Google Impact Challenge! Please vote Virunga!

Google Impact Challenge 1

 

Google Impact Challenge 2

https://impactchallenge.withgoogle.com/uk2014/charity/virunga

 

We’re so excited that Virunga National Park’s mobile tracking project has been selected as a finalist in the Google ‪#‎ImpactChallenge!

Public voting opens now at: https://impactchallenge.withgoogle.com/uk2014/charity/virunga

 

Please read more about Virunga’s proposal:

Virunga Foundation: Crowdsourcing platform to help protect wildlife and communities in the DRC

The Virunga National Park lies within an area of great conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and its variety of wildlife and abundance of minerals and oil potential makes it a prime target for those trying to illegally benefit from these resources which puts the park rangers’ lives at risk every day. The Virunga Foundation will develop a public safety program that aims to provide real-time tracking and mapping of the park, as well as decreased security response times via a low cost phone and voice-based reporting solution. This project will change the way that local people engage with authorities and respond to security threats, and improve the conservation of one of Africa’s richest but most threatened national parks. In 10 years, Virunga Foundation hope that this project could build 35 communication hubs that cover four million people in the DRC, enabling them to protect the park and it’s precious wildlife and resources.

How does it work