ISSUE 03 2014
M-GOVERNANCE
45
he idea of a small handheld device changing lives and lifestyles would have been a utopian concept even a decade ago. The mobile phone has ushered in an era where a phone is no longer a plain communication device but is an empowering piece of technology that can make a difference in the lives of people around the world.
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With the emergence of next generation wireless technologies theoretically capable of providing data speeds of almost 300Mbps, the proliferation of low cost smartphones that allow for unprecedented and hitherto unknown scales of access to the world wide web we are possibly coming into the most exciting phase of technology and its potential implications for mankind. The implications we see could span across verticals – areas that need them the most to help bridge the divide harboured over ages.
Mobile governance initiatives and the provisioning of life impacting services are vital to today’s developing countries as they seek to enrich the lives of communities and individuals by providing services from preventive and curative care through to advice on managing the crops they depend upon. By using mobile services as an established system for two-way communication to deliver timely and accurate information to citizens, governments are able to provide people with remote services, and potentially make a dramatic impact to mortality rates and education, whilst empowering ‘participative governance’.
The rise of mobile governance and various social impact initiatives are driven by the need to assist those communities that can benefit from guidance and utilising a technology that is already, in some way, prevalent. Individuals will not have the latest iPhone or Android device but instead the back-to- basics feature phone or even as we go forth, simple yet easy to use low cost smartphones. Yet this technology holds the key to change and is driving mobile innovation as providers and operators are forced to think outside of the box and look at how they can harness the power of a solution to make a difference to someone’s life.
This cannot be achieved by one individual or organisation alone. To implement a change of this scale requires many different components and a lot of perseverance and patience. It takes a significant period of time from conception through to finding the right partners, developing the service, the deployment rollout and, finally, validating the impact of the service. So where can those parties wanting to make a difference start? And are these initiatives truly successful?
Why collaboration is the key to success To some this may sound obvious. It is not easy to fix the world’s problems single-handedly at the click of your fingers within a matter of months. To make a change to a region or a country’s communities or address significant social issues takes time and more than one pair of hands.
Initially the need for change is ideally driven by a nation’s government, which identifies an issue to be addressed that would effectively make a difference to its citizen’s lives. This could be in a multitude of forms, whether it is mobilising public services such as utility bill payments, traffic services and health services through to tackling agriculture and livelihood related problems. These initiatives are designed to educate individuals and create awareness of public services, so they can better their lives, their families’ lives and so life expectancy can potentially increase.
As well as government buy-in, to make these projects a success it requires the proactivity, expertise and voluntary participation and support of various stakeholders in the eco-system. It is imperative to recognise the importance of the private sector, social sector, donor agencies, domain experts, technology providers, handset manufacturers and the mobile service providers or telecom operators. With each of these different bodies comes knowledge and experience that can enhance the overall perspective, scope, scale and reach of the projects and ensure all the key areas can be addressed by those with the know-how to ensure strong and sustainable results.
From our experience we have not only seen cases where a project has been successful but also where projects have failed to meet objectives in spite of the best intentions. One example we can refer to did not succeed because the initiative was being driven by a single entity and using conventional business logic, without any true collaborative approach or support from other stakeholders. Whilst there may have been a number of reasons why the project did not take-off, ultimately the key lesson for us was that the lead entity had not engaged with the domain experts who would have the first-hand experience and knowledge on what information was critical. Therefore the information being provided was not sufficient, not packaged effectively and did not address the
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