The Soul Beat 215 - Texting and Mobile Phones for Social Change
In this issue of The Soul Beat:
- Overview of mobile phones for development...
- Mobiles for reproductive health and TB...
- Combining radio and mobile phones to protect the environment...
- Mobiles for human rights and participatory budgeting...
- ICT events in Africa...
- eLearning ICT photo competition...
This issue of The Soul Beat looks at how texting and mobile phone technology is being used for social change. The newsletter includes a selection of programme experiences, research documents, resources, and events that highlight how mobile phone technology is being used in the field of health, agriculture and environment, and democracy and governance.
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1. Transformational Use of Information and Communication Technologies in Africa (2012)
Edited by Enock Yonazi, Tim Kelly, Naomi Halewood, Colin Blackman
According to this eTransform Africa report, information and communication technologies (ICTs) have the potential to transform business and government in Africa, driving entrepreneurship, innovation, and economic growth. Prepared jointly by the World Bank and the African Development Bank in cooperation with the African Union, the report comprises six sector reports, two thematic reports, and an overall report, including more than 20 detailed case studies of ICT transformation in action in Africa. The case studies highlight how ICTs are changing the landscape in different sectors, both in terms of worldwide best practice and in specific experience of African economies.
2. Mobile on the Move: Opportunities in Mobile Learning from IICD's Perspective (February 2013)
This publication shares perspectives and experiences from the International Institute for Communication and Development's (IICD) work using mobile learning to help people to better their own future. According to IICD, mobile phones and mobile learning are increasingly important for development in Africa and Latin America. Care workers, rural health facilities, and community members are using mobile services to disseminate health information. Farmers use their mobile telephone to consult with agricultural experts. In education, mobile services promote organisational and individual learning. They offer a conduit for more regular communication between parents and schools, and strengthen participation in school planning and quality improvement.
3. Communications for Change: How to Use Text Messaging as an Effective Behavior Change Campaigning Tool (January 2012)
This guide shares experiences of Text to Change and FrontlineSMS in using SMS as behaviour change campaigning tool. This resource is intended as an introductory guide, suggesting some key points which can be considered when planning to use SMS as a campaign tool. According to Text To Change, behaviour change campaigning is inherently interactive. In order to encourage positive behaviour change it is important to not only push campaign messages out to people, but to listen to the responses, and SMS is an ideal tool.
4. Mobile for Reproductive Health (m4RH) - Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda
Mobile for Reproductive Health (m4RH) was developed by FHI 360’s PROGRESS (Program Research for Strengthening Services) project and is an opt-in SMS-based health communication programme that provides information about nine family planning methods as well as a clinic database.
5. The Role of mHealth in the Fight against Tuberculosis (July 2012)
This paper from the Stop TB Partnership and the mHealth Alliance showcases the potential of mobile technologies for TB, explores some applications, and seeks to catalyse the conversation about mobile health (mHealth) within the TB community. It lists five areas in which mHealth is starting to have an impact on TB care and control: treatment adherence, monitoring TB diagnosis and treatment, mobile diagnosis, disease surveillance, and health awareness and information dissemination.
6. You Have an Important Message! Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Text Message HIV/AIDS Campaign in Northwest Uganda (May 2012)
This journal article shares findings from a pilot study exploring the efficacy of an mHealth campaign initiated by Text to Change using SMS as a platform to disseminate and measure HIV/AIDS knowledge, and to promote HIV/AIDS testing at clinics in rural Uganda. Over a 1-month period, 13 HIV/AIDS quiz questions were sent to 10,000 mobile subscribers. An evaluation study found that despite participation incentives, only one-fifth of the mobile subscribers responded to any of the questions. The campaign also had proportionately limited success in increasing knowledge levels on a mass scale and the evaluation found that the programme design may be reinforcing entrenched knowledge gaps. The results suggest that it is important to be conservative when considering the potential overall effect of SMS-based programmes. However, the article recognises the potential of mHealth tools when extended to millions of mobile phone users as part of an integrated health campaign approach.
7. Disease Surveillance and Mapping Project in Bostwana
Since June 2011, PING (Positive Innovation for the Next Generation), the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), HP, and mobile network provider MASCOM have been collaborating to use mobile technologies to identify and respond to malaria outbreaks in Botswana. The programme equips healthcare workers with mobile devices that collect malaria data and can be viewed in a geographic map of disease transmission to generate more context-aware information about outbreaks in order for workers to respond accordingly.
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MOBILES TO PROMOTE AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
8. Connected Agriculture: The Role of Mobile in Driving Efficiency and Sustainability in the Food and Agriculture Value Chain (September 2011)
In this report, Vodafone and Accenture working in collaboration with Oxfam GB, identify 12 opportunities for mobile phone technology to increase agricultural income and productivity. According to the report, mobile communications can help to meet the challenge of feeding an estimated 9.2 billion around the globe by 2050. The 12 specific opportunities explored in this study could increase agricultural income by around US$138 billion across 26 of Vodafone's markets in 2020. This report was produced to stimulate the engagement between mobile operators, governments, non-governmental organisations, and businesses to realise these opportunities and explore others.
