A team of developers has created a single system, called Masawa, to encourage development and delivery of information services to low-cost cell phones via mobile apps. Working with NGOs and local developers, the team will test the system in Kenya in 2011.

For millions of the world’s poor, cell phones are a primary source of information and an important means of communication. But cell phones still do not serve low-income users as well as they could. The cell phone market in many ACP countries is often divided between several network providers, and it is fragmented, with different users having different needs. Producers of cell phones and services rarely meet those needs adequately, as they tend to supply only what is already available, rather than tailoring their products to fit the customers’ requirements. The services that are available tend to be text-based applications that are of little use to people with low literacy skills.

Joshua Haynes, a graduate of The Fletcher School at Tufts University in the US, saw these limitations while testing an SMS-based application he had developed to deliver agricultural information to farmers in Niger. ‘The project worked quite well as it was part of a literacy programme,’ says Haynes, ‘so the people involved could read and write. But it wouldn’t be easy for other organisations to replicate, in either Niger or elsewhere, as most NGOs don’t have sufficient staff with technological expertise working in the field. NGOs are becoming increasingly aware of the issues, and may have ICT specialists working at their headquarters, but too many organisations are not yet capable of successfully applying cell phones to their project work. They often only use communications technology to keep in touch with the main office.’

It was in Haiti, however, that Haynes saw the real power, and problems, of working with cell phones. He had developed an SMS-based app, along with other Fletcher students, to help savings-led microfinance groups run savings accounts via cell phones. ‘The main problem, however, was that the accounting method limited the possibility for individuals to save different amounts. If one woman wanted to put in more money, the group treasurer would have to calculate proportional interest, which isn’t a straightforward calculation. So we developed an app to try to solve this issue, and became excited at the additional benefits of a savings group app. The groups then had a savings and lending history that could act as a credit history,’ says Haynes. ‘But after we started on-the-ground tests, we quickly realised that we shouldn’t have used SMS – it was too cumbersome.

‘When setting up a new local savings group with the SMS app, for example, someone would have to type out each new saver’s name and details, and every saver would require a separate SMS. To do that for 20 people takes a long time and is very prone to human error, and it’s not easy to correct those errors once the SMS is sent.’

The experience also showed the development team more general problems of working with SMS-based apps. ‘You have to be more than semi-literate to use SMS,’ says Haynes. ‘You have to be functionally literate, especially if you want to receive information by sending a specific code. The code has to be exact, or the system has to be programmed to handle the number of different possible input mistakes. If users repeatedly receive unexpected responses, they may quickly become dissuaded from using the service. Also, you can only send a very limited amount of information via SMS and it cannot be visual. You cannot send, for example, a short animation or video. SMSs are also relatively expensive. In general, the price to send an SMS has not gone down in the way the prices for voice calls have in most countries.’

Haynes points out that there can be privacy issues with SMS. Sent messages are stored on the cell phone, unless the user knows how to delete them. This could present problems for a woman reporting domestic violence, for example, or when someone sends details of voting irregularities during an election.

Co-ordinated delivery

While testing the app in Haiti, and through their other work, the team realised that there were problems with other types of apps too, not only with those using SMS. ‘We saw that many organisations were creating apps, and these apps would be developed for a particular sector. But the apps only reach a certain number of people. Beneficiaries of a health organisation may have a health related app, and those served by microfinance organisations may have a finance app. It seemed common sense that people need more information than from just one health app, or one finance app, they need both, and much more.’

The team decided to create a system to develop and distribute apps easily to low-cost cell phones. After their experiences with SMS-based apps, the team now concentrates on apps written with the Java programming language, which means users would need a Java-enabled cell phone. ‘There are more than two billion Java-enabled devices in the world today,’ explains Haynes, ‘many of which are in developing countries, and the cost of handsets continues to come down. Plus, most programmers in the world know Java, so we wanted to bring the two together – the developers and the technology – to produce mobile apps for the specific needs of people in developing countries.’

The team set up a non-profit organisation, called Masawa (derived from the Arabic word for equality), that works with NGOs, international aid organisations and microfinance institutions (MFIs), to determine exactly what their target audiences need. They then contact local developers to create apps to meet those needs, and Masawa delivers these apps through a single system.

