M-PASTORALISM

Help pastoralist communities around the world preserve their livelihood, by providing them access to information and resources (e.g grass land, water, safe routes) to prepare and support their migration journey.

The objective of the project is to design a working prototype for a mobile application which provides pastoralists community with information on land monitoring: water availability, grassland, and assist communities in networking.

M-PASTORALIST

This is a mobile application that requires minimum data to operate. It’s aimed to making the lives of pastoral communities all over the world easier as it enables them to have information on the available resources, safe routes, governance (security, permits to land, cultural activities and exhibitions) and the culture of other communities.

This application enables the pastoralist communities to interact. The application implements chat tool through which they can send direct messages to one another. It also enables them to post updates in individual portals. They will be able to upload images of thing such as animal affected diseases. Most of the information required will be locally stored reducing data requirement for slow connections.

In the instance of migration, the pastoralist will easily know about their destination before they begin the journey. The app will provide information on available pasture land, water availability, culture of the communities in the area, trade facilities and market places, their system of governance and also the facilities such as schools for their children, hospitals and emergency services available, government institutions such as police posts and other security systems. They will also have access to information concerning safe routes to their destination.

The application utilizes GPS technology to provide information on climatic condition of the various pastoral regions in its scope. It also incorporates daily weather forecast information for each region enabling one to plan for any future changes. Through the application the government will easily communicate to the app users on possible disasters and disease outbreaks and recommend solutions through text messages.

Economically, the apps will save the users both time and money by providing them with information on the safest and cheapest routs to follow. They will also have access to the knowledge of the nearest market places in the area. This enables them to better participate in economic activities and boost their livelihoods.

The app provides information on the culture of pastoral communities that are living in a particular area. This enables the migrating pastoralist to adjust to the ways of life of a place. Through this knowledge they will also follow the right procedures before entering a place. It will therefore promote peaceful coexistence among various group.

The authorities in each region will be able to use the backend data such as sum of the pastoralists in an area, number of livestock and area occupied by each pastoralist. Thus, it will be easy for them to easily map the pasture land and allocate it to individuals. The authorities will also be able to know when the resources are fully utilized and not allow any more pastoralists into their jurisdiction.

In the cases of emergencies such as natural disasters, the emergency button which is easily visible in each window will enable them to easily post the problem and warn others about it. They will also be able to reach out to the emergency service available.

1. Intel XDK

2.Internet at swahilipot