U-Report, a social media platform to engage with communities on issues affecting them, crossed a threshold on Monday, surpassing two million registered users in Nigeria alone.
More than half the total number of responders are in Nigeria, said the United Nations Children’s Fund, which helped launch the platform.
“Reaching 2 million U-Reporters in Nigeria is a huge step in community engagement for improved service delivery,” said UNICEF Nigeria Representative Mohamed Fall.
“It provides an even greater opportunity for information sharing, increased stakeholder engagement and transparency as a direct channel of communication between leaders and the people they serve,” he added.
U-Report uses simple Short Message Service (SMS) messages and social media to reach communities around the country and provides an opportunity for community members to share their opinions and drive positive change.
It relies on volunteer community members, mostly young people, serving as U-Reporters to provide information through conducting polls on issues that affect their communities.
It has also been an important tool for sharing information through message alerts, most memorably during the 2014 outbreak of Ebola.
The platform also reached communities in 39 countries around the world and has grown to almost 4 million since it was first launched in 2011.
The first U-Report poll in Nigeria was sent out in April 2014 and since then, 169 polls have been run and more than 150 alerts issued on the Nigerian U-Report platform in Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Pidgin and English.
The topics include health, education, safety and security, Internally Displaced Persons, water and sanitation and violence against children, with results disseminated to Government and other relevant agencies.
The National Youth Service Corps, a main partner, has been key to recruiting responders—to represent all states of the country.
Jigawa has the highest number of users.
The Office of the Vice President, Nigerian Senators and members of the House of Representatives are using U-Report to connect with their communities on important issues to find out what needs to be improved or where the focus needs to be in service delivery in their states.
The most recent initiative is a partnership concluded October 13 with the National Emergency Management Agency which will be using the platform to share life-saving information with communities in case of emergencies such as floods and disease outbreaks.
A live U-Report chat on menstrual hygiene management in September stimulated more than 10,000 questions from participants – and the answers helped to empower girls with useful information.
“To see this level of adoption of U-Report in Nigeria is extremely encouraging. It enables UNICEF to realise what is possible if we allow ourselves to think big and strive to reach as many young people as we can” said Cynthia McCaffrey, Director of UNICEF’s Office of Innovation.
“As Nigeria makes U-Report increasingly accessible, it also becomes increasingly relevant, as evidenced by the live chat last month on menstrual hygiene.”
To become a U-Reporter in Nigeria, you can register on social media by simply sending JOIN to U-Report Nigeria on Facebook or send JOIN as a direct message on Twitter @Ureportnigeria. By text, send the word ‘JOIN’ to 24453 and voice your opinion. All options are free.
All U-Report polls can be accessed on the public website at www.nigeria.ureport.in
