Agriculture – Page 10

mHealth Alliance to provide technical support for 8 innovative mHealth projects in 2012

Map with location of mHealth projects pinned

Last month at the third annual mHealth Summit held in Washington, D.C., the Innovation Working Group, part of the UN Secretary-General’s Every Woman Every Child effort, and the mHealth Alliance announced the recipients of eight catalytic grants for mHealth programs. The grants, funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), are designed to identify and foster innovative uses of mobile technology to advance maternal and newborn health, with a particular focus on supporting programs with sustainable financing models and early indications of health impact.

The eight mHealth projects receiving grants span from Africa to Southern Asia. They address such diverse issues as malnutrition on the small Tanzanian island of Zanzibar to childhood immunization drop-outs in Karachi, Pakistan. Each project has already demonstrated initial pilot level efficacy, and the grants will be used to take the programs to regional or national scale and make progress towards Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5. A link to each of the 2011 Competition Winners’ websites can be found below.

The mHealth Alliance will work to provide the necessary resources and skills to support national scale-up processes and enable expanded reach to communities in need. Throughout the two-year grant period, the mHealth Alliance will provide technical support and establish opportunities for collaborative learning among the grantees, as well as facilitate the formation of public-private partnerships to further support long term impact and sustainability. “Each of the eight recipient initiatives has demonstrated innovative mobile technology solutions to obstacles in health and healthcare practices,” said Patty Mechael, Executive Director of the mHealth Alliance. “From providing maternal and newborn health information via mobile phones to building technology that supports clinical decision-making, these initiatives all focus [on] helping the world’s most vulnerable populations lead a healthier life.”

The next round of catalytic funding will be announced early this year. mHealth projects that have already demonstrated efficacy at pilot level and that have a viable plan for sustainability and scale are encouraged to submit applications. Check back with the HUB for application instructions and for monthly blog posts from the eight catalytic mHealth projects as they share their experiences going to scale.

2011 Competition Winners include:

Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI)

Dimagi, Inc

D-tree International

Grameen Foundation

Interactive Research and Development (IRD)-Pakistan

Novartis Foundation

Rwanda Ministry of Health

Cell-Life

Initiative:

Maternal Newborn mHealth

January 31, 2012/by actualize

Agriculture, Education, Mobile, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

UNESCO Mobile Learning Week Report: 3 Projects for Policy Development

UNESCO released a report last week introducing three exciting new projects that promise to shape how policies are developed for mobile learning programs. Within the year, UNESCO will develop and release a set of policy guidelines, commission and publish ten working papers, and introduce four pilot projects in teacher development in Mexico, Pakistan, Nigeria and Senegal.

The report was a summary of project goals as well as an overview of discussions and ideas organized by participants at UNESCO’s first Mobile Learning Week (MLW). The event which was held at UNESCO’s headquarters in Paris last month drew approximately 30 experts in mobile learning and 100 participants from the fields of mobile technology and education to discuss the use of mobile technologies in the classroom.

Policy Guidelines:

The most challenging but promising of the three UNESCO initiatives is the development of a set of policy guidelines due to be released by the end of 2012. There are currently many examples of the use of mobile technologies in the classroom but few are supported by – or the result of – effective and sustainable policy-making initiatives. Through discussions between UNESCO, MLW participants, and a growing global community of mobile learning educators and leaders, these new guidelines will be broad enough to encompass different cultural contexts, stakeholders, and technologies so that they can be used by national governments and educators and evolve with new developments in mobile technologies.

Discussions surrounding this topic generated general considerations and challenges including:

Consideration must be given to the perspectives of the stakeholders (mobile network operators, teachers, students, etc.) and their interaction with each other
Guidelines should be flexible and be able to adapt to new technologies and their applications
Costs of internet access and personal-ownership of devices remains a challenge
Efforts should be made to dispel negative views of mobile technologies within the classroom
Lessons should be learned from past examples of successful and unsuccessful projects
Mobile technology should support a well developed curriculum and pedagogy and not become the focus of the content

10 Mobile Learning Working Papers:

To provide research information for the policy guidelines and teacher development projects, UNESCO has commissioned ten working papers: five that will investigate mobile learning policies in the five major world regions (Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Europe, Latin America, and North America) and five that will investigate mobile technologies for teacher development and support. Drafts of the papers were presented and discussed at the MLW.

