Several drivers borrowed mobile phones to photograph life in vulnerable areas. The drivers who took the best images were awarded with a mobile phone, with several drivers now owning their own.
Along dirt roads
It all started last summer. NRC is already using Ring Radiosystemer as their provider. The local phone dealer wanted to contribute beyond the business aspect.
“We got in touch with the management of Teleringen who were very positive to us as a chain contributor,” says Lene Dahl Enger, business consultant at Ring Radiosystemer.
“Saying yes to this project was not difficult. The photographs that are taken in different areas demonstrate that the smart phone does have an important function,” says Trond Voll, CEO of Telering.
Perfect tool
The aim of the collaboration with NRC was to document everyday life along dirt roads and refugee camps. The mobile phone is the perfect tool to show everyday life where, normally, there are no photographers. To obtain as many photographs as possible, NRC held a competition for the drivers in several countries. The drivers who took the best photographs would get a mobile phone as a prize.
Well received
“The competition was well received. The four images that are presented here were taken by drives in DR Congo, Afghanistan and Yemen,” says Annicken Saxlund. She is Head of Corporate Relations Section at the NRC and ensured the phones, made mainly by Samsung and Apple, were ‘put to work’ throughout the competition.
“It is not common for the drivers to have their own mobile phones. The aim was for the drivers to document the everyday life they encounter along the road,” says Saxlund.
Families
She is satisfied with the mobile project so far, and in the next stage families in vulnerable areas will be equipped with mobile phones.
“Then we’ll be able to document life in a refugee camp on an even greater scale. The mobile phones give us a huge opportunity to show what is happening in vulnerable parts of the wold,” she says.
