Title: Avoiding the Digital Divide Hype in Using Mobile Phones for Development
Author: Lindsay Poirier
Source: ICTWorks
Publisher: Inveneo
Date (published): 27/12/2011
Date (accessed): 03/01/2012
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"To all of you digital divide warriors out there – nice work. With over 483 million mobile phone subscriptions in low-income countries - an estimated 44.9% penetration rate, few will deny the success of your efforts to expand mobile technology in the developing world.

Rapid mobile growth rates further exhibit success in dissemination, and stats such as, “There are more mobile phones than toilets in India,“ and “There are more mobile phones than light bulbs in Uganda,” make us smile and feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

While it’s true that, in most cases, these numbers exhibit stimulation in local economies, there are some fuzzy lines when it comes to determining what these numbers mean in terms of mobile phone access and development. The data shows that mobile technology is expanding, but does this necessarily mean that access to technology is coinciding with the expansion?
..."

Title: Technology for transparency, accountability and good governance
Author: Dave Algoso
Source: Find What Works blog
Date (published): 30/11/2011
Date (accessed): 03/12/2011
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"I spent yesterday morning at a discussion on the above topic. The issue at hand was the fact that a bunch of groups have been doing government accountability and transparency work for decades, and a bunch of groups are trying to leverage new technology and social media for similar ends — but these two sets aren’t talking to one another as much as they should be.

I noticed two major themes in the discussion...

How to divide up such a big topic?

The conversation ranged from open government data, to the use of mobiles for government service delivery, to citizen reporting on government abuses. In other words: the intersection of technology and better governance is huge. By the end of the event, it was clear that those attending had more to say on these issues.

There were several attempts to divide up the issue into manageable chunks. One rubric involved a distinction between top-down and bottom-up. The first category includes efforts to make data more accessible, use mobiles/other technology to reach citizens, or generally improve the efficiency of government operations through better technology.
...
Another approach for understanding the topic is to think about the impact that new technologies have on current governance processes. Technology might simply make a process more efficient by reducing transaction costs. For example, mobile phones and the internet help make it a lot cheaper to monitor elections, provide government data, or inform citizens about services. But technology might go another step further, beyond mere efficiency, by actually transforming how government works and how citizens interact with one another. This (some would argue) is what Twitter did in Egypt.
...
How do we know what works?

The other big theme yesterday was evaluation. I get the sense that most technology-for-governance interventions don’t receive anything close to rigorous evaluation. This is hardly surprising: governance issues are notoriously difficult to evaluate. As I’ve discussed before, randomized controlled trials aren’t applicable. Even psuedo-experimental methods run into trouble when trying to pick a defensible counter-factual. New technology might make data collection easier, but that won’t allow us to overcome the complexity of understanding governance or how change happens..."

Title: New technology and good governance
Author: Linda Raftree
Source: Wait… What? bridging community development and technology blog
Date (published): 01/12/2011
Date (accessed): 03/12/2011
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"Civil society has been working for years on participation, transparency, accountability and governance issues. Plenty of newer initiatives (small and large) look at new technologies as a core tool in this work. But are these groups talking and learning from each other? What good practices exist for using new technologies to improve transparency, accountability and governance? What are some considerations and frameworks for thinking about the role of new technologies in this area of work? What needs consideration under this broad theme of good governance?

Tuesday’s Technology Salon in New York City focused on those issues, kicked off by our two discussants, Hapee de Groot from Hivos and Katrin Verclas from Mobile Active. Discussion ensued around the nuances of how, with whom, when, why, and in conjunction with what do new technologies play a role in transparency, accountability and good governance.

Some of the key points brought up during the Salon**:

What is “good governance?” The overall term could be divided into a number of core aspects, and so the discussion is a big one and it’s complicated. Aid transparency is only one small part of the overall topic of good governance.
…
More data doesn’t equal more accountability. Data does not equal participation. Can mobile phones and other ICTs or social media reduce corruption? Can they drive new forms of participation? Can they hold power accountable in some ways? Yes, but there is no conclusive evidence that the use of new technology to deliver data down from governments to people or up from people to governments improves governance or accountability.
…
Efficient vs transformational. Transactional efficiency within a system is one thing. Transformation is another. You can enhance an existing process from, say, writing on paper to calling on a landline to texting in information, thereby improving accuracy and speed. But there is something more which is the transformational side. What’s most interesting perhaps are those ways that ICTs can completely alter processes and systems. Again, there are a lot of promising examples but there is not much evidence of their impact at this point.
…
Is open data just a big show? Some alluded to opaque transparency, where a government or another entity throws up a bunch of data and says “we are being open” but there is no realistic way to make sense of the data. Some felt that governments are signing onto open data pacts and partnerships as a fake show of transparency. These governments may say, “The data base is available. Go ahead and look at it.” But it costs a lot of money and high level skills to actually use the data. In addition, there is a need for regulatory frameworks and legislation around openness.
…
Is open data an extractive process? Some at the Salon cautioned that the buzz around Open Data could be a bit false in some ways, and may be hyped up by private companies who want to make money off of nice data visualizations that they can sell to big donors or governments. The question was raised about how much data actually gets back to those people who provide it so that they can use it for their own purposes?
…
Whose data? A related issue that wasn’t fully discussed at the Salon is: who does the information that is being “opened” actually belong to (in the case of household surveys, for example)? The government? The International NGO or multilateral agency who funds a project or research? The community? And what if a community doesn’t want its data to be open to the world – is anyone asking? What kind of consent is being granted? What are the privacy issues? And what if the government doesn’t want anyone to know the number of X people living in X place who fit X description? Whose decision is it to open data? What are the competing politics?
…
Can new ICTs weaken helpful traditional structures or systems? Is new tech removing some middlemen who were an important part of culture or societal structure? Does it weaken some traditional structures that may actually be useful? The example of the US was given where a huge surge of people now engage directly with their congressperson via Twitter rather than via aggregation channels or other representatives. Can this actually paralyze political systems and make them less functional?
…
Does new technology create parallel structures? Are parallel structures good or bad? In an effort to bypass inefficient and/or unaccountable systems, in one case, private business owners started their own crime reporting and 911 system to respond and accompany victims to report to the police and follow up on incidents. Questions were raised whether this privatization of government roles was taking justice into ones’ own hands, forcing the government to be accountable, allowing it to shirk responsibilities, or providing a way for government to see an innovation and eventually take on a new and more effective system that had been tried and tested with private funds. This same issue can be seen with parallel emergency reporting systems and other similar uses of ICTs..."

