World Cup fever hits Brazil whilst a new smartphone app helps the country in the fight against dengue

Like most football fans around the globe, my normal routine has taken a back seat since the opening ceremony of the world cup last Thursday, and even more so once the real business of the matches got under way. So far, the spectacle in Brazil has not disappointed (apart from England’s result against Italy, which will hopefully be a mere blip in our progress beyond the group stage – I live in hope!) and even that defeat provided more positives than any losing game I can remember in recent history.

There has been the unavoidable concerns of social unrest, born from the perception that the cost of the tournament is unreasonable and even obscene in the face of the many fundamental social problems people face in the country. With the suggestion that the cost of the stadia alone could cover the entire country’s welfare bill several times over – if proper provision was being provided – it is hard not to feel a great deal of sympathy with the protesters and the communities they represent.

In spite of these issues that rightly continue to dominate the press as much as the football itself, as a fan it is hard not to be seduced by the event. The games have largely been very entertaining, with lots of goals, several shock results and just enough controversial decisions to make it a suitably exciting and fitting spectacle, that so far reflects the passion and love for football that pervades in the home of ‘the beautiful game’.

So with the action on the pitch proceeding as all the best tournaments should, and having not revisited my blog since the spring (I’ve been a bit busy), I thought it was high time for another post, and one that touched on the problems that communities face in difficult environments, had a Brazilian flavour, and focussed on my trusted theme of technology – specifically mobile – and how it is being used to provide solutions to some of the challenges faced by ‘everyday’ people and the communities in which they live.

Help in Brazil in the fight against Dengue Fever thanks to a new smartphone app

Search on Google for ‘Brazil’ and ‘Smartphone’, and you get a deluge of results on how much mobile devices will be utilised to watch world cup games, keep users up to date with stats and scores, place an online bet, order-in world cup-themed take away pizza – you name it, there’s an app for it, and they all claim to improve our mobile world cup experience in some shape or form. So I was nicely surprised to happen upon a recent Brazil-based smartphone story which wasn’t football-related in anyway, but was still very much community- based and concerned with providing a solution to a problem that potentially effects many people in the country, particularly in the tropical zones and in the over-crowded and under-resourced urban favelas that are home to thousands of people.

Reported in the NDTV Gadgets website (courtesy of Agence France-Presse), a new smartphone application has been developed to try to tackle the serious problem of dengue fever in the country, in locations where there’s an increased likelihood that outbreaks may occur. According to the article, the app, (developed for use initially in the tropical north-eastern city of Natal by university researcher Ricardo Valentim in collaboration with epidemiologist lon De Andrade, who works for Natal City Council) can be used to indicate not only the location of an outbreak, but also high concentrations of mosquitoes that would suggest a high risk area. The authorities are then able to react to prevent the further spread of the disease, and treat water sources that may be the cause.

“…If someone identifies dengue, they pinpoint it on the (application’s) map and that allows us to see where it is developing and to react immediately to stop it spreading,” Andrade said…

…If it’s mosquitos, we can locate and treat the water source. If a suspected case is confirmed, we can treat the victim,” Andrade said…

Brazil has been hit harder than any other country this century, with seven million cases reported since 2000, including 800 fatalities in the last five years.

In the Sao Paulo state city of Campinas, where Portugal’s team and star Cristiano Ronaldo are based, three women aged 27, 69 and 81 died of dengue this year…”

As the article suggests, there have been many cases of dengue in the country, a mosquito-borne disease for which there is currently no cure, both in the tropical north and also in other areas, and sadly resulting in several fatalities. Therefore being able to utilise the mass-reach of smartphone technology in the fight against the disease will come as a huge bonus if it can deliver viable protection to those communities most affected.

The full article from the gadgets.ndtv.com website can viewed here:
http://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/brazilians-hope-to-help-fight-dengue-with-new-smartphone-app-542263

Information in the field: eHealth innovations to further support healthcare in developing countries

According to Uduak Thomas’s article ‘Mobile technology is changing healthcare in developing nations’, which was re-posted in the Berkeley Science Review in December last year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) defines ‘mHealth’ or ‘mobile health as ‘…a subset of ‘electronic health’ that is concerned with the use of mobile and wireless technologies to support the achievement of health objectives…’. Looking at the many other articles concerned with mHealth projects that have emerged since, there appears to be little doubt that mobile and digital technology has indeed been used to do just that: to support the achievement of health objectives and thereby make a real difference in the provision of healthcare in the developing world.

The majority of the projects these articles cover seem to focus on improving the provision and distribution of vital healthcare information to remote, rural communities via SMS on mobile networks, where innovators have sensibly exploited the massive proliferation of mobile phone use in the communities concerned, particularly in Africa.

There is a question to be asked though, as to whether mHealth solutions such as these – which deserve huge merit in the achievements they have delivered – are to be the pinnacle of what can be accomplished in this field, as principally ‘data gathering and information distribution’ initiatives, or is it possible to extend the concepts of mHealth and eHealth to provide healthcare practitioners with more dynamic and interconnected tools, that do more than just deliver health advice messages and gather statistics. Is current technology being utilised to its full potential to provide more complex services to doctors and health practitioners in the field, such as access to complete health records and dynamic community health data whilst working at a remote rural location, in spite of the challenges presented by a lack of reliable internet connectivity or intermittent power supplies in many of the communities concerned?

