Slightly off topic… but as I was catching up on some of my Google Reader reading I came across this post by Hannes over at the Mobile Banking Blog on Defeating Poverty. Over the last year I have come across this topic perhaps hundreds of times. Those of you who follow the mobile space beyond the enterprise will know about the movement that exists regarding economic and social development and mobile technology.
Hannes’ says:
What is it that mobile phones bring that can make this dream possible? It is immediate feedback. Mobile phones in the hand of a consumer is the only way that the system can give immediate feedback to some-one spending money. It is my opinion that a lack of financial skills (how to budget, how to control spending and how to save) sits at the heart of the poverty problem that we have on here on earth where we live.
Although I do agree that mobile phones are a vehicle to ameliorate the economic and social conditions of the poor and disconnected I don’t agree with Hannes’ comment that the problem lies mostly in the lack of financial skills… and that the main role of mobile technology can play is in being a vehicle for their education and improvement of those skills.
In my opinion the main reason mobile technology can and will impact people’s socio-economic situation is by providing them with access. Mobile technology is seen as a way of connecting the poor and disenfranchised both in rural areas as well as in areas of extreme underdevelopment and poverty. The mobile phone becomes an almost affordable way of connecting people to services that would otherwise be out of their reach (due to geography, lack of basic technologies or resources). Simply put, if you don’t have access to a service or a system you can not benefit from it.
We could probably talk and write a lot about this topic but I will simply leave you with a quote, some links and a few reports…
From an article by Natalia Uval from the Association for Progressive Communications:
To sum up, governmental authorities, social organisations and collectives consider mobile phones to be a relevant communication tool because of its accessibility and low cost, and are beginning to use them to meet development and poverty reduction goals; but there is as of yet too little evidence to be able to affirm that these efforts have been successful.
A few interesting sites to visit:
- Shareideas.org – Mobile Knowledge for Social Change… Take a look at their Economic Empowerment section and follow the links at the bottom.
- Can Mobile Phones Eradicate Poverty? which quotes an article from the New York Times: Can the Cellphone Help End Global Poverty?
- MobileActive.org – A resource for activists using mobile technology worldwide
And now for the reports:
- From the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development you can download a PDF report on The Information Economy Report: 2007-2008 – Science & Technology for Development
- I also came across this position paper (PDF) – Mobile Cell Phones and Poverty Reduction: Technology Spending Patterns and Poverty Level Change among Households in Uganda… This paper does mention the fact that rural households sacrifice by reducing travel budgets and store bought food purchases.
- PDF from the World Bank: The Role of Mobile Phones In Sustainable Rural Poverty Reduction – This paper among other things answers the questions “Why Mobile Telephony?”… and answers it by saying (1) Affordability (demand-side); (2) affordability (supply-side); (3) Device flexibility; and (4) Low Barriers to Entry.
- PDF – Mobile Opportunities: Poverty and Telephony Access in Latin America and the Caribbean from the IDRC.
As I come across resources I will update the links here… If you know of any please let me know. I would certainly like to learn more about the topic.
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- Twitter’s Mobile Strategy
- Mobile Money Canada Conference – November 10, 2009
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- Financial Services and Mobility
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I completely agree with your point about accessibility.
I noticed how this idea is further compounded, in my own experience, while working in Malaysia in 2000. I once met a truck driver for the construction company I was working for. I noted that although he was “poor and had trouble feeding his kids” he had two cell phones (one personal and one for work).
Interesting to note, that many developing countries lack the infrastructure for land-lines, and as a result have skipped directly to wireless making it incredibily cheap. A pay-as-you-go cell phone only cost RM8.5 (which included RM5 talk time – conversion rate approx RM3 to $1CND). CHEAP (even considering relative price parity)!
Sorry… That is to say, the SIM card (service) was RM8.5… Not the phone itself. If I’m not mistaken, similar plans in Canada, the US or Australia would be at least $20 for the SIM card?
Hi — thanks for the shoutout to MobileActive.org, the site and network that I run. You might be interested in a few other articles:
1. Is mobile banking reducing poverty? http://mobileactive.org/mobile-banking-really-reducing-poverty-close-look-promise-v-reality
2. The Village Phone Ladies, oft heralded as one of the ways women got out of poverty through mobile tech and whether this is still true: http://mobileactive.org/grameen-village-phone-ladies
3.Jason Urbach, an economist, on poverty and mobiles: http://mobileactive.org/ubiquitous-power-cellphones-jasson-urbach
4. Mobiles for development – or for poverty? http://www.mobileactive08.org/node/954
There is also a very good post by Richard Heeks on mobiles for impoverishment where he queries the literature: http://ict4dblog.wordpress.com/2008/12/27/mobiles-for-impoverishment/
5. Finally, the GSMA Development Fund has an overview of twenty studies documenting the social and economic impact of mobiles (only in PDF, it seems): http://gsmworld.com/documents/GSMA_development_fund_top20_print.pdf -
Thanks!
Thanks for referencing my blog. I try and be controversial in what I write on my blog – I would like to push boundaries, rather than repeat common wisdom. While it is true that mobile provides accessibility and I fully agree with you, I do believe that a big reason for poverty is a lack of financial skills. Many poor people are in a financial mess because of ill-conceived loans and bad financial planning. Coming to think of it many rich people are too…