Use of Mobile for Social & Behavior Change in India - UNICEF

May 2013 I New Delhi

Draft Consulta

tion

PaPer

UNICEF MSBC Consultation Whitepaper:Layout 1 5/8/2013 12:08 PM

Copyright @ 2013 Digital Empowerment Foundation & UNICEF

Contact us atOsama [email protected]

Alka [email protected]

Published by:Digital Empowerment FoundationHouse No. 44, 3rd Floor (Next to Naraina IIT Academy)Kalu Sarai, (Near IIT Flyover)New Delhi – 110016Tel: 91-11-26532786 / Fax: 91-11-26532787URL: www.defindia.net


Use of Mobile Phones for Social & Behaviour Change 4

Executive Summary

The consultation paper (draft)presents the key areas of empha-sis in the growing mobile for de-velopment space in India. The

purpose is to understand the scope andmagnitude of the expanding mobile do-main as it is lately linked essentially toadvance development and governanceobjectives and seen as the most demo-cratic technology medium to offer scopeto deliver service needs anytime, any-where. The Paper content has been de-rived from existing research and fieldinputs. The paper is intended to assistconsultation ( Mobiles for Social and Be-havior Change) stakeholders to get anoverview of issues, scope and relevancein mobile thrust to support developmentefforts of the government and privateplayers including bilateral agencies andcivil society bodies. .Today, India has more than 800 millionsubscriptions – up from 6.4 million in2002 - and the mobile pundits believethis number will exceed 1.2 billion by2016.More people than ever before haveaccess to mobile phones and many ofthem are those at the bottom of eco-nomic pyramid (BoP) living in 250 back-ward districts of the country. The mobiledensity stands at 70 per 100 and thepenetration rate is 51 %, which is belowexpectation. The low penetration rate in-dicates there is still room for growth.Themost important driver of mobile growthis the wave of liberalisation and privati-

zation of the telecom sector in 1990sthat has led to more players determiningthe deployment, reach and usage of mo-biles. Thus, mobile ‘culture’ has arrivedand going to stay.

Competition among mobile operatorshas resulted in the rapid extension of mo-bile networks, falling prices of servicesand mobile handsets, and innovativeservice and business models that have re-duced much of traditional informationand communication bottlenecks and re-sultant impact in social and economicprocesses. Given rising demand for net-work, access and services, it is estimatedthat by 2015, more than 90% of the totalpopulation will come under the “cover-age gap”, and will need enhanced serv-ices and access networks. Rural areaswill need special focus on 2G coveragefollowed by 3G services. The intra and in-terdepartmental thrust under the pro-posed Mobile Governance Framework ofthe government is expected to spur serv-ice delivery till the last household.

There are increasing numbers of mobile-based projects, and the government, bi-lateral agencies, private sector players,and the civil society continue to invest inmobile based practices that can providelocal solutions in local context and prob-lem areas. For instance, The United Pro-gressive Alliance (UPA) II governmentduring the 65th Independence Day onAugust 15 (2012) announced a new Har



Hath Mein Phone (HHMP) (Mobile inEvery Hand) scheme. It is expected thatif implemented, this scheme will enable28 million poor people (6 million fami-lies) across India to have access to freeconnectivity and thereby ride on mobileplatform to access services and other im-pacts from programme focus.

A review of 13 practices for this paper in-dicates the most common sectors for focusare education, health, socio-economic de-velopment, and disaster management wellwithin the central focus of MDGs.There isevidence that stakeholders are interestedand expressed keenness in using mobilesas service and solution providers, yet thereremain vital challenges towards sustainingthe pilots and scaling them. The pilot ini-tiatives have highlighted two essentialpoints. One, mobiles have emerged as ef-fective mechanism to derive project im-pacts in – information dissemination,project monitoring / tracking, training offrontline workers and interpersonal com-munication practices. Second, mobile proj-ects calls for inclusive agenda amongstakeholders in multi-stakeholder partner-ship mode.

Common themes of focus and role play-ing among stakeholders include networkextension into rural areas, network up-grading (focused on urban areas), inno-

vative applications, content, and services,alongside convergence. Specific focus onproviding MVAS calls for applications inmHealth, mEducation, mBanking andother development focus needs to caterto the BoP social market.

Given UNICEF’s focus on sustainable andeffective communications for develop-ment thrust involving the isolated andvulnerable groups, mobile applicationbased services are likely to prove valu-able in achieving programming goals.Apart from connectivity and access forthe deprived groups and communities,mobiles provide cost effective interven-tions, enable to overcome bottlenecks toaccess and deliver services, and enablecommunities to maximise the impact ofavailable resources.

This draft consultation paper solicitsviews and opinions from stakeholders asto what specific policy and programmethrust required to maximize the potentialof the most democratic medium in mo-bile to serve development needs. Thefinal consultation paper will emerge as aknowledge guide for stakeholders as towhy and how mobiles find increasingpresence and relevance to support devel-opment efforts as promoted by the gov-ernment, industry, civil society andothers.



1. Mobile Status Overview: Reach, Access, Use & Potential

India is an emerging ‘mobile’ country.The country has the second-largestmobile phone user in the world withnearly 900 million subscriptions

(see Table 1). In 2011 alone, 142 millionmobile-cellular subscriptions were addedin India, twice as many as in the whole ofAfrica, and more than in the Arab States,CIS and Europe put together1. Total mo-bile subscription stood at 862 million ason 31st January, 20132.

India continues to lead the developingworld along with China in mobile reachand usage. While the mobile-cellular sub-scriptions registered continuous double-digit growth in developing countrymarkets, for a global total of six billionmobile subscriptions by end 2011, bothChina and India each account for aroundone billion subscriptions3. The naturaladvantage of geography (size) and popu-lation has contributed to this emergence.

The total mobile penetration in India isexpected to increase from 51 per cent in2012 to 72 per cent by the end of 20164.It is believed that high mobile subscriberbase in South Asia led by India holds a lot

of promise for the growth and develop-ment of mobile network and infrastruc-ture along with content and services5.

The Mobile TrendsDemographic / Network trendsWhile almost half of all urban Indians aremobile, only 1 in 10 rural Indians are mo-bile6. The 25-35 age group is the singlelargest mobile user group. However, 19-24 years ones show the highest ‘penetra-tion’ as well as the highest ‘propensity’ toown mobile phones. Only 1 in 5 mobileIndian is a woman. While 1 in 3 Indianmen are mobile, only 1 in 10 Indianwomen are mobile. The North zone is thesingle largest mobile region, though mo-bile penetration is highest in East zone.Students form the largest occupationalgroup of mobile users, followed by self-employed. The average monthly house-hold income of mobile user is 2.3 timesthat of mobile non-users. 1 in 5 uses in-ternet on mobile (WAP/GPRS/EDGE).Over half of all ‘mobile internet users’ goonline daily. In majority there is ‘male’skew in the user base.Half of the cellularoperators have relatively more ‘mature’user profiles in age. Half of the operators

1http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/material/pdf/2011%20Statistical%20highlights_June_2012.pdf2http://www.trai.gov.in/WriteReadData/WhatsNew/Documents/PR-TSD-Jan2013.pdf3Measuring the Information Society 2012 report , ITU4http://www.cxotoday.com/story/south-asia-to-witness-massive-mobile-broadband-growth/5http://www.cxotoday.com/story/south-asia-to-witness-massive-mobile-broadband-growth/6Mobile Internet in India, 2012, Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), New Delhi



have relatively higher proportion of theirusers coming from smaller ‘tier 4’ dis-tricts. The rest half have relatively morecoming from biggest ‘tier 1’ districts.

Wireless (Mobile) Tele-densityThe mobile (wireless) tele-density hasseen an increasing trend in recent times(see Figure 1). The overall wireless Tele-density in India as of January 2013 is70.57(TRAI). The total mobile penetrationin India stood at 76% with only 26%unique subscriber penetration(GSMA,2012). The GSMA estimates that India’smobile-subscriber base will grow bymore than 23% in next 5 years. RuralTele-density is at 39.26 as of January,2013 (TRAI) while the urban densitystood at 142.10.

The Urban – rural Mobile Base Over the recent years, rural India hasbeen active mobile subscribers. Thecountryside continues to provide a widescope in mobile penetration, use andservices. As of January 2013, the ruralsubscribers’ base grew by 6.64 millionwith monthly growth rate of 1.99%8. Thetotal rural subscribers’ base stood at333.74 million. During the same period,the urban subscribers base grew at (-4.24 Millions) with monthly growth at (-0.80%). Total mobile urban subscribersstood at 528.88 million. The overallshare of urban mobile subscribers to thetotal mobile subscription stood at61.31%, while the share of rural sub-scribers 38.69% as in January 2013.

