RapidFTR

[sriprasanna]

[Note to students] We have reached our maximum for applications and not taking more applications this year. All the best!

Name and Contact of the Project Administrator: Mac Glovinsky, email: mglovinsky@unicef.org / glovinsky@gmail.com

Name and Contact of the Primary Project Mentor: Sri Prasanna, email: k.sriprasanna@gmail.com, skype: machosry, irc: sriprasanna

Name of the Project: RapidFTR

URL: http://rapidftr.com

Github: https://github.com/rapidftr

Mailing list: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/rapidftr

irc: irc.freenode.net, #rapidftr

About the Project: RapidFTR is a Ruby on Rails/Android application that lets aid workers to collect and share information about children in emergency situations, so they can be reunited with their families. This process, called Family Tracing and Reunification (FTR), has so far been done using paper forms and it is inefficient.

RapidFTR is currently being used in Uganda, South Sudan and Philippines.

Uganda & South Sudan: Because of the ongoing conflicts people come to humanitarian organizations seeking refuge. Children, who are separated from their parents, are the most vulnerable among refugees since they often end up victims of exploitation(child soldiers, sexual exploitation, labor exploitation, etc,.). RapidFTR is being actively used in the refugee centers to collect information about unaccompanied/separated children so that they can be registered for care services and reunited with their families. Children have been successfully reunited with their families and you can find some of the information here and here.

Philippines: RapidFTR was deployed in Philippines as an emergency response post Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda(November 2013). Initially, the humanitarian responders did not believe that there were many unaccompanied or separated children. Since RapidFTR made collecting data much easier and faster, the social workers and policewomen were able to go to as many places as possible and find the children. You can find more information on our operation in Philippines here, here and here

Technology stack of RapidFTR includes Ruby on Rails, CouchDB, Solr and Android application.

RapidFTR challenges are much different from other applications because our typical deployment locations involves places with no electricity, no internet connection and sometimes both. Usually we carry all the hardware with us to such places and to Philippines we carried 200kg of gear. We deploy RapidFTR both on cloud, cheap laptops and android phones.

Suitable for beginners: Yes. Both beginners and experienced developers can contribute. We have plenty of tasks/issues waiting to be picked up from here

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me directly.

Thanks!

[Edits] Added Mac's personal email.

[anikalindtner]

Approved! <3 Thanks so much for submitting the project @sriprasanna!

[sriprasanna]

Great! Thanks for accepting RapidFTR, @anikalindtner . Looking forward to it :)

[nellyk]

@sriprasanna we are interested in working on this project with @Mercy-Nekesa

[Mercy-Nekesa]

hey @anikalindtner we (@nellyk and I) are having a challenge communicating with any of the mentors of this project ,kindly assist.

[anikalindtner]

hej @Mercy-Nekesa have you tried emailing? mglovinsky@unicef.org / glovinsky@gmail.com

[Mercy-Nekesa]

not yet, but we emailed Sri Prasanna.We shall get in contact with glovinsky . Thank you for the email addresses.

[anikalindtner]

@Mercy-Nekesa you can find all the contact info in the issue description above ^ You should definitely try to reach the mentor too again. As he is the one helping you with the project plan. he also gave skype as a possibility. let me know when you still haven't heard from him!

[sriprasanna]

Hey @nellyk, sorry must have missed your email/message. Let me get back to as soon as possible.

[anikalindtner]

Students: please don't apply for this project anymore