Wireless technology for Social Change: Trends in Mobile Use by NGO’s By: Lerato Makate.
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Transcript of 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 2008
• 560 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
• 2005 15 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 15-20 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 18-25 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
• 1st – 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.