The rate at which information and communication technologies have swept across East Africa has been phenomenal. Just watch this little clip to get an idea of the globalisation in action.
My most hilarious realisation of technicalisation (!) was when I was cycling through a neighbouring group ranch, en route to a picnic by the river, and a young man, dressed in full Samburu beads and shukas (blankets) stepped out into the road and produced his cameraphone to take a quick snap of these crazy wazungu cycling miles through choice just to have their lunch.
Anecdotes aside, mobile phones are simple, cheap, lifechanging devices, and big networks like Safaricom (Vodafone), are cashing in on developing clever new technologies targeting everything from poor rural areas and slums to rich city traders, surfing the wave of globalisation, money markets and broadband internet.
Phrases like 'mobile banking', mHealth and 'online learning' have only become prevalent relatively recently, but the development world and rural communities have got stuck in. There is obviously no mainline phone, internet or electricity provision to rural areas like Lentille, so mobiles, particularly now with the added option of solar chargers, are a real asset. The change this technology can provide to education, health, political participation, economic development and, obviously, communication is phenomenal.
The flexibility and varied applications of ICTs for development fit easily into the idea that poverty is multidimensional and not just a 'lack of money'. ICTs are invaluable for knowledge-sharing and information dissemination, essential for empowerment and therefore social and economic development. Some NGOs have used info-tech to disseminate campaign, advocacy and political information to mobile and remote communities via SMS empowering them with knowledge and encouraging participation in politics, justice systems and policy. This was popularised for the Kenyan constitutional referendum in 2010.
The sceptics’ view that “IT is totally irrelevant for the poor who are generally illiterate; IT is too expensive for them to reach out to; the poor don’t need fancy IT, they need food” is not only patronising, but wrong. People in poor and remote communities do 'fancy' mobile phones and it helps them access food, by empowering/educating communities and simply by improving communication:
David, a 60-something Maasai elder, is unemployed and living in a manyatta near Kimanjo village. His two children, Joseph and Mary (yes, really) work in Nanyuki town. If David did not have a mobile phone (a basic Safaricom model which he bought for 1000/= (£8) in Nanyuki after getting some casual work on an Ol Lentille Trust building project), he would be hungry and isolated. But now, he can call Joseph and ask him to send food, phone credit or money, get him to check market prices in Nanyuki so that when he visits the fortnightly Kimanjo market, he knows the fair price to pay, and, of course, he is able to keep in constant contact with his grown-up children.
There is not much in Kimanjo aside from the school and clinic- a few bar/tea shops (though I discovered one now has a pool table!), the ubiquitous 'chapati-joint', a lot of stray dogs, a church or 2, a fortnightly market...but the mPesa outlet always has a queue (and sometimes runs out of cash- here the matatu driver still plays his role). You can pay bills, school fees, everything...it is revolutionary.
In the arid, remote Lentille area, John (Ol Lentille Trust Trustee and Sanctuary at Ol Lentille Director) spent yesterday training Kimanjo nurses Stephen and Joyce and Makesen, one of the community health workers, on the patient record software on their brand new laptop. Digitalisation of the clinic systems is a huge step forward, meaning Stephen will no longer have to rely solely on scraps of paper, unreliable supplies of MoH stationery and patients bringing their record books to consults. It will also help him monitor and evaluate the impact of healthcare in the area. It is a simple system, which takes a few hours to learn, and the portable laptop will be able to travel to mobile clinic days in remote parts of the area. They can also now connect to the internet, thanks to their Safaricom dongle, to send data to the MoH, do research, and communicate with health professionals worldwide.
The community health workers have also been issued with mobile phones. The Trust's Nabakisho Healthcare Programme issued the 25 CHWs with cameraphones (which now only cost about $30) to document their work in the community, which covers home based care and HIV awareness, hygiene and sanitation, nutrition FGM and family planning as well as more general health monitoring and advocating for increased use of the health facility, about which there is a stigma. They take photos of achievements in the community (e.g. latrines built,'leaky tins' used), problems and concerns they need to discuss with Stephen. The phones also have a video facility. Not only has it been a major advance for healthcare, but has also provided a further incentive for the CHWs as they can all use these phones for personal use as well.
An amazing school in the UK, Leamore Primary in Walsall and its highly IT-literate deputy head donated 5 laptops to Kimanjo Primary School. We tasked our GAP student and intern with teaching the teachers to teach IT (not such an easy task when they had to start by showing the teachers where the mouse was) and the headteacher Mr. Monto is now developing ideas to integrate IT into the curriculum, share the computers with neighbouring Kimanjo Secondary and get an after school computer club going. Unfortunately, due to lack of mobile signal, the school does not yet have internet access, but, since the government put solar power into all classrooms last year, the computers can be used throughout the school (just as well since their 6th computer is my old one which has 0 battery life!). Learning basic IT skills such as word processing is going to prove invaluable in giving these kids the best education possible to integrate them into the ever-more-globalised world we live in.
The school was also given video cameras, which they have used to make short films of Maasai daily life to send to partner schools in the UK- penpals for the 21st century. Amazing, considering a few years ago there was not only no electricity, but no means of communication outside Kimanjo without going for a long walk or paying hundreds of shillings for a matatu ride. Now, they are communicating with everyone from Ireland to Isiolo, learning, integrating and developing their own communities.
Phones, computers, cameras. Education, integration, knowledge, healthcare and empowerment. simple, amazing!
