REAP Text Messaging
Text Messaging
Using technology to improve the way caregivers provide for their children.
Text messaging campaigns work incredibly well in rural China.
This is because of how connected rural homes in China are to the mobile network. The wide access to phones makes text message projects a low-cost policy option that is easy to upscale.
Putting Phones to Work
We conducted a text message campaign that involved texting caregivers daily to remind them to give their children nutritional support packets to improve nutrition and anemia levels. The daily reminders helped remind caregivers and led to a noticeable improvement in the children's health and development.
Our current text message campaign helps caregivers interact with their children. We text new moms three times a week with relevant tips for interacting with their children that are timed to the age of the children. The tips coincide with our parenting curriculum, giving them tips on what games are now appropriate to play with their children and what kinds of foods to introduce to them.