The answer is arguably ‘yes’ with the three cases highlighted here, which all go some way towards demonstrating how technology can go a stage further by bringing additional complex functionality, the like of which was previously only available in larger hospitals and health centres, to healthcare workers ‘in the field’, thereby assisting to an even greater degree in their efforts to help people and their communities in the more remote and disparate communities in which they work.

Carego International: Utilizing open-source and the cloud to provide a practical solution

The Yahoo Finance website seemed an unlikely source for a story on a relatively new solution to provide access to health records in remote locations, but that is where I read about Carego International, and how their new product utilises developments in digital storage and open-source technology to provide a real solution to support the provision of remote healthcare.

According to the article, last month Carego International announced the launch of a new software application, built on Progress Pacific’s cloud-based, open-source platform, to ‘…help remote health clinics improve quality of care in developing regions around the world…’

Referring to the findings of Carego’s CEO Steve Landman, much of the existing medical software he had found in health institutions in developing countries  ‘…wasn’t compatible with local needs, largely due to complexity and an inability to tolerate frequent Internet service outages common in developing regions…’
Building on their previous experience in developing applications for the health sector, Carego decided to develop their latest product using the Progress Pacific development environment, with which they were able to deliver a cloud-based health records solution, which is inexpensive to deploy, easy to manage, and can be rolled out and accessed over nearly any device, be it fixed or mobile. These features make the product ideal for medical organisations in the developing world, which often have limited resources for expensive back-end support systems or mass data storage, and whose staff work in remote rural locations.

Kujua – Medic Mobile’s new communications hub for healthcare providers

In June of this year, following successful roll-out in various locations in Africa, Asia and Latin America, Medic Mobile announced the global launch of Kujua, their open-source information and communications hub for clinics in the developing world.  As described in the announcement made on their website: ‘…Kujua, which means “to know” in Swahili, is a web-based application for sending and receiving regular messages and forms, and also for scheduling time-targeted confirmation messages. Right now KujuaLite is optimized for three priority use cases — disease surveillance, stock monitoring, and service monitoring — but can be utilized for a wide range of communication and data collection activities…’ The article goes on to provide a link to a demo of the product, which can be found here: http://medicmobile.org/tools/kujua-lite/

Coupled with Medic Mobile’s existing programmes of distributing basic feature mobile phones to medical practitioners in the field, the company can now provide an end-to-end solution, connecting community members with health volunteers, doctors and the Kujua system as a back-end hub for collaboration and storage of information, to assist with monitoring emerging disease concerns and logging and maintaining communication between all those involved.

Prize winning idea provides practical solution to streamline information management in rural healthcare

Maintaining accurate health records in some sub-Saharan hospitals where paper-based systems still exist, whilst storing them securely and yet still having the means to safely transfer them if a patient moves; – these concerns are challenging enough, without the added difficulties that are sometimes encountered in identifying patients, matching them to their medical records and then needing to share that information as required between healthcare agencies, centres and hospitals. This is the impression one gets when reading an article in the Engineering for Change website (www.engineeringforchange.org), celebrating the winners of the recent ‘IEEE Global Humanitarian Conference’s Young Professionals Project Contest’, who have come up with an ingenious response to these challenges, with the application of an affordable, practical solution utilising RFID (radio frequency identification) cards. In basic terms, Radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology utilises radio-frequency electromagnetic fields to transfer data, for the purposes of identifying and tracking ‘tags’ containing electronically stored information that are attached to objects, such as the cards suggested in this solution.

The Engineering for Change article explains how, in the example of tracking and dealing with a disease outbreak in a rural community, the RFID solution could help:

‘…When polio or cholera or any disease breaks out in a community the local clinic will be the first to notice the uptick in cases. If clinics can share their records with central hospitals, then a local tragedy in one community becomes data points on a nationwide map. Then medical authorities can respond, and other communities can prepare and try to prevent new outbreaks…. Those two problems – sharing information between medical centres and identifying patients and their medical records – may have a solution. An entirely electronic health data system plus radio frequency identification chips implanted into ID cards for every patient might be a low-cost and simple way to address both issues…’

As the article continues to explain, RFID technology was chosen as it is a relatively low-cost approach and doesn’t depend on complex networks for communication. The winning team’s chosen system uses standard network protocols and can run on existing or inexpensively sourced hardware.

Accepting that there has been some opposition to using ID cards for similar purposes in the past – understandable, in the context of some of the locations and environments in which the communities concerned live – the project team acknowledged that some work needed to be done towards  local community ‘outreach’, before pilot schemes could be undertaken, but they remain positive on the long-term benefits the solution could provide.

With reference to a proposed pilot in the Kerala region of India, Hassaan Idrees and John Avrett , both involved in the project, added:

“…We would like to give a physical shape to our project by working with federally-endorsed government and non-government organizations. There still are a few grey areas: increased consumer-directed care, new methods of organizing care delivery, and new approaches to financing, but we hope to resolve these with the help of the appropriate stakeholders.”

