“The power of mobile money” – new report from The Economist hints of development revolution
October 8, 2009 at 9:34 pm | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentTags: Africa, cell phones, Kenya, M-Pesa, mobile phones, The Economist
In 1791, Thomas Edison started a project– to build a worldwide network for people talk to each other. And according to experts interviewed last week’s report in The Economist, we can expect to see this project finished in our lifetime—100 per cent global teledensity is expected within the next ten years. Of course, 100 per cent does not mean absolutely everyone, since some people own several headsets and sim cards, but it comes pretty darn close.
These days it seems everyone has a story about how a cell phone has changed a person living in poverty’s life, but the in-depth research of exactly how mobile telecommunications is spurring economic growth is still being written. That’s why this special report is so exciting; it compares telecom across emerging markets, stringing both anecdotes and research together, and pulling out the trends.
Some of the facts:
- 3 out of the 4 billion mobile phones worldwide are being used by people in the developing countries.
- Studies show that adding ten phones per 100 people in a typical developing country boosts income per person by 8-10 percent.
- India leads the way with adding 128 million new subscribers in the last year, 89 million were added in China and 96 million across Africa. Indonesia, Vietnam and Brazil are not far behind.
- Despite average customer spending $6.50 per month and .02cent calls, Indian operators still have a 40% profit margin, similar to Western operators.
While the article touches on nearly every region in the world, M-Pesa in Kenya has had the most success with using mobile phones for banking. Here’s how it works: once a user is signed up using a mobile phone and an ID card, he or she pays cash to a vendor who then credits it to the phone account and gives the consumer a special code. The code can be used to withdraw cash later or passed along to someone else. Around $2 million is transferred through the system every day, with an average transaction of $20.
There are many benefits to mobile banking– no more carrying cash on long trips, keeping wealth in only livestock or jewelry, or risking losing the stash kept under the bed to a natural disaster. Adoption of mobile banking in Kenya was aided by an unexpected cause, the 2008 post-election violence. People that trapped in their homes in the slums during the violence used the system to send and receive money. Some banks also lost the public’s trust because they were seen as taking sides in the ethnic conflict.
Many are studying M-Pesa in Kenya– so far there is no other country with such high rates of mobile banking adoption. It seems only a matter of time before others reproduce the model; in many places the power of mobile brands are much stronger than that of the banks.
There’s much more to say – and hopefully more reports from The Economist to come – but you should read the article for yourself!
I finally meet Nick Kristof
May 3, 2009 at 8:28 pm | In Uncategorized | 2 CommentsTags: Africa, girls, Nick Kristof, strategic communications, women, Women's Funding Network, women's rights
Just wrapped up the Women’s Funding Network conference in Atlanta. One theme I heard throughout was the need for foundations to use strategic communications to tell their stories, influence policy, raise more money etc. Nick Kristof, the conference keynote, summed it up when he said, “the average toothpaste has better messaging than humanitarian organization.” Here, here!
So, I have been waiting for my chance to meet Kristof for years. In his remarks he talked about the most effective interventions for keeping girls in school – things like de-worming medication or sanitary napkins as opposed to building more schools. Well, he said the magic words for SHE, and I had a chance to go up to him afterward and make the pitch: SHE is launching women-led businesses in Africa that keep girls in school by selling low-cost locally made sanitary napkins! He wanted to know how much it costs to keep a girl in school by providing a sanitary napkins – he is all about the best return on investment.
Fine. But then my new favorite woman Yassine Fall from UNIFEM took the mic and told him the reason why girls don’t go to school was that structural adjustment from the IMF has stopped governments from investing in public goods like education and eliminating school fees. Policy is the problem, not as Kristof suggested, men spending less of the family income on alcohol and entertainment and more on education and health. She said his analysis was demonizing African men as irresponsible fathers who only drink beer. The confrontation was an exciting moment in the fancy hotel ballroom.
Well, its too late for Kristof to add Yassine’s perspective in his upcoming book called “Half the Sky” all about women’s rights. He both opened and closed his speech saying: “I truly believe the struggle of the 21st century is a struggle for greater gender equity in the world.” Good messaging — take note women’s funds!
