Literature Review M4HumanDev

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Contents 1 Technology Overview 1.1 SMS-based Data Collection and Communication 1.2 Team Coordination & Management 1.3 Crisis Mapping 1.4 Open & Standard Medical Records 2 Economic Development / Poverty Reduction 3 Governance / Democracy / Civic Engagement 4 Health 5 Education 6 Gender 7 Climate / Environmental Governance 8 Security 9 References

Technology Overview

Mobile phones are having an enormous impact in communications across the globe, more so in developing countries where landline infrastructure is scarce in many rural (and also urban) areas (i.e. India^[1]). Mobile phones represent the only mean of communication for hundreds of millions of people. At the same time, mobiles have opened up huge economic opportunities for their owners^[1] as: 1) they can now be more easily contacted when work is available, 2) they can use them to advertise their services, 3) receive market prices^[1], 4) job information, et cetera. Different business models have appeared around this mobile phone economy, and people now make a living sharing their phones and charging non-owners to make calls, charging phone batteries, selling top-up vouchers, or covers and chargers.

Mobile phones are also giving voice to many who previously had few, if any options, to be heard on critical issues impacting their lives thus through the use of cell phones citizens are signing petitions, registering to vote, monitoring elections^[1],mapping political crisis and human rights violation, and reaching out to policy makers. Furthermore, civil society organizations are starting to use mobile technology to educate the public about important issues and mobilize people to take action^[1] i.e.environmental destruction can be monitored and publicized,women’s advocacy groups communicate and collaborate among each other^[1], etc.

This section introduces some of the applications and tools that allow mobile technologies to be used for human development.

SMS-based Data Collection and Communication

• FrontlineSMS is a simple-to-use, free, open source, entry-level text messaging solution for NGOs in the developing world interested in using SMS in their work, but who are confused by the array of options and technical language used in the mobile field, or who are unable to use the majority of current systems due to a lack of internet connectivity in their project geographical areas and the lack of appreciation in the conditions under which they work^[1]. With little or no expertise, and within the minimum of time, NGOs can be up and running with a FrontlineSMS hub and begin sending - and receiving - text messages with their constituents. All this, without needing to buy into costly systems or contracts, or take risks on systems not designed with their specific needs in mind.
  
• RapidSMS is an open-source framework for data collection, logistics coordination and communication allowing any mobile phone to interact with the web via SMS text messages^[1]. Mashing diverse functionality like remote health diagnostics and monitoring with emergency supply chain tracking, this framework supports the creation of limitless personalized interdependent platforms for diverse use-cases. Because one size does not fit all, this highly flexible system was designed to be customized for the specialized needs and constraints of governments, multilateral and non-government organizations, and development practitioners.

Team Coordination & Management

Crisis Mapping

Ushahidi, which means testimony in Swahili, is a website that was developed to map reports of violence in Kenya after the post-election fallout at the beginning of 2008. Ushahidi's roots are in the collaboration of Kenyan citizen journalists during a time of crisis^[1]. The original Ushahidi Engine was created to use the lessons learned from post-election conflict in Kenya to create a platform that allows anyone around the world to set up their own way to gather reports by mobile phone, email and the web and map them. Ushahidi is being developed by a group of volunteer developers and designers, hailing primarily from Africa. So far there are representatives from Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, Malawi, Ghana, Netherlands and the US. Currently, there are several implementations of Ushahidi, ranging from electoral observation to medical supplies stockouts.

Open & Standard Medical Records

OpenMRS is a collaborative open source project to develop excellent software to support the delivery of health care in developing countries. It grew out of the critical need to scale up the treatment of HIV in Africa but from the start was conceived as a general purpose electronic medical record system that could support the full range of medical treatments.The first deployment was in Eldoret, Kenya in February 2006^[1] followed by the PIH hospital in Rwinkwavu, Rwanda^[1] in August 2006 and Richmond hospital, South Africa later that year. OpenMRS is in use in at least 14 countries mostly in Africa, and there are over 1 Million patient records in all the systems.