Photo credit: http://www.redorbit.com

The five papers on mobile learning policies won’t provide an in-depth analysis of each region but should give a general overview and provide examples of policy development. The papers will explore the pervasive lack of mobile learning policies around the world, observing the misconception by some policy makers that mobile technologies are distracting from learning and should be banned in schools. They will also include lessons learned from success stories of initiatives supported by governments and tech-savvy model teachers.

The additional five papers will examine professional development for teachers using mobile technologies in the classroom as well as how professional development can be delivered through mobile technology to teachers across the five regions. These papers will observe how mobile technologies are being used already, how they can be used in the future, and explore the use of mobile technologies with other educational tools and resources.

4 Teacher Development Pilot Projects:

Finally, UNESCO will launch four pilot projects to explore how mobile technologies can be used to provide support and professional development for teachers in Mexico, Pakistan, Nigeria and Senegal. Though the projects are still in the planning stages, MLW participants were able to provide input to important questions such as “What guidelines and understandings should steer the projects? What does the organization need to do, address, and keep in mind to best ensure the projects it launches are successful?”

To learn more about the MLW participant’s comments and ideas about these new projects and mobile learning policy development, see the full report here.

January 27, 2012/by actualize

Agriculture, Environment, Environment, Originally posted on the GBI Portal, Water

Mobile Apps, Texting for Water Access

mw4d launches new site

mw4d, a research initiative that uses mobile technology for water management in Africa launched a new website in January. mw4d is based within the Oxford Water Futures Program at the University of Oxford. The site highlights projects and resources for innovative mobile applications that “help achieve water security and reduce poverty” in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zambia.

Currently mw4d has three main projects:

Smart Handpumps

Smart Rivers

Mobile Water Payments

These projects allow for the monitoring of water use patterns, proper allocation of resources, and sustainability of water supply services. Please check out their resources for exciting projects worldwide.

January 27, 2012/by actualize

Agriculture, Energy, Environment, Environment, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Biofuels: Off-grid answer for ICT access?

Biofuels… Good or Bad Idea? They’ve received positive hype from non-profits, corporations, and individuals only to be scorned by some environmentalists, economists, and other groups.

Photo Credit: GSMA

A common barrier facing rural regions is a lack of access to a reliable power supply. Being off the grid limits the ability to take advantage of information and communication technologies (ICTs) that could provide economic gain and increase quality of life. What’s the use of a mobile phone with innovative software applications if it can’t be recharged?

One popular answer for off-grid communities is building biofuel-based facilities that are run off of renewable resources. Biofuel is simply energy released directly or indirectly from living or recently living organisms. Wind and solar power are included, but fossil fuels are not because they are embedded in geological formations and nonrenewable.

Biofuels have been used for over a millennia, such as the simple method of burning wood for fuel. Other traditional methods used throughout the developing world include using conventional feed such as maize, wheat, sunflowers, and switchgrass for combustion that are then used for cooking, heating, and lighting.

Modern bioenergy used for fuel can be more complex, taking advantage of residue, bacteria, and other organic components of waste that produce a higher value energy carrier, meaning they are more efficient and versatile than traditional methods. The most common method for converting biomass into fuel is by combustion that generates heat. Other known methods include gasification, extraction, and fermentation (used for converting starch or sugar crops into ethanol). In recent decades ethanol and other forms of biofuels have increased in popularity due to the fluctuation of oil prices, carbon emission, and as an option for rural development.

Photo Credit: Prof. Thomson Sinkala, Chairman, Biofuels Association of Zambia

So are biofuels the answer for connecting rural communities with the greater world? Let’s weigh some notable advantages and disadvantages:

PROS

+ Biofuels are locally harvested, decreasing transportation costs.

+ The harvesting and processing of biofuels creates local jobs.

+ Biofuels are renewable.

