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Last Mile Mobile Solutions: An Efficient Aid Distribution Tool

Last Mile Mobile logo

Photo Credit: Last Mile Mobile Solutions

Last month, food assistance from the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) reached more 26,500 people fleeing fighting in Sudan’s South Kordofan state. Not even close to a tenth of the 400,000 Southern Sudanese they fed before the latest outbreak of violence.

In humanitarian assistance missions, delivering aid to displaced people, at the right time, in sufficient quantities is extremely challenging, especially in inaccessible rural areas.

Lack of infrastructure prevents transportation, erupting violence hinders efforts, and overall allocation is inefficient and ineffective.

The Last Mile Mobile Solutions (LMMS) is a mobile technology aiming to change the aid distribution process.

LMMS bypasses the challenges that remote data collection typically faces in the last mile. With the swipe of a photo ID card, families receive the right amount of food, without waiting in line or conducting paper work

The beneficiaries of aid are directly registered in the field, and then immediately integrated into a humanitarian assistance project database, strengthening inventory control during aid distribution.

Ben Tshin of World Vision explains how the digitalization and automation of the aid distribution makes, “digital records of what we serve and how we serve them.” While the time to collect, stock, allocate, and report a humanitarian aid necessities is cut in half.

This is an illustration of how the LMMS system works:

Screen shot of the Last Mile Mobile Solutions steps on how their tool is used

Photo Credit: Last Mile Mobile Solutions

Initially working with World Vision, a partner of the UN’s World Food Program, LMMS was piloted in Kenya and Lesotho in 2008 to assist with general food aid distributions.

Success of the pilot led to an extension of LMMS being used in all of World Vision’s feeding programs. In 2009, LMMS was adapted for feeding programs targeted for vulnerable populations to improve World Vision’s distribution and reach.

LMMS was designed for food allocation, but “is not specific to World Vision,” Tshin states, its framework is flexible enough to be used by other organizations working in humanitarian assistance.

LMMS streamlines the distribution process, but digitalization also makes the donor money more transparent—allowing donors to see who, what, and where their funds are going. Information on aid delivery activities is stored, aggregated and can be sent to donor organizations in a PDF format.

This new communication tool makes organizations on the ground more accountable to their donors, encouraging fair distribution and preventing redundancy between projects.

The LMMS also has a long-term goal in mind for how organizations can use this resource in its full capacity.

Potentially, the mobile technology could be a, “cloud online solution,” where donors in Washington will be able to view what is happening in humanitarian assistance missions abroad, in real time.

LMMS can conceivably be a central and secure point for data collection to improve efficiency in program planning and effectiveness, a very useful tool in the newly emerging, conflict prone regions of South Sudan.

This mobile technology can also help the current humanitarian assistance in South Sudan identify those in need of emergency food assistance and reduce food allocation time, which provides more people with food in less time—before more violence erupts.

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South Sudan: In search of a food policy?

Green leaves of a Cassava plant

Credit: Farm Africa

After two decades of civil war and amid a tense truce, the world recently welcomed its newest nation, The Republic of South Sudan.  But like many of its Sub-Saharan neighbors did 50 years ago, South Sudan joins the rank of nationhood with a raft of intractable developmental  challenges– and the high expectations of 8 million people adds importance to each.

While the slate of challenges at hand are all important for sustained socio-economic development, achieving national food security will be key to the success of the nation.  It is a vital part of  national security and nationhood. But achieving self-sufficiency in food production and food security will require full transformation of the embryonic nation’s agricultural sector.

Although the sector accounts for the majority of economic activity—33% of the rural population lives on agriculture, whereas 45 % and 12 % are agro-pastoralists and fishermen respectively—the industry is stuck in a pre-industrial form. This is particularly bothersome as new nations must effectively manage their citizens’ expectations–for basic services, jobs and food–to thrive.

However, the country has been unable to provide enough food for the people of South Sudan since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005. More than a fifth of the population depends on food aid, and the majority of the country’s food is imported from neighbouring countries, many of which are unstable. This doesn’t bode well for the country, and begs the question: where is the national food policy that would foster sustained food production and security? What should a national food policy for South Sudan entail?