Economic Development / Poverty Reduction

Over the past several years, many researchers have explored the impact of mobile technologies on economic development. Mobile phones have been cited as a means of making markets more efficient by correcting informational asymmetries in markets, equalizing prices of individual commodities across localities, and reducing the need for trade-related travel. These results have been demonstrated in studies linking the introduction of mobile technologies to the reduction of excess price dispersion in Kerala, India's fisheries^[1] and Niger's grain markets.^[1] SMS programs have also been used to monitor stock and supply chains. 

However, other research suggests that the impact of mobile technologies on economic development is more complicated than previously imagined. In some cases, these technologies may be reinforcing existing inequalities and power dynamics within the developing world.^[1] Although mobile phones enable businesses to operate more efficiently (by increasing the frequency and speed of information exchange, reducing the need for costly travel, and expanding business networks), resource poor entrepreneurs who cannot afford mobile phones are increasingly losing market share to entrepreneurs who can.^[1] Studies show that mobile technologies have also not succeeded in removing market intermediaries for direct trade between producers and consumers. Rather it seems that middlemen are driving the adoption of mobile phones as a tool of trade.^[1]

Contrary to the idea of mobile phones as a de-localizing market force, many researchers have also emphasized that travel and in-person meetings between producers and consumers are still necessary. Mobile telephony cannot substitute for meetings where businesses build trust, enable physical inspections of products, and exchange complex communications.^[1] 

Governance / Democracy / Civic Engagement

Mobile phones have emerged as a way to organize group of people of heterogeneous socio-economic and cultural boundaries. Over the past few years, we have witnessed how civil organizations have used cell phones to report electoral frauds^[1], violence, ensure impartial election through monitoring and facilitate collective action to free political prisoners. Recently, the world witnessed how the civil society used cell phones, twitter and social networks to report electoral and human rights violations during the Iranian presidential election. Some examples of how civil society have organized for citizen-driver election monitoring are listed here:

• The Cuidemos el Voto mashup is an independent platform to help monitor the federal elections of 5 July 2009 in Mexico.
  
• Vote Report India is a collaborative citizen-driven election monitoring platform for the 2009 Indian general elections.
• Al Jazeera uses Ushahidi in their "War on Gaza" website covering the activity happening in Gaza in January 2009.
• Peace Heroes: Unsung Peace Heroes is a campaign developed by Butterfly Works and Media Focus on Africa Foundation. The goal is to nominate people who helped do positive things during and after the post-election violence in Kenya. Kenyan heroes are ordinary people who did extraordinary things for their fellow citizens or their country.
• Congo (DRC): Deployment to the DRC Congo happened on Nov 7, 2008 - the week after our initial release of the alpha version of the new Ushahidi Engine software.
  

Currently, we can find in the literature some case studies regarding the use of mobile technologies for democracy, political participation, and governance, however we still lack of insightful analysis of the effect and usage of such applications by the bottom-of-the-pyramid (i.e. the poor).

Health

It appears that the bulk of literature to date on mobile technology revolves around initiatives ongoing in the health sector of developing countries. Mobile phones are being used around the world to improve the delivery of health services and the flow of information related to healthcare. Current mobile interventions into the health sector can be broken down into three broad themes:

1. addressing inefficiencies in service provision by improving communication between providers and users; 
2. improving healthcare effectiveness through improved self-management and monitoring of patients with chronic condition; and 
3.  increasing the ability of some hard-to-reach groups to access healthcare services.

A number of pilot programs and studies have demonstrated that mobile technology can be used to provide swifter and more targeted and effective interventions into developing world health problems, including rapidly unfolding infectious diseases and food crises. For example, a recent collaboration between UNICEF Malawi and Columbia University used SMS to monitor and map child nutrition trends in real time at rural health clinics throughout Malawi. However, questions remain regarding the scalability and sustainability of these projects. 