+ Plants used for making biofuels can be grown on marginal lands.

+ The cost of renewable energy technology is falling, making energy projects more affordable and easier to maintain.

CONS

– Not all biofuels are sustainable.

– Traditional forms of bioenergy can cause unpleasant consequences such as deforestation.

– Traditional biofuels are highly inefficient when compared to fossil fuels and nuclear energy.

– Biofuels derived from vegetation require a lot of water, adding pressure to an already limited and fragile source.

– Instead of using limited arable land for food production, it’s used for growing biomass that can be improperly fertilized, further harming water systems.

– It can negatively impact life-cycles, species health, and biodiversity.

So are biofuels a good or bad solution for rural areas? The decision must be made at the local level; weighing costs, benefits, and sustainability. Below are examples of successful projects where biofuels are used to supply power.

Indonesia– Instead of depositing livestock waste in waterways, it is processed in a biodigester, creating biogas used by the local population.

China – Rice ‘straw’, the stem and leaves left behind after harvesting to be burnt can be mixed with an alkaline solution to create biogas.

Mali– Jatropha, a poisonous weed used to keep away grazing animals thrives in marginal soil is used to power generators.

Kenya– Solar and hydro energy is used for a power center that provides access to Internet and mobile phones for local farmers.

January 25, 2012/by actualize

Agriculture, Health, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Guide to Scale and Sustainability in mHealth: Moving Past Pilot Projects

A white paper release by the Advanced Development for Africa (ADA) last month laid out the necessary steps to scale mHealth projects in the developing world. Its goal was to provide governments, donors, and the private sector with the essential knowledge to push mHealth from pilot projects to scalable and sustainable solutions.

The report, entitled “Scaling Up Mobile Health: Elements Necessary for the Successful Scale Up of mHealth in Developing Countries” and authored by Jeannine Lemaire, preformed an extensive review of the sector. It focused on multiple case studies and pulled best practices and recommendations from organizations and thought leaders in the sector. With the current mHealth in a transition stage from proof of concept to widespread scale and adoption, there is a need to show key stakeholders that scale and sustainability is possible and necessary to improve health outcomes in the developing world. The ability to be sustainable and scale will push the sector forward and make the case for greater investment by governments, donors, and the private sector.

The author provided nine case studies including TulaSalud, TXTAlert, mPedigree, and ChildCount+. She also included the insights from thought learners in mHealth (David Aylward – Ashoka, Patricia Mechael – mHealth Alliance, Brooke Partridge – Vital Wave Consulting, Anne Roos-Weil – Pesinet, and Getachew Sahlu – WHO).

Photo Credit: IICD

Through the interviews and case studies, multiple best practices were established in order to properly implement a pilot with the ability to scale and be sustainable in the future. These best practices included the idea that sustainability and scale must be planed from the program’s inception, the necessity to perform a needs assessment for the local region, facilitating collaboration in order to avoid duplication, the inclusion of targeted users and beneficiaries during the development phase, getting buy-in from multiple stakeholders (governments, communities and local healthcare providers), collaborating with local implementation partners, creating partnerships with a focus on scale up, and including M&E to assess the impact off the interventions.

The research also provided recommendations at multiple levels of mHealth policy and development – programmatic, operational, policy, and global strategy. The recommendations were:

Programmatic:

Integrate the program within existing healthcare structures.
Employ an integrated solution and/or holistic approach rather than a silo single-solution approach. Identify innovative ways to incorporate other mobile services using cross-sectoral approaches.
Identify a sustainable and scalable business model that is applicable for large-scale implementations and can bring in valuable strategic partnerships to support scale up.
Build partnerships with the private sector after a successful pilot phase.

Operational:

Seek out and invest in building local capacity to minimize costs and support local ownership of the project.
The software and mHealth application should be geared towards the objectives of the program, suitable for local conditions and designed with the end-user in mind.
Identify what motivates the end-users, not just what the objectives of the program are. Use incentives to promote the consistent and effective use of the mHealth tool.
Perform social marketing.
Empower users through the mobile phone technology, particularly women.
If an area of the project is failing, fail quickly and publicly; adjust the program accordingly.

