Agriculture – Page 13

Inaugural meeting of the Technology Standards & Interoperability Working Group

The inaugural meeting of the mHealth Alliance’s Technology Standards & Interoperability Working Group was held on December 20th, 2011. There were 11 attendees representing varied groups including: donors, academics, implementers, clinicians and technology providers. A zip file is attached to this blog; it contains an audio recording of the meeting (with the chair’s thanks to Ricardo Leitao of Andago).

The (draft) mission of this new working group is to: Achieve alignment on and adoption of standards which support greater interoperability amongst mHealth deployments to ensure improved continuity of care, technology re-use, and cost effectiveness. The mHealth Alliance’s two key strategic focus areas for 2012 are: Evidence and Interoperability.This working group is intended to give effect to the latter.

There was helpful and insightful discussion regarding the ways both a “top down” and a “bottom up” approach can usefully inform the group’s activities — with examples given of each. As a “homework assignment”, group members will digest and comment on the two work items that are already posted to HUB, and will begin posting other artefacts (requirements docs, architecture diagrams, etc.) that provide informative examples from initiatives in the field. We will also start to catalogue a list of projects (especially open source examples, please) that illustrate “going to scale” with m/eHealth technologies in low resource settings.

I wish to thank the attendees for their active and helpful participation. I also hope that the audio recording will help others who were unable to make the scheduled time-slot to “join” and would welcome any and all comments (please post to this blog) they might like to add.

Our next meeting will be scheduled early in the new year. Between now and then, I wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season and all the best in 2012!

-Derek Ritz

Initiative:

mHealth Systems Integration

December 22, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Education, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

ICT in Education 2011: The quest to find true cost of edutech projects

Policy-makers, development specialists, and educators around the world generally agree that information and communications technology (ICT) can greatly enhance learning and more efficiently and effectively deliver educational services. In 2011, technology-based education (“edutech” or “ICT4E”) experts talked a lot (and debated a lot) about how to successfully implement ICT initiatives for education in developing countries.

Cost of implementation continued to be a top issue of concern, but the debate shifted from being solely focused on the cost of gadgets (“hardware”) to taking into account the total cost of implementing ICT education solutions. This includes teacher and student training, support and maintenance, and the cost of replacing the hardware. Many in the ICT4E field have opposed the fascination with developing the cheapest educational device possible, a mentality that grew in the late 2000s with projects such as One Laptop Per Child (OLPC). Now-a-days, ICT4E’ers argue that what is needed is not to try and reach the unfeasible goal of getting a laptop into every primary school child’s hands, but for each classroom to be equipped with a “learning system,” such as a teacher-centric computer connected to low-power projector.

Photo credit: www.techmean.com

While acknowledging that hardware is not the main cost in implementing edutech projects, it’s still interesting to see how low the costs of education gadgets can get. The ICT4E sector saw several new low-cost gadgets unveiled this year.

The education gadget that has perhaps received the most press this year is India’s Aakash, launched in October and developed by the company Datawind and the Indian Institute of Technology. DataWind CEO Suneet Singh Tuli recently gave a talk about the device at the World Bank, discussing its functionality, cost (subsidized at $35, unsubsidized around $60), and how it fits into broader sustainable business models of ICT adoption in the developing world. Many are critical of the Aakash; similar low-cost devices had been promised for India before and failed, and some questioned whether the tablet could really be considered “educational.”

Though Literacy Bridge piloted its $10 Talking Book in 2009 in Ghana, the non-profit has expanded the reach of the audio device as well as contributed to ICT in education strategies throughout 2011. The organization claims their device is “the world’s most affordable, durable, audio device” designed to reach people who are not literate and live without electricity. The gadget enables teachers to reach more students; for instance, they can record readings of instructional materials onto the device and create interactive audio lessons like quizzes or games.

Literacy Bridge's "Talking Book"

Next year holds some exciting potential for ICT4E developments. Something to look out for soon (originally set to launch this month by a UK charity) is the Raspberry Pi, a tiny and incredibly cheap ($25!) computer that will be used for teaching computer programming to children. The Raspberry Pi Foundation plans for the credit-card sized device, which can be plugged into a TV, to have a number of applications that can be used both the developed and developing world.