Computer training on four wheels: Different approaches to ‘driving’ ICT education to where it’s needed

This week I’ve taken the blog down a mobile route, but not in the usual sense when it comes to ICT4D: It’s all about the different ways in which vehicles have been utilised to bring ICT training to those who might need it, in hard-to-reach, rural communities, where education in computing and the resources required are not normally readily available.

Many of the more remote communities in developing countries lack even the most basic in ICT infrastructure, let alone dedicated provision for ICT/computer skills training and internet access, and yet without some form of education in ICT, those communities and in particular their younger generation have restricted opportunities in terms of employment beyond their immediate environment, or access to further and higher education, because of their lack in ICT skills and training. In addition, the communities as a whole are less able to benefit from ICT-based innovations in health provision and agriculture, without access to the necessary training in order to utilise the developments available to them.

Mobile computer ‘labs’ and training facilities have existed in various locations in the developing world for some years now, through a local determination to overcome the lack of ICT provision that still persists in many communities, or a lack of any convenient location to provide lessons in ICT-related skills.

The vehicles used in the projects this post focuses on may vary, from converted four-wheel drive SUVs to full size buses, but the intentions are the same – to bring ICT training to those who may need it most, in the more remote and disconnected locations, and in environments where new skills and a greater understanding of modern technology could lead to greater opportunities for employment, and greater prosperity for the communities involved. Here I’ve looked at four of these stories, to give an overview of the different approaches adopted to provide mobile ICT education.

South Africa – ‘The Big Green eMachine’

One of original (if not the very first) attempts to deliver ICT education in a mobile format was the ‘Big Green eMachine’ on South Africa’s ‘Wild Coast’; a specially converted 4×4 truck that was set up as a joint venture between local NGO Friends of Chintsa, Volunteer Africa 32 Degrees and African Heartland Journeys, with additional financial assistance from other charities. The project has been running since 2010 and provides a mobile lab complete with server, laptops and all the necessary kit to provide ICT training, in as close to a ‘classroom’ environment as can be achieved on four wheels. As explained in a short piece from the E-learning Africa website, the initiative’s aims are all about bringing ICT to those who would otherwise have little access to it in their community environment:

‘…This directly addresses the lack of technology in the extreme rural areas by visiting schools and bringing computer based learning to children in these areas! Furthermore, the mobile lab has proved to be the solution to the lack of space, security risks to assets and the unreliable or non-existent electricity supply. It’s a fantastic project and the students absolutely love it!…’

Sri Lanka – Esoft’s mobile computer bus

Initially put together in 2011, this project provided by local ICT education provider ESoft, aimed to bring basic ICT knowledge and understanding to students and children in disadvantaged areas, where ICT resources and training were scarce or non-existent. At the centre of the project was ESoft’s ‘mobile computer bus’, fully equipped with all the necessary IT equipment required to provide a mobile classroom that is, as described in an article in Sri Lanka’s Sunday Times, ‘…on a par with any modern IT laboratory of an ICT training institute…’

As the CEO of a technology education company, you would expect Dr. Dayan Rajapaksa, ESoft’s Managing Director, to be vocal on the importance of providing ICT education to a mass audience. Yet what he’s quoted as suggesting in the Sunday Times article rings true and reads as a very concise recognition of the need to address the ‘digital divide’, between those with and those without access to ICT resources, education and understanding:

“…In the future world, nobody will be able to successfully steer his/her personal or professional life without depending on ICT. It is such a critically important component. Therefore, it is a national duty to impart knowledge and training on ICT to the younger generation who will take over as the country’s future leaders… It is bad enough that these students have no access to ICT due to a dearth of facilities, but it is still worse that they have no proper understanding of how important it is to be computer literate for their future prospects and wellbeing. There must be students among them who have the aptitude for ICT excellence. The objective of the ESOFT CSR project is to impart basic ICT knowledge and training and make these students understand the importance of academically arming themselves to excel in this important sphere. This will also open the door to better career prospects in a diverse field…”

St Lucia –  ICT for schools in the back of a mini-bus

A recent development on the Caribbean island of St Lucia has brought ICT to local schools, ‘centres for boys’ and correctional facilities, using a converted mini-bus packed with ICT resources and learning aids. When the bus pays weekly visits to two local schools, pupils are given the opportunity to use various ICT learning devices to help with their mathematics and language skills. Through an EU-funded programme (the EEICTP or Education Enhancement through Information Communication Technology Programme), the project is supporting the existing curriculum by providing the children with invaluable additional experience that would not normally be available to them, using digital devices and computers alongside their usual classroom teaching.

An article on the EEICTP St Lucia website explains the ethos behind the mobile facility, again recognising the need to address issues surrounding the division between those who do and those who don’t have ready access to ICT training and resources:

‘…The pioneering mobile ICT bus is equipped with Wi-Fi and electronic gadgets and visits the Boguis Primary School in Babonneau and the Les Etangs Primary School in Soufriere once a week…The initiative is part of the EEICTP’s outreach which has ushered in a new era of digital inclusiveness, bridging the gap between access to technology among students of urban and rural schools.…’

The Principal of one of the schools, Murina Julian of Boguis Primary, elaborates further on the importance of ICT education for her pupils:

“…In this technological world, our students need access to computers and since we are a rural school, we still have some students who are deprived of this access. You find as a result the students look forward to the visit of the Mobile ICT bus and are enthusiastic about learning…”

Uganda – One women’s mission to bring ICT to rural communities

The last focus of this post is perhaps the most appropriate to round off with, demonstrating as it does how one person’s drive and enthusiasm, with a little help from technology and a local NGO, can provide the solution to a communities lack of ICT knowledge, awareness or opportunity.

