How a simple phone call could provide Haitians with work: Media Lab students deploy trial of free phone service in Port-Au-Prince to match Haiti’s unemployed with reconstruction jobs.
By Morgan Bettex, MIT News Office
“One year after an earthquake killed more than 200,000 people in Haiti, two MIT Media Lab students have launched a trial for a free service meant to help Haitians find jobs as part of the country’s reconstruction.
Known as Konbit, the automated service aims to boost the Haitian economy by helping non-governmental organizations, such as Partners In Health, find local workers instead of outsourcing labor. Konbit allows unemployed Haitians to call a toll-free number to record their skills and life experiences. Creole speakers then access those messages via phone or Web, and translate and transcribe them into an online database that NGOs can search.”
Reprinted with permission of MIT News.
