Kazi560 – Jobsearching via mobile phone
Unemployment is a major problem in Kenya, especially in informal settlements. A creative solution, called Kazi560, is having great success matching blue-collar workers with jobs via SMS. If you’re a laborer, you can spend an amazing amount of your time wandering from one worksite to another, looking for opportunities. With Kazi560, workers can register via mobile phones and receive text messages, letting them know about job opportunities.
The video above outlines some of the early successes of the project. Employers are evidently willing to pay to use the service, suggesting that it can become self-sustaining fiscally, over time. The application is one of several developed by a project called Mobile4Good, which is supported by the UK arm of international foundation OneWorld. It’s a very exciting, simple and extremely practical application that shows how powerful mobiles can be for addressing problems in the developing world. (Hat tip to Hash for pointing me to the video.)
June 12th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Its lot informative man.I think we too can follow in our country.
June 13th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
This is such a simple and useful idea. Us western engineers tend to look for complicated solutions when sometimes the smallest things can have an incredible impact. Thanks for pointing this out!
June 14th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
[...] new text messaging service in Kenya that alerts blue collar workers to job opportunities. Zuckerman writes, “If you’re a laborer, you can spend an amazing amount of your time wandering from one [...]
June 20th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
[...] been early adopters of mobile money transfer systems like M-PESA and complex SMS-based systems like Kazi560 which matches jobseekers and employers via their [...]
July 12th, 2008 at 9:08 am
[...] Kenya’s technology use and activism. For example, digital technology in Kenya is being used to help laborers find jobs by texting mobile subscribers daily updates of specific locations and work available. This saves [...]
June 17th, 2009 at 4:58 am
hi, very good info. Mobile phone is very important device for people all around the world. Due to its technical nature, problems are met from time to time. So we need learn from each other. thanks. :)
October 28th, 2010 at 12:15 pm
[...] Kenya: More recently, a new program called Kazi560 is helping Kenyans find jobs. (Unemployment there is 40 percent!) The idea is that [...]
July 15th, 2011 at 12:59 pm
Thanks for the post, Ethan. Anyone who wants more info about the Kazi560 project or OneWorld’s other Mobile4Good projects (Learning about Living and LifeLines) — or if you want to start something similar in your own country — please get in touch! Check out our website (http://mobile.oneworld.net) and shoot us an email: m4g@oneworld.net