Geeks Without Frontiers announced in August that it has developed a low-cost, open source Wi-Fi software technology that could reach a billion people in 10 years. The technology is estimated to be about half of the traditional network cost once it is up and running. Though it is not specifically designed for educational purposes, it could have huge implications for the ICT4E field, allowing many more students and teachers in low-income areas to connect to the Internet.

2011 also brought good analyses of all the low-cost gadgets that have been developed for educational purposes. One article looked at the best devices for education currently available, based on six success criteria for ICT4E projects in developing countries as determined by researchers and practitioners in the field: infrastructure, maintenance, contents and materials, community inclusion, teacher training, and evaluation.

The credit card-sized Raspberry Pi computer

No doubt the debates about the best way to implement ICT4E projects will continue in 2012, as will the search to find the lowest-cost educational gadgets. The field holds some exciting developments for the new year, so be sure to follow the Educational Technology Debate, ICT Works, the World Bank EduTech blog, and GBI’s education sector, among others, to keep up with the latest updates.

December 22, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Agriculture Markets, Farmer to Farmer, Mobile, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

FIVE Most Fascinating Ag Apps of 2011!

A wide range of ICT tools were developed and deployed along the agriculture value chain this year. Having reviewed a number of them, here is a list of what I consider the five most fascinating ag apps of 2011.

Note: This is entirely subjective and excludes those that predates 2011 but were either rebranded, boosted by research or additional usage this year. The order is intended.

iPhone screen shot of the iCow app

1. iCow
I gave this app props long before Forbes Magazine dubbed it “The best African Mobile App”. This Green Dreams Ltd creation topped the Apps4Africa Contest, but unlike many other prize-winning apps, the iCow became a worldwide sensation. The voice-based mobile information app for diary farmers is leaps and bounds above most others because of its earthy nature and its catchy name—branding is certainly one of its strongest cards. It will be delightful to know the uptake since it was first piloted.

2. RITS Apps
This suite of traceability and efficiency tools, developed by Exprima Media and Sustainable Harvest, is fascinating on many levels. It uses the most rugged platform, the iPad, to get the big benefits of computing (automation, info sharing) in the hands of farmers. The simplicity of the user interface also enhance usability by those with limited computer literacy, thereby reducing the need for heavy investment of scare resources (money and time) in training. 2012 should be a great year for this suite of apps, as it moves out of the piloting phase and we are able to take stock of the findings. At the very least, it is the most anthropologically astute ag app on the market today.

3. mFisheries
This innovative suite of mobile apps was developed by Dr. Kim Mallalieu and a team at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad. It is fascinating for two primary reasons: 1) It tackles challenges in the fisheries sector, which is often neglected by developers, by providing access to fish and fish processing best practices, connecting suppliers and consumers. 2) Despite the challenges in building a vibrant developer community and culture in the tiny region, this app confronts the particular needs of the Caribbean fishing industry in a truly innovative way—utilizing location-positioning functions in mobiles for search and rescue purposes. That will certainly come in handy in the hurricane season when many fisher folks experience difficulties at sea.

4. Africa Commodities and Futures Exchange (ACFEX)
Though still in the implementation phase, ACFEX makes the list of the five most fascinating ICT tools for agriculture in 2011 because it is the first truly pan-Africa commodities FX—though I have seen several others, none is quite like this. It tackles the multicurrency and cross-border constraints using some of the most advanced technologies available, while keeping the small farmer at its core. Eight countries have signed on so far, 2012 should test the mettle of this private sector initiative as more states come on board.