Youth Uprising in Kenya
April 11, 2009 at 8:41 pm | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentTags: Africa, Kenya, youth
George told me why we are holding the peacesummit next week, I mean I had ideas, but this story spells it out. During the violence after Kenya’s election last year, a member of parliament asked a group of 10 youth if they would go disrupt the opposition’s rally. The MP paid the group 500 shillings and they went and caused fear and chaos and stopped the opposition’s event. Afterwards, the politician gave all the money to one youth, and the others wanted it so bad they almost killed him to get it. When the total was divided up it was 50 shillings per youth — less than one dollar. And here these youth risked their lives and could have been arrested. This made them so angry and bitter that they went and smoked weed and then took women and raped them.
Uprising Youth Club House
He told this story to a group of youth we visited in the Machako Slums in East Naiobi called Uprising Youth to illustrate why we are holding this peace summit, because youth can be manipulated by politicians. Uprising Youth is a group of young men that are brought together by a love of football, and their team is in one of the premier leagues. In order to support the costs of the team, like uniforms, registration and transport to games, they have several businesses to generate income. A few years ago there was a big trash dump right in the middle of the slum, so they cleaned it up and negotiated with the city to have the space where they built a club house, which they use for almost daily meetings to plan their game strategy and business ventures. Their first project was to manage the public toilets installed by city hall, which they still do. But the toilets were not bring in enough money, so they got a small loan and built a shower next door, where people pay 20 shillings for a hot shower. Business is thriving, and children play in the hot soapy water that pours out of the doors into the open sewer.
The group also manages 6 rental houses, but their pride and joy is a car wash. They are the only ones in the area with a power washer, and this means they can charge more than the others for their services. One month money was short right before a big soccer tournament, and the group pawned the powerwasher to the nearby NGO for a loan in order to get the boys to the game. It took them about a month to repay the the 7,000 shillings they borrowed (about $100) all in coins.
powerwasher
Several of them told me, “before I joined Uprising Youth I was a jailbird, a hustler. I just wanted to be a criminal, and now I want to be the best soccer player in Kenya.” A couple of the young men, holding babies said, we do this for our children, so they will have better chances than us. Uprising Youth has also accessed the National Youth Fund in Kenya, which is hard to do for all the bureaucracy involved, and got a loan of 47,000 shillings (about $450). They used the money to buy a PlayStation2, which they charged admission from kids to play, but parents started complaining so they temporarily suspended business until school is out. They have almost paid the money back to the government.
soccer coach for Uprising Youth on right
This group of young men live in one of the most violent slums in Nairobi, but all they talk about is soccer and what their next business plan will be. Dreaming big has paid off, after 7 years of asking, someone has given them a matatu (a van). They will use it to drive to their games, and on the other days they will operate it as a bus. Uprising is such a great example of what young people can do with a little support. But what sticks with me is despite their difficult circumstances, these young men had passion and drive, and that can’t be bought.
Waiting for death, with no help from the church
March 2, 2009 at 12:45 am | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentTags: Africa, AIDS, Commission on the Status of Women, Fulata Moyo, Malawi, religion, women
Fulata Moyo
This year’s Commission on the Status of Women is discussing caregiving in the context of AIDS. This theme is not well understood – and incredibly unequal because women are almost always the ones who care for the sick. Yesterday I heard Fulata Moyo from Malawi and the World Council of Churches talk about losing her sister to AIDS and her husband to cancer. She focused on lack of care for the caregiver, unpredictable wait for death, and the use of sacred texts to maintain widowhood. What impresses me is that after her husbands death – she went around and told churches how to better care for the caregivers…
When people from the church came to visit me they only said that God would heal my husband. The church told me over and over that God will heal him. I did not want to tamper with that so I prayed day and night and did not sleep. I was giving care to my husband but I also needed care. Some Christian fundementalists visited the bedside and told me there were symbols on my outfit that were demonic so I burned that outfit. I loved that outfit.
After he died the church people told me that God was my husband. But after 6 months I had physical needs. These are issues women face and they will not talk about it. I asked my pastor, so God is my husband, what can I do? Our male pastors do not know what pastoral care for women is. Most women do not talk about this but I do because I am one of the crazy ones. If I had had daughters they would not have gone to school during this time because you also have to care for all the visitors that come to see the patient. Praying was seen as the only way to be supportive, if the spirit was OK then the body was OK. But I needed someone to cook the food.