Ina Fried’s informative article from October 2012 in the All Things D website tells the story of Asia Kumukana. Asia was educated in Uganda and attended university there,  yet didn’t use a computer until she was 22, due to a dearth of resources or access to ICT at any stage of her education. Once hooked on technology, she decided she wanted to address the problem, particularly for those in rural areas:

‘…From the moment she got her first taste of computing, Uganda’s Asia Kamukama knew that she wanted more of her people to get their hands on this…Fast-forward a few years, and she helps run Maendeleo Foundation (see below), an organization that does just that — bringing a solar-powered mobile computing lab to rural villages. The effort brings together about 15 Intel Classmate PCs, along with the solar panels needed to power the machines…’

The article goes on to explain how Asia’s project planned to leave some of the computers and equipment behind at the schools and libraries that the mobile lab visited, hopefully providing a more permanent resource for those in the remote locations which up until then had not had access to them; – an additional benefit that this clever mobile solution was able to impart to those it has helped.

Further Information: The Maendeleo Foundation

The Maendeleo Foundation, a United States registered NGO, was set up with the aim of promoting the development of a productive computer services industry in East Africa, in part by helping local communities to have greater access to ICT through the use and promotion of solar energy sources at a local level. This is particularly relevant in Uganda, where some sources suggest that less than 10% of the rural community has access to a continuous electricity supply.

Their mission statement available from their website explains the organisations’ aims: ‘…Maendeleo Foundation’s mission is to complement the existing education system by making computers available to people of all ages, providing customized training, and encouraging and supporting the formation of Information Communication Technology businesses. We operate innovative training programs in a network of primary schools, and cooperate with organizations of similar interests that share our commitment to the promotion of technology for development…’

Mobile technologies supporting vital information services to farmers in Africa: Some ICT4 Agriculture success stories

With the ICT4Ag conference well underway in Kigali, it seemed a timely opportunity to highlight some of the ICT4Ag initiatives that have been put into action across Africa, with a focus on the power of mobile devices to bring real benefits to rural farmers and significantly improve their lives and those of the communities in which they live. I’ve tried to bring together three different initiatives in different African states, to give an overview of how this technology can be put to such effective use in meeting the challenges that farmers are facing, and to present them in a way that can inform the uninitiated as much as those with a keen interest in ICT4D.

Ghana: SMS assists local farmers to improve the results of their efforts in rice farming

Non-governmental organisations and G8 member states have made Ghana one of their top priorities in terms of providing financial support and advice to improve farming methods and to help farmers harness the new technologies that can assist them in getting the most from the resources they have available. Under the G8 banner, the New Alliance of Food Security and Nutrition was launched in 2012 with commitments from African leaders, private sector partners and G8 members to make substantial investments towards improving food security, agricultural practices and nutrition levels for 50 million people by 2022. The ‘Feed the Future’ project is their main US initiative for input and involvement in the New Alliance, which includes a significant level of focus on Ghana.

At a far more local level, an article and accompanying video by reporter Nan Boakye-Yiadom for Ghanaian website and radio station Citifm Online was a fascinating source of information on mobile tech helping farmers in the field, as it gave such an interesting and and accessible account of the focus of the article – rural farmer Abdul Rahman Takoro and his family – and the difficulties and challenges they face with subsistence rice farming, and trying to make it an affordable and even profitable venture.

The article explains how only three years ago, Abdul could not afford to send all his eight children to school, unable to earn a living to provide for his family through rice farming as he lacked both the resources and agricultural education to be able to make the farm a success.  Thanks to the involvement of Esoko, a private communication company in Ghana, Abdul was able to benefit from an SMS message system to gain information on weather changes, improved farming methods and market prices. The article explains the difficulties that farmers face in getting the information and the help they need through traditional means:

‘…Currently the only way most farmers get such information is through extension officers. The government employees meet with farmers to provide information, but they barely reach a quarter of the total number of farmers in Ghana. As well, according to information from Ghana’s Finance Ministry, about 70 per cent of extension officers will retire from active service in the next three years…’

The article goes on the explain how the Esoko initiative works, and reinforces the idea that private companies and contractors have a huge part to play in assisting with these projects – which in the end can help to improve the economy in the company in which they operate, by increasing the contribution that farming can make to the nation’s GDP:

‘…Esoko has representatives who visit about 50 different markets in the various regions each day and compile the going price of foods. They relay that information to the Esoko headquarters, where it is packaged into simple and comprehensive SMS and distributed to the farmers and traders who are also subscribed on the platform. Farmers also receive information on weather patterns, when to plough their land, when to sow, apply fertilizer, check weeds and harvest…Takoro is one of about 120,000 farmers in the Northern Region making use of the information from Esoko. He’s been receiving the SMS messages for two years. “What we gain from Esoko is immeasurable,” he said. “They alert us with prices in markets nationwide, tell me whatever I produce I can send it there to sell and get interest. They also help us with weather forecasts too…” …Takoro says with the information he can now decide whether to send his produce to the market for sale or sell it to middle men and women, considering which of the options will make him get more money…’

Soil testing results by SMS: Crop Nutrition providing innovative service to Kenyan farmers

Crop Nutrition, and agribusiness company, have set up an innovative service to speed up the process of soil testing and analysis for farmers in Kenya.