Table 1: Highlights on Telecom Subscription Data as on 31st January 2013

7TRAI 8Highlights on Telecom Subscription Data as on 31st January 2013, TRAI

ParTICULarS

Total Subscribers (Millions)

Total Net Monthly Additions (Millions)

Monthly Growth (%)

Urban Subscribers (Millions)

Urban Subscribers Net Monthly Additions (Millions)

Monthly Growth (%)

Rural Subscribers (Millions)

Rural Subscribers Net Monthly Additions (Millions)

WIreLeSS

862.62

-2.10

-0.24%

528.88

-4.24

-0.80%

333.74

2.14

WIreLINe

30.52

-0.27

-0.86%

23.66

-0.17

-0.73%

6.86

-0.09

TOTaL Wireless + Wireline

893.15

-2.36

-0.26%

552.55

-4.41

-0.79%

340.60

2.05



ParTICULarS

Monthly Growth (%)

Overall Teledensity*

Urban Teledensity*

Rural Teledensity*

Share of Urban Subscribers

Share of Rural Subscribers

WIreLeSS

0.65%

70.57

142.10

39.26

61.31%

38.69%

WIreLINe

-1.33%

2.50

6.36

0.81

77.54%

22.46%

TOTaL Wireless + Wireline

0.61%

73.07

148.46

40.07

61.87%

38.13%

Source: TRAI

Figure 1: Wireless telecom tele-density in India (Dec 2011-Jan 2013)

The Mobile Outreach across StatesThe outreach of mobiles have increasedmanifold across all the states of India.The three union territories top the listwith Daman & Diu having the highest

76% mobile phone households, followedby Andaman & Nicobar Islands with72.1% and National Capital Territory ofDelhi with 68.2% households using mo-bile phones.



Table 1: Highlights on Telecom Subscription Data as on 31st January 2013

Source: Highlights on Telecom Subscription Data as on 28th February 2013, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)



Digital, Gender Inclusion and MobilesThe emergence of mobiles is havingtremendous impact on digital inclusionin India. Today, it’s not just a symbol ofurbanization but also it’s an integral partof rural India. India today has a total of amassive 333.74 million rural mobile sub-scribers (January 2013, TRAI). The singu-lar transformation impact brought in bymobiles apart from communication is ac-cess provision. Mobile phones haveemerged as bridge tools to addressperennial issues in reliable connectivityand access in rural India. As of June2012, there were 3.6 million Mobile In-ternet Users in India, a growth of 7.2times from 0.5 million in 2010.Out of 38Million internet users in RuralIndia, 12% access internet on theirmobile phones9.

Mobiles have provided platform totransact, trade and exchange incommerce and business. It hasraised the social bars of under-served groups and population likewomen, scheduled castes and tribeslargely through information andcommunication empowerment. In-crease in subscribers and penetra-tion of mobiles is expected to boostthe government’s ambitious projectto give broadband connectivity to250,000 villages under the NationalOptical Fiber Network (NOFN)plan10. This is to boost capacities ininformation, communication as wellas entertainment to millions.

The gender perspective of mobile out-reach is an empowering one. As in 2011,there were 225 million subscribers ofmobile among women, a jump of 40%from 2009. An average woman mobilesubscriber in India sends 30 SMSes permonth, uses voice service of 300 minutesper month and about 40% of women sub-scribers have found employment oppor-tunities with their mobile phones.According to Vital Wave, “The most basicaspects of mobile phone ownership arealready empowering Indian women, withover 90% saying they feel “safer andmore connected by just owning a mobilephone”11.

9http://www.iamai.in/Upload/Research/9320123264601/ICube_2012_Rural_Internet_Final_62.pdf10Government of India has approved on 25-10-2011 the setting up of National Optical Fiber Network (NOFN) toprovide connectivity to all the 2,50,000 Gram Panchayats(GPs) in the country. This would ensure broadbandconnectivity with adequate bandwidth. This is to be achieved utilizing the existing optical fiber and extending itto the Gram Panchayats; accessed at http://www.bbnl.nic.in/content/faq/national-optical-fibre-network.php11http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/NNuzsaxGowAutg2uVmkSzN/Mobiles-can-save-India8217s-poor-women.html?facet=print



Mobile Market/economicsThe mobile market has been increasingat a rapid pace reflecting surge in de-mand at a geometrical proportion. Therevenues from mobile services stood atRs.1.1 trillion in 2012. Mobile servicesmarket is expected to grow 8% to Rs.1.2trillion in 2013. Private operators hold87.73% of the wireless market share(based on subscriber base) where asBSNL and MTNL, the two PSU operatorshold only 12.27% market share. Whilethis rise reflects the growing customerbase, the factors that led to this expan-sion has played its contributory role. Themobile tariffs in India have becomeamong the lowest in the world. A newmobile connection can be activated witha monthly commitment of 15 cents only!Average price of mobile device in Indiaamong users who access Internet usingmobile devices is Rs. 8,250. The increasein Mobile Value Added Services (MVAS)has contributed in increasing the mobilebase. Currently valued at over US$5 bil-lion, Indian MVAS industry is expected toreach well over US$6 billion by 2013. The changing dynamics of mobiles in-cluding features that are user friendlyhave led to surge in demand for the handphone and services. Mobile phones havemetamorphosed into an all-in-onegadget. A gadget, that plays music, takeshigh-resolution pictures, offers servicesto access internet instantly, and manymore. For young ones, a mobile phone

has helped them to socialize, and sharethoughts through a fast, efficient andcommon platform. Women consider mo-bile as a personalised asset to serve theirinformation communication needs. In ad-dition to voice communication, mobilephones have allowed the transfer of data,which can be particularly useful for de-livering educational and health contentand imparting learning / training overlong distances.

What it indicatesThe mobile ‘culture’ has breezed intoIndia. With rising mobile subscribersand users of mobiles, India provides awider scope to expand connectivity, ac-cess, usage and impact. With substantivenumber of operators, service providers,the mobile space today is more compet-itive than before benefiting the endusers with fall in access and user cost.With continuous innovative subscriptionplan, service innovations, the densityand inclusivity of mobile users is ex-panding. The promising nature of mo-biles to provide innovative services inmEducation, mHealth and mFinanceapart from already sought demand forentertainment and SMS services is ex-pected to spur this demand curve. Theexploding numbers of mobiles providesstakeholders in India an unprecedentedopportunity to intervene and serve thesocial and economic market needs judi-ciously and responsibly.



2. The Widening Mobile Space: Unlimited Opportunity athand

I. Mobile as Social ‘Object’The numerical dimension of mobiles asreflected in millions of subscriptions andaccess has immense social connotationthat defines the larger cultural, eco-nomic, institutional and governance rel-evance. Increasingly the mobile phonehas moved beyond being a mere techni-cal device to becoming a key “social ob-ject” in every aspect of daily life in India.Always-on connectivity and mobility isdefining not only the technological land-scape, but equally the socio-political-economic processes. With the spread of“anywhere, anytime” communication in-frastructures, mobile have increased con-venience, better access to informationand streamlined access to social and eco-nomic entitlements.

The expanded mobile networks have trig-gered a new sense of social identity forvarious groups of people, e.g. youth andwomen. The highly personalized natureof the mobile phone has meant that itsform and use have become important as-pects of the individuality of a phone user.The effects of mobile phones on culturaland political identity, which are sub-setsof collective identity, are equally pro-found.

Mobile phones have flattened traditionalhierarchical structures, including the in-

formation architecture, and enhancedthe accessibility to social and political in-stitutions, allowing individuals to regis-ter grievance or to lodge complaintswith authorities directly. The layman inIndia has been empowered manifold.

Having access to mobile platform haveincreased relevance in improved socialand economic living conditions espe-cially in rural areas by improving accessto family, education, health and financialservices and by enabling development ofagricultural and non-agricultural eco-nomic activity. Small holder farmers inUttar Pradesh and Haryana have beenempowered financially through thetimely use of mobile phones for provid-ing information andadvice on agricul-ture. Women victims in Kutch district ofGujarat are getting legal aid services todeal with physical, mental stress andabusive situations through a helpline‘Hello Sakhi’ that provisions usage of mo-bile to register grievance and receivelegal guidance.

II. The Mobile Thrust The multiple advantages from the mobile‘social’ object has accelerated the processof infrastructure development, deploy-ment, increasing network, more and bet-ter services, and widening the basket ofservice delivery. While the customer, rev-

The mobile phone has moved beyond being a mere device to become a Key “socialobject” present in every aspect of our daily lives” ITU, 2004



enue and commercial thrust has al-ready reached a higher level of achieve-ment, there is the new found policy andprogramme relevance in exploring theunlimited scope and opportunity pro-vided by the mobile platform to meetdevelopment needs. The focus hasshifted to serve the bottom of pyramid(BoP) segments.

Rapid expansion in deployment, penetra-tion and subscribers for mobiles and ab-sence of other sustainable informationand communication technology mediahave prompted the public, private andthe social sector to exploit mobile com-munication in India. At governance level,the mobile as a platform, as a tool, is seento promote direct interaction betweengovernments and citizens; empower citi-zens to influence local governance. Mo-bile as an ‘m-powering’ tool isencouraged to work as an effective chan-nel to achieve key development goals inareas of women empowerment, educa-tion, health, and disaster management.

