YoungAfricaLive (YAL) has finally been launched by Praekelt Foundation and Safaricom. Kenya is the second country in East Africa after Tanzania but third after South Africa also which used to enjoy the mobile community services live. YAL Tanzania was launched on 1 December 2011.
The YoungAfricaLive (YAL) portal gives the youth a platform to speak their minds, through a medium that is accessible, and encourage conversations on topics that impacts their lives positively. The portal is available to users in Kenya through through SafaricomLIVE portal on www.safaricom.com/wap or through .
While YoungAfricaLive Tanzania is available free to Vodacom subscribers through http://m.vodacom.co.tz, there is no mention whether it will be available to Kenyans for free. It might not be the case I guess.
A 2005 study showed that 60% of Kenya’s unemployed are under 30, and where UNICEF statistics reveal 20 % of the population live below the international poverty line of US$1.25 per day. In addition, research published by the World Bank indicates that 6.3% of Kenya’s popular of 40.5 million is HIV positive, many of those young people.
Safaricom’s Director of Corporate Affairs, Nzioka Waita, says;
“This partnership is key to our digital inclusion agenda. We believe that the best way to improve the utility and therefore take-up of the Internet among the youth of Africa and Kenya in particular, is by having relevant content on it and making it accessible to them. Being in the vanguard of the Internet explosion in Kenya, we have the network to deliver YoungAfricaLive’s socially relevant and well-packaged message to as many young Kenyans as possible.”
Gustav Praekelt, founder of the Praekelt Foundation, says;
“To follow-up a very successful launch in Tanzania late last year with YoungAfricaLive:Kenya is a great way to start 2012. We are confident that young Kenyans will embrace the mobile platform with the same passion that their South African and Tanzanian counterparts have and use it to create a community that informs, supports and entertains.”
YAL South Africa, in partnership with Vodacom, has close to 1 million unique users, according to Praekelt Foundation.
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