HELP STOP CHILD TRAFFICKING IN CHINA

While this is not Jackie related, it is an issue that can not be ignored and I support and applaud every effort to help save children. China is by no means the only nation in which this horrible crime against humanity occurs but this is the first time I have seen a social network being used a tool against it in this way.

What began as a simple call by Professor Yu Jianrong for internet users to snap pictures of street children and post it on Sina Weibo, the leading Chinese microblogging service, has become something of a revolution that is being talked about by everyone today. At last count, the campaign's official account @随手拍照解救乞讨儿童 (lit. Snap a picture to save a child) has about 152,000 followers while @Yujianrong himself has become something of a superstar with close to 380,000 followers.

As the movement becomes more structured and organised, people have stepped forward to volunteer their skills in various ways. One of the more exciting announcements yesterday was the launch of an Android app for the campaign called 乞讨儿童数据库, or the Beggar Children Database.

The application is a very simple one that makes it easy for anyone who wants to send a picture to the campaign. Through the app, users can log on via their Sina Weibo account, snap a picture of any street kid they see, and tweet it immediately along with information of where the child was seen. The pictures will go towards a new database that has become an imperative with the large numbers of pictures coming in daily. It is hoped that this database would help make it easier for parents to locate their missing children.

If you have an Android phone and want to help, download it here. We hope an iPhone version of this app will show up soon!

SOURCE: SHANGHAIIST.COM

A competition for a similar App has been launched in Russia and Eastern Europe:

NetHope, USAID and the Demi & Ashton Foundation (DNA) are calling on technology developers in Russia and the region to design mobile applications for their Stop Human Trafficking App Challenge (http://www.nethope.org/appchallenge), which aims to raise public awareness of trafficking and deliver prevention messages and services to vulnerable populations and victims via Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

This contest draws upon the thriving culture of innovation in Russia to respond to one of today’s most pressing development challenges – sex and labor trafficking. Only those from Russia, Eastern Europe, and the Commonwealth of Independent States are eligible to submit apps for the competition.

“Traffickers in the region are increasingly using mobile technology to lure vulnerable people into modern-day slavery. The Stop Human Trafficking App Challenge makes mobile technology part of the solution,” says Alison Padget, program manager for the NetHope anti-trafficking project. This program is part of NetHope and USAID’s Global Broadband and Innovations Alliance (GBI).

Contest entrants will have until mid-day Moscow time on August 8, 2011 to upload videos of their apps to the contest site. Stakeholders including Russian anti-trafficking organizations, international non-governmental organizations, technology companies and the public will be invited to view the videos and vote on their favorites.

The top 10 applications from the online voting round will advance to the final round, where apps will be evaluated by a panel of judges selected by NetHope, USAID and DNA.

The apps will be evaluated on usefulness to prevent trafficking, raise awareness, or provide services to victims; innovativeness; functionality; ease of use; potential for taking to scale (widespread use across several countries); linkages to existing or realistic anti-trafficking activities; and capability to support multiple languages.

The Grand Prize winner will receive $15,000 and travel expenses to the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) in New York, New York. First Prize winner will receive $10,000 and travel expenses to the meeting.

The winning Grand Prize application will be implemented by an organization working to combat human trafficking in Russia. The purpose of the pilot will be to test the usefulness of the application in combating trafficking in Russia. If the pilot is successful, the application will be made available more broadly across the region.

The winners will be announced by early September 2011.

SOURCE: ALLHUMANITY.ORG