The Government FocusThe few efforts of the government to-wards mobile based initiatives have beenat two levels – Central and State levels.At central level, there are few pilot initia-tives to explore the utility and relevanceof mobiles in achieving departmental andprogramme objectives. The Mother andChild Tracking System (MCTS) pro-gramme launched by the Ministry ofHealth and Family Welfare in 2010 isone such specific intervention (see Box1). The United Progressive Alliance (UPA)II government during the 65th Independ-ence Day on August 15 (2012) an-nounced a new Har Hath Mein Phone(HHMP) (Mobile in Every Hand)

scheme.It is expected that if imple-mented, this scheme will enable 28 mil-lion poor people (6 million families)across India to have access to free con-nectivity. The Transparent Targeted Pub-lic Distribution System (TTPDS) initiativelaunched by the Department of Food andCivil Supplies in Uttar Pradesh in 2009-10 have provisions for mobile phoneusage to deliver information services per-taining to food grains delivery via SMSservices. The pilot in 2 districts ofBahraich and Jalaun has been completedin 2012 (see box).

The m-Governance FrameworkThis is the singular most focused ap-proach towards mobile enabled servicedelivery to citizens. The m-Governancefocus under National e-Governance Plan(NeGP) launched by Department of Elec-tronics & IT (Ministry of Communica-tions & IT) in 2012, is an extension toNeGP vision and in cognizance of the vastmobile subscriber base in the country.The framework intends to introduce pro-

Box 1: Mother and Child Tracking Sys-tem (MCTS), Ministry of H&FW, India A name, address and telephone basedMother and Child Tracking System (MCTS)is a new initiative of the Ministry of Healthand Family Welfare since 2010, and isseen as an effective example of leveragingInformation Technology for ensuring de-livery of full spectrum of healthcare andimmunization services to pregnant womenand children up to 5 years of age. The sys-tem employs mobile-based SMS technol-ogy to communicate with grass roots levelhealth care services providers, health andfamily welfare policy makers, health man-agers and health administrators at differ-ent tiers of the health care delivery system.



vision for access of pub-lic services through mo-biles. It provisions thatthe websites of all gov-ernment departmentsand agencies be mademobile compliant. Openstandards shall beadopted for mobile ap-plications for ensuringthe interoperability ofapplications across var-ious operating systemsand devices. Uniform/single pre-designated numbers (long andshort codes) shall be used for mobile-based services to ensure convenience.With the government’s e-governanceplans making little headway, the shift to-wards mobile governance (m-gover-nance) is expected to deliver results inview of larger penetration of mobilesacross the country.

It is proposed to integrate at least 125Government Departments with MobileServices Delivery Gateway (MSDG) for de-ployment and delivery of mobile-basedservices by end of FY 2012-13. Depend-ing on the thrust and genuineness of ef-forts, this ambition could very well servecritical services needs pertaining to vitalministries like Ministry of Human Re-source Development, Ministry of Health,Ministry of Women and Child Develop-ment, Ministry of Environment andForests and special agencies like NationalDisaster Management Authority (NDMA).

The Private Sector Thrust The role of the mobile operators, serviceproviders and software developers hasseen an increasing presence in India overthe past one decade and more. One sin-

gular role of the cellular operators inIndia has been its contribution to extendthe network of mobile reach in all 640districts in India reaching out to morethan 800 million subscribers. As in Janu-ary 2013, the thirteen major operatorsincluding the two government ownedBSNL and MTNL has reached out to862.6 millionwireless subscribers in bothurban and rural India. This volume inmobile users’ highlights the increasingcapacity of the country to provide con-nectivity and access for the vast millions.

Helped by rising penetration of handsets,India's Mobile Value Added Solution(MVAS) service providers have expandedthe innovation basket to provide services

Box 2: BSNL’s increases reach in Con-nectivity & access Increasing its reach to tap the youth andrural India, the state owned Bharat San-char Nigam Limited (BSNL) has increasedits subscription base for wireless telecomservice from 100240893 in January 2013to 100670567 in February 2013. This issignificant given the competitive regime toprovide mobile network and access withmore than half a dozen private operators.



catering to high and low income usersegments. Content and VAS technologyare focusing on the consumer experienceand developing personalised content.Equipment manufacturers are innovat-ing with lost cost smartphones and mo-bile devices to drive penetration anddemand for services in urban and ruralIndia. The focus has shifted to mEduca-tion, mEntertainment, mFinance andmHealth application areas. mEducationcan play a key role in expanding thereach and quality of education in India,through interactive englishlanguagelearning services and other methods.mHealth has the potential to improvehealthcare access and affordability inIndia, especially through remote diagnos-tics, chronic disease management andmaternal care.The emphasis is on the col-laborative effort across mobile networkoperators, telecom equipment vendorsand mobile service content providers12.

The role of the mobile software develop-ers in innovations enabling solutions todevelopment objectives has seen expan-sion of late. The contribution is seen to-

wards innovative ICT solutions, software,and applications for empowering peopleand enabling sustainable development.Specialisations have emerged in develop-ing solutions in the areas of publichealth, education, skills development andtraining, enterprise development andlivelihood generation, environment, dis-aster management and agriculture (seeBox 3). The new found thrust is seen indeveloping social ICT products for newmarkets of the world at the Bottom-of-the-Pyramid (BOP) by successfully reach-ing out to grass-root, under-privileged,and marginalized communities; based onviable and self-sustaining business mod-els in support of the social cause.

The Social Sector Thrust The role of Non-Governmental Organisa-tions (NGOs) assumes significance in

view of their wider engagement in civicand development initiatives. The growingimportance of NGOs in India can be at-tributed to the realization that neitherthe state nor the market alone can fully

Box 3: Freedom HIV/aIDS Mobile innovations determine the demandfor devise and services. Freedom HIV/AIDSis an India based initiative on HIV/AIDSawareness using mobile phone games, andis considered as first ever-social initiativeon the mobile devices. Launched in 2005Freedom HIV/AIDS, launched by ZMQ,comprises of four mobile games targetingdifferent mind-sets and psychology of mo-bile users. In a span of 15 months, therehave been a download of 10.3 milliongame sessions.

Box 4: Project Mahila ShaktiThe project 'Mahila Shakti' is a programmeof women empowerment through educa-tion initiative with effective communica-tion mechanism. The project is facilitatedby local NGO Human Welfare Association(HWA) in Varanasi District of UttarPradesh. The programme provisions use ofmobile phone to train women for their dayto day conversation, increase business andimprove their personality. Additionally, themobile phone is used to enable the illiter-ate women to recognise the digits and al-phabets depicted on the key pad.

12'Future Thought of Business (FTOB): MVAS', 2012, a joint report by Wipro Technologies, the global IT consultingand outsourcing arm of Wipro Ltd, and Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI)



address enormous development and gov-ernancechallenges. Over last fewdecades, NGOs have become importantplayers in the development process en-gaged in wide ranging activities startingwith community development to train-ing, policy research, and advocacy. Oflate, the social sector has seen increasinguse of ICTs to deliver solutions and serv-ice serving underserved groups and com-munities. The widening mobile space isbeing explored to provide low cost andinnovative solutions to address old andnew service delivery challenges in areaslike education, health and women em-powerment (see Box 4).

III. exploring Mobile Utility inDevelopment Mobile interventions have been steppedup in the country to meet set develop-

ment goals and bridge the gaps in gover-nance and service delivery. Priority areashave been identified by stakeholders toinnovate and deploy solutions and meth-ods in mobile applications. Mobiles havebeen explored as a medium, tool, andplatform in project implementation andoutcome.

The effective usage of mobiles in Indiahas found specialisations in key interven-tion methods. Stakeholders have adoptedthese multiple ways either in single ormultiple modes of interventions in cho-sen areas of experimentation – educa-tion, health, gender empowerment, anddisaster management. The priority meas-ures included – information dissemina-tion, monitoring & tracking, training, andinterpersonal communication purposes(see figure).

Figure 2: Mobile: Multiple Options in Development



a. Information Dissemination The empowering role of mobiles throughcritical information dissemination forwomen has been realized with experimen-tations. Features unique to mobile phones,such as portability, text messaging anddata downloading, has allowed women toparticipate in the social and economicprocesses by giving them more timely andaccurate information and greater flexibil-ity of communication. Mobile based learn-ing has increased access for educationcontent dissemination for those who aremobile or cannot physically attend learn-ing institutions due to the constraints ofwork, household activities, or other timeand demand constraints.

The portable devise has empowered com-munities to address their health needs es-pecially catering to women and childhealth care more so in rural India. InSheikhpura district in Bihar, the basic“voice “functionality of the mobile phonehas made a significant impact on the effi-cacy of the ASHAs (Accredited SocialHealth Activist). The simple and easilynavigable mobile handset has empow-ered ASHAs interact with their supervi-sors as needed, help colleagues, and mostimportantly, communicate with themother and their families – providing in-formation on nurse visits, reminders onimmunization schedules, etc.

