RESIDENTS of the Eastern Cape should not have to fear that they will be left in the dark during the 21-day nationwide lockdown period – owing to an app developed by Nelson Mandela University (NMU).
The Yabelana, meaning “to share”, system, is the first of its kind and uses technology to provide residents with easily accessible information on their cellphones.
The university’s director of the Centre for Community Technologies (CCT), Professor Darelle van Greunen, said the CCT became involved by assisting with the preparation of the training material and multimedia for the app.
“As part of a collaboration between North West University and CCT, we took over the custodianship of the app,” Van Greunen explained.
The project is currently active in the communities of Ikageng, Promosa, Lokaleng and Sharpeville. Given the current situation, it will be rolled out in the Eastern Cape and service providers in the province are encouraged to register on the app.
According to Van Greunen, Yabelana is context specific and gives a wide range of information, from health care and social services to councillors’ contacts and events.
“Service providers and citizens can benefit by putting their services on the app and allowing citizens to see which providers are open and can be of service during these times.
“In doing so, it will minimise risk, as citizens will know which service providers closest to them are operational.
“It will also allow them to be in contact with the service providers to establish whether they have what the citizen is looking for,” she added.
The first step is to download the app from Google Play or the App Store.
Service providers are then required to register and promote their services.
“Users can search and find service providers in any category, make contact and give feedback about the service provided. This encourages citizen participation and accountable service delivery,” Van Greunen added.
The following link provides step-by-step instruction on how to register for this project: https://yabelana.org/
