|Photo credit: IPA/Pia Raffler
|Fishermen receive a response to their request for a
The rapid spread of the mobile phone has turned the
device into one of the most effective ways of not
only communicating with family and friends, but also
learning practical — and sometimes vital — information.
This is especially valuable in rural areas of developing
countries. In Uganda, a suite of mobile phone
applications was launched on 29 June 2009 by the
Grameen Foundation. Developed with the Internet
company Google and carried on the network of
mobile operator MTN Uganda, the applications allow
people to gain access to important information
by text message, either on their own handsets or
through the facilities of a village phone operator.
The suite of five mobile services combines text
messaging, search technologies and databases of
locally relevant information. It provides weather
forecasts, agricultural advice and health tips, while
a “Clinic Finder” application can locate nearby facilities.
Also included is “Google Trader”, a virtual
marketplace that links buyers and sellers to trade anything from agricultural produce to jobs.
For example, through a simple text message a villager
can receive tips on treating crop diseases, learn
local market prices, or get advice on preventing
The applications come from Google’s short message
service (SMS) and are designed to work with
basic mobile phones. More than a million people in
Uganda have mobile phones, but no Internet connection.
The new service could be a step towards
such connectivity. By sending a query in a text message,
users can “search” a database from which a
reply is received — similar to using an online search
engine. And like on the Internet, users can call up
information at any time, and in private.
The origin of the new services is the application
laboratory — known as AppLab — created by the
Grameen Foundation in 2006, and joined in 2007 by
partners Google and MTN Uganda. Both companies
contributed start-up investments.
AppLab Uganda is located in the country’s capital,
Kampala, under the direction of the Grameen
Foundation’s Technology Centre. Local partnerships
are important in the creation of services that have
relevant local content. For example, weather forecasts
are provided by the Ugandan Department of
Meteorology. The “Farmer’s Friend” application for
agricultural advice was developed with the Busoga
Rural Open Source Development Initiative (BROSDI),
based in Kampala, to provide information that has
been tested by smallholders as suitable for their
The Grameen Foundation is a non-profit organization
that helps provide access to financial services and telecommunications,
as well as technologies that can
provide new business opportunities. In 2007, ITU and
the Grameen Foundation jointly launched the “Village
Phone Direct Manual”, available to be downloaded free
of charge at www.itu.int/publ/D-HDB-VPD-2007/en.
Commercial interests are also served, as operators
are able to connect with new markets. Since
2003, MTN Uganda has been promoting the village
phone concept in collaboration with the Grameen
Foundation, drawing from the pioneering experience
of Grameen Telecom in Bangladesh.
Working with such operators, as well as with governments
and civil society organizations, the Grameen
Foundation and AppLab are developing services that
will be tailored to the needs of poor communities
around the world. In 2009, AppLab Indonesia was
launched in collaboration with Qualcomm, as well
as the Mobile Technology for Community Health
(MoTeCH) initiative that aims to determine how mobile
phones can be used to improve antenatal and
neonatal care in rural Ghana. And in two regions
of Uganda, Grameen is piloting the Community
Knowledge Worker Initiative, by which residents of
rural communities are being trained in using mobile
phones to provide information to farmers. They also
collect data to help experts identify outbreaks of agricultural
pests, for example, and stop their spread.
The idea is to help farmers increase their productivity
and to empower entire communities.