The natural vulnerability of this countryhas prompted citizens and encouragedstakeholders led by the government topromote use of the mobile device to re-duce impacts from natural calamities.The Gujarat earthquake in 2001 and the2009 Tsunami in India’s South had visi-bly demonstrated the utility of the mo-bile devise to inform and communicate in

emergency hours and save precious livesand resources.

B. Monitoring & Tracking Pilot programmes have aptly demon-strated the desired impact of using mo-bile devises in project monitoring andtracking and achieve the ‘unthinkable’. Ithas been piloted how mobiles can deliverbenefits to women in their family or com-munity constituency by keeping a checkon programmes being implemented re-lated to education and health. With ade-quate training, women programmemanagers can use mobiles for projectmonitoring / tracking of programmesand ensuring that desired outputs andoutcomes are attained. The mid-day mealscheme is a national intervention to en-sure school attendance and stop dropouts through free meal provisions inschool. To ensure smooth delivery ofmeals, women are trained as managers tomonitor the programme effectively.

The capacity of mobile platforms to mon-itor and track educational schemes / pro-grammes has found quiet but sustainableacceptance in managing the life cycle ofa project in educational programmes.The capacity of the mobile as a tool totrack class attendance, presence of teach-ing staff, maintaining time table, sendingprogress updates have been demon-strated. Further, the expanding healthsector interventions find a critical placefor mobiles to play a supplementing rolein sustaining health programmesthrough adequate monitoring / trackingof programmes. The technology astute-ness in mobiles has come as a great reliefin monitoring and timely observation ofhealth services delivery programmes andtracking of progress.



C. Training of Front Line WorkersIn recent times, the mobile device hasbeen experimented to serve trainingneeds in front end service delivery. Thisis especially found relevant in flagshipprogrammes like National Rural HealthMission (NRHM) in health domain. Thereare estimated more than 3 million frontline health workers in India. This workforce is spread across more than 250 dis-tricts, more than 250,000 Primary HealthCentres (PHCs). Equipping each workerwith a mobile phone and adequate train-ing (healthphone) serves vast unmetneeds of health information dissemina-tion, tracking of progress of healthschemes, and solves so many health is-sues on the spot through interpersonalcommunication support services.

D. Interpersonal Communication The essence of interpersonal communi-cation to meet personalised and peergroup needs is identified for long. This isespecially in health related matters. Pro-viding an effective communication plat-form which is democratic, decentralized,personalized and two-way powerfulmedium is what matters significantly todeal with varied types of health issues.The advantage in health care cost reduc-tion through interpersonal mobile com-munication is a possibility today throughpromotion and advocacy on preventivemeasures. Such communication practiceshave enhanced the safety measures dur-ing natural disasters and contributed ingreater preparedness during calamities.This communication practice has sup-ported manifold to solve gender issuesand youth concerns (adolescents espe-cially) which are otherwise difficult to ad-dress in a physical or group setting.


3. Learning from Experience

Mobile innovations are deliver-ing home-grown solutionsworldwide and have shownpromising results in India,

transforming connectivity and accessscenario, social and business processesand driving inclusive development andeconomic growth. The mobile access isquickly changing lives, driving gover-nance and service delivery, fuelled in partby collaborative efforts, and deliveringinnovation and localisations in solutions.Together with Internet, mobile phonesare transforming the development land-scape, injecting new dynamism in keysectors as exemplified by various pilot ef-forts. The challenge is to scale up theseinnovations and success stories forgreater social and economic impactsacross length and breadth of India by2020. The challenge going forward is toensure that mobile practices and innova-tions benefit all Indians, including thepoor and vulnerable, and those living ininaccessible areas.

I. Learning from experiences I:Use of Mobiles for InformationDissemination and ProgrammeMonitoring / Tracking a. Mobiles for Information Dissemi-nation

Information dissemination is a proactiveinformation service designed to educateand inform focused groups of users onsocial, economic and educational issues,problems, and opportunities of interestto them13. It requires systematic plan-ning, collection, organization, and stor-age of information for its delivery to thetarget audience using different mediaand communication means. The impor-tance of information dissemination is inraising the social and economic status offocused groups including their survivaland self-development through needbased technical skills and educationalprogrammes.

Mobiles for education Project Name: Let us go to school; By:radio Namaskar; Location: Konark,Odisha

“ChalaSkul Ku Jiba” (Let us go to school)is an initiative of Radio Namaskar, a com-munity radio FM station. The project, ini-tiated in 4 blocks and surrounding areasin Puri District, Odisha, seeks to enrolldropouts’ students back to school. Duringsituation analysis and listeners surveyRadio Namaskar got regular feedbackson massive dropout of school studentsespecially girl students. To stop thistrend, Radio Namaskar decided to start a

13http://www.unesco.org/education/aladin/paldin/pdf/course02/unit_05.pdf



new radio programme to bring back alldropout students to their respectiveschools. The first initiative was taken inJuly, 2010.

To this effect, jingle was produced, broad-casted to motivate the parents to sendtheir children to school. In the firstmonth, the response was poor and notencouraging. Subsequently, a dedicatedmobile number was announced dedi-cated to the purpose. Interestingly, theresponse of listeners started growingeach day. But it was one way communica-tion. Respondents were informing thestudio regarding the dropout students oftheir locality which was broadcastedthrough the community radio. Subse-quently, software was integrated withradio programme through which a lis-tener can ring anytime to the dedicatedmobile number and can tell her/his view.Through this software and GSM gatewaythe dedicated mobile number(9040904904) for the listeners wasspread. Now, when any listener rings themobile number an automatic voice com-mand goes to the dialler with request toinform regarding dropout students intheir village/locality if available and sendthem back to school.

In this process the initiative took shapeof a campaign and it started broadcast-ing a special radio programme packageof 30 minutes twice a week. Listenersstarted informing regarding dropout stu-dents from their mobile phones to thededicated mobile number (through calland sms). The Radio team used to sendsms to the mobile numbers belonging tothe village and Gram Panchayat mem-bers, Women Self Help Group leaders,Sarpanches, Ward members, teachers,

community leaders, radio volunteers etc.

The recorded and sms information werebroadcasted through Radio Namaskar inspecial episodes. Further, live tele-confer-ence was conducted with listener, localschool teacher/headmaster, school au-thority, local PRI representative, Schoolmanagement committee members/lead-ers etc. When the dropout student/s re-turned to school thanks giving sms weredispatched to all the mobile numbers inthe database of the Radio. The reason isto spread the good news with other listen-ers and citizens on the impact of a phonecall/sms which gives life (education is life)to a child. So far with these process 165schools in 4 blocks (Gop, Nimapara, As-tarang and Kakatpur blocks) in Puri Dis-trict declared as ZERO DROPOUTSCHOOL by the local administration.

Mobiles for Health Project Name: MHSM SMS Toolkit;By: Datamation Foundation; Loca-tion: Kanpur, UP

The project MATERNAL HEALTH SERV-ICES ON MOBILE (SMS TOOL-Kit) –MHSM, aims at providing critical Repro-ductive and Child Health related informa-tion services to the pregnant andlactating women apart from their fami-lies and health workers through mobilephones, using localized SMSs in Hindi.Two messages per week have been cre-ated for 40 weeks of the pregnancy(norms as per government programmes).Along with more general, reinforcementmessages on nutrition, specific messagespertaining to the week of pregnancy likeante natalcheckup, vaccines, Iron folicsupplements and movement of baby aresent to the registered women.



The project is currently being imple-mented at 4 primary and 5 other neigh-bouring villages which are some of themost backward villages of the Katari clus-ter in the Ghatampur block of UttarPradesh Kanpur Dehat (Rural) District ofNorthern Indian state Uttar Pradesh. Over1000 beneficiary pregnant and lactatingwomen apart from their families andhealth care workers are impacted so far.

The SMS toolkit allows direct sending andreceiving SMS from an ordinary PC orlaptop at a very low cost. The project isimplemented by Datamation FoundationTrust, a Community Organization work-ing in the domains of Health Care, Liveli-hoods and Education. One World SouthAsia (OWSA) and Microsoft are technicalpartners in this project. The content wasprovided by ZMQ technologies.

Mobiles for environmental Sustainability Project Name: Kisan Sanchar; By:Kisan Sanchar; Location: rohtak,Haryana

Kisan Sanchar is an interactive platformfor scientists, agricultural experts, insti-tutions for sharing their technology &knowledge with the registered sub-scribers i.e. farmers who have willinglyopted for the service. The knowledge isshared in their local language in text aswell as voice format. Kisan Sanchar is anenterprise-class communication platformto broadcast text and voice messages onthe mobile phones of individual farmers.Kisan Sanchar enables its users (whichare mainly agricultural experts and insti-tutions) to send personalized and inter-active outbound Text & Voice messages

at the touch of a button. www.kisansan-char.com is a product of Innovations Pro-motion Company.

Approximately 33066 farmers fromseven states of India (J&K, HimachalPradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, and Ra-jasthan & Gujarat) have voluntarily optedfor the services of Kisan Sanchar throughvarious KrishiVigyan Kendras and arebeing benefitted from free of cost theservices of Kisan Sanchar.

