Sometimes a community challenge does not come from a lack of people who want to help. It comes from the difficulty of coordinating that help.
In October 2022, I began working on the idea behind Mubatsiri, a platform intended to help charities, NGOs and community organisations manage support more transparently and coordinate their activities more effectively.
Seeing the coordination challenge
Since 2020, I had volunteered my technical expertise to ECAF, contributing to activities that included website development, filming and digital support.
Through community work, one concern became clear: different organisations may support the same beneficiary while another person with similar needs remains unsupported. For example, a child might receive school-fee assistance from more than one organisation while another child struggles to attend school.
This does not mean that a person should be denied additional support when it is genuinely needed. It highlights the importance of better coordination, reliable records and understanding where assistance is going.
What is Mubatsiri?
Mubatsiri was envisioned as a digital platform to help organisations maintain beneficiary records, organise programmes and coordinate community support.
The platform concept included the ability to manage long-term programmes, such as school-fee assistance or ongoing health support, alongside shorter activities such as food-hamper distributions and girl-child initiatives.
Managing donations and resources
Another part of the concept was helping organisations record donations and understand how resources are being used. Depending on the implementation, this could include donation records, fundraising targets, amounts received, receipts and categories such as education, food and health.
Organisations could also benefit from recording activities by location, planning budgets and monitoring income and expenses. Better organised information can help teams prepare reports and make more informed decisions about where resources are needed.
Transparency and responsible information management
A platform of this kind must be designed with care. Beneficiary information can be sensitive, especially when it involves children, health needs or financial circumstances. Access controls, appropriate consent, data security and responsible information-sharing practices are essential.
The aim should be to help organisations coordinate support without exposing private information or making vulnerable people feel that they must surrender their dignity to receive assistance.
Technology in service of people
The project was approached as a practical use of technology to support community organisations. Laravel and MySQL were among the technologies used in developing the concept.
As with any social-impact technology, the real value depends on how well the solution fits the needs and working practices of the organisations using it, and whether it helps them do their work more effectively.
My hope is that technology can make it easier for people who want to help to work together, plan responsibly and reach communities with greater coordination.
Let's help each other help each other.
Made with LOVE by Pamela Muzoma.
Make the next step practical
Start with the need, keep the people using the solution at the centre, and make sure the result is something your team can maintain and grow.