Policy:

Mainstream mHealth in the MOH and relevant government bodies.
Establish an e/mHealth structure to support the multi-sectoral mainstreaming of mHealth and advise the decision-makers on creating an enabling policy and regulatory environment for mHealth scale up.
Create an inter-ministerial working group and collective agreement involving stakeholders from the various ministries to support the scale up of mHealth programs.
Identify and promote the use of specific data, technology and interoperability standards.
Advocate for the integration of mHealth within local public and private healthcare initiatives; prioritize mHealth training for healthcare workers.

Global Strategy:

Establish a global network of key institutional players to inform an overall global approach to support the scale up of mHealth in developing countries.
Establish a global repository of mHealth applications, tools, best practices, recommendations and evaluation data. Institutional players must be willing to share and connect their existing repositories.
Create frameworks for success targeted towards informing policymakers, project designers and implementers, and donors.
Advocacy by institutional players to both internal and external stakeholders, particularly to donors, to utilize and integrate mHealth into programs in developing countries.
Donors and institutional players need to support the evaluation of initiatives in developing countries and the creation of common metrics, indicators and methodologies to evaluate impact on health outcomes.

The ADA is African-based nonprofit which focuses on scaling development in Africa through innovative solutions. This includes building capacity, transferring technology, hosting forums, and establishing cross sector partnerships. Jeannine Lemaire is the Director of eHealth and New Media at Actevis Consulting Group.

January 25, 2012/by actualize

Agriculture, Humanitarian Assistance, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Tapping into Local Knowledge in Times of Disaster

Photo Credit: iRevolution

The World Bank and Google have announced a collaborative agreement to use a free, web-based mapping tool called Google Map Maker that enables citizens to directly participate in the creation of maps by contributing their local knowledge.

The agreement is aimed at improving disaster preparedness and development efforts in countries around the world. Under the agreement, the World Bank will act as a conduit to make Google Map Maker source data, more widely and easily available to government organizations in the event of major disasters, and also for improved planning, management, and monitoring of public services provision.

The Importance of Local Knowledge

The most innovative component of this agreement, I believe, is the effort to blend scientific and local knowledge to solve local solutions. The need for integrating modern technology and indigenous knowledge into disaster management and prevention has long been overdue. While the technical capability of the new ICTs is huge, it also requires the mobilization of human resources, especially locally available human resources in tackling such disasters.

Just as the expertise of local citizens are being utilized to project their views in urban centers/cities through data-mapping, local knowledge, which is context specific, could be used to interpret the natural landscape of past natural disasters and using these indicators to help in forecasting future disasters. Studies have shown that local knowledge practices are cost effective, and incorporating them into scientific projects could help build local trust of the people. The use of local knowledge such as weather predictions, smells, sounds, cloud color, direction and types of wind, appearance and movements of insects, etc. could be tapped into, in disaster prone communities to help develop sustainable measures in interpreting early warning signals of natural disasters.

Google Map Maker

The Google Map Maker data includes detailed maps of more than 150 countries and regions, and identifies locations like schools, hospitals, roads, settlements and water points that are critical for relief workers to know about in times of crisis. The data will also be useful for planning purposes, as governments and their development partners can use the information to monitor public services, infrastructure and development projects; make them more transparent for NGOs, researchers, and individual citizens; and more effectively identify areas that might be in need of assistance before a disaster strikes.

The World Bank Institute (WBI) and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) will manage the World Bank’s involvement in the collaboration, building on previous joint mapping efforts. For example in April 2011, members of the Southern Sudanese Diaspora participated in a series of community mapping events organized by World Bank and Google to create comprehensive maps of schools, hospitals and other social infrastructure in this new country via Map Maker technology.

Google has enjoyed a strong relationship with World Bank for many years. As indicated by the World Bank Vice President for the Africa Region Obiageli Ezekwesili, “Today’s technology can empower civil society, including the diaspora, to collaborate and support the development process. This collaboration is about shifting the emphasis from organizations to people, and empowering them to solve their own problems and develop their own solutions using maps.”