Recent studies of note in this area include:

• mHealth for Development: The Opportunity of Mobile Technology for Healthcare in the Developing World, UN Foundation and Vodaphone Partnership, 2009. 
• Using Mobile Phones to Improve Child Nutrition Surveillance in Malawi: A Case Study for Interactive Health Data Collection, Analysis, and Training. Columbia University / UNICEF Innovations, 2009. 
• The Role of Mobile Phones in Increasing Accessibility and Efficiency in Healthcare, Vodaphone Group, 2006. 

Education

While the explosive use of mobile phones in developing countries is well-documented and undeniable, evidence tells us that phones are slowly making their way into the hands of teens (and in some countries into the hands of women). Despite growing hype, there are still precious few widespread examples of the use of phones for education purposes inside or outside of classrooms in developing countries that have been well documented, and fewer still that have been evaluated with any sort of rigor.

• BridgeIT, is a mobile teaching tool deploying in Tanzania^[1], is changing the way students and teachers interact in the classroom. The program, launched in 2007, allows teachers to download educational videos (focusing on math, science, and life skills) onto mobile phones. The phones are then connected to classroom televisions which display the videos. Students watch the videos, which usually run four to seven minutes, and then teachers use BridgeIT-designed lesson plans to build on the ideas set forth in the videos.
  
• ZMQ Software Systems is currently running a program to provide with information on prenatal care via SMS. The messages, which are all in Hindi, contain information on vaccinations, exercise, diet, medication, and how to deal with emergencies that arrive during pregnancy. This is the only program of its kind in India, although other programs -- like a Grameen Bank sponsored program in Ghana -- also use SMS to give advice on prenatal care.
  

• Tostan has partnered with UNICEF in a year-long pilot project in which several Senegalese communities are exploring the use of a mobile communications platform built with RapidSMS.  "Jokko", which means "communication" in Wolof, a regional language in Senegal, aims to become a practical, low-cost system that encourages group decision-making in the villages.  RapidSMS is a free and open-source framework for mobile communications that is leveraging SMS/text messaging.

It is definitely clear that m-learning has promising future however there are still some barriers that need to be defeated in order to make it universal^[1]. Some of this barriers are technical such as the lack of energy to charge batteries, battery life, etc. some others are social such as accessibility and cost of  mobile telephony, privacy issues, multiple languages and dialects in a region.

Gender

Mobile technologies have been triumphed as an equalizing factor in societies and a means of empowering women. Evidence suggests that women have benefitted from mobile telephony micro-enterprise development projects such as the Grameenphone program launched in Bangledesh in 1996.

Closer evaluation of the impact of mobile phones on women's lives reveals a more complicated picture. Households in developing countries are increasingly sacrificing resources previously allocated for basic needs in favor of owning a mobile phone, yet use of the phone and the opportunities that it provides is often restricted to the household head. Research suggests that mobile phones may escalate gender inequality in impoverished populations and intensify poverty within households according to gender divisions.^[1]

Climate / Environmental Governance

The introduction of mobile technologies to issues of environmental stewardship has enabled better information sharing and administrative efficiency in addressing concerns about climate change and environmental degradation. Citizens are now participating in environmental monitoring by volunteering geographical information and reporting environmental abuses.^[1] Mobile phones have become a key tool in citizen environmental activism to protect natural resources and greater government accountability for the governance of natural resources.^[1] Mobile applications are being used to monitor carbon offset programs, instruct farmers on better management of agricultural inputs, and establish early warning systems for extreme weather events.^[1]

Security

The series of natural disasters and other emergencies occurred during 2003-2005 has prompted new interest in how technology can help enhance our security. It is easy to find in the literature reports ^[1] and articles^[1] that assess the impact that the widespread availability of mobile phones has had on the recovery from specific disasters and atrocities, such as the Indian Ocean tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, the summer floods in central Europe, and terrorist attacks in Istanbul and London.

Post-election violence has exploded in Kenya in the wake of the December 27 presidential elections^[1]. Ethnic killings -- which today's New York Times suggests may have been carefully planned -- have increased, and estimates of the death toll range from 650 to over 1000. In the midst of this, people both in and outside the country are using mobile phones in innovative ways to communicate political knowledge and circumvent the media blackout (i.e. iranian and moldavian elections).

References