Kisan Sanchar delivers free of costknowledge content developed by Kr-ishiVigyan Kendras and various Agricul-tural Universities in form of Text & VoiceMessages to the member farmers regis-tered with Kisan Sanchar through Kr-ishiVigyan Kendras. Launched with fulleffect on 1st September, 2010, the proj-ect since then is achieving new milestones every day and have broadcastedalmost 1500 messages to approximately33066 farmers in 7states (J&K, HP,Haryana, Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan & Gu-jarat). Kisan Sanchar launched its VoiceMessaging on 19-2-2011 in the state ofGujarat.

B. Mobiles for Programme Monitor-ing / Tracking Mobile-based technology, and its associ-ated benefits of real-time data sharingand data analysis including SMS basedsystem have enabled organisations andagencies to use monitoring and evalua-tion (M&E) data for better project imple-mentation, output and outcomes. Thereare instances wherein mobile-based mon-itoring and data collection tools havehelped to manage projects better withpre-loading of data, skips, validations, lo-cation (Graphic Information Systems –



GIS), media (photos). The mobile baseddata collection service providers haverolled out software and systems to sup-port M&E instruments. Services being of-fered and benefited from includes bettercontrol of field staff in M&E, access to thesurveys and data; access collected-data inreal-time. The choice of using a normalphone or using smart mobile devises hasallowed for Mobile Apps with ‘form-based interfaces’ for data entry, location(GPS) tracking, and media (photos) andbio-metric data capture. The data col-lected through these Mobile-App basedsystems can provide strong audit con-trols because of the location and visualevidence that is electronically captured.Mobile-based monitoring activities haveenabled to collect data and feedbackfrom beneficiaries directly. Having accessto ongoing data, instead of one-time an-nual report, allows understanding thereal impact a particular support is havingat the field level. Also, by requesting ‘any-time and anywhere’ access to projectmonitoring data, agencies can introducea higher degree of transparency and ac-countability, at each level, within its ben-eficiary NGO. To facilitate beneficiaryparticipation provisions for toll-free IVRS(Voice) or SMS services are integrated.This has called for qualified technicalskills among staff,

Mobiles for education Project Name: The IVrS based DailyMonitoring System (DMS); By: Mid-Day Meal authority; Location: UttarPradesh

The IVRS (Interactive Voice ResponseSystem) based Daily Monitoring System(DMS) of the Mid-Day Meal Scheme is an

initiative of the Mid-Day Meal Authorityof Government of Uttar Pradesh. TheIVRS based DMS envisages an automatedMIS where data of children availing mid-day meal would be available on dailybasis. In view of the developments in thefield of internet based technologies andonrush of mobile telephony in the ruralarea, the system is conceived on the basisof an interface between computer andmobile phone. The major challenges ingetting real time data from almost 1.5 lacschools of the State were mainly two: get-ting data through ‘pull’ method and sec-ond, facilitating teachers for giving datawithout spending a single penny so thatreimbursement/accounting/auditing ex-ercise is not required. The system whichcame handy, in view of above, was IVRSbased one. It gives school-wise informa-tion access on real time basis through anout bound dialing solution wherein callsare placed to all the teachers from a vir-tual number using PRI lines. The systemgenerated compilation of the data ofnumber of children who availed MDMwould be keyed-in by the teachers andwill be displayed on web the same day.Moreover, transmission of real time datado not leave scope for data manipula-tion/distortion and availability of excep-tion reports would improve efficacy andtransparency of the system.

As regards milestones, the major objec-tive was to make it live since academicyear beginning in July’10. The Projectwas assigned in Mar’2010 and since thencodification of about 1.5 lac schools,trainers-training, preparation, designand printing of about six lac operationalmanual and its distribution before onsitedemo, onsite/ on-line demo/teachers’training in about 820 blocks and town



areas of the State, collection of teachers’personal phone numbers (as neitherphones nor SIM cards have been given bythe Government to the teachers), con-vincing the teachers about the benefits ofthe System and making them so aware asto own the System, development of thedata-base and purging it, devising mech-anism of call system and call escalation,on-line verification of the mobile num-bers of almost 4.5 lac teachers, devisingmechanism of updating of database incase of change of teachers’ place of post-ing or mobile numbers, establishing call-centre for personalized attention toteachers query etc have been major land-marks of the System.

Mobiles for Health Project Name: e-Mamta – Mother &Child Tracking System; By: Staterural Health Mission (SrHM), Depart-ment of Health & Family Welfare; Lo-cation: Gujarat

As a major initiative towards reduction ofInfant Mortality Rate (IMR) and MaternalMortality Ratio (MMR), the State RuralHealth Mission, Gujarat, introduced the‘E-Mamta’-Mother & Child Tracking Sys-tem. E Mamta is uniquely designed man-agement tool being executed in Govt.health facility across Gujarat to accom-modate for gaps in ensuring comprehen-sive Maternal and child health services inrural as well urban areas. Rural healthchallenges such as high dropout rates,high left out rates, quality of services, in-ability to track beneficiary pregnantwomen and children leading to high Ma-ternal Mortality Rate (MMR) &IMR (In-fant mortality Rate) are targeted throughthe e-mamta. E-Mamta is accessed

through user id and password for in-de-partment employees. Conceptualized bythe State Rural Health Mission of theHealth and Family Welfare Departmentof Gujarat, in January 2010, the programwas developed through NIC Gujarat.

The application is being implemented inall 26 districts of Gujarat, all 172 healthblocks comprising of 1147 PrimaryHealth Centres, 318 Community Healthcentres, 26 Sub District Hospitals and 26District Hospitals who are major publichealth care facilities of the state. Alongwith major trust and grant in aid hospi-tals and many private health providers.Currently the application stores familyhealth records of 95 lakh families, healthdetails of 4.5 crore population (80%) ofGujarat Population. E-mamta has regis-tered 21,95,028 pregnant women andto-tal families entered is 9842467,totalchildren registered is 725279 for MCHservices. Value added features under E-Mamta included SMS service, Graphicalanalysis on Dashboard, UID compatibilityNotice board, Online Immunizationrecord, Online Growth chart, Online Hb.,weight chart for Pregnant woman.

Mobiles for environmental Sustainability Project Name: Nano Ganesh; By: Oss-ian agro automation Pvt. Ltd.; Loca-tion: Pune, Maharashtra

Nano Ganesh, first launched in 2008, is amobile based wireless remote controland alarm system for the water pumps,appropriately designed taking into con-sideration the unfavorable conditions inthe irrigation zone. These are differentsystems used individually or in combina-



tion: 1. Remote control for the waterpumps : Nano Ganesh (Pumps): A farmeror an irrigation operator can monitorand check availability of the power at thepump, can switch the pump on/off, andacknowledge the on/off status of waterpump from any place. 2. Wireless Alarmof tank water levels on the mobilephones:Nano Ganesh (Alarm): A Wirelessalarm of water level is being used by anirrigation operator where a message of“Water Tank Full” or “Water Tank Empty”is displayed on his mobile phone when heis busy at his work. This helps him in-stantly control the pumps as soon as thetanks are full and avoid a huge wastageof water and electricity.

Nano Ganesh is specially designed to berobust to perform efficiently in the ruralatmosphere where problems like voltagefluctuations, shock hazards, open wiringand marshy terrain are common. Tomake this system more accessible to thefarmer fraternity, Ossian Agro deploysbasic phones. All that Nano Ganesh needsis a low-cost wireless connectivity withvoice transmission and DTMF transmis-sion available in most handsets. So far,10,000 remote controllers are in use andhave improved the livelihoods of 40,000people with 1,000 rural technicians get-ting an additional source of income;180,000 m3 of water, 1080 MWh of elec-tricity,180 m3 of fuel, and 18 m3 of soilsaved in the year 2010 by installing2,000 Nano Ganesh sets ; $720,000 insaved labor costs in the year 2010. Thesolution is developed by Ossian Agro Au-tomation Pvt. Ltd.

II. Learning from experiences II:Use of Mobiles for Training ofFrontline Workers and Inter per-sonal Communication a. Mobiles for Training of FrontlineWorkersThe frontline workers are an importantpart of the bottom-line, in project deliv-ery outcome and impacting beneficiariesin desired way. The frontline staffs worksas the essential link in the citizen-provider interactions. This essentiallycalls for efficient selecting of workersand their training. With increased re-sources currently becoming available forproject delivery and to achieve results, itis important to impart context-specifictraining to this work force. Training ofworkers is an important strategy for im-proving workers' productivity in allo-cated work field. Use of mobiletechnology has emerged as relevant andefficient tool to train the work force andachieve desirable project impact. For in-stance, frontline health workers with mo-bile phones capturing complex data onpregnant women and children, womenreceiving SMS text reminders beforetheir ‘due’ dates, mobile phone basedtraining courses for health workers canstreamline and enhance the quality ofmaternal and child health services14. InHaiti adolescent mappers collect prelim-inary data using mobile phones to maplocations of identified risks related toHIV and AIDS15.

