Mobile Technology Helps Meet Development Goals

Mobile technology is transforming the way advocacy, development, and relief organizations accomplish their institutional missions, according to the results of a global survey released by the United Nations Foundation and The Vodafone Group Foundation. The survey found that 86% of non-governmental organization (NGO) employees use mobile technology in their work, and 25% believe it has revolutionized the way their organization or project works. Thanks to members of the ShareIdeas community who participated in the survey.

Accompanying the Survey is a new report, Wireless Technology for Social Change: Trends in NGO Mobile Use. The report’s 11 case studies of groups active in the areas of public health, humanitarian assistance and environmental conservation provide real-life examples of innovative use of mobile technology to meet development goals.

Among the programs highlighted are two conflict prevention projects, both active in Kenya. Oxfam-Great Britain and the Kenyan umbrella group PeaceNet created a text messaging ‘nerve center’ that collected alerts about violent outbreaks during the recent civil unrest and mobilized local ‘peace committees.’ The project served as a vital tool for conflict management and prevention by providing a hub for real-time information about actual and planned attacks between rival ethnic and political groups.

The GSM Association, together with a handful of non-profit and private sector groups in Kenya, developed another conflict prevention project that allows farmers to preserve their crops while protecting wildlife. The program monitors instances when elephants approach farmed land, and provides an early warning system via mobile that is reducing the incidence of human-elephant conflict in an area where as many as five humans and 10 elephants are killed each year.

“The innovative use of mobile communications demonstrated by the groups profiled in this publication proves that wireless technology can be a vehicle to drive social change," said Andrew Dunnett, Director of The Vodafone Group Foundation. "The case studies show how mobile technology has a critical role to play in enabling the NGO community to bridge the digital divide and deliver their services more effectively, particularly in areas where IT infrastructure is limited.”

Wireless Technology for Social Change: Trends in NGO Mobile Use was written by Sheila Kinkade (ShareIdeas.org) and Katrin Verclas (MobileActive.org), and commissioned by the United Nations Foundation-Vodafone Group Foundation Technology Partnership.

For more information about the Survey and report, click here.

To download the full report, click here.