ISSUE 03 2014
M-GOVERNANCE
47
The time is now for the
developing nations to take a giant leap forward from e-governance to m-governance and life changing mobile services
platforms extending their core network capabilities to power services for those who don’t have smartphones who still want to access relevant information. By converting their intelligence into simple tools, the people that need assistance will be able to access it in a format that is available to them, which is primarily voice and in some cases messaging channels like SMS, USSD and going forward extending the benefits of data access to the unconnected.
How a collaborative m-governance initiative can work We have seen initiatives in the market demonstrate how a collaborative approach to an m-governance initiative can benefit remote communities. For women across the globe the experience of pregnancy is normally filled with happiness and excitement. However, for women in remote regions the experience can be filled with anxiety, especially due to the lack of education in health and in particular pregnancy, labour and child care. As a part of the group that worked with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, BBC Media Action and the Bihar Government, we worked on the Bihar initiative, known as Project Ananya. Apart from providing an audio based mobile training course targeting front-line health workers (FLW) to help them deliver life-saving information, it also aimed to help pregnant women and their families prepare for the unexpected and potentially deadly situations that can arise in childbirth. Bihar, situated in Northern India, was known for its high mortality rates in women and children; it had the fourth highest mortality rate in the country. Whilst only 32 per cent of adult women in the state owned their own mobile phone, 83 per cent had access to a device.
The aim was to use mobile phones to provide cost effective training and job-aids to community health care workers. The majority of community health workers are women with low levels of technical literacy. To combat this we worked with
BBC Media Action and the concerned partners to understand what was required before providing the technology and the platform that enables community health workers to expand their knowledge of life saving maternal and child health behaviours.
Did the collaborative business model work? Well within the first year:
nAbout 40,000 FLWs have begun the Mobile Academy training course, accessing 5.8 million minutes of health education content via their mobile phones. Over 20,000 FLWs have already completed the course.
nOver 150,000 people have begun using Mobile Kunji during the last year, playing 5.5 million minutes of life-saving health content via their mobile phones. (To read more: www.
ananya.org.in)
Driving mobile innovation The success of the Bihar project is indicative of the results that can be achieved if all stakeholders concerned such as government, social sector, private entities, and telecom providers collaborate and provide these services efficiently and cost-effectively. This successful collaborative model should, and is being replicated in other regions and for other purposes, such as agricultural assistance, to enhance the lives of people across the globe.
The time is now, therefore, for the developing nations to take a giant leap forward from e-governance to m-governance and life changing mobile services. There is a need to develop and enable ecosystems which empower the industry to develop effective applications and services that aid in overall socio-economic development. While there are bound to be challenges en route, we need to solve them head on. It is important for all the stakeholders to come together in making positive headway towards healthier socio-economic development. A final few key points from our experience are that services and initiatives should:
nFocus on ‘people’ and the end consumer rather than on just the ‘technology’ element.
nHave ‘mobile’ as a common and mandatory ICT element in their go to market agenda.
nContinue to focus on services/applications using the basic mobile technologies like voice and messaging.
nBuild for the future – invest in extending free access to the Internet, with the help of low cost smartphones and benefits of technology evolution to segments that really need them. nAvoid duplication of efforts and infrastructure. LTE
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