9. Combining Local Radio and Mobile Phones to Promote Climate Stewardship: Climate Change, Innovation, and ICTs Project (January 2012)
By Ryan Jones and Bill Siemering
From the Centre for Development Informatics (CDI), University of Manchester, United Kingdom (UK), with the support of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), this case study focuses on a pilot project in rural communities on the Eastern edge of Zambia that aimed to bring effective radio programming and mobile phone-based interaction to these communities, in an effort to increase their knowledge of the local deforestation issue and deepen their stake in reversing the trend.
10. ARDYIS (Agriculture Rural Development and Youth in the Information Society)
The purpose of ARDYIS is to raise youth awareness and capacity on agricultural and rural development issues in African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries through information and communication technologies (ICTs). More specifically, it works to strengthen the capacities of youth on ICTs for development issues, particularly in the agricultural and rural sector, as well as to contribute to sensitising youth on questions related to agriculture and rural development in ACP countries.
11. MFarm - Kenya
MFarm is a mobile telephone service, based in Kenya, using software that links markets and farmers. Developed by three Kenyan university students, the MFarm website, service, and software were created to help farmers to: check for prices; combine their efforts with other small scale farmers; and purchase input supplies together from manufacturers at cheaper rates. This fee-based agricultural service was developed as software that gives farmers "a voice by connecting them with each other in a virtual space."
12. Africa's Voices Project
Africa's Voices is a twelve-month pilot project developed to harness the reach of radio and the spread of mobile phone use to gather citizens’ opinions on governance and development issues. Every month, partnering radio stations across Africa ask their listeners a question about local issues, to be answered through SMS. The information is collected and sent through to the project initiators, the Centre of Governance and Human Rights at the University of Cambridge, for analysis. The information is then shared with the radio stations for future programming from a continental perspective.
13. SMS for Human Rights - Tanzania
The SMS for Human Rights project developed a short messaging system (SMS) feature to complement an existing Complaint Handling System, which allowed citizens in Tanzania to submit and track complaints related to abuses of human rights and good governance. The project was initiated by The Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance (CHRAGG), with support from the Swedish Program for ICT in Developing Regions (Spider), and ran from July 2011 to December 2012.
14. Participatory Budgeting Programme - DRC
Launched in April 2010, the Participatory Budgeting programme in South Kivu province, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), is designed to facilitate citizens' knowledge and decision-making related to the budgets of their cities and communities. Through face-to-face meetings, supported by the use of cell phone SMSs (text messages) to disseminate information, the project is working to enable people to play a lead role in determining where public funds should be spent, as well as monitoring this spending. The programme in DRC is part of ongoing work of the World Bank globally to encourage participatory budgeting.
15. Africa's Evolving Infosystems: A Pathway to Security and Stability (March 2011)
by Steven Livingston
This report, published by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, looks at how mobile telephony has evolved in Africa, and what it means for development and democracy. The author argues that with the rapid emergence of mobile telephony, civil society networks now have unprecedented opportunities to develop security-monitoring programmes, provide information needed for effective health care, create banking services, and provide farmers with market information. In addition, the author posits that new uses of mobile communication, often paired with radio broadcasting, have created entirely new types of institutions that promote transparency, accountability, and security.
VOTE IN OUR NEW POLL!
Ethnic and tribal tensions are common in many parts of Africa. Do you think the media and/or communication campaigns are:
- Doing a lot to mitigate tensions.
- Not doing enough.
- Doing more harm than good.
- Unsure.
To vote and comment, see poll in the right column on the homepage or click here.
16. Mobile Services that Empower Vulnerable Communities (Mar 19-21 2013) Accra, Ghana
Catholic Relief Services is planning its fifth conference on the use of information and communications technologies for development (ICT4D). This year's conference will be held in Accra, Ghana. The conference will provide an opportunity to listen, exchange ideas, test devices, and engage with technology providers and practitioners who have used innovative mobile solutions to empower vulnerable communities within Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
17. Applications of Mobile Communications in Africa: Prospects and Challenges (May 16-17 2013) Accra, Ghana
This conference will examine issues related to the development of mobile communications – markets, regulations, business strategies – as well as issues relating to the use of mobile communications for economic, social, and human development. Organised by the Center for Communication, Media and Information Technologies (CMI) at Aalborg University in Denmark and Ghana Technology University College (GTUC), the event will draw participants from academia, business, and policy and regulation.
18. eLearning Africa Photo Competition 2013
Deadline: April 3 2013
eLearning Africa is organising its 4th edition of their photo competition under the theme of "Tradition and ICT innovation: a couple with potential." Budding photographers are encouraged to send in their photos depicting how information and communication technology (ICT) is enhancing the way individuals and communities in Africa live, learn, cooperate, and connect.
SOUL BEAT E-NEWSLETTER ARCHIVES
See these previous e-newsletters related to ICTS and development in Africa:
The Soul Beat 201 – ICTS for Development in Africa
The Soul Beat 157 - Mobiles for Development in Africa
To view ALL past editions of The Soul Beat e-newsletter, click here.
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