5. CellBazaar

Credit: CellBazaar

This glitzy app, developed by an international nonprofit think-tank called Think, tackles a familiar problem—marketing. So it isn’t innovative in that sense. However, it is fascinating because of the branding and the rapid uptake. Few apps, though they are rapidly churned out, in the ag space have been properly branded and marketed—even the essentials of life must be touted for people to rapidly adhere to, use and preserve them! Even the name of CellBazaar tells you precisely what it is. The tagline tops it off with “the market in your mobile phone.” Evidence of the effectiveness of touting it as a virtual marketplace for GrameenPhone’s 20 million mobile subscribers is evident from the one million up-take noted soon after its launch—and a quarter of those subscribers still regularly use it. 2012 should bring more success for this app as it expands beyond Bangladesh and into parts of Sub-Saharan Africa.

December 20, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Agriculture Markets, Extension Service, Food Security, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

The Debate over Intermediaries in Ag. Value Chain: E-TIC Project

Photo Credit: CartoonStock.com.

For decades, the role of intermediaries between farmers and other stakeholders (researchers, policy makers, donors, etc.) has been key in the exchange of agricultural information, knowledge, innovation and other resources. The traditional intermediary role has been played over the years by the various national agricultural extension services but due to the challenges with this system, there is an emergent of the private sector intermediaries. However, with the advancement of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and their potential technological intermediary role, the role of “human” intermediaries is being questioned time after time.

While one school of thought thinks “technology”, specifically ICT will eventually eliminate and replace “human” intermediaries or the middlemen within the agricultural value chain, another school of thought believes that the “human factor” in extension cannot be eliminated. As a socio-technical researcher, I find myself between these two schools of thought. Even though, I have a stand in this debate (see bkaddom’s comments here), the recent selection of E-TIC project by the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) as a success story during its 2010-2011 stocktaking gives me the courage to write this reflection.

The E-TIC project is an initiative involving various players coordinated by ICVolunteers, a nonprofit organization and being implemented in Senegal and Mali (Sahel region), with the support of the Fonds Francophone des Inforoutes and a series of other partners.

An important component of the E-TIC project, however, is the role that intermediaries are playing in this multidisciplinary network as “field connectors” by providing links between small farmers and “new technologies.” The project uses local connectors (human intermediaries) such as governmental representatives; community leaders; volunteers deployed in the localities; universities and journalists are used to gather information/data; community radio for the dissemination of information; mobile phone operators; local authorities; and NGOs, all of whom cooperate in sharing information relevant to the project.

The E-TIC project then facilitates the functions of these connectors by providing them with tools (technological intermediaries) and training components so that small farmers, herders and fishermen are better able to sell their products. Among these tools is the E-TIC website, to be translated into multiple languages – French, English, Wolof, Fulani and Bambara, as well as a number of other work and exchange tools (wiki, distribution list, etc.) for communication between project stakeholders. The Internet platform aims to provide information regarding agricultural activities, including production, marketing and promotion techniques, market prices and other useful data, both for the farmers themselves and other stakeholders, including researchers in this domain. Through the creation of this portal and a series of training courses for field connectors (youth, women, community radio journalists), the E-TIC project aims to provide knowledge relevant for efficient and effective farm management.

The architecture of the E-TIC project system shows a differentiation of intermediaries whose roles are being enabled by the new technologies and tools. Instead of seeing the intermediaries as a threat to exchange of resources – information, knowledge, innovation and even physical agricultural inputs, the project recognized as tools for strengthening the delivery of these resources.

I believe that the ‘human factor’ in the exchange of information between the smallholder farmer and other stakeholders in the agricultural sector is something that cannot be replaced. ICTs are technologies that could be used to improve social processes such as extension services. It is up to the stakeholders to identify what catalyzing role the ICTs can play in facilitating the social role of these intermediaries. The type of ICTs and the degree of use at the various stages of the value chain, may depend on a number of factors including the type of content being delivered, the size of the target audience, the educational status of the users, among others.

And I quote “ICTs have an important role to play for the populations in Senegal and Mali, but the specific applications need to be adapted to local needs and means, for example, low literacy and local languages. Given the relatively low literacy rate in most cases and a strong oral tradition with the use of local languages, the most common means of communication remains direct conversation (whether through farmers, herders, etc. meeting each other or speaking with each other by mobile phone) and community radio stations” (WSIS Success Stories 2011).