A map showing the 10 states of South Sudan in various colours

Credit: South Sudan Forum For Public Policy

As I noted earlier, at the heart of any food policy must be the repositioning of the agricultural sector. South Sudan’s agriculture is characterized by subsistence farmers and disproportionate involvement in agriculture and forestry, compared to livestock and fisheries. There ought to be a concerted campaign to educate farmers about the importance of diversifying their crops and exploring opportunities in the livestock and fisheries sector.

This will require the bridging of the information divide.  In other words, South Sudanese farmers ought to have improved access to better extension services and information that will sensitize and inform them about markets. ICTs will be useful tools for enabling this and should therefore form a central part of the overall food security strategy for South Sudan.  However, the full incorporation of ICTs will depend on improvements in connectivity and access– mobile subscription, broadband access and total internet users are all less than the average for Sub-Saharan Africa.

Nonetheless, traditional ICTs such as radio, which is relatively ubiquitous in South Sudan, may be used as a key first step to offer extension services that tackle issues, including irrigation cycles, pest control, access to seeds,  fertilizer, transportation and prices. These services may be provided via a series of  regularly aired radio programs and features that capture the voices and interests of the farmers.  The use of traditional ICTs and other less advanced but newer technologies are likely to be more contextually relevant and appropriate, compared to high end ICTs. The latest technology is not always suitable. In the long-term, many opportunities to use the latest ICTs will mature. That is to say, they exist now, but the infrastructure in not in place to facilitate their effective implementation for the benefit of the majority.

Here are a few of the ICT opportunities:

  • The provision of access to financial services via mobile money
  • Improve irrigation and water management services using remote sensing technologies and GIS
  • Establishment of legible rural and agricultural markets through market information systems
  • Reduction of waste through proper storage and transportation facilities enabled by logistics technology
  • Text and other mobile-based  extension services to create access to better agriculture and livestock  inputs

Despite the immense scope for growth in South Sudan’s agriculture sector, much depends on the development of indigenous agricultural and livestock research, animal health services, infrastructure (including roads and bridges), and the stability of the  regulatory and political environment.

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HIV/AIDS: A window of opportunity for South Sudan

Photo Credit: antiimperialism.com

As South Sudan prepares for independence, the celebrations will be tempered by the grim reality that awaits them. The nation is plagued by numerous health burdens due to decades of civil war resulting in a lack of trained health workers and poor infrastructure, and inadequate health and education systems. One such burden is HIV/AIDS. Dr. Wichgoah Piny, the state’s HIV/AIDS commissioner said that about 116,000 people are known to be infected by the virus in South Sudan, 46,000 of which are being treated at hospitals within the region. This number lies in the middle ground when looking at the rest of Africa. East Africa generally has a higher prevalence whereas West Africa exhibits a lower prevalence of the disease. Some estimates say up to 4.7 million in South Sudan are at risk of acquiring the disease.

But those numbers could grow exponentially in the coming years. The World Health Organization (WHO) has described HIV/AIDS prevalence in South Sudan as “a ticking time bomb” and a threat which needs a cooperative and collective effort to fight in the new nation. Dr. Olivia Lomoro, the GoSS Undersecretary in the Ministry of Health who spoke at a South Sudan AIDS conference warned, “HIV/AIDS is a real issue in Southern Sudan despite the efforts we have put to fight it. It remains a threat and a time bomb we are expecting.”

UNAIDS officials in South Sudan

Dr. Mohamed Abdi, the WHO Director in South Sudan said that, “AIDS is a big problem in South Sudan and we need to fight it together.” He said that in more than two years he had worked in the region, very few people were getting treatment.

The consequences of a surge in HIV/AIDS could be catastrophic. The health infrastructure is already poor as it stands. An HIV/AIDS epidemic would paralyze the health sector for years and impair growth in other sectors. This could result in a crisis that no new government would be prepared to handle.

So in a sense, this is a defining moment for the future of health in South Sudan. As the new government establishes itself and its policies, it has the opportunity to be forward looking in the development of its health infrastructure. If HIV/AIDS is afforded a chance to “blow up” as WHO fears, the country will immediately be sunk further into a health crisis.

