mobile livelihood services

March 15th, 2010
Africa, Agriculture, microenterprise, publications

So it appears that Mireia Fernández-Ardèvol and Adela Ros can turn around an edited volume — Communication technologies in Latin America and Africa: A multidisciplinary perspective — in the time it takes me to update my blog.  Kudos to them…and apologies for my taciturn ways.

In any case, I’m happy to say that the paper I mentioned in my last post,  Mobile-based livelihood services in Africa: pilots and early deployments, now appears in this book.

The landscape of mobile services with relevance to the ICTD/development community is changing rapidly, as innovative pilots and full blown deployments are appearing throughout the continent.  In this paper, I categorize some of the existing services related to livelihoods, and offer some thoughts on next steps for research.

In a way, it bridges the gap between two of my earlier review papers – with Marcela Escobari on Mobile use by Micro and Small Enterprises, and with Kentaro Toyama and Katrin Verclas on the state of M4D research.

There is a also a youtube video of my paper presentation at the original conference in Barceona.

Here is the abstract

The paper describes a collection of initiatives delivering support via mobile phones to small enterprises, small farms, and the self-employed. Using a review of 26 examples of such services currently operational in Africa, the analysis identifies five functions of mobile livelihood services: Mediated Agricultural Extension, Market Information, Virtual Marketplaces, Financial Services, and Direct Livelihood Support. It discusses the current reliance of such systems on the SMS channel, and considers their role in supporting vs. transforming existing market structures.

And the citation

Donner, J. (2009). Mobile-based livelihood services in Africa: pilots and early deployments. In M. Fernández-Ardèvol & A. Ros (Eds.), Communication technologies in Latin America and Africa: A multidisciplinary perspective (pp. 37-58). Barcelona: IN3. http://in3.uoc.edu/web/PDF/communication-technologies-in-latin-america-and-africa/Chapter_01_Donner.pdf

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