December 19, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Health, Health, Maternal & Child Health, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Don’t Miss Raj Shah on 20/20 Tonight!

BY: Raj Shah, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator

This Post originally appeared on ABCNews.

Raj Shah holds up his hads, with the words 1 million moms written on his palms Ensuring the safety of a mother and her newborn is not only one of the greatest development challenges we face, it is also one of the most heartbreaking.

Earlier this year, I visited South Sudan, where I met school children studying in a classroom—some of them for the very first time. Although I was optimistic about their future, I was also concerned, because I knew that for every girl I met, she was statistically more likely to die in childbirth than complete a secondary education.

This reality is simply unacceptable.

There is an incredible need to ensure the safety of mothers and infants in the critical period of 48 hours surrounding birth. To help spur progress in maternal and child health, we launched our first Grand Challenge for Development – Saving Lives at Birth – in partnership with the Government of Norway, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges Canada and The World Bank.

Saving Lives at Birth calls for groundbreaking prevention and treatment approaches for pregnant women and newborns in rural settings during this perilous time around childbirth. We received more than 600 proposals to our Grand Challenge, more than a quarter of which arrived from the developing world. Last week we announced our three transition-to-scale grant nominees. These nominees have proven that their ideas can deliver real results in local communities and are ready to test them on a much larger scale. While we expect our first round of grants to yield exciting innovations with the potential for significant change, we will encourage our community of innovators to push boundaries and find new ways to shape collective action.

Similarly, the Million Moms Challenge is inspiring American families to help mothers and children around the world. I am proud to accept this Challenge and will continue my commitment to this important cause.

I hope you will too.

December 16, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Agriculture Markets, Extension Service, Mobile, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Is e-Krishok a Model for Scaling ICTs for Ag. Projects?

Photo Credit: e-Krishok

Integrating information communication technologies (ICTs) into agriculture is still a challenge, especially at the farm level in most developing countries. While the potentials of ICTs in improving access to agricultural information for these smallholder farmers is huge, the impact of the technologies on the productivity and living conditions of farmers is yet to be realized.

The task, therefore, for Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and Agricultural Value Added Service (Agri VAS) providers in their efforts to develop commercially viable, sustainable and scalable models that will facilitate information delivery to farmers, is still far from achieving.

This is why the e-Krishok project in Bangladesh is being praised for its innovative approach. Developing from a successful pilot phase in 2008, e-Krishok has just launched its nationwide scaling up initiative to bring information and other services to rural Bangladesh. e-Krishok is a promotional campaign in motivating farmers to use information and advisory services of a Grameen Phone Community Information Center (GPCIC). Supported by Katalyst Bangladesh, a pro-poor market development project funded by a donor consortium of DFID, SDC, CIDA, ACI and Royal Dutch Embassy, the campaign is being implemented by Bangladesh Institute of ICT in Development (BIID).

The campaign promotes information and advisory services targeted at farmers in enabling them to address their agricultural problems and constrains to improve farm productivity. The Information and advisory service at GPCIC works through an Internet enabled process in which an agricultural information repository, ruralinfobd is at the heart of the service delivery mechanism. Also added to the platform is a link to direct consultation with agriculturists through e-mail. Farmers are not required to interact directly with the technical interface.

A farmer is encouraged to go to any Community Information Center (CIC) whenever they have a specific problem issue. The operator (entrepreneur) at the CIC browses through the web portal to locate solution to the problem presented by the farmer. In case the solution is not immediately available at the web site, a query is forwarded to specific email address that is used and maintained jointly by BIID, and an assigned agriculturist replies to the queries on daily basis.

Should the $35 Aakash Tablet be Dubbed “Educational”?

Photo Credit: Android Community

From Mr Tuli’s presentation yesterday at the World Bank on India’s new low-cost tablet Aakash, and the discussions that followed, I differ to agree that the device is Educational as being dubbed.

Launched in October this year by the country’s Minister for Human Resource Development, Aakash has been described by some as potentially heralding a new “Internet revolution” within India education, doing for educational computing what the mobile phone has done for personal communications over the past decade.

