Blue Messenger Bicycles' Initiative

Blue Messenger Bicycles Initiative was developed to improve access to life-saving information before, during and after crisis. In South Sudan, there are both natural and man-made crisis, and people are exposed to such such hence information becomes vital. An informed person is less at risk during crisis and is able to make informed decisions to save lives. Blue Messenger Bicycle Initiative works closely with national ministry of health to create demand for available services such as polio, measles and COVID-19 vaccination campaigns, Maternal Neonatal Tetanus Elimination campaign targeting women of reproductive age, HIV/AIDS awareness, malaria, cholera and hepatitis campaigns. BMB was awarded by NGO forum in 2020 as the best innovative tool for combating COVID-19 misinformation in South Sudan. Our slogan as Voice Post is that "Information is Aid" as much as we need food, shelter, water and medicine- information is crucial. All other available services need information. Information connects people to available services.

https://unric.org/en/blue-mess...

BMB is in its second phase- the first phase was to mount a megaphone, amplifier and a battery on the bicycle. In the first phase, the batteries were being charged externally, hence difficult to manage. In phase two, the bicycle was mounted with solar panel to directly charge the batteries and we cycle. In the third phase, we have to change the type of the bicycle to mountain sport bike that would improve its movement in reaching more people with life-saving information across South Sudan.

The level of illiteracy in South Sudan is very high hence people do not have knowledge in issues affecting them. BMB record messages in local languages to be able to improve knowledge and help communities make informed decision.

One Blue Messenger Bicycle covers 240 households or 1,440 people (calculated as 6 people per household).
One bike’s audio reaches 500 meters ahead and 300 meters behind at a
time with audio messages.

Unlike radio BMB post information at people's doorsteps. You don't need to tune in to get informed. In South Sudan, it is only a small percentage who listens to radio frequently and that is mostly at the urban cities but in the villages people are completely cut off from radio, television and internet hence BMB would help them get informed on important issues through mass awareness.

https://reachalliance.org/wp-c...

Blue Messenger Bicycle is a bright and strikingly blue bicycle mounted with megaphone, amplifier, solar panel, battery, USB and GPS tracker. Blue Messenger Bicycles disseminate pre-recorded life-saving messages using the amplifier that sends the USB stored messages to the megaphone that amplifies the message for public consumption.

Our solution serves the public which includes everyone from children to adult. BMB posts information at people's doorsteps. It is also one of the few tools that communicates to children, we play songs for the children and you would see them running after our bicycles singing COVID-19 songs. We believe that we can also use different formats to pass out messages: Poems, songs, dramas etc

My team is comprised of young innovative minds that are passionate about changing the lives of their people through innovative solutions. Our Executive Director is a communication consultant who have worked with UNICEF in South Sudan to develop communication tools, train staff on communications and community engagement and help review communication work plans. He designed the tool based on his experience of how people are struggling to get informed across the country especially during crisis. The team is very innovative and through the two phases of our solution, all the members contributed to improve the effectiveness of the tool, thus we have now a solar powered blue messenger bicycle that could operate perfectly well in remote areas.

Over 700,000

As a young team of innovators we need mentorship and access to knowledge development programs to be able to better our skills and expand BMB program across South Sudan and other countries whose context is the same as South Sudan. We also need financial assistance to be able to improve our coverage.

Our solution is creative in a way that it solves the problem of misinformation. It has a GPS tracker, solar panel, battery, amplifier and megaphone that helps disseminate life-saving information. The solution is fit for massive awareness which means it can reach more people in a shortest time. In crisis, BMB can easily be assembled and sent to the location to help disseminate life-saving information. In crisis, most communication devices are destroyed, towers and radio stations go off air hence there should be an alternative to keep people informed. We supplement the existing communication channels and help the reach more people where they can't be accessed.

Improving our coverage to 90%  across South Sudan, this would be achieved by rolling out more BMBs in the states and recruiting more volunteers to help create impact in their communities. We do work with partners such as humanitarian organizations, government institutions and businesses to generate income to support information sharing cross the country. Our next objective is to extend our programs to neighboring countries such as Democratic Republic of Congo who have the same crisis like South Sudan, this can be achieved through partnering with organizations based in the neighboring countries.

Our goal is to make sure that 90% of the population is reached with timely and accurate information to be able to make informed decisions and better their lives.We believe that information sharing is a human right and every person deserves to be informed and be less vulnerable during crisis.

To have a sustainable cities and communities, information is crucial. Hence building an informed communities helps build a better city. In South Sudan health crisis are causing more deaths and this is due to the fact that the country is prone to infectious diseases, we work closely with national ministry of health to disseminate messages that would help people to prevent sickness and also seek medication. The government and its partners have medicines in all public health facilities but sometimes the communities are not aware of the available services hence BMB creates demand for those services.

Change comes when people are enlightened. We give information and conduct community engagement activities to be able to improve people's knowledge on issues  affecting them and what they can do to improve their lives. Hence we use social behavior change approach, we don't force you to change but educate you and then you are able to decide what to do independently.

We use GPS devices to track the movement of our fleet of bicycles. We are able to monitor their performances using our phones or computers. This also helps to locate the bicycles when they break down and needs repair.

We also use devices such as amplifiers, megaphones, batteries and most importantly solar energy which also helps us to avoid gas emission into the air.

My team is comprised of young energetic and creative youth and the programs director is a female who leads our projects hence gender is well represented even among the cyclists we have  number of females. We don't segregate base on gender, religion, race or beliefs. We stand with human rights values and beliefs.

The tool provides impact through passing out accurate and timely information in local languages used by the communities. The tool's motto is "Information is Aid" and therefore improving access to life-saving information is our objective. We work with businesses to advertise their products which create demand for their services and the money they paid used to run the program and expand further.https://peacenews.com/south-su...

BMB is having sustainability plan which includes engaging business/corporate companies in advertisements and the income generated used to sustain and expand the program across South Sudan and beyond.

Demand creation services offered to the ministry of health and its partners during COVID-19 vaccine campaign. This was paid for by the partners and the uptake of the vaccine improved tremendously. UNICEF paid for the demand creation services on behalf of the government.