Read more on the agreement and possible partnership and collaborations with the World Bank offices.

January 23, 2012/by actualize

Agriculture, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

The World Bank Launches e-Sourcebook on Ag.

Photo Credit: The World Bank

The official launch of the World Bank’s e-Sourcebook, “ICT in Agriculture: Connecting Smallholders to Knowledge, Networks and Institutions” took place at the premises of the Bank on Wednesday January 18 2012, with a number of activities.

Among these activities was a panel discussion on the key modules in the book moderated by Mark E. Cackler, the Manger of the Agriculture and Rural Development Department of the World Bank. Members of the panel included Willem Janssen, the Lead Agriculture Specialist in the Latin America and Caribbean Region; Laurent Besancon, Senior Regulatory Specialist in charge of ICT portfolio for the Sub-Saharan Africa region; Tuukka Castren, Senior Forest Specialist at the Agriculture and Rural Development (ARD) department of the Bank; Aparajita Goyal, an Economist at the Agriculture and Rural Development (ARD); and Shaun Ferris, Senior Technical Advisor for Agriculture and Environment at Catholic Relief Services (CRS).

Introducing the book, Tim Kelly, the Lead ICT Policy Specialist in the ICT unit of the Bank stated clearly that the e-Sourcebook is neither academic paper, a report nor cookbook for use. However, it provides development practitioners and governments with examples of where ICT in agriculture has been used, challenges and lessons learned using ICT, and guidelines on project development. It also attempts to address how ICT can be mainstreamed into agricultural interventions, research and entrepreneurship.

A Science Advisor at the Agriculture and Rural Development Department at the Bank, Eija Pehu shared some of the key findings and themes from the book. This includes the need to focus on the demand for services but not on the technology, understanding the users and their demands, providing the enabling environment, exploring sustainable business models, being aware of differential impacts of ICT projects such as gender, age and socio-economic status of the users, and recognizing that smart and higher capacity tools are becoming more affordable.

The highlight of the panel presentation featured an interesting mobile application demonstrated by Shaun Ferris from CRS that is being used for data collection, monitoring and assessment by agricultural field workers to share information and report to the main office. iFormBuilder is currently being used by Catholic Relief Services in a number of remote communities to facilitate data sharing and reporting.

Questions and Answer Session

Two main themes that emerged during the Q&A session were the need to i) identify and show evidence for the impacts of these ICT applications in agriculture on the socio-economic status and livelihood conditions of the farmers; and ii) look more into innovative ways of using ICTs to increase productivity of farmers in addition to the current emphasis on market information systems. It was pointed out that while the e-Sourcebook has good examples of each of the two above areas, more need to be done.

Also a number of academic and research institutes are currently working with some of the ICT projects to understand the relationship between ICTs use by local farmers and improvement in their socio-economic conditions. The conclusion, however, was that it is going to be a difficult task identifying this relationship looking at the number of ways by which the farmers use a given ICT. For example a mobile phone may be used to check weather updates, as an alarm clock, a clock to inform farmers about when to leave for home, make phone calls, check emails, etc.

The Structure of the Book

Organized into 4 main themes and 15 modules:

Section One (Introduction) covers topics like ICT in Agricultural Development (Module 1); Making ICT Infrastructure, Appliances and Services More Accessible and Affordable in Rural Areas (Module 2); Anywhere, Anytime – Mobile Devices and Their Impact on Agriculture and Rural Development (Module 3); and Extending the Benefits: Gender Equitable-ICT Enabled Agricultural Development (Module 4).

Section Two (Enhancing Productivity on the Farm) includes Increasing Crop, Livestock and Fishery Productivity Through ICT (Module 5); ICTs As Enablers of Agricultural Innovation Systems (Module 6); Broadening Smallholders’ Access to Financial Services Through ICTs (Module 7); and Farmer Organizations Work Better with ICT (Module 8).

