Beyond markets for mobiles: the development sector and pro-poor impacts of ICTs

Ben GarsideResearcher – Sustainable Markets GroupInternational Institute for Environment and Development

Presentation for Mobile phones: the new talking drums of Everyday Africa?

Workshop in Leiden , Netherlands, 9 December 2010

Background

Mobile subscription rates booming

Prices coming down, coverage increasing

Subscribers still predominantly in cities but slowly changing

Boom has been predominantly driven by the market

Increased competition

Innovation from free market

Context

Passive diffusion versus active intervention – why?

A short history of ICT4D

The role of government

The private sector and passive diffusion

From access to impact – what evidence

Challenges going forward

Development interest and ICTs

ICTs are part of the MDGs (Goal 8, Target 18, Indicators 47-48)

ICTs have an impact on achieving other MDGs

ICTs can negatively impact MDGs

Goal 8: Develop a global partnershipfor development

Target 18: “In cooperation with the private sector make available the benefits of new technologies, specifically information and communications.”

Indicators: Total number of telephone subscribers per 100

inhabitants Personal computers per 100 inhabitants Internet

users per 100 inhabitants ITU – Digital access index – infrastructure,

affordability, knowledge, quality

Development interest and ICTs

1980’s – little or negative interest

Mid 90’s – big infrastructure projectsDigital Divide push

Predominantly focused on telecentre modelTelecentres -> Access to ICTs -> Provide services->Assist development

Continued to mid-2000s

Gradual donor and practitioner dis-interest

Efforts to mainstream ICTs in development

Perceived contribution of ICTs to development (Heeks 2008)

ICT4D evolving in a bubble

Disciplinary foundations for development informatics research (Heeks 2010)

Yet lots of examples of innovative active intervention

E.g. knowledge centres. ALIN in East Africa, MS Swaminthan Research Centre in India

Arid Lands Information Network (ALIN) Information/communication for what?

Participatory approach in tailoring information services to communities

Use of informediaries and local CSO/NGO for sharing and dissemination

How to better understand model & adapt/scale

Public sector and ICTs todayoverview of telecoms sector reforms In Africa (InfoDev 2008)

Public sector and ICTs today Commonwealth African Rural Connectivity Initiative

(COMARCI)

De-regulation of incumbent telecoms companies partial success

Weak regulators

PRSP’s and cut/paste e-strategies

World Summit on the Information Society (2005) – UN ICT task force

"lend a truly global dimension to the multitude of efforts to bridge the global digital divide, foster digital opportunity and thus firmly put ICT at the service of development for all”

Football!

Private sector and passive diffusion

Lots of citizen innovative uses of mobiles e.g. flashing, bumping, beeping, Ushahidi (to some extent)

What of bigger business?Focus on access, pre-pay models etc

Access divide greater than perhaps imaginedE.g. Ghana 83% city, 16% other urban,0.4% rural

Sharing varies hugely by culture e.g. India and Sri-Lanka only 7% share with non-householders

Sharing improved by interventions – e.g. Grameen village phones Bangladesh

s

Private sector & passive diffusion

Beyond access to ICTs - to services

Bigger business not so many pro-poor targeted services

Example 1 - M-PESA 13 million users in Kenya alone, expanding rapidly

Evidence of impacts on poor, including unanticipated benefits

Builds on traditional payment practices

Extensive network of trained distributers

Private sector & passive diffusion

M-PESA started with DFID challenge money

Worked with smaller company and MFI (Faulu) – multi-stakeholder & active intervention

Product evolved with consumer use

Smart regulation key – Kenya vs India

Private sector & passive diffusion

Example 2 – Google Trader UgandaBased on learning lab.

Grameen applabs

Google

MTN

Local NGO (Busoga Rural Open Source Development Initiative) – HIVOS support

Built on trust networks to produce Farmer’s Friend

From access to ICTs – to use of ICTs

Many examples of access but little uptake e.g. national telecentre rollouts across SSA – Ghana, Tanzania,

Uganda Many examples of “successful” pilots but failed replication

“success” very undefined ICT4D field has tended to be technology rather than

people led “neat” solutions and latest tech sometimes left to private sector Mainstream development has ignored or ‘mainstreamed’ ICTs

Lots of exciting example of innovation coming from local developing contexts

Passive diffusion mantra is strong

Evidence of livelihoods impacts?

Market pricing systems mixed results, from Keralan fish (Jensen) to Tanzanian tomatoes (Molony)

Lack of evidence that ‘mobiles are a tool to solve development problems’ ICTs and growth causality weak

Perhaps the wrong questionTypes of information and communication needs

– ways ICTs can fit with socio-cultural context to deliver them

Measuring what works From outputs to outcomes and impacts

Not only information but money, skills, motivation, trust, confidence, existing knowledge

Multi-disciplinary research into better measuring impacts Frameworks Infodev ICT Rural Livelihoods knowledge map

Synthesising new approaches – Heeks ICT impact compendium

People-centred solutions taking considering socio-cultural contexts

“the poor” as innovators as well as consumers

Long term sustainability – fostering demand, creating incentives

Challenges going forward1.Better measuring impacts

Development sector needs to engage

Mainstreaming ICTs won’t work

2.Fostering learning labs Multiple stakeholders

3rd way between passive diffusion & active intervention

How to engage business?

3.Public sector integration Smart regulation

National strategies linked to e-strategies

Grounded in local ownership, innovation, & diversity

Thank You