---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Trina Gorman <tgorman@poverty-action.org> Date: Sat, Aug 25, 2012 at 8:31 PM Subject: IPA Internship - Rural SMS-based Program ...you might know someone who would be interested in the following internship. Note that its unpaid and they will hire quickly, but it could be a good fit for someone who is available soon, passionate about evaluation, and interested in helping design a SMS-based application that allows citizens to voice opinions about their local government. http://www.poverty-action.org/getinvolved/internships/Africa/IPAUganda100713 Their best guess now is that 60% of the position will be the first bullet: liaising with the NGO partner to design, pilot, and implement this SMS application in accordance with the study design; 40% will be on the data collection side. Below is an excerpt from the project description - the last sentence hints at their intervention (publicizing results of a counselor scorecard in rural villages and then allowing residents to text their feedback to local officials): However, government remains the primary actor who administers, allocates resources to, sets standards for, and monitors public service delivery. For this reason, policy interventions that do not change the incentives of political actors are unlikely to have a large-scale or sustainable impact on the provision of public services. Rather than circumventing political actors, the main goal of this study is to test ways to strengthen the weak political accountability mechanism preventing citizens from receiving adequate levels of social services. In collaboration with a leading Ugandan NGO (ACODE), this study will test two innovations to mitigate information-based barriers that weaken the political accountability of local government councilors in Uganda. Feel free to pass this onto anyone who might be interested. ~Trina || Acting Deputy Country Director || Innovations for Poverty Action, Uganda || Mobile: +256 (0) 787 922 896 || Skype: trinajeangorman ||