The Third Section (Assessing Markets and Value Chains) addresses issues of Strengthening Agricultural Marketing with ICT (Module 9); ICT Applications for Smallholder Inclusion in Agribusiness Supply Chains (Module 10); ICT Applications for Agricultural Risk Management (Module 11); and Global Markets, Global Challenges: Improving Food Safety and Traceability While Empowering Smallholders Through ICT (Module 12).

The Fourth and Final Section (Improving Public Service Provision) covers Strengthening Rural Governance, Institutions, and Citizen Participation Through ICT (Module 13); ICT for Land Administration and Management (Module 14) and Using ICT to Improve Forest Governance (Module 15).

What Next at the Bank?

The Bank will be looking into the operational challenges of some of these ICTs applications identified in the book, develop regional task force to follow-up with the progress, and also continue to organize online fora on selected topics in the book, the first of which took place in December 2011 on “Strengthening Agricultural Marketing with ICT.“

The e-Sourcebook is freely available here.

January 20, 2012/by actualize

Agriculture, Environment, Environment, Natural Resources Management, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Lionfish, Tiger Shrimp, Grizzlar Bears! Oh, my!

Photo Credit: Factoidz

Last summer an article caught my eye about the spread of Lionfish in Antigua’s waters, an invasive and predatory creature. The news made me curious if there were other invasive species worthy of catchphrases and surely enough I wasn’t disappointed to find a diverse selection of tigers and bears.

Invasive species, as the name suggests, originate outside of the ecosystem in which they are found. Thousands of years of climate shifts and our urge to conquer new lands have led to major disruptions that threaten native environments, making them susceptible to damaged local biodiversity, food production, and even human health.

In 2005, ICT Update published an issue on invasive species, marking GIS and other tech responses to the monitoring and elimination of threatening pests. Since this publication there have been successful ICT approaches and projects for invasive alien prevention. What’s my favorite one, you may ask? Well, it’s actually a free, simple to use mobile application called What’s Invasive! With this downloadable application one can geo-tag invasive plants and animals that are specific to the desired geographic location. With this information concerned citizens and other groups can monitor growth patterns and participate in eradication campaigns. Currently, the application is vigorously used in American, Canadian, and European parks. With its easily accessible databases, nature education and other public outreach programs in coordination with this mobile app can greatly empower local communities to address issues of environmental protection and climate change.

January 18, 2012/by actualize

Agriculture, Environment, Environment, Originally posted on the GBI Portal, Water

5 ICT 4 Watershed Management Projects

There’s been considerable debate lately about possible uses of information and communications technology for watershed management. Access to monitoring programs assists governments adequately manage and distribute water. Watershed management is critical for regional ecological health, clean water ability, disaster relief, and agriculture.

5 Noteworthy ICT Watershed Management Projects

eGov features India’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) that uses GIS mapping and GPS enabled mobile applications for planning and monitoring rainwater harvested agricultural land. The watershed is analyzed through interactive online mapping available in local languages, engaging parties at the village, regional, and state levels. Through this process scarce water is conserved by a supervised drainage line, promoting the cultivation of arable land and responsible seasonal planning. An overview of this project is available HERE.

A similar project, MeKongInfo, is available to citizens along the Mekong River Basin in Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam. The site houses a database and online discussion that is sponsored by the Mekong River Commission (MRC). It contains many aspects including flood mitigation, fishery management and other issues of overall planning.

AgWater Solutions is collaborating with the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and others in Ethiopia through workshops to address small reservoirs and groundwater systems investment.

African Water Facility’s Community Water Management Project in Zambia works with farmers to increase productivity by reducing their reliance on rain-fed farming.

Rio+20’s ICT as an Enabler for Smart Water Management report includes case-studies on ICTs for smart water initiatives. Also worthy of noting as a resource is the United Nations’ Virtual Learning Centre distance-learning course on Integrated Water and Environmental Management for creating regional resource databanks to enhance sustainable water management practices. The course is available through Regional Centres of Excellence in Africa, Asia, and the South Pacific.

