South Africa’s JamiiX looks set to be the next Ushahidi to emerge onto a global stage from the African continent. While Ushahidi uses social media and mobile communications very cleverly to collect information from the people at the scene of significant events, JamiiX uses the channels to share vital information and advice with people on the ground.

The WHO (World Health Organisation) has already deployed JamiiX in Indonesia to aid communications after natural disasters. Ironically the country was struck by three earthquakes towards the end of last year, just days after deploying the service.

JamiiX is a messaging management system developed by the Cape Town-based RLabs team, originally to help them counsel drug addicts on the Cape flats. Marlon Parker, an IT lecturer and entrepreneur, has been using MXit and other forms of mobile instant messaging (MIM) to counsel people, particularly teenagers, affected by drugs, alcohol and HIV. Many of the former addicts go on to be counsellors at the aptly named Reconstructed Living Labs (RLabs).

Marlon and his team developed JamiiX to more effectively manage multiple mobile chat and mobile social networks streams. It allows eight counsellors to have 300 IM conversations in one hour, massively increasing their ability to assist those who need help.

In 2010 it was released for third party use and its commercial launch is imminent. The name comes from a combination of the Swahili word for social, “jamii”, and eXchange, to mean social exchange.

In Indonesia, JamiiX is being used in conjunction with MXit to provide information and advice for citizens during national disasters. Indonesians using MXit chat are able to access personal preparedness information, including what to do in the case of natural disasters such as floods, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and cyclones; how to prepare an emergency kit; and how to plan for possible evacuation. This information is teamed up with facts on safe hospitals in disaster zones.

MIM fits the bill perfectly as a communications channel for these audiences, both in South Africa, Indonesia and elsewhere, because it’s a non-threatening and familiar way of interacting, a whole lot cheaper than texting or calling, and importantly provides the immediacy and direct communication needed by the vulnerable people using the service.

Already nominated for a Bees Award and the recipient of funding from the Vodacom Foundation, JamiiX provides an interesting opportunity for other support organisations around the world and I am sure is set to follow in the footsteps of Kenya’s Ushahidi.

by Vanessa Clark, marketing director of Mobiflock, a parental control service for smartphones.