‘Currently, there is very little coordination between the projects developers are working on, or could be working on, and what people really need,’ says Haynes. ‘There is no way to monetise the process of app development and distribution, to make sure the people creating the apps get paid for what they do and to cover the costs to organisations who want to distribute information in this way.’

Masawa works with NGOs and technical schools to find developers to work on apps for the system. The team hopes it can encourage developers to concentrate more effort on apps for Java-enabled phones. Many developers are now working in Android and iPhone platforms, because they can earn money there. Masawa hopes to provide another source of income for local talent. NGOs and other organisations will pay the developers to create the app, while developers could also earn money by producing apps that people would pay for. Masawa would also provide the means to distribute those apps.

The distribution of mobile apps brings its own challenges. Users can normally download apps directly onto their phones via the cell phone network, but the networks in many countries are not yet capable of handling that process. Apps can also be downloaded from the internet and installed onto a phone, but too few people have access to the internet in the areas Masawa is trying to reach. Plus, many of the apps for Java-enabled phones offered on the internet are games, and not intended for delivering information services.

To get around these issues, Masawa uses the existing networks that their partner organisations already have in place. They provide initial training to field staff from the organisations on how to install the system onto phones and to help them train people to use the apps. When field staff travel in the normal course of their work, they take a small netbook computer and use it to download Masawa onto people’s cell phones. They can update the system on subsequent trips as new apps become available. Users then see a single icon on their phones through which they can access the various apps.

Adaptable media

Local developers will produce most of the apps, working to a simple set of specifications so that each individual application fits into the overall system. This ensures that all the apps are distributed and updated easily onto each user’s cell phone. Masawa has already created a few apps that provide basic information, but also show their potential for low-cost Java-enabled phones. The health related app, for example, provides information through animations, and can show the correct way to breastfeed a baby, or how to mix oral rehydration salts.

Another app is an on-demand message board where people can receive information. Here, a health ministry, farming cooperative or local trader can pay to have messages appear on the board. They could, for example, announce a round of vaccinations for children in the area or give up to date advice on pest control or provide weather details for farmers.

There is also a microfinance loan and comparison app, and a children’s educational game, while another app provides agricultural information, such as how to tackle tomato blight. The information for this app is stored on the phone and it is not necessary to send or receive additional information. ‘These apps all show how we can deliver health, agricultural, educational and general information using a variety of different media,’ says Haynes. ‘They show how flexible the system is, and the many ways in which it can deliver information.’

Masawa is free and, depending on demand, it is also possible to include premium apps providing popular services, such as football results, for which people would pay. The cost of sending and receiving information via any of the apps depends on tariffs set by the cell phone networks in each country, but the cost of data transfer, which is how most of the apps would exchange information, is usually much cheaper than that of sending an SMS.

Close evaluation

Although it is still in the early stages of development, the Masawa team will test the system with partner organisations in Kenya in 2011. ‘We will initially be working with the small number of apps we have already developed,’ says Haynes, ‘and we’ll work with these organisations to develop more. We’ll then launch them and see how people use the system, how the distribution network operates, and how to think about financial sustainability.’

‘We will work with our partners in Kenya to test the system,’ says Haynes. ‘The team has worked closely with a number or people and organisations there, and there is an existing pool of creative, skilled developers to add new apps onto the system.’ Moreover, the data transfer and SMS prices are relatively cheap, compared to many other countries. Masawa and their partners will closely examine the progress of the pilot, aware from their previous experience how valuable it is to learn from mistakes.

‘The team will monitor the project very closely and methodically,’ says Haynes. ‘We really need to determine how people in rural communities consume information, how they use it, where they get it, and how effective that information is. Progress might be quite slow at this stage,’ he adds, ‘but only because we don’t want to expand in the future without understanding how to get information out to people.’

Even going ‘slowly’, the team estimates that their system will be available globally by 2013, and that by 2015 it could be installed on 10 million cell phones. Masawa has already seen success, winning the Social Entrepreneurship award in the 2010 Tufts University Business Plan Competition.

