Today, Making All Voices Count proudly launches its first annual Global Innovation Week, a programme of intense networking and mentorship for all finalists of the Global Innovation Competition. In this post, we highlight our finalists and their ten innovations.

Above Ilham Srimarga of Reducing Maternal Mortality with SMS. This idea is to be implemented in Indonesia. It’s an innovation that seeks to reduce the high maternal mortality rate by connecting local hospitals and the web and channel citizens’ requests for pregnancy services such as hospital locations and general advice. Ilam is also attending with his team member Widi Heriyanto.

Above, mentor Hapee de Groot from Hivos works with team members Cahyono Susetyo and Fahmi Machadya of ORBIT. This idea is to be implemented in Indonesia. It’s a geographic Information System that gives citizens access to information regarding government-funded projects to enable and motivate citizens to compare a project’s information with its real-world implementation and to provide feedback on this. This helps fight corruption in the public sector by making it easier for citizens to monitor, and provide feedback on government-funded projects.

Above, contestants Hussein Ali and Billow Hassan of The Mandera Times. This is a ‘watchdog’ newsletter in Kenya that seeks to monitor the actions of county government officials with the aim of educating, empowering and motivating citizens to hold their leaders to account.

Above, the competition heats up as team members Jessica Jackel and Shaban Ramadhani of Children Engagement for Government Accountability play a match between sessions. This project is to be implemented in Tanzania and aims to increase child engagement in governmental budgeting and policy formulation in Mwanza City, Tanzania.

Above, Muriel M. Nartey and Kingston Tagoe of CitizenEYE, listening intently to our Making All Voices Count mentors. This innovation, set to be implemented in Ghana, is an app that seeks to provide basic facts and figures associated with oil and gas exploration to the average Ghanaian. The aim is raising awareness of the revenue generated and to spark debate about how this could be used to improve national development.

Above, Precious Nana who is here with team member Adelaide Atakora gives a passionate pitch of his innovation Ghana Petrol Watch during today’s training session. This innovation seeks to deliver basic facts and figures associated with oil and gas exploration to the average Ghanaian. The solution employs mobile technology to deliver this information. The audience can voice their concerns as comments on the issue via replies to the SMS. These would then be published on the web portal for further exposure and publicity.

Above, David Shields who is here with team member Kagiso Motsumi, gives a pitch of innovation GEM, which is to be implemented in South Africa. This is a digital payment system that rewards citizens who participate in activities such as waste separation and community gardening. The Citizens are able to ‘spend’ rewards on airtime, pre-paid electricity and groceries. By rewarding social volunteers this project aims to boost citizen engagement, build trust and establish the link between government and citizen actors.

Above, Veronika Divisova who is here with team member Nuno Teixeira gives a pitch of their idea Taking Citizen Desk to Level 2.0. This innovation is  set for Mozambique and is an open-source tool that combines the ability of citizens to share eyewitness reports with the public need for verified information in real time. Citizen Desk lets citizen journalists file reports via SMS or social media, with no need for technical training.

Above, Rafiqul Khokan and Tofazzel Hossain from Citizen Engagement to Implement Election Manifesto absorb feedback given by our Global Innovation Week mentors. They seek to create a common platform to be implemented in Khulna City, Bangladesh, where citizens and elected officials will interact on budget, expenditure and information.