14http://frontlinehealthworkers.org/icts-in-maternal-and-child-health-poised-for-scale-up-in-uttar-pradesh-india/15http://www.unicef.org/cbsc/index_42347.html?p=printme



Mobiles for education Project Name: BridgeIt India, By: eZVidya Pvt Ltd.; Location: Chennai,Tamil Nadu

BridgeIt India uses a standard mobilephone to improve the quality of teaching.The project is a partnership between In-dian schools, NOKIA, The Pearson Foun-dation, and EZ Vidya. It was was startedin March 2011. The objectives ofBridgeIt India were: - DIGITAL TEACH-ERS: To integrate the mobile platforminto teaching and evaluate its effective-ness through teachersexperience ofusing it in the classroom - ENGAGED STU-DENTS: To evaluate learning improve-ments due to the integration of newtechnology, content, and methodologiesinto the teaching processes - SCALABLEMODELS: To broaden impact of technol-ogy in education, evaluate sustainablemodels, and identify how to scale at lowincrement cost.

In BridgeIt, teachers receive a TV-outcable and C7 mobile phone pre-loadedwith NOKIA Education Delivery (NED).Teachers get training, suggested lessonplans, classroom visits and remote sup-port. The school provides a TV or LCDprojector. The teacher uses NED and theTV-out cable to display content in class.The results are on ground: post-testsfrom show a sharp increase in learningcompared with control (Control: Pre-testavg. 58% to Post-test avg. 60% vs. NED:Pre-test avg. 49%, Post-test 64%). Teach-ers have changed the way they teach,away from lecture style and towardsmore student-centred, hands-on meth-ods. 57% of lessons were "High" qualitypost-NED vs. 24% pre-, using objectivecriteria. NED classrooms had less teacher

talk timeand more student collaborationthan non-NED classes. Teachers and stu-dents are enthusiastic to participate foryear 2. Most importantly, schools haveincreased their financial support to al-most triple the number of schools.

Mobiles for Health Project Name: CommCare; By: DimagiHealth Solutions, NeeDS; Location:Jharkhand

CommCare is a job aid tool. This applica-tion contains illustrations and audio mes-sages covering need-to-know topics inantenatal care which an ASHA/ Sahiyacan use to educated pregnant women inher village, regardless of their level of lit-eracy. A client management interfaceprovides the ASHA/ Sahiya with a list ofher clients and the ability to review pre-viously discussed topics, ensuring thatnothing is missed. Real-time data submis-sion to a central server allows close mon-itoring and supervision of the ASHA’s /Sahiya’s work.

CommCare begins with the illiterate user.It leverages multimedia capabilities ofcommon phones to deliver educationalinformation to anyone, regardless oftheir level of literacy or education. Audiomessages can be recorded in any dialectand easily integrated into the existing ap-plication. Its multimedia draws attentionand is easily understood. Correspondingwith loading and sharing of music andvideos for entertainment via mobilephones, prevalent even in rural areas,CommCare follows this trend and usesmobile technology in a familiar and pos-itively accepted way to normal mobileusers.



Mobiles for Health Project Name: Nokia-arogyamDia-betes; By: arogya World;

mDiabetes was launched by ArogyaWorld in partnership with Nokia Lifeacross India in January 2012. The objec-tive of this initiative was to disseminatevital information about Type 2 Diabetesand what life style changes one shouldmake to prevent diabetes through alertsin 12 languages to 1 million consumersthroughout India. Nokia phone users,who subscribed to Nokia Life services,were sent these carefully designed alertswhich would be useful reminders foradults about healthy living as a way toprevent diabetes. Users receive contenttwice a week on their Nokia Phones. mDi-abetes is an ongoing Clinton Global Ini-tiative from Arogya World.

The diabetes awareness and preventioncontent has been developed with strongemphasis on science and behaviorchange. These have been reviewed forcultural relevancy, technical accuracy,translated and transmitted to mobilephone consumers throughout India. Theprogram’s effectiveness in increasing theadoption of healthy lifestyles, known toprevent diabetes, is being periodicallymeasured. The user subscribes to theservice by browsing the Health menu onNokia Life or opting in to a service offeralert that they have received.

mDiabetes is the largest mobile basedprogram in an emerging market to-datefor diabetes prevention. The uniquenessof this program also lies in the ecosystemof partners built for the initiative. This ef-fort is new and is one of the first nation-wide diabetes education mHealth

initiatives in a large developing countryand can provide much data of interest tothe public health world. The effort in-cludes several public-private partner-ships in which every partner has avaluable role.

Mobiles for environmental Sustainability Project Name: Hello Sakhi; By: KutchMahila Vikas Sangathan; Location: Gu-jarat

The project “Hello sakhi” (Hello Friend)is a helpline, situated at the women po-lice station in Bhuj city of Kutch districtin Gujarat. The helpline has been initi-ated as a joint effort between KutchMahila Vikash Sangathan (KMVS) andKutch police department, conceived andlaunched in the year 2010. The projectaims at responding directly to the victimsat 3 levels: 1. Listening to their problemsand try to provide counseling 2. Referthem to nearest counseling centre run byKMVS for meeting with counselors 3. Ad-vise the callers on legal matters sur-rounding their issues 4. Facilitate thecallers for filing FIRs, court cases and fur-ther legal action. The project uses mobileapplications like portals, voice SMSes,conference facilities to connect with thecallers to send information and receivefeedbacks.

This is the first initiative, where thehelpline goes beyond conventionalhelplines- which usually counsels thecallers, while “Hello Sakhi” provides im-mediate services to the police stationsand counselingcenters spread across thedistrict. The helpline has been launchedfor more than 1.5 years, and has started



becoming unique platform that connectswomen members instantly to the legalawareness and education. The projecthas aimed at addressing singularly im-portant issue surrounding life of women-awareness on their entitlement and edu-cating them about their human rights. The helpline covers 10 blocks and 940villages of Kutch. It is spread aroundmore than 11,000 women members ofKMVS and other women of entire region.Since the launch, more than 800 womenhave availed the help directly throughcall and another 300 women have visitedthe counselingcenters through helpline.

B. Mobiles for Inter Personal Com-munication Interpersonal communication involvesone on one conversation or individualsinteracting with many people within agroup, community or society helps toconstruct and negotiate a social reality.Such communication in the developmentspace helps to communicate ideas,thoughts, and feelings pertaining to proj-ect areas to determine impacts. Tools andopportunities for interpersonal commu-nication improves project outcomesthrough sharing of knowledge, practice,feedback, and reflections. Mobiles as onethe most personalized tool has emergedas an effective medium for interpersonalcommunication assisting in sending andreceiving messages, listening, asserting,sharing feedbacks and reactions. Thishas transformed both individual andgroup centric interaction. Successful in-terpersonal mobile based communica-tion depends on ability of messagesenders and the message receivers to in-

terpret and understand the specific sub-ject and project thematic messages beingsent on a level of understood meaningsand implications. For instance in Mada-gascar, community health workers haveprovided critical services in times ofacute socio-economic crisis impactingavailability of health services16. Thehealth workers conducted essential out-reach to families on issues such asproper hand washing, not defecating inthe open and vaccinating children.

Mobiles for education Project Name: HealthPhone; By: TheMother and Child Health and educa-tion Trust; Location: Mumbai, Maha-rashtra

HealthPhone was launched the Motherand Child Health and Education Trust, anot-for-profit initiative. It provides fami-lies with their own personal reference li-brary and guide to better healthpractices. Available in real time, right tothose who need it, when they need it andwhen a health problem is about to strike,where they are, and as they are.Health-Phone's health and nutrition content isscripted on knowledge prepared jointlyby UNICEF, WHO, UNESCO, UNFPA,UNDP,UNAIDS, WFP and The World Bank.It addresses the main areas of concern;Timing Births, Safe Motherhood andNewborn Health, Child Development andEarly Learning, Breastfeeding, Nutritionand Growth, Immunization, Diarrhoea,Coughs Colds and More Serious Illnesses,Hygiene, Malaria, HIV, Child Protection,Injury Prevention, Emergencies: pre-

16http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/madagascar_65169.html



paredness and response. This content arepre-loaded on popular low-cost models ofmobile phones – no signal is required,nor cost and knowledge to downloadvideos and other media. Users choosewhat they want to watch and when, wher-ever they happen to be. The content havealready translated into 215 languages,over 15 million copies are already in cir-culation and an update has just been re-leased. Illiterate friendly video, audio andimage fileshighlighting over 125 keyhealth messages in English and 15 Indianlanguages have been issued as well.

Mobiles for Health Project Name: Mobile KunjiBy: BBCMedia action; Location: Bihar

The community health worker is crucialhuman resource to promote maternalhealth and reduce maternal and infantmortality in a state like Bihar in India.The basic problems faced by the workersacross the State in their functions untilnow included lack of proper toolsthrough which they could convince therural families on health prevention andtreatment issues. In order to help front-line health workers function better in thestate in health care services delivery,they are now provided with an innovativejob aid called 'Mobile Kunji'. The projectconsidered first-of-its kind initiative inthe country, is being taken up in eightdistricts of Bihar, including Patna, undera partnership forged between the Bihargovernment, Bill and Melinda GatesFoundation (BMGF) and BBC Media Ac-tion (India).