While Haynes is optimistic about the future of the system, there are, he says, many challenges ahead. ‘There are still some technology barriers; each series of phone, even if it’s from the same manufacturer, requires a slightly different piece of software, for example. Unless manufacturers address this issue, the only solution for developers is to invest a lot of effort into producing the different software for each phone, or base our work on a limited number of phones.’

Haynes is also realistic about the potential of Masawa, and the effect other mobile apps projects can have on the lives of people in developing nations. ‘There are very few stories of really successful app projects. I know many more that have failed than succeeded. The technology is often not the problem. It may be that the implementing organisation doesn’t have the staff or resources to properly incorporate ICTs into their projects. We’re not saying that Masawa is the answer or that it will solve those issues, but it does offer another opportunity. And we have to remember that technology alone will not solve poverty, it can only be part of the solution.’

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Joshua Haynes is co-founder of Masawa (www.masawa.org)

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Projet ABCs IMAC: Information sur les Marchés Agricoles par Cellulaire

As part of a literacy programme, this SMS-based app developed to deliver agricultural information helps farmers in Niger maintain their literacy skills.
http://sites.tufts.edu/projectabc/

Nopers!

We spent much of the Summer and early Fall 2010 consulting various individuals and organization ranging from small start-up NGOs to large VCs and Foundations. We listened to their feedback on the Masawa concept and then decided to shut up. Learning from the histories of other organizations, we didn’t want to market the hell out of just an idea, as that could lead to major expectations and very hard failures. So, we retreated into our tortoise shells and got to work building something you can touch and feel and hug. (I do so everyday).

With the help of our awesome software partners, we now are ecstatic to announce the birth of the Masawa Prototype!

The picture doesn’t do it justice — we’re working on a video — but we have a number of different illustrative Masawa apps that show the range of Masawa’s capabilities.  We have apps related to finance, banking, health, agriculture, information, infotainment, education, all delivered in a number of different ways: video, sound, text; apps that retrieve information from external sources and apps with info completely self-contained.

What’s next?  The pilot.  We’re still taking it slow and steady because we have a tremendous amount of learning to do, but we need to see and understand how (and if, frankly) Masawa will be used in the real world.

Thanks for all your support and stay tuned!

Happy to see that our friends One Earth Designs and the Afghan Scholars Initiative made it, too!

This is a welcome reflection, but hardly goes far enough. Must we replace one broad brush stroke with another?  Outside of some really excellent literature (Return to Laughter comes to mind), writing about the developing world tends to be all plot—whether that’s misery or success—and very little on character development.  In the end we’re missing that identity of the poor (or anyone else) isn’t just multidimensional, it’s individual.

About a year ago, I spent a few months in Northern Ghana as well, working with an incredibly talented and dedicated NGO team.  While I spent only a few days with the same participants in our programs, I spent a lot of time with the staff, all of whom were incredibly different.  D. was a serious hot-pink-wearing diva on the outside, so much so that you wonder about her ease digging in the weeds with farmers. But, deep down she’s seriously hard core, just a little too confident to show it off.  My supervisor was bubbly and fun, the master of all icebreakers. Without ever appearing angry or pushy, he managed to get everyone to fall in line always, just as it needed to be.  R., one of the drivers was perhaps one of the most curious, adventurous people I have ever met!  He was always stopping the car in the middle of some remote village and announcing that this was the best place in the country to buy [guinea fowl eggs, bush meat, charcoal,…].  In Nadem, a little town in the far North, he asked me to make a really tough decision for him: which cassette should we listen on our 8 hour drive home, Celine Dion or Dolly Pardon?  (Dolly, of course!!!)  Even as a driver, he was incredibly passionate about the work and learned more about it, I’m sure, than many of the staff!  He still calls me to tell me what some of the farmers groups I visited are up to now.

Why does it matter so much about how we think and write about the poor people that we aim to help?

It seems to me that overly generalizing keeps so many interventions off the mark.  They don’t fit experience, the marketing doesn’t appeal to desires.  We don’t allow for much individual expression. We are overly pragmatic, but real people rarely respond to purely utilitarian solutions.  (How many of you drive Hyundai Accents?)

