Grameen reports on its community knowledge worker pilot project in Uganda

In early 2009, Grameen Foundation went to Uganda with the idea of creating a fluid and effective two way communication channel between rural farmers and the world of agricultural experts, development agencies, traders and commercial players.

Grameen Foundation’s technology center had a plan – harness the power of the mobile phone, a technology that is oblivious to such bottlenecks and combine it with a network of human intermediaries that can be trained to fully leverage its capabilities for the benefit of the farmer. The Community Knowledge Worker concept was thus born but would it work?

In this report, the foundation shares some of the lessons learned on what it takes to sustainably build and expand such a network of information intermediaries.

En Uganda: QuestionBox - Respuestas telefónicas allí donde no llega Internet

El artículo describe la experiencia de Question Box, un teléfono de ayuda gratuito y sin ánimo de lucro cuyo objetivo es ofrecer información a gente de zonas remotas que no tiene acceso a los ordenadores.

La idea fundamental en que se basa Question Box es que hay muchas barreras que impiden que la mayoría del mundo en vías de desarrollo se beneficie de los conocimientos que están disponibles a través de los buscadores de Internet, según explica Shuman, creadora del servicio.

Los trabajadores llaman al centro de atención telefónica y hacen preguntas en nombre de los residentes, o activan el dispositivo de manos libres para que puedan hacer las preguntas ellos mismos. A renglón seguido, los operadores buscan la información solicitada en una base de datos y se la transmiten a los trabajadores, que se la pasan a los lugareños. A los trabajadores se les compensa con tiempo de llamadas de móvil.

El servicio es una iniciativa conjunta de Open Mind, un grupo sin ánimo de lucro fundado por Shuman, y la Grameen Foundation, especialmente conocida por promover microcréditos para los pobres. Ha recibido ayuda económica de la fundación de Bill y Melinda Gates.

El servicio Question Box se puso en marcha en algunos pueblos lejanos de India hace dos años, y llegó a Uganda en abril. La versión ugandesa aprovecha la enorme popularidad que tienen los teléfonos móviles en África. Su uso se ha multiplicado por más de tres en los últimos años, y ahora casi 300 millones de africanos tienen móvil.

En las zonas rurales, que antes estaban desconectadas y aisladas de los centros urbanos, los móviles son un salvavidas que permite acceder a los bancos, las noticias y las oportunidades empresariales. Eso supone un gran avance tecnológico pero, para la mayoría de los africanos, el acceso a Internet todavía es demasiado caro y lento.

La mayoría de las comunidades agrícolas rurales de Uganda están demasiado alejadas como para que a los proveedores de Internet les resulte rentable ofrecerles sus servicios, dice Gosier. " Por eso es por lo que Question Box seguirá siendo una herramienta importante para ofrecer a la gente de estas zonas la información que necesita".

Leer el artículo completo.

Grameen Foundation expands technology program for farmers in Uganda

The Grameen Foundation has announced that it will expand its Community Knowledge Worker (CKW) initiative in Uganda, supported by a $4.7 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The initiative is building a self-sustaining, scalable network of rural information providers who use cell phones to help close critical information gaps facing poor, smallholder farmers. They will strengthen the information link to poor farmers by disseminating and collecting relevant information in these underserved communities.

Read more ...

Uganda: solar phone to bridge digital divide

A recent article indicates that previous efforts to put up large solar systems in remote areas such as Kalangala (Uganda) aimed at helping customers there charge their phones. But it did not solve the problem. Putting the solar on your phone to save you time and money. The launch of the Kasana phone will not only increase its customers’ savings, but also boost government’s efforts in mobile telephony penetration.

According to Uganda Communication Commission, mobile telephone penetration for Uganda, whose population is estimated at 30 million people, is only 30%. Of the total population, more than 80% of the people live in the rural areas.

Most of these people do not have electricity. This means that people with no access to electrical power have to walk long distances to charge their phones at any available power outlets, usually in trading centres miles away.