With the aid of Mobile Kunji, workers withadequate training use mobile tools to ef-fectively disperse health messages and in-creases the demand of health servicesprovided by service delivery partnersunder the newly launched Ananya pro-gramme that was started as a part of Mem-orandum of Cooperation between BMGFand Bihar government in May 2010.

'Mobile Kunji' is a pack of 40 well-illus-trated cards on a ring that communi-cates important health messages to ruralfamilies with the help of graffiti and text.Each card has a unique toll-free shortcode that when dialled by the healthworker from his/her mobile phone, takesthe listener (or the audience) to freeaudio recording that further elaboratesthe health message that the particularcard carries. Each card has its ownunique code. The audio message is deliv-ered by a fictional doctor character, DrAnita. This unique 'Kunji' was introducedin May 2012 and more than 44,000community health workers are alreadyusing it. They have accessed over 1 lakhminutes of audio content. This 'Kunji'can be carried all the times and doesn'trequire reams of paper or very improvedtechnology, but just a normal mobilehandset that has a speaker. This is seenas a low-end technology for high-endgains. The major challenge in the projecthas been to train about two lakh healthworkers with the least possible cost in-volved. For the purpose, a 'Mobile Acad-emy' was designed. From 2013, theprojects will be implemented in all 38districts of the state.



4. Expanding the Mobile Horizon: Stakeholders, Partner-ships & Way Forward

Undoubtedly, mobile innovationshave revolutionised the globalinformation and communica-tion landscape and transformed

the social, economic, cultural and eco-nomic processes. In this transformativeprocess India’s position is and going tobe noteworthy due to its geographicaland population advantage. By now, thecountry has remarkably advanced to anactive mobile state with 70 mobile sub-scriptions per 100 people. 53% of house-holds own a mobile phone. Mobile phonenetworks currently cover 83% of Indians.With 69% of population being rural andrural mobile teledensity at 39 per 100,there is considerable scope in this coun-try for mobile deployment in promotingdevelopment and stimulating social andeconomic indicators besides bridgingconnectivity and access divide. Mobilephones are expected to be “the gamechanger” in development landscape inIndia in next decade. Towards this, thechallenges observed and identified willrequire specific and generic interven-tions to address the gap areas.

I. Challenges Identified The adoption and use of mobiles for de-velopment has structural, functional, op-

erational and deployment limitations.The realisation of the full potential of thecell phone depends on policy, infrastruc-tural, technological, service related andother challenges. There are still bottom-line challenges of access, anonymity,cost, etc., to be addressed. Professionalsand workers in mobile project implemen-tation list range of challenges whileworking on mobile solutions at commu-nity level. The various pilot programmeshave led to outlining key challengesunder technical, environmental and insti-tutional heads which are outlined below:

environmental Challenges • Provisioning mobile access andservices to underserved target groups isa persisting challenge. The wider gendergap in low- and middle-income groups, inhaving access to this potentially life-en-hancing tool is a social, cultural and eco-nomic challenge. • The patterns of mobile phone useby the poor to access information arevery low (de Silva, 2008; Ashraf et al.,2005). While this is somewhat perplex-ing, the largely informal nature of the so-cial and economic relations in India andthe value attached to face-to-face interac-tions may partly explain this phenome-

"Mobile communication has arguably had a bigger impact on humankind in ashorter period of time than any other invention in human history," The World Bank17.

17'Information and Communications for Development 2012: Maximizing Mobile' The World Bank



non. The challenge is to supplement aswell as complement mobiles with this in-formal process. • There exist wide differences in in-frastructure provisions among regionsand communities in India. Due to unclearand multiple regulatory or policy meas-ures, variety of telecommunicationproviders, different price scales, and pric-ing scales service penetration and resultsvary across regions and communities. • Local variations in infrastructureand cultural norms are manifested invery different usage patterns of mobileusage from community to community18.Usage patterns of women in a minoritycommunity differ from those womenfrom upward mobile community. Furthervariation in literacy and exposure totechnology restricts outcome from suc-cessful mobile based programs. • While mobile phone penetration isprogressing at rapid space, obstacles re-main to universal mobile access, and be-yond to internet access on mobile. Thelack of reliable access to electricity insome is an obstacle, making it difficultand costly for people to charge theirphones, especially in rural areas. Supportsystems may also be lacking if a sub-scriber in a remote area runs in techno-logical hurdles.• The question is whether mobilescan compensate the lack of basic ICT fa-cilities like PCs and Internet in remote lo-cations, in a government run school in avillage where there is no power, connec-tivity and access. Any strategic mobile in-tervention is ought to consider suchchallenge and possibilities.• Mobile phones are still relatively

expensive for the poor (Frempong et al.,2007). In addition to the cost of thephone itself, maintenance factors (e.g. -cost of recharging the phone) are alsoimportant considerations (Ashraf et al.(2005)) in regions such as rural India.While mobile calls are cheaper than thecost of travel, the extent to which thesesavings offset the total costs of owning amobile still remains to be determined.

Technical Challenges• Despite the promises with datacollection using mobile devices, the ex-periments are yet to conclusively estab-lish the acceptance and feasibility of thismethod for large scale deployment. Inparticular, a sizeable number of ASHAhealth workers are reported in northernIndia to have shown limited acceptanceof data collection using SMS and mobileforms. There are technological chal-lenges in input, display, transfer and pro-cessing of data in English and Indiclanguages (especially for people with dif-ferent levels of literacy), security and in-tegration with devices. • There are operational issues in-cluding usability and the limitations ofmobile phones (small screens, short mes-sages, and complicated commands), reg-ulations and legal aspects of mobileapplications, costs, payment, revenuesharing, etc. Some services are also tiedto a specific operator, creating chal-lenges of interoperability between oper-ators and roaming between districts,states and countries.• Issues of privacy, anonymity andsecurity need to be considered in con-texts where mobile phones could be

18http://www.w3.org/2008/02/MS4D_WS/papers/unicef-w3c-presentation.html



tapped or where there is insufficient pri-vacy and safety protection (Hellström, J.,2010).• Though several of the pilot proj-ects are undertaken by organizations butscaling up of successful projects is chal-lenging due to wider and higher level ofinvolvement, investment, technology andmanpower requirements. The limitingfactors are logistical and localizationchallenges due to diverse social settingsin India. • The development interventions in-volving mobile apps and services includelargely SMS and voice based solutions.The possibility of mobile technologiesblended with web-applications embeddedwith simple mobile phone interfaces is apossibility. Integration of MVAS in mo-bile development strategies is a felt ne-cessity more frequently. • Lack of resource to invest restrictsinnovation and scale. Custom require-ments raise expenses and impede devel-opment of a single, configurable productthat might scale for broad deployment.• The challenge is in continuous ex-perimentation and innovation to fix prob-lems. Single prototype application fails towork in a specific context. This calls formultimodal integrated approach whereinintegration of SMS, IVR (interactive voiceprompts), TTS (text-to-speech), and audiomessages becomes necessity. Mobilebased convergence is a technical, re-source and scalability challenge.

Institutional Challenges• Traditional institutions in Indialack capacity to develop mobile interven-tions that require multidisciplinary ap-proaches. For instance, in m-Healthinitiatives health institutions lack capac-ity to involve behavioral, medical, busi-

ness and computer sciences features. Thepublic health departments in central andstate governments also lack capacity todesign and implement mHealth on theground.

II. Stakeholders & role expectations This mobile thrust in India requires iden-tifying key policy initiatives and addingvalue to the existing programmes andprojects. This can be done by facilitatingsynergies and joint efforts in order tomaximize coordinated action, coherenceand effectiveness towards implementingsuccessful mobile based projects. To ad-dress emerging issues stakeholders in-cluding the private sector, governments,bilateral agencies and civil society dis-cuss and debate, collaborate and arriveat points and areas of convergence andagreement to collaborate and contributein specific areas of relevance and impor-tance. Prior to this, each of the stakehold-ers’ areas of strength needs strongassertion. Role expectation, assignmentand fulfilment will follow logically.

Government

• The government of India (repre-sented by the Department of Telecomwithin Ministry of Communications & IT)constitutes the most potent role player indetermining the mobile landscape. Thegovernment constitutes the force behindthe mobile infrastructure backbone. Pol-icy consolidation is called for. The role ofthe Department of Electronics & IT islooked forward in pushing the mGover-nance framework in actually achieving‘m’ based services delivery until the lastmile.



