This is a picture I took in Lhasa, Tibet, two years ago. An older Tibetan woman holding a prayer wheel, while a young Chinese lady talks on her mobile phone. It is a common sight, and most probably did not even occur to me as anything out of the ordinary when there. It is remarkable to see the pace at which cities such as Lhasa are developing. To stand on one of the balconies of the Dalai Lama’s Potala Palace, send out an SMS home and receive a reply within minutes.

Following is some basic research I conducted on mobile phone usage in the developing world:
There are currently 3.5 billion mobile phones worldwide (source: mobile activism website). In Africa alone, there is an excess of 60% growth over the past year. In many cases mobile telephony has become people’s only means of telecommunication. China Mobile, the worlds largest mobile network, has been adding subscribers at a rate of almost 5 million users a month this past year. (source) It is estimated that by the year 2015, mobile communications will deliver affordable voice, data and Internet services to more than 5 billion people. (source: gsmworld)
In many countries mobile phones are the easiest and least expensive way to get a phone line. They are far more pervasive in developing countries, when compared to the Internet. The growing infrastructure in even highly remote and rural locations makes the mobile phone network an accessible means of communication in the developing world, especially as prices of hardware and services continue to drop. In addition, there is a relatively low learning curve when using a phone, making it far more accessible than computers to a wider range of possible users. Prepaid services enable those who lack the funding or credit for monetary deposits to also own a phone. When using prepaid cards, one pays for a bulk of airtime, and does not need to pay for any monthly fee or deposit. 4.58 million of China Mobile’s new customers in February were prepaid subscribers and only 328,000 were contract customers. (source) Prepaid considerably lowers the entrance barrier and raises the potential participation level, especially for the developing world. Mobile phones are not as restrained by illiteracy as one would think. It is a much more substantial barrier for computer usage. Therefore, mobile phones provides millions new opportunities to exchange information and engage in entrepreneurial activities.
Renting out mobile phones is a common solution in many poor regions, where people can’t afford to own a private phone. An article on Forbes describes Sukhriya Hassani’s work for a cell company called Roshan in Afghanistan, rention out cellular phone service by the call minute. Roshan has spread across 175 cities and villages and provides mobile phone service to 1.2 million customers – half the Afghan market. This model works for many of the African nations. Grameen phone in Bangladesh provides similar services for its rural and poor communities.

In India, what is truly wonderful about what is recognized as the “mobile miracle”, is that it has accomplished something India’s old socialist policies talked about but did little to achieve: It has empowered the less fortunate. Beneficiaries of mobile phones are not just the affluent, but those who in the old days would not even have dreamt of joining the 20-year-long waiting lists.”

Text messaging has allowed people to exchange information and communicate efficiently at both national and international levels. Patients can now receive reminders to take their medicine, saving time and money traveling to local clinics. As farmers in india receive market demand and pricing data for their products, young teens from the slums of Nairobi receive messages alerting them regarding job opportunities in the city. It has become clear that SMS use has great potential in campaigning, public awareness, disaster alerts and for NGO work in developing nations. /however, most ICT-inspired organizations concentrate on designing and developing ‘top-end’ systems for SMS-based services, while the door is often shut to the grassroots possibilities.

“Texting works where wires can’t reach, and often functions even when regular cell phone service fails. Because mobile telephony is leapfrogging the constraints of fixed telco infrastructure, the mobile phone is now the key technology platform to focus on for service delivery and development. The stats speak volumes: growth of mobile phone usage in Africa alone was 140% in the last 12 months.” (source: worldchanging.org)

Here is a list of some interesting mobile phone initiatives, thinking about solutions for the developing world:

FrontlineSMS is a communications solution for NGOs working in the developing world. Their system encorporates a mobile phone hub, connected to a PC or laptop computer. This hub receives, saves and replies to incoming SMS messages. They explain that certain logics can be applied to this system, such as programming so that it serves as a way to access information remotely. For example, it is possible to send an SMS message with a bus number, and get a reply with the times and location of that bus.

CAM is a mobile application framework for the rural developing world, being developed in the computer science department at the University of Washington. They use semacodes with mobile phones, aiding the process of filling out forms for local entities in the third world.

