Blog

Connecting the Developing World

The GSMA reports that there are well over 4 billion cell phone subscriptions worldwide. Over 50% of the world's population has a cell phone now. Think for a moment about your cell phone: what it means and how you use it. Would you miss it if it were lost? I rely on my cell phone which I use as a phone, calculator, alarm clock, weather person, calendar, and research tool. I write notes to myself, notes to others, track my finances, schedule meetings and organize my time. I program my phone which, in return, programs my life.

Of course, being so connected can be a mixed blessing, particularly when one is over-connected. But traveling to the wilderness without it or any other means of communication can feel equally bad after a while. Striking a balance is so important.

Turning to the developing world, there are approximately 4 billion people living at the Base of the Pyramid (BOP), earning less than $5 per day. Many struggle to get the information we thrive on. Technology is often scarce and the rural poor often need to travel great distances for news, banking, etc. The Internet may be available for a fee at a village kiosk. Computers are shared in village centers.

For many years cell phones were shared as well. It was not uncommon to find a "village cell phone" where a village would share a single phone and a local entrepreneur would charge a fee per use. Through time that has changed, and now, there are fewer instances of village phones because the perceived value of the cell phone among the poor has led to an increased desire to have personal cell phones. Desire increased, handsets became more affordable and carriers developed prepaid plans for the poor. For the poor, it remains a lifeline to family, the global economy and even a means to earn more money.

Cell phones are quite the wonder. A basic handset, not even a smart phone, has at least as much if not more memory and greater processor speed than the computer I owned in the 80's. When we think about bridging the technical divide to the developing world by creating low cost computers, why not work with something that is already reaching more hands in more households every day in the developing world? I say this not only because the cell phones are already there, but also because it can be easier for a low cost handset to survive in a harsh, hot, dusty, environment. It all seems to add up.

So when developing tools for the poor, especially in he most rural locations, mobile makes a lot of sense. In the palm of their hands, what they hold is much more than a phone. It is a phone, a calculator, a market research tool, emergency warning device, news resource, and most importantly, it is a lifeline to the global economy. It's a way for them to be both aware and connected, and also to discover many of the benefits, knowledge and information that we can often take for granted. If we are looking for ways to connect with billions of people living in emerging economies, we can start by unleashing the potential of the mobile phone.

Tags: Mobilize, Awareness, Mobile, Internet

Example: Mobilizing during a Health Emergency in the Rural Developing World

How would an organization address a health emergency in a rural setting in the developing world? Part of the solution involves working with the only communications channel universally used and accepted by communities at the BOP ("Base Of the Economic Pyramid"): mobile phones and the humble SMS. The following is a fictional account of how an organization might tackle this problem.

A Health Emergency Response

Jenny, a regional health program officer for a global NGO has a serious problem. She has just been notified that an outbreak of polio has been discovered across several states in her area, representing many millions of people. She directly runs programs with over 150,000 people in this region.

Her organization is mounting a swift and comprehensive response to minimize the impact of the outbreak through effective communication and a range of direct healthcare interventions, such as free Polio vaccinations at local clinics. There has been hesitancy in the past to take the polio vaccine for a range of reasons ranging from superstition, to religious beliefs, to sheer lack of awareness of the free clinics and their days of operation.

It is clear that communications must be a central component of all activities to encourage awareness, education and participation towards their goal. For this campaign, Jenni will be using Resdida's Mobilize SMS management platform to reach out directly to communities, coordinate with staff, and manage logistic data and provide real time reporting on the crisis response.

The organization has names and cellphone phone numbers of around 60,000 people across the region, but it is scattered in a number of Microsoft Excel files. Jenni quickly combines the lists and uploads all 60,000 people to Mobilize in less than five minutes.

Once the recipients are uploaded, she manually writes a number of SMS-length stories she wishes to communicate around the outbreak of Polio, as well as information on vaccination clinics traveling to their area over the coming month. The organization and local government health department are very interested in feedback directly from the community, so Jenni utilizes the "Questions" area of Mobilize to include a couple of "polls" to these communities via SMS.

Once she has put together her stories, she schedules when each message needs to go out to correlate with other "on the ground" activities. The first message is a warning "blast" that there is a Polio outbreak, and that more information will come soon via SMS to the recipient's phone.

She sends this out right from her desktop, and within an hour, all 60,000 people have received the information and some are even responding to her first question asking "Are all of your children vaccinated?"

Jenni used the same process to establish a communications "Channel" with her staff in the field, which guarantees her low-cost, real time communications with her staff, no matter where they are.

Using mobile and internet platforms to effectively create engagement with communities and over time, real change can be a significant challenge. If you'd like to know more about how Resdida RESON approaches these problems in partnership with organizations working on critical problems facing poor communities, get in touch with us here. For more information on the Mobilize platform, click here.

Tags: Emergency Services, Mobilize, Campaigns, Awareness, Mobile, ICT