Crop Nutrition provide special specimen bags to farmers through their network of field advisors, who train the farmers in the correct methods for collecting the samples, which are then delivered to Crop Nutrition’s laboratory via local agro dealers. Costs are kept low due to the high volumes involved and the level of sophistication of the company’s testing equipment, which also contributes to a much faster turnaround than other more traditional methods of soil testing. The results are then sent via SMS message directly to the farmer, again cutting down on the time it takes from initial sample collection to when the farmer is able to act on the results of their analysis.

USAID’s briefing paper explains how Crop Nutrition assume that local representatives will assist farmers with understanding the implications of the results, if needed, and the importance of soil testing in global farming:

‘…Crop Nutrition works on the expectation that if the results and recommendations are unclear to the farmers, they will be interpreted for the farmers by the agro dealer or field advisor. Soil testing is important for any farmer to know what minerals their soil is deficient in and what type of fertilizer or other inputs may be used to increase soil health and fertility, yields, and resistance to pests and disease…’

The paper can be viewed at via the e-agriculture.org website, (which also provides further information on this initiative), and provides further information on the users and business model of the project, the costs of which are provided entirely by Crop Nutrition, again a private company, as part of their operational expenses. One additional point from the paper is worth reposting here, and that is the anticipated impact of the initiative:

‘…Crop Nutrition lab reports include technical recommendations so that farmers apply the correct fertilizers, lime or other inputs to reduce production costs and improve yields. When correctly used by farmers, this information can contribute to larger crop yields. Agro dealers also receive a small commission for facilitating the service…’

Uganda: ‘Community Knowledge Workers’ provide farmers with invaluable information and market data in exchange for completing surveys

The Grameen Foundation was set up in 1997 to assist communities in developing countries to address their own challenges and reach their full potential, through the provision and application of the right tools and resources. Their website explains further the ethos behind the work they do in trying to help people in the world’s poorest countries:

‘…Our collaborative approach to poverty alleviation recognizes the multidimensional and complex nature of global poverty. We work with private sector companies, non-governmental organizations, government agencies and others to ensure we achieve lasting impact in the regions where we work.’

As explained in an article from the ICT in Agriculture website and as part of Grameen’s work developing new agricultural programmes in Uganda, the organisation has set up the Community Knowledge Worker (CKW) programme with financial support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The program involved the training of over 800 village-level representatives (CKW’s) to provide agricultural ‘extension services’ to farmers in exchange for their participation in completing mobile device-based surveys. These extension services include the provision of advice in relation to agricultural methods, livestock, crop diseases, weather forecasts and other relevant information. In return, the information provided by the completed surveys helps Grameen and their partner organisations with their research to build up a clearer picture of the issues the farmers are facing – which in turn helps in providing the solutions and advice they are provided with.

This simple, cyclical process has helped local farming communities in Uganda by improving their agricultural yields, whilst the farmers involved have been able to achieve better prices through greater market knowledge of the products they produce. It has also created employment through the recruitment of CKW’s, who, as the article suggests, can further increase the benefits of this two-way cyclical approach, by providing solar-energy services whilst in the field alongside their survey data-collection activities, and thereby increase their earnings at the same time:

‘…CKWs are trained to 1) provide a link to agricultural research institutions and extension services and administer surveys, and 2) to set up off-grid electrical charging micro-enterprises using solar energy. These enterprises can earn CWKs as much as 40 USD/month, which doubles the 1.25 USD/day previously earned by 60% of CKWs.’

The article states that due to access to CKW’s, farmers in Eastern Uganda have seen a 17 percent increase in the prices they achieve for maize compared to those who do not have access to these resources, a clear indication that when applied simply and effectively, with a combination of technology and common-sense human input, these new innovations can be highly successful in improving people’s lives.

Content is key: in developing countries, what is in the digital world is as important as having access to it

In the main, my previous posts have focussed on technological innovations and initiatives that have helped to promote greater communication and access to technology in the developing world, through the use of video, mobile devices and donated computer hardware and increased access to the web. I have also touched on some of the organisations who have worked tirelessly to teach, support and encourage the communities involved to embrace new technologies, whether it be internet-based or otherwise, in order to improve their lives, increase their opportunities and gain greater access to the world beyond their immediate environment.

What is clear is that whilst these themes – of providing those communities with the ‘kit’ and the ‘connections’ – in other words, the means of access – continue to be a major priority in improving the lives of many people, what is just as important is the content those initiatives are able to deliver, not just in terms of enriching, highly-relevant online experiences but above all, in providing access to essential, sometimes live-saving, information.

At last year’s B20 summit in Los Cabos, a platform with various social and commercial aims and objectives, the ‘ICT and Innovation Task Force’ came to some interesting conclusions and recommendations, going beyond the ‘Internet access for all’ mantra which has been heard with increased volume in relation to international development in recent times.