After he died I went around and talked to churches in the region and shared my experience and called for a greater commitment to pastoral counseling. My advice to people who are with someone who is dying: ‘if you don’t have wisdom keep quiet, and don’t talk to a widow about being a husband of god.’
Thembi´s radio diary tells story of living HIV positive
August 5, 2008 at 4:16 pm | In Uncategorized | 1 CommentTags: Africa, AIDS, radio, youth, youth media
With her doll-like face, she hardly looks her 23 years, but Thembi has learned a lot about life. After she was diagnosed with HIV at age 16, she started taking a tape recorder with her everywhere. At aidsdiary.org, listeners travel with her to her first visit to the doctor, and hear when she learns about the decline of her T-cell count. The stories cover her progression to full-blown AIDS, starting ARV treatment, and finally giving birth to a daughter.
Presenting her story at the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City, she talks about how keeping a diary empowered her. “Ever since I knew my status my life has changed for the better. Ever since I started my diary I have felt more confident and comfortable and I am an inspiration to other young people.”
In a conference of thousands of experts, the most powerful presentations still come from personal testimony. In one of her entries, she reflects on the future.
I’m just imagining what a world would look like without me in it. I’m not scared of dying but of leaving my baby behind. I want to see her grow a little bigger. HIV will try to rule my life on the inside but outside I will be boss. I want to study and have a good job, I want to go on with my life.
I felt like those images on those big screens with infected people had nothing to do with me. It reminded me of high school. When they would show pictures of thin, poor orphans that look like they are dying, and try to scare you out of having sex. But it never works because young, South African, at-risk kids do not see themselves in those images. They cannot imagine that it can happen to them.
Her shows have been used as a teaching tool all over the world and aired on National Public Radio in the U.S., and in the U.K., Australia and Canada, reaching more than 50 million people.
Unleashing the Girl Effect
July 6, 2008 at 7:51 pm | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentTags: Africa, gender, girls
This video explains why investing in girls is a save the world strategy using just words and music. No girls even! I love it and I am planning to use it in a workshop I am doing next week for the gathering of the Women of the ELCA. If you watch the video directly from Youtube — and it is doing well with 63,000 views — there are companion videos that feature girls talking about their lives, like Addis from Ethiopiawho was married to a 40-year-old man at age 12 and had to drop out of school.
Though this is where my training in branding and gender justice collide. I love anything that makes more people aware of how poverty limits the full being of women and girls. But after the feel good music winds down I ask: We are just going to give a girl an education and a cow and everything will be fine? Is it really the obligation of a woman to make a new and visible economic contribution to the village before she is listened to by male leaders?
Well, you can’t get to every issue in a three-minute teaser. But the website could do a better job with linking people into action strategies. Right now it just links to a fact sheet that any 101 student could have assembled. I want to know more of the backstory and forward strategy of this video, it is a collaboration between UN Foundation, Nike Foundation, NOVO, Plan and others.
I’ll have my eye out for more impacts of the girl effect. I hope ripples of girl power are felt round the world.
a liscense plate is communication for development
May 20, 2008 at 8:03 pm | In Uncategorized | 1 CommentTags: Africa, development, Nigeria
gotta love those Millennium Development Goals… this is the plate of the Nigerian Ambassador for the Millennium Development Goals.
having coffee with Darfur refugee camp, thanks to Google Earth
April 15, 2008 at 1:34 am | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentTags: Africa, Anglican, Darfur, diplomacy, Google Earth, human rights, ICTs for development, refugee, refugees, Sudan, United Nations, USA awareness
A huge tent camp all around the city of Zalingei, (West Darfur) Sudan.
Google Earth certainly allows this blog to reach a whole new level. If I am interested in a certain spot, I can just check it out. As far as usability goes, as a person sitting in a Manhattan apartment using a one-year-old Mac, I had no problem. I felt like Superwoman as I pressed the + and – keys to zoom in and out. And even though I do know where Darfur is on the world map, it is still a big place to find a refugee camp, so the search worked well to get me there. However, one does need a bit of a virtual tour guide in order to tell what is going on. This is what google provides:
“The current open conflict in Darfur began in 2003. This conflict, with its associated destruction of villages and livelihoods, led to widespread displacement, significantly exacerbating existing problems caused by a lack of development and minimal access to basic services. It is currently estimated that more than 2 million people have been displaced, with a total over 3.6 million people in need of assistance.”