Title: Mobiles for Quality Improvement Pilot in Uganda
Authors: Pamela Riley and James BonTempo
Pages: 65 pp.
Source: Strengthening Health Outcomes through the Private Sector Project
Publisher: Abt Associates Inc.
Date (published): 01/12/2011
Date (accessed): 03/12/2011
Type of information: report
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
"This report reviews the Mobiles for Quality Improvement (m4QI) project that SHOPS piloted in Uganda. In an effort to address performance gaps in adherence to clinical protocols, SHOPS worked with a local software company to develop a software platform for sending health care providers text messages to either test their knowledge or remind them of particular protocols. The report finds that text messages provide a novel and cost-efficient way to raise awareness, promote behavior change, address common myths, identify performance gaps, incentivize new practices, refresh skills, and increase cohesion among peers. Report includes explanation of pilot design and evaluation of results."

Title: Beyond Payments or Just Different Payments?
Author: Sarah Rotman
Source: CGAP: Consultative Group to Assist the Poor
Date (published): 15/11/2011
Date (accessed): 20/11/2011
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"Everyone is always talking about trying to move the branchless banking industry beyond just payments. Those of us concerned with accelerating “real financial inclusion” long to see credit, savings and insurance products pushed over new delivery channels. But is it possible that there’s still work to be done within the payments space itself, just diversifying a bit beyond simple P2P transfers?

For example, I’ve been hearing a lot of talk recently about really trying to crack the nut on merchant payments. Branchless banking providers see this as a huge opportunity not only for increased transactions (and therefore revenue), but also as a way to solve some of the tricky problems around liquidity management at agent locations when more people use electronic value for direct purchases instead of just cashing in and out. But how do small merchants respond to the possibility of being brought into the formal economy through using a traceable payments service? Will merchants and customers be willing to pay a fee to transact electronically instead of in cash? These are just a couple of the open questions that still need to be answered."

Title: Africa is world’s second most connected region by mobile subscriptions
Author: Matthew Reed
Source: Informa Telecomms & Media
Date (published): 03/11/2011
Date (accessed): 20/11/2011
Type of information: press release
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"Number of mobile subscriptions in Africa to reach one billion in 2016

Africa has become the second most connected region in the world in terms of mobile subscription count, up from fourth place at end of 2010, according to new research by Informa Telecoms & Media. There were over 616 million mobile subscriptions in Africa at the end of September, which means that the mobile market on the continent is second only to Asia-Pacific in terms of mobile subscription numbers.

Africa’s mobile-subscription count overtook that of Western Europe during 2Q11 and then overtook the Americas in 3Q11. At end-2010, less than a year ago, Africa was only the fourth largest regional mobile market by subscriptions, coming after Asia-Pacific, Western Europe and the Americas.

“The combination in Africa of a still relatively immature telecoms market with factors including population growth, strong competition among providers and the increasing affordability of mobile devices, explains Africa’s move up the regional mobile-market rankings as well as its strong growth forecast,” said Matthew Reed, head of mobile research for the Middle East and Africa at Informa Telecoms & Media. "Africa’s mobile market is heading towards a major landmark: the number of mobile subscriptions on the continent will cross the one billion mark in 2016 according to our latest forecast.""

