Website to drive positive change in SA

8 Nov 2010

The Turn It Around website, launched last week, aims to drive positive change in South Africa by leveraging off the power of social networking to help communities to fight crime and corruption, share information, raise political consciousness and promote local government accountability.

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At the core of the project is the desire to find inspirational leaders to lead South Africa, chosen on their ability and conviction, instead of who they know in government. As each community joins up, natural leaders will begin to emerge who will hopefully graduate to become a leader of their ward, their province and possibly the country.

Features on the new website include request from numerous meetings in Johannesburg and Cape Town with active community policing forums (CPFs) and neighbourhood watches. Richard Wilkinson, a partner in the project states, "So many community policing forums and block watches are working in total isolation to fix their areas. We wanted to provide them with all the tools they need to get the job done. And to let them know - you are not alone, so let's combine our efforts."

Create networks

The system is map based and allows users to create networks for anything from a small townhouse complex to an entire suburb. Information can be rapidly shared between all members of a network using SMS, e-mail or Twitter.

News articles can be posted on the website and shared privately with a network or publicly. A unique feature is that news can also be tagged to an address to allow news be read by locality on a map. Users are encouraged to share any news, from a local school event to corruption uncovered at their local municipality. News items can also be posted anonymously. It encourages users to exercise their freedom of speech and to share their news, giving every member a 'press card' to write on anything they want.

Funders

Initial funding for the website was through In-Detail Advertising and a donation from Hugh Glenister. Further funding for the project will come from an online directory focussed on security products and services. In addition sponsorships for new features and sections are actively being sought.

Turn It Around hopes to create a socio-political revolution in South Africa with the use of technology. Go to www.turnitaround.co.za for more information.