Through a live Webcast and twitter, the CEO of Datawind, Suneet Singh Tuli presented his case to the World Bank and his global audience on why the Aakash tablet computer will revolutionize education in India and possibly in other parts of the developing world. Mr. Tuli focused his talk on the device, affordability, connectivity or access to the Internet, content, and sustainable business models to drive broad adoption of the device in the developing world through an ecosystems approach in an event organized by the Open Data Innovations Network (ODIN) of the Bank with the key concern of what is different this time around (Listen to the recorded webcast).

In response to his talk, several questions, concerns, and comments both from the face-to-face audience and through social media were centered on content. This is because of the christening of the device as “educational”. I tend to agree with most of the comments that the device could have an educational component but education should not be the heart of the tablet. Aakash is a technological innovation and should be presented as such and left for users to decide how to use it. Using it for education in India because of the available educational content or training materials at the time does not make it an educational device.

I believe Aakash could be revolutionary in nature due to its current low cost – the actual cost of $60 or the subsidized rate of $35. The focus should be on exploring its potential within all sectors of development to facilitate communication of information. Access to information and knowledge is the driving force for development in the current information age and the knowledge society. Mobile technologies are having great impact on the developing world as a result of their unique capability to connect rural people to informational resource – health, agriculture, education, market, democracy and governance, among others. For Aakash to have any impact on any or all of these development sectors will require some kind of collaboration with Value Added Service (VAS) providers – content developers.

The CEO of Datawind also sought the support of the World Bank through its networks with national governments in the developing world to help in the adoption and use of the device to help meet the educational goal by incorporating it into their educational curriculum. But I wonder if this is the right time for such a policy action by an international development agency at this early stage of the innovation.

An interesting review of Aakash can be found here.

December 9, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Mobile, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Vodacom Tanzania makes money transfers easier

Vodacom Tanzania has launched a mobile version of money-transfer company Western Union to all their M-Pesa clients, which will allow them to send and receive money from anywhere in the world. At the moment, M-Pesa clients can only transact with 75 countries.

Vodacom Tanzania managing director Rene Meza (image: MyBroadband)

“We have introduced this service to our clients to give them access of sending and receiving funds even when they are abroad. If your mobile operator works with Western Union, using the mobile money transfer service could potentially be like having access to 200 countries and over 435,000 agent locations in your pocket,” said Vodacom Tanzania managing director Rene Meza.

Meza further added that the Western Union programme will make it even easier for users to send and receive money, as users don’t necessarily need a mobile phone to make transaction – the ways to send money include cash to mobile, mobile to cash and mobile to mobile.

Security is also of a high priority for Vodacom, as Meza added that users will be protected. “We want to guarantee our customers that even if the cash does not get into receivers’ hands you will get it back regardless the place. We do not want to know how much the client has in an account or any document in receiving funds.

Vodacom regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa Karen Jordan concluded with how easy it is to transact cash. “The clients can get cash from their relatives all over the world without any complicated approval. It is simple to any M-Pesa client to use as it has no limit of time in service so it is good for Tanzania’s economy.”

Charlie Fripp – Acting Online editor

December 9, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Health, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Weaving eHealth Into the Fabric of the African Health System

The 4th Afrihealth Conference, held in Nairobi, Kenya on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, broadened the debate on the adoption of Telemedicine, mHealth and eHealth in Africa, and brought attention to the need to integrate and mainstream eHealth into the continent’s health system.

The theme of the conference was “consolidating the gains of technological innovation in healthcare through effective management,” and some debate sparked on what direction to take eHealth in Africa.

According to Science and Development Network reporter Maina Waruru, experts attending the conference argued that “a focus on high-tech healthcare solutions could come at the expense of basic prevention such as access to clean water and sanitation, good nutrition and hygiene, and health education.” Since 80 percent of illnesses in Africa stem from preventable infectious diseases, this focus on high-tech is a move in the “wrong direction.”

But the potential for using ICTs to continue to improve basic healthcare in Africa is great, and a focus should be on ensuring that appropriate technology is utilized and effectively delivered.