Title: The Role of ICT Actors and Networks in Development: The Case Study of a Wireless Project in Nepal
Author: Devinder Thapa
Pages: 16 pp.
ISSN: 1681-4835
Source: The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, (2011) 49, 1, 1-16
Publisher: City University of Hong Kong
Date (published): 13/10/2011
Date (accessed): 20/11/2011
Type of information: peer reviewed article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
"The role of ICT actors in the formation and extension of ICT4D projects is important. The actors through their extended network and aligned interest can enhance the effectiveness of the project which in turn enables socioeconomic development opportunities. However, few studies have been conducted to understand the role of these central players. The objective of this paper, therefore, is to address this knowledge gap by conducting a qualitative case study in the Myagdi district in the mountain region of Nepal. In this study we explored the Nepal Wireless Networking Project (NWNP) and examined how an activist started it from one mountain village and gradually extended across more than 150 villages. The formation and extension of information and communication technology for development (ICT4D) projects goes through different phases of identification of relevant ICT actors, roles, negotiations, and their interest alignment. To understand the various phases, we employed Actor-Network Theory (ANT) and explored how a social activist, in the midst of challenges, initiates the wireless project to facilitate educational and healthcare services to the mountain regions. In continuum, the study found how the activist identified relevant actors and enrolled them to form a network of aligned interest. The study also identified several challenges such as high illiteracy rate, over dependency on focal actor, and poor physical infrastructure that may impede the network building process. Furthermore, we identify some implications for research and practice based on insights from the case study."

Title: Broadband in Morocco : Political Will Meets Socio-Economic Reality
Author: Samantha Constant
Pages: 36 pp.
Source: infoDev
Publisher: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank
Date (published): 27/10/2011
Date (accessed): 18/11/2011
Type of information: report
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
"Fully one quarter of Moroccan households boast a broadband connection - up from just two percent in 2004. This report seeks to understand Morocco's relatively high broadband adoption while proposing additional areas of focus to move beyond this initial success.

This report presents the broadband landscape in Morocco and the approach by which the country has advanced its ICT sector over the past fifteen years. Despite being constrained by human development challenges and regional political uncertainty in today’s “Arab Spring,” Morocco has emerged as a trailblazer in certain areas with particularly impressive mobile broadband results.
The mobile industry is a big spotlight in Morocco’s broadband achievements. The introduction of third generation wireless technology in 2007 led to substantive growth of overall Internet subscriptions. This however has come at the cost of investment in fixed infrastructure. There is a need to boost fiber deployment in both local access and backbone networks. Understandably, such civil works require financing that will only happen if the private sector is confident it will see a return in its investments.

Going beyond its initial broadband success and making broadband sustainable and transformational will be a challenge for Morocco. Deeping broadband access must find a way to deal with the social and economic reality of a lower-middle-income country. This will require fresh and innovative solutions including more emphasis on bottom-up initiatives."

Title: Rural Women Banking By Mobile Phone
Author: Ignatius Banda
Source: ipsnews.net
Publisher: IPS-Inter Press Service
Date (published): 14/11/2011
Date (accessed): 18/11/2011
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"Collecting the monthly subscriptions for her co-operative has always been a headache for Thelma Nare, 41. This is because Nare lives in Tshitshi, Plumtree in rural Zimbabwe, about 60 kilometres away from the humdrum of the nearest town centre where banks are located.

"We meet after a long time as here in the rural areas our homesteads can be very far from each other. So members of our club do not meet or contribute regularly," Nare said.

In fact, the women in the co-operative do not have a bank account. Until recently, Nare and the other co-operative members had to physically be present to make their monthly contributions.

But now, these "unsophisticated" rural women find themselves at the centre of efforts by mobile phone service providers to introduce mobile phone money transfers in Zimbabwe.

Those without bank accounts, like Nare and her co-operative, can now send and receive cash via their mobile phones.

The system is fairly simple. A user registers for mobile phone banking with their service provider and is given a mobile "e-wallet" - an application on their sim card that is linked to their phone number.

When the user wants to pay for services or transfer money to someone they simply have to go to an agent and pay the desired amount, which is loaded onto the "e-wallet". The payment is made and the recipient can withdraw the money from an agent. There are various agents affiliated with the mobile service providers across the country, making the service easily accessible to those in rural areas."

Title: The Advent of Mobile Financial Services in Agriculture
Author: Camilo Tellez
Source: Mobile Money for the Unbanked blog
Publisher: GSM Association
Date (published): 15/11/2011
Date (accessed): 17/11/2011
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"As the global population continues to grow – it is expected to reach more than 9 billion by 2050. It will require a 70% increase in food production above current levels. Most of this increased yield will have to be achieved in less developed countries (LDCs), many of whose farmers operate on a small scale and are highly exposed to crop failure and adverse commodity price movements. This month, Vodafone, Accenture and Oxfam released a report on mAgriculture. The report titled “Connected Agriculture” assesses the potential benefits of new mobile data services such as mobile financial services, weather forecasts, and agriculture information and advice for smallholding farmers operating in marginal circumstances.
…
The financial and information opportunities at the base of the pyramid (BOP) in themselves hold significant untapped value for the private sector. The BOP has both intricate financial and information needs, which have the potential to be met through mobile money and information-based mobile services. Mobile Money can reduce the financial gap for farmers by giving them access to savings and insurance, which in itself reduces the impact of extreme weather and allows for greater investment in improving production.[1] Meanwhile, m-information services have the potential to open up significant markets opportunities, by relaying sales prices, GIS-based commodity demand information, as well as more basic yet essential information on agricultural best practices and reliable weather forecasts..."