So, the release of this application was picked up in a lot of the media, the headlines read, “Google, UN put Refugees on the Map”. I hope this application will give more people means to learn about crisis; the new capabilities of the application allow for UN and NGO staff to upload images and stories about the camp. But at this point the application does not allow you to watch in real time a village being raided or a woman being raped or a child dying of starvation…. and I am thinking about the right to be on the map as a human right we take for granted…
I spoke with a chief UN human rights official yesterday and he said there is widespread awareness about genocide in Darfur in the U.S., but what is still needed is a sophisticated analysis. The solution is not to run in with guns blazing, and the conflict it is not about Arabs killing black Africans, but about water, land, tribe and incredible brutality and cunning from Khartoum government. He said that while there is a lot of diplomatic pressure going on from the UN, people to people diplomacy is still very much needed.
By people to people diplomacy, I think he means using specific connections, like the Anglican church in the US connecting with their Bishops in Sudan and then coming home to tell the US congressmen — as well as engage with their pension funds, companies listed by the Sudan Divestment Taskforce which are profiting from China oil revenues… But at this point stopping this war is really about political will of nations. Google seems to be able to do anything they put their minds to…. I hope this helps.
some closing reflections on the Rwanda youth gathering and the digital divide
April 7, 2008 at 1:43 am | In Uncategorized | 1 CommentTags: Africa, digital divide, Kenya, peace, Rwanda, technology, youth participation
I am back in the US and missing Africa, what an amazing experience. This was my trip across the digital divide, which really ended up reinforcing how strong it still is.
I came back with one less suitcase, leaving behind a used lap top, a flash drive, two Flip videos, two digital recorders and a printer/scanner/copier. I am convinced that technology is what we rich country folks should lug over in our suitcases. I would have brought a bluetooth headset for Pastor John if I had known how much work he does on the phone while driving around the country in his green truck. His office is in his cell phone.
I shared my hotel with a bunch of Americans from Rick Warren’s Saddle Back Church, an evangelical mega-church in Southern California. After training 300 pastors, they were in town to officially certify that Rwanda is a “Purpose-driven Country”. Warren’s best-seller, A Purpose Driven Life is translated into Kinyarwandan and a lot of Rwandans have read the book. Anyhow, all the gung-ho Saddlebackers had brought a ton of soccer balls and Christian books.
The conference youth media team was earnest, an but as genius as they were, they faced a lot of obstacles. They watched me take notes on my lap top with amazement as my fingers flew over the keys… most of them type one finger at a time. I watched two of them work for thirty minutes on a paragraph for their blog to see the internet connection reload and lose their content. But they have made a cool photo diary.
A journalist from New Times, the Rwandan English paper, came to see what we were up to. He did several interviews, then went on his way. I asked him if he had an email address so we could send him our press updates, and he said he didn’t have one.
Finally on my last day in Kenya, I showed George, our media team leader this blog, and it literally took his computer 10 minutes to load it! This makes me really sad, because George is so tech-savvy, and he is going to edit all our video, but how can he do this with such a slow internet speed? He says he has a faster connection at home, especially at night when people are not using it. I have not posted pictures yet because even though the internet seemed pretty quick, uploading photos in Africa overwhelmed the internet connection even at my muzungu guest house.
So, my conclusion about communication for development is that it still must happen face to face. The Rwandan youth conference was a success because when you bring young people together, they have a good time. And what better way to build bridges across ethnic, geographic, economic and other divisions, then by spending a few days together singing, praying, talking about your country and learning from each other?
After spending a few days in Kenya before flying back, I have become convinced the young people of Kenya need their own summit. Like the rest of Kenya, I am afraid the power share of President Kibaki and Odinga is just too fragile — and there is so much at stake for this nation of 40 million people. The post-election violence in Kenya after Christmas was done largely by young men and broke along tribal lines. Now when I talk to Kenyans they mention their tribes in a way like I never heard before. These divisions are dangerous if they are allowed to settle. If I can round up $25,000 USD I will be planning a Kenyan youth peace summit and we will invite youth from across the country from different tribes…
SHE – Sustainable Health Enterprises- 3-2-1 Launch! November 24, 2009
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