According to Mona Lisa Brookshire, UTL’s Chief Marketing Officer, ‘the lack of power [is] a major barrier to bridging the gap of entry to the digital age largely because the technology then required all mobile phones to be charged using grid power.”

Digital divide would exacerbate in world regions and within countries.

An article in BroadBand Expert says that whilst there has been much talk about the digital divide in the UK between those with access to broadband Internet and those without, some industry officials believe that high speed internet will bring with it a new form of digital divide.

Concern over the digital divide that has been seen in the UK with regards to those able to access broadband internet and those unable to get adequate access to this service. It has mainly been rural areas where adequate access has been restricted and urban areas where there has been a greater level of access to broadband internet.

However, officials believe that the problem could continue even if the government is successful in bringing broadband access to all. Soome industry experts believe that despite these government efforts a new kind of digital divide is set to erupt in the UK over the coming years, and this will be between those able to access high speed Internet at speeds of 50Mbps or more and those only able to access the most basic broadband speeds. “Ultra broadband will exacerbate the digital divide among different world regions, as well as within countries. Governments in countries that lag behind in the deployment of ultra broadband will come under increasing pressure to use public funds to upgrade broadband infrastructure to avoid falling behind.", says an official in the article.

Question Box connects farming communities to AgInfo answers

Under the tagline 'Realtime Web for the Bottom Billion', a new type of service for farmers is emerging.

Piloting in India and Uganda, Question Box "brings information to people who cannot or do not access the Internet directly." It "leaps over illiteracy, computer illiteracy, lack of networks, and language barriers."

Combining mobile phones with the power of the Internet, rural people can pose their questions to local call centers where operators research answers. The questions and answers are in local languages and, notably, don't require users to be able to read and write. (Note, the Kothmale Internet Project in Sri Lanka did something similar by combining rural radio with questions and answers)

For information specialists, the project is also documenting and sharing some of the questions that they receive. Visit 'World Wants to Know' to see a visualization of the questions received. For the first time, we can all see examples of the kinds of issues on the mind of farming communities.

More info:

Question Box home
What is Question Box?
QuestionBlog
Ask Us Anything - podcast

Grameen Foundation and Google create mobile apps for rural Africa

On 29 June, the Grameen Foundation announced the launch of a suite of mobile phone applications developed with Google and MTN Uganda (MTN) that deliver services and information that were previously unavailable to Uganda’s poor and disadvantaged communities.

This launch makes available the first suite of applications resulting from an endeavor called the Application Laboratory (AppLab).

"AppLab will give millions of Africans access to health advice, farming tips and trading services using only a mobile handset" - The Guardian

"Real time information about farming, health and trading will be available to mobile phone users in Uganda with new technology services developed by the Grameen Foundation, Google and telecom operator MTN Uganda" - Seattle Times

"Working with Grameen Foundation and MTN, the big African mobile carrier, Google has begun offering a handful of services that combine text messaging, search technologies, and databases full of locally relevant information" - Business Week

" The five mobile phone applications provide real-time health and agricultural information and a virtual marketplace for buying and selling goods and services" - Grameen Foundation



More AppLab videos on YouTube

Mobile phones to diagnose and treat plant diseases in Africa

According to IPS, Mobile phones are being used to diagnose and treat crop diseases that cause massive losses to farmers, presenting an opportunity to increase yields as location-specific information about disease threats is made available.

An initiative in two districts of Uganda, has community knowledge workers (CKWs) sending text messages to farmers in a given locality. The information may include how to arrest the diseases, and where to buy uncontaminated seeds, as well tips on how to improve soil quality to increase yields.

"We have trained the CKWs on how to use mobile phones to get information to the farmers. They offer agricultural tips and advise through the phones on what to do and not to do to control the diseases. Farmers even ask questions on wilt and BBTV and they receive automated answers on their phones,” Whitney Gantt of Grameen Foundation, a global anti-poverty organisation told IPS."

Read full article.

Ugandan farmers call home

The agricultural biodiversity weblog reports "a great article (and some audio as well) describing how a Dutch NGO is helping Ugandan farmers exchange agricultural information using mobile phones."

Tags: agricultural information uganda extension