hilmi

Hilmi Quraishi is the Co-Founder and Director of Social Initiatives of ZMQ - a Social Enterprise which creates technology (mobile phone) based solutions to empower communities. Hilmi is also an Educational Technologist and Social Entrepreneur, specializing in developing solutions to train grass-root, under-privileged, marginalized and semi-literate communities using innovative ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies). His core specialization lies in designing, developing and disseminating ICT solutions in the LOW RESOURCE SETTINGS. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hilmi Quraishi is a CHANGEMAKER because he has been pioneer in using mobile phones games (mobile technology) to create awareness on HIV/AIDS in India and East Africa. Initially, 4 mobile phone games were launched in India, and later more games and applications were added. In a span of 15 months, around 12.3 million game sessions were played. Later the initiative was scaled in East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hilmi Quraishi applies his knowledge of Educational Technology and Gaming innovatively; and blends it with his experience of working with the grass-root communities to deliver appropriate solution best suited for the communities. In developing the solutions, Hilmi extensively make use of principles of Gaming, Edutainment, e-Learning, e-Training, Human Performance and Knowledge Management to capture the minds of the communities. One of the very important aspects of developing solutions for the communities involves extensively studying the community, understanding its needs, their culture, religion, social taboos, dos & dons. Another aspect of success is understanding the demography, knowing the literacy level, both of male and female members, availability of technology in the community, kind of technology more comfortable for members in the community in terms of availability of resources and their comfort level to use it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hilmi is a social entrepreneur, educational technologist and an innovator in the field of educational technology, and specializes in developing effective technological solutions for the bottom-of-the-pyramid markets. Hilmi believes in a flexible approach in reaching out to the last mile through variety of technology solutions – from mobile systems to internet based community systems and stand-alone solutions. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hilmi is the prime architect of various social initiative programs of ZMQ like Freedom HIV/AIDS and Connect2Climate. Freedom HIV/AIDS is the largest social initiative to combat HIV/AIDS using technology. The initiative has effectively reached to over 29 million people in Asia and Africa using variety of ICT solutions like mobile games, training programs, health management solutions and M&E programs. The initiative has been scaled up to combat other communicable diseases like tuberculosis, malaria, cholera and dengue; lifestyle diseases; and women health related issues like reproductive health, pre-natal & post-natal care, girl child health, malnutrition, and hygiene. (www.freedomhivaids.in) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As a project Director of Connect2Climate he as been able to engage Governments, NGOs and Corporate for combating Climate Change through variety of ICT programs for creating awareness, taking action and providing sustainable development tools. Under this program he has been able to successfully engage business to take action through a unique support partnership program. (www.connect2climate.org). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hilmi's organization - ZMQ Software Systems, is a "T4D - TECHNOLOGY FOR DEVELOPMENT" organization; which develops software, applications, tools and ICT solutions for the Bottom-of-the-Pyramid (BOP) markets; based on viable and self-sustaining business models in support of the social cause. ZMQ is based in India - New Delhi & Gurgaon. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hilmi Quraishi did his Master of Technology in Computer Science with specialization in Educational Technology & Human Performance solutions. He is an innovator, and has created numerous innovative solutions to entertain and educate the minds. Hilmi is also the Project Director of House of Learning, a social initiative program of ZMQ Software Systems, which develops world-class learning and edutainment solutions for marginalized, under-privileged, physically handicapped and out-of-school children on wide variety of technologies from Internet based community learning systems, Intranet based closed net learning to stand-alone learning. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hilmi started with an independent center for excellence called "M4D- MOBILE FOR DEVELOPMENT"; a lab to design scalable and replicable development solutions and applications for BOP target group using mobile phones. The Lab successfully developed and tested pilot projects in mobile social development in the areas of education and training, agriculture, environment & sustainable development, skills development, and global health like fighting diseases like HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria, disaster management information for fishermen in the coastal areas, soil management tools for farmers affected at oil pipeline laying areas and micro-finance management by connecting MFIs (Micro-finance institutions) with the communities through mobile phone. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ At present, "Mobile for Development" (M4D) has become a full-fledged initiative to assist international agencies, organizations and NGOs to create practical and sustainable mobile solutions & services to enable social development by connecting them with the people. M4D uses an holistic approach to build a complete value chain model in the eco-system.

