INITIAL DISCOVERY

Observations
• Very few channels for youth to voice their issues
• Importance of focusing on youth participation at the ground level
• Necessary to bridge language and cultural communication gaps
• Opportunity to foster and mediate dialogue around locally relevant topics
• Identify real issues affecting African youth and raise awareness, go beyond standard
human metrics
• Leverage existing communication tools (i.e. Mobile phones + radio) to facilitate partici-
pation and amplify conversations
• Dealing with similar issues to SpeakAfrica.com (Thanks to Chris for pointing this out)

Audit of speakafrica.com
Audience
• Is the site targeting general youth or youth activists, youth leaders, field workers?
• Sites that try to serve two or more communities often leads to user confusion.
Design
• Site appears too constrained and structured.
• A Feed (twitter/facebook) model may be more appropriate to promote youth expression.
• “Shoutbox” - what is it? Is it similar to twitter and facebook status?
• Busy, confusing with little focus on content and features.
Connecting
• Youth and decision makers. Will the decision makers participate in this space as well?
Privacy
• Required fields for registration include potentially sensitive information including full name.
How might a need for anonymity or confidentiality of sensitive issues be addressed in the
re-dev?
Remixing
• Integration with mobile text message and voice messages?
Broadcast
• Could everyone have access to discussions? Via mobile phone, radio, and bulletin boards?
PR/Marketing
• How is this service currently promoted?
• Lacks localization
• Lacks clear benefit/value proposition for users
Overall, the site is trying to do too much.