Village Phone – A Tool for Women’s...

1© Grameen Foundation USA

Working to eliminate poverty by leveraging the power of microcredit and technology

Village Phone – A Tool for Women’s EmpowermentMicrofinance and Information and Communication Technology

David Keogh

Grameen Foundation USAGrameen Technology Center


• Began in 1976• 4.2 million borrowers • 95.7% women members• Member owned & profitable• Over 98.9% rate of recovery• Over $4.7 billion loaned• 10,000 families cross poverty line each month• Replicated in 40+ countries

reaching an additional 1 million poor• Focus on the poorest• Works predominantly with women• Sustainable

• Self Help – not charity

Dr. Muhammad Yunus

Founder of the Grameen Bank

Grameen Bank

mailto:[email protected]


Our Mission is to empower the world's poorest people to lift

themselves out of poverty with dignity through access to financial services

and to information.

Grameen Foundation USA

Grameen Technology Center

The Grameen Technology Center is working to eliminate poverty by

leveraging the power of microcreditand technology.


What is Village Phone?

Affordable access for poor rural people to telecommunications services through an innovative, sustainable business model in a hybrid private / public partnership with the microfinance sector and the telecommunications sector


Operators receive:• Mobile phone• Antenna• Phone charging

solution• Cables• Airtime cards• Signage & business

cards• Manuals & training

A Village Phone Business


• Governments– In support of telecommunications universal access, poverty alleviation, health

and education policies and strategies• Telecommunications Operator

– Discounted airtime rates – but higher call volumes– Public access requirements – Social responsibility

• Village Phone Company– Covers costs to sustain and extend operations

• Microfinance Institutions– Viable businesses generate loan income– MFIs earn % on sale of pre-paid airtime cards– Incentive scheme for MFI loan officers

• Village Phone Operators – Healthy retail margin for Operators– Net monthly revenue potential in excess of $31

• Local Communities– Affordable telecommunications for rural poor– Village Phone Operators will be able to offer fair fixed rates to their community

Everyone Wins


Village Phone - Testimonial

• Hon. John Nasasira, Minster of Works, Housing and Communication, Government of Uganda

– “The village phone is unique in that it ties in some credit through microfinance institutions and therefore [enables] the rural poor, especially women, to enter this venture”

– “….MTN villagePhone [a partnership between MTN and Grameen Foundation] is fulfilling the Governments vision for rural communication”

– “We support this initiative very much because anything that can make the rural people communicate is definitely supported”


• Launched in March 1997• Goal: To bring phone service to

rural villages• Loans made to enable purchase

of mobile phones• Operators act as a community

phone/public call office• Access to information quickly for

villages• New weapon against poverty

Child speaking with his father overseas

Grameen Village Phone in Bangladesh


• Extended phone service to over 100 million people

• Over 100,000 “Village Phone Ladies” (02/2005)

• Increase in social status of women

• Enhanced productivity for villagers

• Decreased impact of middlemen• Opportunity cost up to 8x• Completely profitable and self-

sustaining for all parties

Grameen Village Phone Results

0

20

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120

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Oct 2003 Jun-04 Feb-05

Year

Tota

l Ope

rato

rs (T

hous

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• Borrowing from the model pioneered by the Grameen family in Bangladesh, where money is lent to prospective Village Phone Operators (VPOs) by Grameen Bank.

• Grameen Technology Center is replicating Village Phone in Uganda

• GFUSA and MTN Uganda have joined as shareholders in a newly created Ugandan company:

MTN villagePhone

Village Phone Replication


Village Phone Uganda


• Provide the rural communities of Uganda with affordable and accessible communications services to enable them to break the cycle of poverty (5,000 Village Phone Operators in 5 yrs)

• Poverty reduction through sustainable business practices

• Establish a general replication model for the Village Phone program

• Disseminate this learning to the commercial telecommunications sector and the worldwide development communities so as to establish a global Village Phone movement.

Goals


Progress

Village Phone Deployment Actual -vs- Plan

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0 240 29

0 340 39

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117 142186

242315

391

512

643

768

914

1040

1152

1251

13261390

14501510

0

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1600

Nov-03

Dec-03

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PlanActual


Village Phone Lady Profile

Fatuma Seruwaji – Uganda

“My life was very difficult before this program. But now, I am full of hope every passing day. I believe I will finish the construction of my house, my children will grow stronger and will have education making their lives better than mine”

Fatuma is 46 years old . She says that life was difficult in spite of the many years of hard work. Every passing day she hoped and prayed that the next day would be a little easier and better. But since acquiring the village phone, her life has never been the same again. She now earns enough money to feed her children. She is now positive about her family’s future and she thinks of her children’s education as well as being respected in the community and by her husband. She concludes:

“I am proud of what FOCCAS and Village Phone is doing in my life”.


Village Phone Rwanda• Partnership with MTN RwandaCell

• First 10 Village Phones deployed

on April 11 as part of Pilot Phase

Susan, Rwanda’s First Village Phone Lady


• Kenya• Philippines• Ethiopia• Malawi• Zambia• Indonesia• Nigeria• Ghana• Burkina Faso• Others…

Possible Countries for Replication


• Village Phone works• Village Phone creates thousands of women owned and operated

technology based enterprises• Village Phone leverage is huge – One Village Phone serves a

community of thousands• Village Phone scales for MACRO impact• Village Phone is “grassroots” development• Village Phone is sustainable and profitable business for all• Village Phone is socially and financially empowering• Village Phone leverages existing infrastructure

– Telecom Infrastructure (Systems and Hardware)– Microfinance ‘channel to market’

• Village Phone provides a platform and a linkage for bringing health, education and other ‘domain’ initiatives to remote poor rural communities:– VILLAGE PHONE IS “DEVELOPMENT INFRASTRUCTURE”

Leveraging Impact


• Building an infrastructure requires partnership– Financial Support– Support to get to: “Investment ready”– Investments - capitalization

• World Bank is in a unique position to leverage the work done by Grameen and its partners and invest in a worldwide movement to bring ICT to the rural poor in this innovative, proven and sustainable model

Partnership


HAJAT MUHEKI AISHA

“I've been a peasant housewife going to the field daily to dig. But when I got a Village Phone I decided to make sure that l maximize the profits. Now I've left digging, with the profits l can be able to hire casual laborers to do the digging. My husband has seen the change because my children have gone to school and we can afford to buy them ''Pancakes'' each day. I've got many friends that l didn't have before. Now I am a GREAT WOMAN because of my Village Phone”

Now is the Time

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