Hello friends and sponsors of Mobile Rede Jovem Project!

Rede Jovem Program team is very proud to once more share a lot of nice news with all:

In the year of 2009 many very good things happened to Rede Jovem Program and to our mobile area! First we launched Wikimapa project, which is being nationally and internationally recognized! Please let us know if you want to know more about it.

Also in 2009 another project called SMSports was launched. In fact, it was conceived as an outspread of Mobile Rede Jovem: SMS for social change since it works exactly the same except for the information content that focuses on two categories: sports and citizenship! It’s very nice to see that a project methodology well succeeded, created by the program is being replicated successfully to benefit more young boys and girls from other low-income areas. The project benefits additional 400 youth, residents of slums from Rio and Sao Paulo.

Great news is that Rede Jovem Coordination team is systematizing and compiling all information and knowledge acquired with mobile projects using SMS as main tool to promote social changes in Brazil in order to write a Mobile Guide that is going to be launched on first semester of 2010, when Rede Jovem program completes 10 years!

Please send us feedback about what you think of projects and initiatives and help us continue to deliver quality information for low-income youth from Brazil!

Rede Jovem’ team hopes you all like our news and also would like to wish a very merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Best regards from Brazil!

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Marisa Glassman is GlobalGiving's Business Development Manager. She recently traveled throughout Brazil and visited a number of GlobalGiving projects. On May 1st she visited "Mobile Rede Jovem: SMS for social change in Brazil." When asked what she would tell her friends about this project, Marisa said: "Incredible: You need to see this!"

"I had such a lovely morning visiting with the ladies (and one gentleman) at Rede Jovem! They truly have their finger on the pulse of what is important to Brazilian youth, and have found innovative and effective ways to reach them.

"Rede Jovem, which was started in 1999, began as an organization bringing technology to youth via computer labs and technology centers. But because of the relatively small amount of Brazilian youth who do not have regular access to computers or the internet, and the ever-growing proportion of Brazilian youth who have access to mobile phones, Rede Jovem decided to expand their services to SMS text messaging. Through outreach in local communities, Rede Jovem finds youths (ages 15-24) who are interested in entering the job market but do not have the skills or means to do so. Interested youths sign up and create profiles of the types of jobs and information they’re interested in receiving, and the Rede Jovem team sends them information about employment opportunities, vocational training, and other issues relevant to their interests and needs.

"Rede Jovem has figured out a way to successfully use a medium that many large corporations have yet to use effectively: SMS text messaging. This low-cost but highly effective and direct means of communication can really benefit from your continued support. I was very impressed with their work overall and am so happy to have met them in person. "

Hello friends and sponsors of Mobile Rede Jovem Project!

Youth Net Program team is very proud to share some nice news with all:

Recently, Mobile Rede Jovem Project, counted with Nice prominence as it have been selected by one group of students that studies communitarian communications from a public University from Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ ) for the production of an article praising the mobile initiative from Youth Net Program. One other nice new from the project is that another article about the project was also produced, this time for a website that contents information regarding news and entertainment from Brazil, called Terra (www.terra.com.br). Those two only reinforces the importance and repercussion that Mobile Rede Jovem project has reached, in terms of reference as good practices for stimulating social changes, using new technologies.

Please send us feedback about what you think about our project and initiative and help us continue to deliver quality information for low-income youth from Brazil!

Come follow us on twitter! Unfortunately all content is still been produced in our mother language. But our team is sure you’re all going to enjoy!

Sincerely,

Yout Net Program’s Team

First, on behalf of Youth Net Program’s team I want to thank the donors that already helped us and also let you know how happy and glad we are for being part of Global Giving Website, spreading our project news and information over the world!

Recently the monitoring team of Mobile Rede Jovem: SMS for Social Changes’ Project effectuated a qualitative research with the young boys and girls benefited on SMS project and here we want to share some nice and fresh news about our project results:

One first thing that we’ve been able to find out along the project’s execution was that the reach of the project is much wider than we expected in terms of number of participants as well as in what refers to possible effects and results. This happens as an effect achieved with the act of sharing the received text messages with friends and family, by the youth benefited. With that, we increase the number of beneficiaries, directly and indirectly attended.

According to Tatiana O. de Lima, resident of Madureira and participant of Mobile Rede Jovem Project one of the best things on participating of the project and receiving the text messages is being able to share with friends and family, spreading the information. Tatiana, for example, forwards all received information through e-mail and scrap messages of social networks as orkut.

In the year of 2008 three benefited youth’s friends succeeded on job interviews and had been hired, after a long period of unemployment after receiving the information sent by SMS on Mobile Rede Jovem Project. Two of those are resident of Alemão Community and 1 lives in Madureira.

Please let us know what you think of this update by providing feedback on our comments section!