Under the banner of their second concluding recommendation – ‘Develop content and applications for the public good: social inclusion through ICT’ – they went on to elaborate with great precision on the importance of focussing on content as much as the means of access:

‘…Having access to government services, education, banking, and real-time information…improves and enables society as a whole. For the benefits to be fully realized it is important to provide access to the technologies and information necessary to develop local content and applications; provide access to traditional services for previously underserved population segments through ICT content and applications; and leverage ICT to create new economic opportunities for businesses and entrepreneurs…’
Carlos Slim Domit, Chairman Grupo Carso SA de CV, Mexico / Dan Reed. Corporate Vice President of Technology Police, Microsoft USA

What is interesting here is the focus not just on the content itself, but on enabling those in the communities concerned to develop the content themselves, through education and the provision of the required technology, thereby creating a potential win-win situation of local content ownership, greater content relevancy and ultimately greater opportunities for all those involved.

Digital content in Africa: From government information to mobile banking

Various agencies in South Africa, from NGOs to media news groups and the SA government themselves, have clearly seen the importance for some time of embracing the internet as a means of providing greater access to relevant content and information that serves to help the community. Channel Africa, part of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (who, in the spirit of appearing to focus on enriching the lives of people in SA, work under the slogan ‘Broadcasting for Total Citizen Empowerment’) are a radio station/provider with a broad selection of content ranging from information programmes to entertainment. It’s mission statement views it as the ‘voice of Africa’s Renaissance’ and that it ‘will endeavour in its programming ‘to reinforce Africa’s dignity, pride and sense of self-worth’. From a practical perspective, Channel Africa is available via shortwave radio, satellite broadcast and over the internet, thus embracing every means of current and new technology to ensure the widest access and availability possible.

Looking at the perhaps more mundane but essential side of content provision and from a governmental and social perspective, developers and content authors for the South Africa Government Services website have gone to great lengths to ensure that they provide the population with as much useful and relevant content as possible, through a well-organised, clearly defined web portal from which information on a huge range of subjects can be quickly obtained or downloaded. It is a good example of a well thought out website that has been planned with the user in mind.

Online banking services, the like of which are taken for granted in many parts of the world, are an emerging concept in many African countries, but are an important area in terms of online services provision, and ensuring that African communities are able to benefit from e-commerce facilities, not just in terms of online purchasing but also by providing a more secure means of transferring funds than some traditional methods. As has been discussed on this blog and elsewhere, many African nations lack a wired infrastructure capable of maintaining fast and efficient broadband services, depending instead on mobile connectivity in order to gain access to limited internet services. To get around this in the provision of ‘e-banking’, some of those countries affected have turned to SIM-based technology provided by mobile telecommunications suppliers, who have in turn created partnerships with banking service providers to provide and end-to-end service to consumers.

A good example of this has been supplied with the help Gemalto, the global digital security provider, to MTN Mobile in Uganda. The article on the Gemalto website provides more detailed information on their solution, but in essence they assisted the MTN in offering users a nationwide mobile payment facility that makes mobile payment ‘…accessible to the great majority of people, even if they do not have a banking relationship…’.

The article goes on to describe the kinds of services that the facility can assist with:

‘…The Gemalto-supplied solution provides a secure, convenient and affordable means for MTN Uganda subscribers to carry out peer-to-peer fund transfer using their mobile phone. An easy-to-navigate menu enables consumers to send and receive money, buy airtime, withdraw cash from a local retailer, with the security provided by the SIM card. Since the SIM card is the only application platform working with 100% of handsets, subscribers can perform m-payment transactions using any type of mobile phone, which means the service is immediately available to all….’

Like many other aspects of the emergence of digital technology in the developing world, and not just in Africa, content clearly is key. Whilst it is easy to get excited by the various online shopping sites – some have suggested mere clones of Amazon – Kalahari in SA, Jumia in Nigeria, to name but two) that are becoming more widespread, it is important that there remains a focus on providing more of the basic but essential services – whether its banking, access to local and governmental information, news media, communication – that are part of everyday ‘digital’ life in other parts of the world, but in some cases are far more important and essential to those in the more disparate and marginalised communities of the developing world.

Looking back on a previous post, The service provided by FrontlineSMS, in providing the means to communities to deliver vital, life-saving content by way of public health information messages – simple SMS messages, but content none the less – is an example to us all who are fortunate enough to work in digital technology that it is how connectivity is applied – in other words, what it is that is actually being communicated or provided – that is what makes that connectivity, whether its mobile, internet, or broadcast – have real value to it’s audience.

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Center for Digital Inclusion (CDI): Improving lives in marginalised communities through greater knowledge of ICT

Founded in 1995 by Rodrigo Baggio, the Center for Digital Inclusion or CDI has helped thousands of people improve their lives and shape their communities through greater access to computers and increased knowledge of IT, and the improvements in education, communication and social development that these resources can bring.

Describing themselves as pioneers of the ‘digital inclusion movement’, CDI are now a major global NGO, with a network of ‘Digital Inclusion Site’s’ throughout Latin America, and with several other sites in Europe and elsewhere. These sites take the form of schools of IT and related skills, and are situated both in low-income areas and within indigenous communities, as well as in clinics, hospitals and youth and adult detention facilities.

