University of Westminster contributes to East African voice technology project funded by Mozilla

Winston Mano, Reader of the Westminster School of Media and Communications and member of Westminster’s top-rated Communication and Media Research Institute (CAMRI), has been working on the project, representing the University. He is also a Course Leader for the Media and Development MA course and the Founder/Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of African Media Studies. 

Wezesha na Kabambe is a mobile enabled Swahili (Kiswahili) language audio chatbot that does not rely on internet connection. It is developed in collaboration with rural small-holder women farmers in Kenya as an alternative source for agricultural information. Using the Mozilla Swahili data sets, the chatbot can be used on both feature phones (kabambes) and smartphones by the farmers. The chatbot is powered by a database of frequently asked questions from small-holder women farmers, a marginalised and digitally excluded group. It is inspired by existing familiarity, adoption and acceptance of mobile technologies in rural areas in Kenya.

Talking about the project Mano said: “This is a significant technological intervention aimed at an often marginalised group of women rural farmers. The chatbot in Swahili will provide more accessible agricultural information in ways that can upscale women’s role in development”. 
Mozilla’s Common Voice Kiswahili Awards aim to promote Kiswahili language and voice technology to increase social and economic opportunities for marginalised groups in Kenya,

Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The goal is to advance financial inclusion, provide access to reliable information for smallholder farmers, and legal rights to land ownership for marginalised communities. The award is supported by the Gates Foundation in collaboration with the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), as a response to a gender conscious and community-centered approach to tech development.  

Chenai Chair, Senior Program Officer of Mozilla’s Africa Innovation, said: “Infusing people’s languages into the technology we build is a critical step towards creating technologies that center communities of end users. These projects have been selected for their creative solutions touching core, community-based social-economic interventions. We are very excited by this cohort of awardees and the important work they are about to undertake.”

The projects were selected by a committee of Mozilla staff and Nairobi-based external consultant, Charlene Migwe- Kagume, Regional Program Lead at Development Gateway. Regarding the award, Kagume said: “We were particularly eager to understand how the applicants would innovatively design feasible solutions which address existing farmer priorities and identified gaps in the agriculture value chain. The selected eight projects presented very compelling proposals that prioritized tangible needs and relevant challenges faced in the regions.”

Learn more about research projects at the University of Westminster.