Wireless technology for Social Change: Trends in Mobile Use by NGO’s By: Lerato Makate

About the report It was put together by the UN Foundation- Vodaphone Group Foundation Partnerships Public private alliance using strategic technology programs to strengthen UN’s humanitarian efforts worldwide. Partnership has 3 core commitments

Core Commitments of Partnership Develop rapid response to telecommunications teams, aid in disaster relief Develop health data systems to improve access to health data to combat diseases Promote research innovative initiatives using technology as an agent and tool for international development

NGO’s usage of Mobile technology for social change Survey conducted Dec 2007 a- Jan NGO workers participated in finding out how NGO’s use wireless technology to help various social courses 86% NGO employees use mobile technology for their work 99%of technology users characterise mobile technology as positive Majority described it as revolutionary

Diverse use of mobile application by NGO’s Most common use is; voice and text messages 39% usage in other ways = photo’s &video’s 28% data connect transfer 27% multimedia messaging 8% employees use technology for more sofisticated uses = data analysis 10% mapping

Perceived Benefits of NGO mobile use 95% Time saving, ability to quickly mobilize and organize individuals 91% reaching audiences that were previously difficult or impossible to reach 74% ability to transmit data, quickly and accurately 67% ability to transmit data more quickly 59% ability to gather data more quickly 76% of NGO users said they would increase their uses in the future

Some facts 3.5 billion phones available worldwide This has changed how communities communicate Report aims to see how NGO’s use mobile wireless technology for social purposes to help with some problems

Innovative uses driving change 3 specific areas were looked at: 1. Health 2. Environment and 3. Humanitarian relief There have been a number of creative, innovative uses There is entrepreneurship within the development of mobile technology use for social change Mobile pilot projects are giving introductory frameworks to replicate them on a larger scale

Global Health & media technology 2007 Millenium Development Goals stated: Number of people dying from HIV/AIDS increased by 2.9 million in 2006 preventative measures were failing million children lost both parents to AIDS 1 billion people live in extreme poverty, 75% in rural areas Health conditions in rural areas are poor

Informa Telecoms research 2007 mobile networks covered 90% global population 2008 mobile phone penetration will reach 50% worldwide With over 3 billion subscriptions (contracts)

Case study 1: Aftercare: South Africa Created by Cell-Life NGO in Cape Town To work with the public health system & workers to provide home based care for HIV/AIDS patients on ARV’s Aftercare worker assigned patients Visits patients home, one-on-one discussions about treatment and patients life Using mobile phone captures patients information Relay information via sms to Cell-Life database Where info is managed and collected making for accurate records and

Case Study 2: AED-Satelife: Uganda & Mozambique AED(Academic Educational Development)-Satelife Works through handheld computers to deliver medical information at points of caregiving – clinics Delivers medical information on diseases, treatment guidelines, continuing education material Nurses also receive national and international news AED-Satelife has customised software to track patients and keep records electronically Clinics required to send information to health ministries Stream health data collected from remote areas It was able to contain a typhoid fever outbreak It was also introduced inMozambique It was also popular as it kept nurses updated with local gossip news

Case Study 3: DataDyne: Kenya & Zambia Established by Dr Selanikio public health doctor working at Centre for Disease Control & Prevention in the US. He was also an IT consultant for Wall Street before his work in health. DataDyne.org is an non profit project dedicated to increasing access to public health data through mobile software solutions. Inspired buy CDC project called EpiInfo that uses Epi Surveyor to access and modify and collect health data 2006 DataDyne entered into a partnership with UN Foundation & Vodaphone Group and WHO and Kenya and Zambia health Ministries launched this project to the health system Pilot project was Measles Initiative reducing Measles world wide

Case Study 3: SexInfo: USA 2005 gonorrhea rates among african american youths of had increased by 100% percent Deborah Levine excecutive director: Internet Sexuality Information Services (ISIS- Inc.) wanted to help curb sexual diseases in youths. Found that 85% youths had mobile phones and means of communication was texting. SexInfo was then developed 1 st – informed community organizations to serve as advisors on the board of SexInfo

SexInfo Conti… Focus groups held with youths on how they would prefer to receive sexual health information they needed. ISIS-Inc conducted research that highlight FAQ’s about sexual health by youths SexInfo was designed to provide this information to youth free and confidential Youth oriented clinics and social services were also approached to reach the youth To drive popularity, TV public service announcements were produced using rap musicians and also on BET and MTV and now can be found on YouTube

Some Challenges Funds are an issue in broadening the scale of these pilot projects Skills also need to be developed Back-end computer infrastructure is needed in in most developing countries to allow for the accurate arrangement and access of the information It is important to establish strategic partnerships for funding and skills to broaden the effect of these systems.

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