From its headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, CDI maintains its global operations with the support of other major benevolent organisations and plans to expand its reach towards the Middle East, North Africa and India in the future.

 The concept of Digital Inclusion

As information technology and communication (ICT) becomes increasingly an integral part of modern day life, the familiarity that people have with computers and their understanding of the internet and communicating online will inevitably have a greater bearing on the opportunities that are made available to them. For the majority of the worlds marginalised communities, particularly in the developing world, readily available access to the essentials of survival and life itself – a safe water supply, enough to eat, shelter from persecution, are the first priority. However, as these countries develop and find greater stability, and increasingly technology plays a greater part in their economic growth, an understanding and appreciation of ICT will become increasingly important; in other words, their level of digital inclusion. Inevitably people’s knowledge of ICT will have a bearing on social mobility and inclusion for all but the most isolated communities, providing greater employment opportunities, and enhancing the ability for individuals and the communities in which they live to communicate with the world beyond their boundaries and make themselves heard.

 CDI: their projects 

Largely based in Latin America, the schools and centres that CDI have set are up are based in the most vulnerable regions and communities, from the slums of Brazil’s cities to disparate indigenous communities in Columbia. Their ethos is to provide people not only with the equipment, but the know-how and appreciation to exploit the skills they develop and improve their lives in the modern world. They explain this with great clarity in their website:

‘…But technology, in itself, is just a tool. The true challenge is making technology relevant and useful in the context of marginalized populations. For 18 years CDI has empowered disadvantaged groups to use Information & Communication Technologies (ICTs) as tools to exercise their full capacities as citizens and tackle the issues that affect their communities…’

One of the organisation’s flagship projects that has been running for over ten years is based in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. Classrooms and computer labs have been set up, providing the local communities with invaluable training and experience not readily available to them from other sources, in an environment that is better known for the severe poverty and drug violence that was endemic in favela communities in the past. The centres aim to provide assistance and education of a sustainable nature, opening up greater opportunities for employment and self-sufficiency to the communities involved.

Sarah Lacy’s article from 2010 in the Tech Crunch website provides a vivid and interesting account of the project: http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/12/coming-up-from-the-favelas-brazils-slumdog-entrepreneurs/

For more information on the work of CDI, visit their website at: http://cdiglobal.org/

Participatory Video: communities tell their stories with a bit of help and a camera

When I began writing this blog, the intention was to focus on computing, be it mobile or static, and how, with the addition of some training and support, and (with a bit of luck) a readily available connection to the internet, it could change the lives of people and their communities in the developing world, in a sustainable, educational way.

Previous posts have looked at a range of different initiatives and innovations: The work of Computer Aid International, who supply computing hardware and expertise directly to schools, hospitals and NGO’s in the field; the power of e-Readers being harnessed for good in education thanks to the efforts of Worldreader, and the work of Frontline SMS in providing the means to organisations to be able to reach out and inform their communities through SMS text messages, accessible to anyone with a standard mobile phone.

In each of these instances, I’ve tried to approach the subject in hand in an ‘introductory’ manner, presenting the project or initiative in question as if to newcomers, and celebrating the efforts of the organisations concerned in such a way that is hopefully accessible not just to the ICT4Dev community, but to a much wider audience.

To this end, this post changes tack slightly, moving away from devices with keyboards and keypads and data, but still focussing on a tool that recent developments in technology have made more accessible and usable by just about anyone, than ever before: the (not so humble) video camera. In particular, I’m going to look at participatory video (PV), which whilst having been around as a concept for some time, has really began to emerge as a powerful tool for developing communities to use to engage and inform the outside world of the problems and issues they face, and therefore, hopefully, a tool for change.

For the uninitiated, and in basic ‘starter-kit’ terms, the concept of participatory video in action is when a group of people or community are given the means and training to produce their own video, the idea being that video as a medium is very accessible and gives rapid results that can be used to deliver and present the message a community are trying to convey.

Participatory video enables the groups involved to engage with the outside world; to present their story – their ‘version of events’ – that can be easily distributed globally and cheaply via the internet, thus empowering them to be able to communicate directly as ‘themselves’ to organisations and individuals beyond their community, in a positive and constructive way. By its nature, the process itself of producing the videos can have a powerfully collaborative effect on the people involved, bringing them together as they learn to use the equipment, apply the skills they’ve learnt through training, and produce their film, that can document, record and ultimately address the challenges they confront in everyday life.

There are many different practitioners and organisations that are utilising this simple yet powerful tool, to assist in bringing the stories of disparate and marginalised communities out into the open. InsightShare stand out as leaders in this field, and from the research I have carried out, appear to have taken it to a different level in terms of the variety of projects they have assisted with and the global reach of their expertise. Taking a consultative as well as hands-on approach and in many different countries and environments, they have advised a range of international development agencies, NGO’s and research institutions on PV methodology.