We get frustrated at people not using mosquito nets. Have you ever slept under one when your bed is about 20 inches wide?  I’m no martyr, but this is one experience I have had.  It’s misery! Chemically soaked netting shrouds your sweaty head, catches your feet and shoulders. The net blocks whatever merciful breeze there is that might make sleep possible in the swampy air tropics. After multiple nights of not sleeping, you wonder if malaria would entail less suffering; sometimes it does!  Our nets give a solution divorced from the reality of human experience.

Only by appreciating that they are people first, with desires, love, families, interests, curiosity, sensitivities, emotion, can we effectively respond to the demand for services that advance development.

On a recent trip to Costa Rica, I did a short family home-stay in Piedras Blancas, clear into the rainforest, through a start-up eco-tourism company, Autentico Adventures. Hiking 3 hours into the backcountry of Costa Rican rainforest-was an incredible experience, yet observing the business processes developed to run this rural company was even more impressive. Because Autentico Adventure’s owners, Felipe and Carlos, depend on the internet to communicate with clients, advertise, and schedule their tours, they are unable to live with their families in the rainforest. Instead, they must rent an apartment in San Isidro, which takes over 4 hours to reach by foot, horse, and car.  Felipe and Carlos are wonderful people and run a great business, despite the challenge of being away from home.

Still, I couldn’t help but wonder how mobile applications designed for eco-tours might have enabled these two entrepreneurs to live with their children and families while maintaining and growing their business.  Through a java-based mobile program, Felipe could check changes in clients’ schedules without having to access the internet in San Isidro. Through weather applications, Carlos could check river levels and weather to ensure a smooth kayaking or rafting ride for visitors. And an accounting application could help this young business achieve and increase profitability.

Given the isolation of certain rainforest and rural communities in Latin America, building business is difficult. The possibilities of mobile applications certainly portend the relief of stagnated rural economies.

Also, we made this video as part of the competition.  Thanks to all involved for their help!

This mesmerizing factor is not as true of the low-end Nokia, black and white phones found in most of the developing world. Yet, there are some researchers interested in mobile learning that are still hoping to reach underprivileged communities who do not have access to smartphones.  One example, The Playpower Project, recognizes that the mobile learning applications can be both fun and cheap, and therefore is aiming to develop a $10 platform to reach ‘the other 90%.’  Playpower is one project of a research group based out of Carnegie Mellon University which is working with many partners to promote literacy and learning by leveraging mobile phones.

Creating successful mobile learning applications for the developing world requires first, a recognition that mobile is fun.  The discourse around ICT4D can sometimes forget that technology will first and foremost be used for entertainment (see Ethan Zuckerman’s Cute Cat Theory.)  This should be embraced, not resisted.  When I was in Suriname conducting field research for UNICEF Innovations, we found that in communities where young boys had cell phones, they were often using them to look at “naughty pictures.”  While it is easy to cringe at this fact, it is also easy to see it as an opportunity: children are already learning to use mobile phones to access information and share it with their friends.

Unfortunately, there isn’t much information besides naughty pictures that a kid in Suriname might find interesting to access on their phone.  When other information is available, it is shared in the same way, as we found with another teenager using his phone to access Wikipedia (in English.) Which brings me to the second key point for mobile learning, the creation of localized content.  The truth is, even if Apple decided tomorrow to give out free iPhones to every low-income person in the world, literacy rates or general learning would not increase.  That is because applications developed for the iPhone, such as Martha Speaks, are only available in English and, even if translated, apply only the cultural context of American children.

It is extremely exciting to think of ways that mobile applications can help increase learning for kids and adults alike.  However, these benefits will not extend to the developing world until we commit to build low-cost, locally-relevant applications for communities outside of the current iPhone market.

“Connectivity helps people and firms work together when they are more than a stone’s throw apart—coordinate, bargain, contract. Better communication allows them to reorganize themselves step-by-step into more complex economic arrangements characterized by greater interdependence and specialization. And specialization brings productivity (think Adam Smith’s  pin factory). I don’t think that’s all that connectivity does—it also transmits ideas and culture—but that’s a big piece of it.”

http://blogs.cgdev.org/open_book/2010/05/connectivity-is-productivity.php