The sceptics’ view that “IT is totally irrelevant for the poor who are generally illiterate; IT is too expensive for them to reach out to; the poor don’t need fancy IT, they need food” is not only patronising, but wrong. People in poor and remote communities do 'fancy' mobile phones and it helps them access food, by empowering/educating communities and simply by improving communication:
David, a 60-something Maasai elder, is unemployed and living in a manyatta near Kimanjo village. His two children, Joseph and Mary (yes, really) work in Nanyuki town. If David did not have a mobile phone (a basic Safaricom model which he bought for 1000/= (£8) in Nanyuki after getting some casual work on an Ol Lentille Trust building project), he would be hungry and isolated. But now, he can call Joseph and ask him to send food, phone credit or money, get him to check market prices in Nanyuki so that when he visits the fortnightly Kimanjo market, he knows the fair price to pay, and, of course, he is able to keep in constant contact with his grown-up children.
The ideal approach is to use ICTs to ‘enable, strengthen or replace existing information systems and networks’ and focus on the actual needs of communities and how technologies can help, rather than just technology-driven projects. ICTs can be integrated into existing health, education, economic and political systems to improve them in ways the people want.
The current focus is on mobile communications technology and internet, having potential for rural development in sectors including education (e.g. creating e-literacy in schools or for distance learning), healthcare (e.g. rural practitioner to urban specialist communication), agriculture (particularly access to market information) and other business development (including entrepreneurial ventures based around the use of ICTs, such as mobile telephone kiosks). I'm not saying technology is a solution to poverty, but it should help poverty eradication to get there quicker.
The growing mobile banking sector is having a massive impact on rural development. mPesa (Safaricom's mobile bank) is simply amazing. Whereas our friend David would once have had to ask Joseph to entrust a few hundred shillings to a matatu (bus) driver between Nanyuki and Kimanjo, and be there at a specific time to pick it up, Joseph can now mPesa the money to his father, and David can pick it up, with a secure code from his mobile phone, from the mPesa outlet in Kimanjo village. People who do not have relatives in Nanyuki are saving the 300/= (2 days' work) return fare to the bank in Nanyuki, and with the ability to create free 'bank accounts' on their SIM cards, others are avoiding the costly process of setting up and maintaining an account with Barclays, Equity or somesuch. The concept of ‘banking the unbanked’ allows the poor majority access to markets, savings and improved financial security, integrating them into the national economy.
There is not much in Kimanjo aside from the school and clinic- a few bar/tea shops (though I discovered one now has a pool table!), the ubiquitous 'chapati-joint', a lot of stray dogs, a church or 2, a fortnightly market...but the mPesa outlet always has a queue (and sometimes runs out of cash- here the matatu driver still plays his role). You can pay bills, school fees, everything...it is revolutionary.
In the arid, remote Lentille area, John (Ol Lentille Trust Trustee and Sanctuary at Ol Lentille Director) spent yesterday training Kimanjo nurses Stephen and Joyce and Makesen, one of the community health workers, on the patient record software on their brand new laptop. Digitalisation of the clinic systems is a huge step forward, meaning Stephen will no longer have to rely solely on scraps of paper, unreliable supplies of MoH stationery and patients bringing their record books to consults. It will also help him monitor and evaluate the impact of healthcare in the area. It is a simple system, which takes a few hours to learn, and the portable laptop will be able to travel to mobile clinic days in remote parts of the area. They can also now connect to the internet, thanks to their Safaricom dongle, to send data to the MoH, do research, and communicate with health professionals worldwide.
The community health workers have also been issued with mobile phones. The Trust's Nabakisho Healthcare Programme issued the 25 CHWs with cameraphones (which now only cost about $30) to document their work in the community, which covers home based care and HIV awareness, hygiene and sanitation, nutrition FGM and family planning as well as more general health monitoring and advocating for increased use of the health facility, about which there is a stigma. They take photos of achievements in the community (e.g. latrines built,'leaky tins' used), problems and concerns they need to discuss with Stephen. The phones also have a video facility. Not only has it been a major advance for healthcare, but has also provided a further incentive for the CHWs as they can all use these phones for personal use as well.
An amazing school in the UK, Leamore Primary in Walsall and its highly IT-literate deputy head donated 5 laptops to Kimanjo Primary School. We tasked our GAP student and intern with teaching the teachers to teach IT (not such an easy task when they had to start by showing the teachers where the mouse was) and the headteacher Mr. Monto is now developing ideas to integrate IT into the curriculum, share the computers with neighbouring Kimanjo Secondary and get an after school computer club going. Unfortunately, due to lack of mobile signal, the school does not yet have internet access, but, since the government put solar power into all classrooms last year, the computers can be used throughout the school (just as well since their 6th computer is my old one which has 0 battery life!). Learning basic IT skills such as word processing is going to prove invaluable in giving these kids the best education possible to integrate them into the ever-more-globalised world we live in.
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| Kimanjo Primary teachers and laptops from Leamore |
The school was also given video cameras, which they have used to make short films of Maasai daily life to send to partner schools in the UK- penpals for the 21st century. Amazing, considering a few years ago there was not only no electricity, but no means of communication outside Kimanjo without going for a long walk or paying hundreds of shillings for a matatu ride. Now, they are communicating with everyone from Ireland to Isiolo, learning, integrating and developing their own communities.
Phones, computers, cameras. Education, integration, knowledge, healthcare and empowerment. simple, amazing!
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