I feel connected when I am in any rural community or in an isolated remote village. I suddenly gets thrilled to see how Mobile Phones are keeping people connected. Mobile Phones can empower individuals and communities in these rural and isolated areas by providing them critical and timely like health awareness, disease prevention, treatment and adherence, which often makes a difference between life and death for underserved & isolated rural communities; where there is even no electricity grid, no healthcare infrastructures, and only handful of official doctors. And mobile phone can be used for other global challenges as well like agriculture, environment, rural finance, education and can lead to sustainable development.

"Mobile Phone for Every One"- Like every person's right to get clean water or clean air, food or shelter, health or education; similarly mobile should be every person's "Right to Own and Use" with dedicated bandwidths for basic services on a non-commercial basis. This will enable in connecting the poorest of the poor, and thus delivering them basic services around fundamental rights. It can only be achieved by de-commercializing certain percentage of bandwidth, which should be dedicated exclusively for development needs.. Good thing is that mobile technology is still in its early stage of taking shape in terms of policy and regulations, so it should be quicker to achieve and easier to influence the policy change.

At ZMQ, we use mobile technology to reach out to the communities and provide them information and management services on varied social issue like healthcare, education, livelihood, environment & sustainable development, agriculture and microfinance. But one of our main focus is integrating Health with Mobile technology to improve public health awareness on serious issues like HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We started with "Freedom HIV/AIDS" - a pioneering initiative to create HIV/AIDS awareness using mobile phone games in low resource settings, primarily an IEC approach - Information Education Communication to create public awareness. We were able to each out to over 29 million subscribers with 10.5 million game sessions played. It was later also scaled to East Africa with new games in the local languages - Kiswahili and Shen. Subsequently, more ICT tools were developed which compensated mobile technology like training programs, M&E programs, computer /internet based games, learning solutions, which targeted organized sectors like schools and educational institutions. The second phase of Freedom HIV/AIDS focused on health management, where we piloted a program called mCST - mobile Care, Support and Treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Moving from HIV/AIDS, we have now also moved to combat other communicable diseases like tuberculosis & malaria; and NTDs (neglected tropical diseases) like cholera and dengue through mobile phone games. We have launched an initiative on Tuberculosis, which is called "Freedom TB". As usual, the first phase started with information dissemination and creating awareness in the educating communities through mobile and other ICTs. The second step involves health management. We are tied up with the government and as a pilot project doing a g a comprehensive TB treatment management system (DOTS – a WHO strategy) by connecting the DOT centers through an unified software and then tracking the patient through mobile phones. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RHI - reproductive health initiative is an area close to our hearts and we are working on it for a long time. Maternal and child mortality is something very common in the developing world. We have piloted a mobile based program called Pre-natal/Post-natal care of women and child - using mobile phones, providing information & tips to women on a weekly basis during pregnancy, and about immunization once the child is born. We are also developing a synchronous application on this. Health is a very big area. We have just tied with 2 leading institutions - one on cancer and another on mental health to create awareness mobile games and other ICT tools to improve public health awareness in the developing world. The overall health solutions - with mobile and other ICTs, we have christened it as "Connect4Health" initiative. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We are creating a channel of mobile games on various health issues - from HIV/AIDS to mental health; and get it connected with all the leading mobile operators, initially in India and then across Asia/Africa. The channel will also provide NGOs to pick and bundle communication tools for their needs. We are looking for a support to create that channel on a sustainable business model, not burdening the beneficiaries. We are also negotiating to attain a Short Code Service for public health awareness. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mobile technology offers an effective means of providing critical life-saving information to millions of people living in the developing world. This explosion has the potential to service delivery on a massive scale. Some of the key points are: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Evidenced the ubiquity of mobile networks and the increasing use of mobile phones in rural areas ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Developing technology platforms based on universal healthcare, standards, protocols and guidelines to tackle major health challenges like DOTS, ART, pre-natal care, immunization plan, family planning among others ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Designing social business models that can be easily scaled both vertically and horizontally ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Using similar systems & solutions to address other critical areas like rural finance, global warming, disaster preparedness, agriculture and others ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~