January 18, 2012/by actualize

Agriculture, Health, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Building While Operating: Lessons in linking mHealth and mobile money in Haiti

Last week marked two years since the devastating earthquake in Haiti that, according to the Haitian government, took the lives of 316,000 people[1], injured 300,000[2]and displaced at least one million people[3]– more than 10% of its population[4]. Any country’s infrastructure would struggle with this, but in Haiti even some of the smallest problems were exacerbated by the fact that Haiti was (and still is) the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere[5]. Many Haitians do have access to mobile phones, though, so mHealth and mobile money services have enormous potential to fill the gaps and improve their lives.

The earthquake left Haiti’s already weak health and financial systems in tatters. It destroyed 30 hospitals, 21 clinics, 11 Ministry of Health facilities, and 22 health training centers, and it damaged 30-40% of all bank branches and ATMs in the zone of impact. From the very beginning of the recovery, mobile services showed what they could do.

A great deal of mHealth activity took place to bolster the relief effort and safeguard reconstruction, including the Fletcher School /Ushahidi’s crisis mapping and proactive messages delivered via SMS to warn about cholera outbreaks through a partnership between Voila and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and more. In 2009, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID launched a prize fund to accelerate the launch of mobile money services in Haiti, enabling the population to send, receive, and store money via mobile phones. In the time that has followed, NGOs eagerly adopted mobile money as a safe, speedy way to distribute aid and pay people in cash-for-work programs. In fact, of the 14 mobile money use programs in the world, eight are in Haiti. These programs are realizing a range of benefits – including improved speed, efficiency, and security.[6]

This early flurry of activity is now giving way to longer-term questions. With the prize mechanism nearing completion, providers of mobile money services are looking for ways to expand them in a profitable, self-sustaining way. Haiti’s health system is rebuilding, and administrators are deciding how much to bring stopgap mHealth applications into the mainstream. And the opportunity to combine mHealth and mobile money through insurance plans, voucher programs, and other innovative services is just starting to open up.

Making these processes easier and realizing the long-term benefits of mobile services will require addressing a series of barriers in the public and private sectors:

Strategy to move from prize-led launch to sustainable scale. Mobile operators and banks must now determine their strategies to reach the mass market and move beyond the prize-led launch to sustainable scale, avoiding the sub-scale trap which many deployments face globally. This will require the consortia to prioritize, penetrate, and capture profitable segments of the Haitian economy.
Interoperability and integration. The central bank in Haiti did mandate interoperability between mobile money services, but there is a continued need to integrate services, bridges, and open APIs – especially if mHealth and mobile money are to work together.
The policy environment. At present, the lack of a national ID scheme and policies for data security and privacy are holding back the development of mobile services, particularly combinations of mHealth and mobile money. E-wallets have been used to register people in Haiti in place of national IDs, but the e-wallets are currently capped at US$250 by the central bank, limiting the usefulness of mobile services.
The evidence base. Greater distillation and dissemination of the experiences of providers, users, and regulators would help the sector to develop in a more directed and way, avoiding repeated mistakes and redundancies.

Both the mHealth and mobile money ecosystems are at an inflection point in Haiti, and there is reason to be optimistic. Favorable regulatory approaches have led to the emergence of a spectrum of products, including payroll and merchant payments. For the sector to preserve its momentum, providers will have to find new ways to attract consumers, and policymakers will have to keep up with providers’ and consumers’ needs.

[1]One Year After Haiti’s Quake: Cholera Babies School Without Walls, ABC News, 12 January 2011. Retrieved 7 January 2012.

[2]“Haiti raises earthquake toll to 230,000”. AP. The Washington Post. 10 February 2010. Retrieved 7 January 2012.

[3]“Haiti will not die, President Rene Preval insists”. BBC News. 12 February 2010. Retrieved 7 February 2012.

[4]“Earthquake Magnifies Haiti’s Economic and Health Challenges”. Population Reference Bureau. October 2010. Retrieved 7 January 2012.

[5] “UNICEF urgently appeals for aid for Haiti following devastating earthquake”, UNICEF, 12 January 2010. Retrieved 7 January 2012.

[6]Dalberg Global Development Advisors is currently conducting analysis for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on the business case for, and operational learnings from, NGOs plugging into mobile money, forthcoming later this month.

January 18, 2012/by actualize

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