powerful and important campaign. Users able to add their voices to our petition calling for the United Nations to uphold disability rights, and present their petition signatures to the Under-Secretary-General Ana Maria Menéndez at UN headquarters in New York.
When announcing the award, Third Sector commented: “The performance against targets has been impressive and it’s fantastic to see it making a real difference to law in places like Pakistan.”
The mobile phone app works by recording signatures in areas of low internet coverage. Participants signed their name with a finger on a phone or tablet that had the app downloaded and the information was stored until the petition signature collector returned to an area with internet coverage where it could be uploaded. This novel method of collecting signatures allowed people who are usually omitted to have a say in policy-making that affects them directly. It also allows people with low literacy rates to have their voices heard.
“Technical team did a great job in developing the app, and our advocacy advisers and staff in country offices worked tirelessly to collect signatures using the app out in the field in countries from Guinea to Pakistan”.
The app enabled over 50,000 people to offer their support to the Equal World campaign which is fighting for the rights of people with disabilities to be upheld around the world, for example the right to attend school, find a job and participate equally in society. Globally, there are one billion people with disabilities and more than 800,000 live in low and middle income countries.