MobileActive - a global network of people, tools, projects and resources focused on the use of mobile phones for activism, campaigns, and civic engagement. This is a great source of information regarding different mobile phone initiatives, looking at this technology as an emerging tool for use in social change campaigns.

Textually.org is another fantastic portal to get information regarding mobile phone usage in the developing world.

It is extremely important to make use of new technology in the developing world in a way that makes sense locally. There are so many possible uses which can’t even make sense to foreigners. It is necessary for foreigners to provide resources or training, while local people develop solutions on their own, not becoming dependent on foreigners, but self-sustaining. In an interview about her Guatemala travels, Xeni Tech, co-editor of boing boing, states that there is still substantial discrimination facing many Mayan people. The law limits usage of their native tongue, giving way to the possibility of them forgetting their cultural roots. By using online teaching tools and documentation methods, it is possible to save the language and other cultural relics for the younger generation.

Xela Teco, a workshop in the town of Quetzaltenango, is a place where tech-minded Guatemalans build eco-friendly devices. The workshop is a small business supported by the U.S.-based nonprofit Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group. Xela Teco builds environmentally friendly technology that can be used to provide survival basics to poverty-stricken villages in the Mayan highlands: clean water, electricity and fuel. While American foreigners are currently part of the Xela Teco initiative, their goal is to eventually step aside. They hope that by arming rural communities with certain skill sets, they can help break a cycle of poverty, disease and malnutrition. (Their Indigi-Net entry: link)

Google Earth and the Holocaust Museum have a unique partnership, based on their assumption that technology can be a catalyst for education and action. “Crisis in Darfur” enables Google Earth users to visualize and learn about the destruction in Darfur and join the museum’s efforts in responding to this continuing international catastophe.

YouTourist.net is an Internet-based Trusted Social Network for the tourism industry with the objective of promoting and encouraging sustainable tourism based on the UNWTO’s Global Code of Ethics for Tourism. The website is not active yet, but seems like secure participation will be a key element of this future service. Their take at poverty alleviation is through providing special communication opportunities for local communities and travel companies.

It is virtually always irresponsible to give gifts to the unaccompanied children of strangers – whether you’re in a remote Cambodian village or a rich American suburb. We have no way of verifying that the parents or elders of these kids approve of the gifts or of the begging, and we have no right to interfere with their discipline just to create a feel-good Sugar Daddy moment. It seems like a good compromise to give pens and pencils, but it makes more sense to donate these supplies to schools rather than street kids.

As a guest, however, giving gifts is important. It helps offset the host’s cost of putting you up. Costs are considerable, especially when thinking about food. Giving to the owner of a house you are staying in seems appropriate, even if you are paying, especially if your gift is food. Local handicrafts are also a good way to spread your largess, and invest in a sustainable cause when visiting a foreign community.
It is the arbitrary flinging coins that bothers me. They help support local artisans and perpetuate traditional crafts. But even the non-arbitrary charity methods can cause many problems. The outpouring of donations after the 2004 tsunami resulted in an immense amount of clothing donations, much in excess of what locals could ever use, in addition to other fabrics inappropriate for any local season. So what? Well, locals were concerned that heaps of clothing, especially in the rainy season, could lead to breeding of mosquitoes and the growth of mold. If this happened, malaria and other health concerns, on top of the problems already caused by the tsunami, would add to the already existing multitude of worries. Interestingly enough, a resourceful volunteer came up with the idea of tsunami dolls.

The emphasis for volunteer work in developing countries is to empower and hire local people, when possible, to address local issues, build their own capacities and provide them with employment opportunities. The priority is to fill gaps in local skills and experience and not to give the volunteer an outlet for his or her desire to help. It is much more beneficial for them to hire local people to paint walls, dig ditches and build houses, when compared to bringing a foreign volunteer.

“That said, the days of international volunteers are not numbered. There will always be a need for international volunteers, either to fill gaps in knowledge and service in a local situation, or because a more neutral observer/contributor is required. So, to volunteer overseas, you need to have skills and experience that are critically needed in a particular region, and that can be utilized by local institutions and local people quickly.”, writes Jayne Cravens, on her fantastic Coyote Communications website.