The About Us page of their website, under the heading ‘Our Work’, puts it very succinctly, explaining what their work demonstrates and what their core aims are:

“Our work…

–       Aims to go beyond developing local participation to achieve full local ownership;

–       Has a strong focus on the Participatory Video process going on behind the technology & its ability to strengthen and support other participatory development processes;

–       Shows a unique combination of technical and facilitation skills, combines media and technology with participatory approaches and community engagement;

–       Develops and improves PV tools constantly to enhance the design, set up and implementation of projects;

–       Builds power for local users, involves people, give NGOs the tools to do this…”

Two of the recent projects involving InsightShare’s practitioners and expertise are the Women’s Access to Justice workshop in Chiang Mai, Thailand in August 2013, and a scoping and partnership building visit to the Isiolo and Marsabit counties of northern Kenya, with a view to further training and support to assist the local communities in PV.

Whilst these projects differ greatly in their nature or the environment in which they’re based, it would seem that the core aims of PV, in giving those involved a voice and a chance to be heard beyond the boundaries of their own communities, are strongly present in both.

For more information on the work of InsightShare, visit their website at: www.insightshare.org

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Mobile tech making a difference: learning to read and public health awareness

My last post looked at the importance of prioritising basic IT hardware provision, as much as focussing on the grander, long-term schemes being proposed to provide internet connectivity ‘to all’, such as internet.org and Loon. It goes without saying that the provision of computers and the necessary training and expertise in the schools, colleges and hospitals of developing nations is vital, if those institutions are to fully embrace the digital revolution that the global visionaries mentioned above hope to achieve.

This time around it’s all about mobile technology in developing countries, where the advances and developments that have been made over a relatively short period have been very impressive. Again, referencing my last post, the provision of hardware with these mobile solutions is just as important, and in the two examples I’ve featured here, either the hardware is provided, or the technology involved harnesses the power of the device that’s already in many people’s pockets – the standard mobile phone.

I’ve deliberately picked two very different examples in terms of their aims and approach, and there have been many other varied initiatives in this area, all with their own merits, successes and inevitable issues and challenges in terms of what they hoped to achieve, and how they’ve faired over time.

The two initiatives I’ve focussed on have had a huge impact on the communities they’ve helped and in very different ways, but there is a common theme of connecting disparate, hard-to-reach communities that without the resources these initiatives provide, would be less connected and less able to tackle the basic challenges of life, through greater access to healthcare information, and real, practical educational resources.

Worldreader – ‘Books for all’

Worldreader, a US-based global non-profit organisation, aim to provide widespread access to digital books to children, their families and communities with the aim of improving the lives of potentially millions of people. According to their website, (http://www.worldreader.org/what-we-do/) as of June 2013 they have:

‘…put over 662,008 e-books – and the life-changing, power-creating ideas contained within them – into the hands of 4,300 children in sub-Saharan Africa. Those children now read more, read better, and are improving their communities…’.

There are numerous stories and articles on the web about the successes of Worldreaders’ projects, and how they have had a major, positive impact on education and improved literacy for many people through the provision of reading material via e-readers. What made them stand out for me was in a reference to their Africa programs, where it was noted that Worldreader have made a point of ensuring that many of the books they provide are from African publishers and authors. This clearly has obvious benefits, in that students can engage more easily with content that is familiar to them, and schools are able to use local textbooks that are more relevant and accessible to students and teachers alike. It also seems to be a sensible, ethical approach, to be promoting the work of local authors and publishers, as well as providing access to international books when needed.

For an interesting local insight into one of WorldReader’s recent projects, see a recent blog post from Worldreader’s own blog, on their work at the Dwankhozi Primary School in Zambia: http://www.worldreader.org/blog/new-country-new-project-empowering-zambian-children-with-books/

For more general information on Worldreader, visit their main website at: http://www.worldreader.org/

Frontline SMS

Frontline SMS has been around for a while now, with its first prototype product being launched in 2005, but it’s still worth highlighting as one of the great innovations in truly global mobile communications that has been used so effectively in the developing world, to make a positive difference to people’s lives and the communities in which they live.

The Frontline SMS software is freely available and was developed to give communities and organisations the ability to have two-way connectivity and group text-messaging services in locations without reliable internet access, via standard mobile phone networks. Whilst the service has developed over the years to harness further developments, such as web portals and most recently cloud technology, the principles behind the initiative remain the same.

One example of Frontline SMS in action is with a current project in Kenya, where a combined effort between local communities and Kenyan journalists through the International Media Support organisation (www.i-m-s.dk) is aiming to utilise Frontline SMS services to raise awareness and build up a knowledge base on diabetes in Kenya. In an article on the initiative, Laura Walker Hudson, CEO of Social Impact Lab Foundation who developed Frontline SMS, puts it simply:

“…New technology makes life saving information available for patients and next of kin with limited access to media. Social media and crowd-sourced media are moving the standards and Frontline SMS has been instrumental in using their 2.0 platform to bring a voice to thousands of diabetes affected Kenyans…”

The whole article can be viewed here:
http://www.frontlinesms.com/2013/09/19/a-mobile-phone-text-messaging-service-and-a-new-webportal-are-bridging-the-information-gap-on-diabetes-in-kenya-where-the-disease-annually-kills-more-people-than-hivaids/

The Frontline SMS software is free to download and use. The text messages themselves are the only cost, so the system provides an extremely affordable way of reaching a wider audience when other means of digital connectivity are not readily available. The service has proved invaluable, particularly in communicating messages on public health issues and gathering information from patients and their communities, as can be seen above.

For more information on Frontline SMS, visit their website at: http://www.frontlinesms.com/