Mobile-Based Livelihood Services In Africa: Pilots And Early Deployments

From the Conference on Development And Information Technologies.
Mobile Phones An Internet In Latin America And Africa: What Benefits For The Most Disadvantaged? (October 23-24 2009) at Castelldefels / Barcelona.

This describes a collection of initiatives delivering support via mobile phones to small enterprises, small farms, and the self-employed. 26 African examples operational in Africa are reviewed. The analysis identifies five functions of mobile livelihood services:
- Mediated Agricultural Extension
- Market Information
- Virtual Marketplaces
- Financial Services, and
- Direct Livelihood Support.

This discusses the current reliance of such systems on the SMS channel, and considers their role in supporting vs. transforming existing market structures. It does not present an evaluation of the effectiveness of any particular service, nor does it venture an assessment of the suitability or potential effectiveness of different kinds of services but rather gives an overview of the range of services currently available, and, more importantly, it identifies the changes (to the enterprise or to its environment) the designers of the services intend to bring about. The task of making these intended changes explicit serves as a bridge to considering these services in light of our interdisciplinary understanding of the role of mobile communication (and ICTs) in society and in economic development. In particular, by taking an aggregate view encompassing a couple dozen services we can better consider how these livelihood services both reflect and reinforce the logic of an informational society.

Researchers have documented the rapid uptake and use of mobile telephones by both farmers and by micro and small enterprises (MSEs) across Africa. Mobiles offer both groups opportunities to deepen interactions with existing customers, replace travel, and participate in broader and more efficient markets. Landlines have offered many of the same benefits for decades, but in many cases have been unaffordable or simply unavailable to the smallest businesses and farmers.

Recently, a small number of ventures (some by private companies, others by governments, or NGOs) have begun to explore what mobiles can do for farmers and MSEs, beyond voice calling and person-to-person SMS. These mobile-based ―livelihood services‖ offer platforms for information sharing, coordination, marketing, and even financial transactions. With a few notable exceptions, livelihood services are not yet runaway successes–indeed many are pilot programs or niche services. However, there is sufficient diversity to provide some indications as to what the next wave of mobile-based livelihood services might look like.