One concern attendees brought up was the lack of a legal framework to determine what qualifies a person to work as an “e-health” professional. E-health is often practiced by non-professionals such as ICT technicians and nurses, and many countries have not established what qualifications are needed to be certified as a professional.

In addition, physicians in many countries are of an older generation and received their degrees before the ICT explosion. Many are not comfortable with situations where they consult with patients remotely, without actually being in the room with them.

Image from Dr. Kwankam's powerpoint presentation at Afrihealth conference

From Dr. Kwankam's presentation at Afrihealth 2011 conference

To address some of these issues, Shariq Khoja, the coordinator of the e-health program at Aga Khan University, has suggested that laws should be put into place to “accommodate and mainstream [e-health].” According to Dr. Yunkap Kwankam of the International Society for Telemedicine and eHealth, “for eHealth to take root and thrive…it must itself be transformed…we must weave eHealth into the fabric of the health system.”

Dr. Kwankam claims that Africans can benefit from technology changes by effectively managing it and charting a course for ICT in health through an organized eHealth profession, national eHealth policies and strategies, and addressing large eHealth challenges, such as scaling up eHealth interventions.

Dr. Kwankam and other experts’ presentations from the conference are now available.

December 7, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Mobile, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Leveraging mServices for Development: An Opportunity for MNOs

Photo Credit: City of Dallas

The importance of mobile network operators (MNOs) who are currently investing in mobile agriculture services (m-agri) to view and utilize their investments as part of the wider “mServices strategy” that includes m-health, m-financial services, m-education, m-governance, m-women, etc came up in the just ended mFarmer and e-Agriculture online discussion.

“As competition between operators continues to escalate, the large rural customer base (a great deal of whom are farmers in the markets we are talking about) represents a sizeable business opportunity for MNOs” said an expert.

This comes as new developments are taking place with mobile financial services across the continent of Africa that has a huge market for all kinds of mobile services. Orange, one of the most prolific mobile financial services provider, is expanding further via a new partnership with Western Union to better meet the mobile services needs of its customers in Africa and Middle East.

The service will allow users to carry out simple banking operations and transactions in total security including money transfers – where users can send money using their phone to any Orange mobile customer in the country; payments – giving users an easier way to pay their electricity, water, television or phones bills, as well as providing a simple way to buy mobile phone credit from any location; and financial services – including solutions facilitating savings and insurance.

While all these services seem “financial”, analysts see the general penetration of mobile technology into the developing world as a great opportunity to facilitate services in other sectors such as governance, healthcare, education, agriculture, rural development, water and sanitation, and the overall economic development. Good partnerships among MNOs and between MNOs and other service providers that focus on the wider services should be the target for all.

GSMA has already initiated a number of programs that call for collaboration to leverage resources to better deliver these mobile services to the millions of rural folks currently left unconnected. Examples include:

m-Health service such as supporting community health workers in gathering and managing health information; capturing and analyzing data for disease surveillance; providing remote diagnoses via telemedicine; improving access to health information and resources through health hotlines; facilitating health education, training and emergency support; coordinating drug and medical supply distribution; enhancing rapid disease testing via mobile phone microscopy applications.

m-Farmer service aimed at driving scalable, replicable and commercially successful mFarmer Services; building services that impact farmers’ income and productivity; reducing the barriers for operators to launch or improve mFarmer Services; testing and proving models for delivering mFarmer Services via mobile phones; and promoting a culture of knowledge sharing in the mFarmer ecosystem.

m-Women service with the objectives of increasing access to mobile phones for 150 million women who live at the base of the pyramid over the next three years and leveraging the mobile channel to improve the socio-economic status of women across the developing world.

m-Learning service that will provide access to or deliver educational content and experiences through mobile devices using a number of technologies including Bluetooth, GSM/GPRS/3G, WiFi or WiMAX, via various mediums with the ability to learn anytime, anywhere.

It is time for the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to take advantage of these opportunities to maximize revenue for their investments and increase their social development impact on the society, especially the remote communities.

December 7, 2011/by actualize

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