• Spectrum allocation (2 G and 3 Gallocation already executed) is linked tonumber of operators (more than 10 bynow) in 22 geographical license areas.The high cost of acquiring spectrum isfeared to slow down competition and hitprices with increasing cost of capital foroperators. Increased competition has ledto price war hit margins and benefits thecitizen users. In a situation where telcosare uncomfortably indebted it is to hurtcompetition due to withdrawal and con-sumers shall suffer. India's spectrumregime requires much expected dy-namism and efficient on vital issues: ra-tionalisation in fees on existingspectrum, the terms on which old li-cences are renewed and corruptlyawarded ones relinquished (if at all), newspectrum grants and the rules on merg-ers and acquisitions. The spectrum poli-cies require boosting investment and notdivesting investors. • Regulatory mechanism requiresmore teeth and specification. Absence ofa policy framework in dispute resolutionauthority has been jeopardising the con-tractual arrangement between the oper-ator and the MVAS content owner/aggregator. • Policy consolidation is called for.By allowing unviable firms and theirspectrum to be acquired, a scarce re-source could be allocated more effi-ciently and customers could be saved theannoyance of having their carrier gobust. The industry cannot rationalise byitself. The state controls the supply of li-cences and spectrum. It must enact sen-sible changes.

Bilateral agencies

• Agencies are desired to continue toideate and innovate approaches for devel-oping mobile based solutions and knowl-edge bank to support development effortsin backward districts and regions of India. • Agencies must explore and expandprivate and public sector partnershipsthrough a Mobile Alliance in India. Thiscalls for engagement with critical min-istries like Ministry of Health & FamilyWelfare, Ministry of Women & Child De-velopment and Ministry of Communica-tions & IT. For instance, a robustpublic-private partnership will enable toprovide health information to new andexpectant mothers through mobilephones effectively.

Mobile Operators

• Operators rolling out networkservices in remote and underserved re-gions are called for. Cost effective andreliable network services will determinethe actual utility of owning mobilephones and exploit its advantages in de-velopment. There is still short of “any-time, anywhere” service. All these willdetermine users to explore new frontiersof services and push other mobile play-ers like MVAS providers in bringing serv-ices to the masses, from mobile bankingto accurate crop prices. • Hyper-competition is good forsubscribers and users and help in achiev-ing development and service delivery ef-forts of the government. Method



innovations like sharing radio towersand compress traffic will enable optimumutilization of infrastructure and bringdown unsolicited cost of delivery and de-liver advantages to users.

MVaS / Content developers

• The future of mobile value-addedservices (MVAS) in India is wide and sotheir role in empowering the masses. Thegrowth drives in key m-services such asm-banking, m-education, m-governance,m-health and m-agriculture, needs inno-vation and promotion. Data services isexpected to be the key growth driver formobile service demand pushed by intro-duction of 3G services and likely launchof BWA services. • The MVAS providers are expectedto work towards meeting the growing up-take for high-end entertainment andcommunication services in urban areasand utility-driven data services and appli-cations in rural areas. A different type ofVAS, mobile internet (both through hand-sets as well as dongles), will rapidly gaintraction, driven by more affordable ac-cess to faster networks. These servicesare expected to change the dynamics ofthe Indian telecom sector by empoweringusers and providing major commercialopportunities for all service providers. • Growth drivers for MVAS are in-creasing penetration and spendingpower; advancement in handset/devices;innovative data offerings; introduction of3G. • For the MVAS providers there isneed to address lack of compelling appli-cations and localised content. They needto go beyond the urban areas and coversemi-urban and rural areas as well. Atpresent, the number of utility-based ap-

plications is limited. A related constraintis the lack of localised content and con-tent in vernacular languages. • The MVAS providers are require towork closely with stakeholders in theMVAS ecosystem including contentproviders (content owners and aggrega-tors), Technology enablers (Platformproviders and application serviceproviders), Content delivery companies(Carriers and handset vendors), to inno-vate continuously to serve the Contentconsumers (Subscribers of such services).

Manufacturers / app Developers

• There exists design challenge tomake it easier for women to use smart-phones. Manufactures and developersrole seeks to simplify smartphone userscreens and help overcome technical andliteracy barriers that many women face. • Manufactures require providingusers with more airtime, battery manage-ment widgets, and inexpensive phone-sharing and emergency SMS features.There exist limitation for users in termsof possessing a darker screen to prolongbattery life and an easy-to-use interface.Rural India requires designers to developsimplified grayscale power efficient inter-face in mobiles that employs visual iconsfor users with low literacy.• For the rural users, handset man-ufacturers need to scale up in designingphones that not only offer all basic func-tionalities, but also have certain addi-tional and customised features

Civil Society

• Effective and optimum usage ofmobiles for development purpose hinges



on pro-active role of the civil societyagencies. Having the natural advantageof working at the grassroots, togetherwith democratic and empowering reachof mobiles in almost every hand in India,civil society bodies are seen to play atransformative role in exploiting the mo-bile space to achieve development objec-tives in education, health, genderempowerment and livelihood. • More than 60 % of mobile sub-scribers and users still lack awareness onbasic usage of mobiles including aware-ness about VAS offerings. Agencies aresupposed to play a facility role in devel-oping capacities of users.• The role of agencies are seen indelivery of information services, in train-ing and skill development, monitoringand tracking of development pro-grammes with the assistive service ofmobiles while reaching out to the ulti-mate stakeholders (citizens). • The role of agencies are found tobe critical in implementing pilots havingmobile significance in areas such as edu-cation and health, sharing pilot outcomeand scaling up pilot to newer locationsand target stakeholder. • Agencies are and can be playing asignificant role in policy and programmeadvocacy in determining specific trendand path to adopt mobile to realize keypolicy and programme objectives. The

role of agencies in enabling women touse mobiles for Self Help Group (SHG) ac-tivities have triggered the new foundfocus in m-Banking in India.

III. Way Forward: Multi stake-holder Partnership The mobile space in India is broad andexpanding. This space provides immensescope to realize key development andgovernance objectives including MDGs.This calls for a robust, working partner-ship among stakeholders. This involvesthe technology and infrastructure play-ers, MVAS providers and others. In otherwords, there is a need to work towardscreating an ecosystem comprising allstakeholders – regulators, industry play-ers and end users. There is no exclusiverole playing for single or group of play-ers to serve the mobile based serviceneeds. The equipment manufacturingand infrastructure developers play thedriving force in enabling the MVASproviders to provide critical servicessuch as mHealth and mEducation. It is ex-pected that the government of India’sMobile Governance Framework will pro-vide the required fillip to multi-stake-holder partnership in making the mobilehandset the preferred platform for pro-moting socio-economic development ofthe country.



Resources

1. Key statistical highlights: ITU data release June 2012, http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/material/pdf/2011%20Statistical%20highlights_June_2012.pdf

2. Highlights on Telecom Subscription Data as on 31st January 2013, http://www.trai.gov.in/WriteReadData/WhatsNew/Documents/PR-TSD-Jan2013.pdf

3. Measuring the Information Society 2012 report , ITU, http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Documents/publications/mis2012/MIS2012_without_Annex_4.pdf

4. South Asian countries to witness massive mobile broadband growth, Apr 16, 2013, http://www.cxotoday.com/story/south-asia-to-witness-massive-mobile-broadband-growth/

5. Mobile Internet in India, 2012, Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), New Delhi, http://www.iamai.in/PRelease_detail.aspx?nid=2635&NMonth=8&NYear=2012

6. Internet in Rural India, June 2012, IAMAI, http://www.iamai.in/Upload/Research/9320123264601/ICube_2012_Rural_Internet_Final_62.pdf

7. 'Future Thought of Business (FTOB): MVAS', 2012, a joint report by Wipro Technologies andInternet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), http://www.iamai.in/PRelease_detail.aspx?nid=2940&NMonth=3&NYear=2013

8. http://www.economist.com/node/188361209. http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/article/2012/10/20121024137917.html#axzz

2SQZyUJBh10. http://geneva.usmission.gov/2013/02/28/usaid-wins-award-for-best-government-mobile-

development-policy/11. http://www.tele.net.in/trends-a-developments/item/9104-mvas-future-role-of-value-added-

services-in-sector-growth12. http://www.ungis.org/Initiatives/JointInitiatives/MobileforDevelopment.aspx13. http://www.theclearinitiative.org/mobile-based-tech.pdf14. http://frontlinehealthworkers.org/icts-in-maternal-and-child-health-poised-for-scale-up-in-

uttar-pradesh-india/15. http://www.dwatch-bd.org/ggtp/cell%20phone.pdf16. http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-10-12/patna/34411772_1_health-work

ers-asha-workers-community-health17. http://www.bbnl.nic.in/content/faq/national-optical-fibre-network.php18. http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/NNuzsaxGowAutg2uVmkSzN/Mobiles-can-save-

India8217s-poor-women.html?facet=print19. www.mbillionth.in20. http://mobilesforgood.mbillionth.in/21. http://www.theclearinitiative.org/mobile-based-tech.pdf22. http://frontlinehealthworkers.org/icts-in-maternal-and-child-health-poised-for-scale-up-in-

uttar-pradesh-india/23. http://www.dwatch-bd.org/ggtp/cell%20phone.pdf


Notes


Use of Mobile Phones for Social & Behaviour Change 40 Use of Mobile Phones for Social & Behaviour Change 40


Use of Mobile for Social & Behavior Change in India - UNICEF

Technology

Transcript of Use of Mobile for Social & Behavior Change in India - UNICEF