This presents an opportunistic entry point for the implementation of ICTs into the health sector in South Sudan.

Opportunities

A survey completed in 2006 by WHO revealed that over 910 health facilities existed in South Sudan. At the time, a majority of those facilities were claimed to be in a “deplorable state”.  However, Dr. Lomoro recently pledged that Lakes state now has a new hospital which is going to be used as a teaching hospital to help in delivering quality health. She also mentioned investments through the Chinese government will be used to build new health centers and rehabilitate old ones. Incorporating ICTs in the rehabilitation process will pay dividends for the health sector in the future.

South Sudan is being held captive by a number of health issues such as measles, yellow fever and tuberculosis to name a few. Furthermore, South Sudan has up to 80% illiteracy rates in some parts, which make communicating through ICTs invaluable. The most basic forms of ICTs like radio, television and mobile phones can build a communication bridge for the illiterate to keep them connected and informed.

Dr. Lomoro also pointed out that the first target for the Ministry of Health in the Government of South Sudan is the training of health personnel in all the ten states of South Sudan in order to deliver quality health services to the population in a professional standard. One way to go about this would be to include ICT training in that workforce development. Taking this route would build workforce capacity and bolster the development of ICTs in the country.

The population returning from Sudan proper and surrounding African countries are also coming back with health work force skills. So there is a hope that as people return, their skills will be used in improving service delivery.

Several factors exist that support the idea of integrating ICT into the health infrastructure of South Sudan

Present ICT Usage

The market for ICTs is ripe and growing in South Sudan. The initiatives that would make a big impact in fighting HIV/AIDS using ICTs utilize mobile phones and radios as the media for communication. These media platforms are the largest in South Sudan.

Photo Credit: biztechafrica.com

A 2007 survey entitled “Media Access and Use in Southern Sudan,” showed that radio was the main source of information for the population as a whole with 59% of respondents citing the radio as a source of information, the highest out of all forms of media. Additionally, HIV/AIDS awareness radio programs make up 17% of the most popular radio programs. This indicates that HIV/AIDS discussions already have a base in South Sudan media.

Mobile phones on the other hand don’t enjoy such high rates of usage as radio due to 30% coverage rates. However, the mobile phone network has expanded considerably since 2005 and is predicted to keep expanding in the near future. Also noteworthy is that only 14% of South Sudanese get their information from newspapers and 13% from television according to a report. It’s clear that radio and mobile phones are the most widely used avenues of communication in South Sudan.

Plans to expand broadband cables

As recently reported, South Sudan is on the shortlist to receive fiber optic broadband cables. Broadband services make it possible to interconnect affiliated healthcare facilities around the country so that they can utilize and share scarce human and technical equipment resources to deliver quality and affordable healthcare services. These cables can establish a foundation for ICTs not just in health, but for all sectors in South Sudan.

Past Successful HIV/AIDS Programs

South Sudan won’t be the guinea pig for using ICTs for HIV/AIDS either. There have been quite a few successful HIV/AIDS programs in the past that succeeded in similar environments:

  • Targeting Nomadic Populations – USAID and other external NGO’s worked together in Nepal in 2005 to introduce a radio program on HIV/AIDS awareness by integrating entertainment into its programming
  • Capitalizing on existing media penetration:

o        Radio – Tanzania also introduced the Tunajali HIV/AIDS Care and Treatment Radio Program in 2010 with the help of PEPFAR.

o        Mobile – Two mobile phone programs, Text to Change(TTC) and Freedom HIV/AIDS used mobile phones to reach thousands of people to educate them on HIV/AIDS

Photo Credit: freedom HIV/AIDS

South Sudan should approach some of the major NGO’s on the ground to help implement these initiatives that use ICTs. Organizations like USAID, WHO, UNICEF and the UN have spearheaded many initiatives like the ones described above in the developing world. They should at the very least try to do the same in South Sudan. They need to realize the opportunity at hand.

Possible ICT Policy

So the framework to set South Sudan off on the right foot is present just as they kick off their sovereignty. However, an HIV/AIDS epidemic is a threat. The markets for intervention exist, proven initiatives exist and they can be adopted using the aforementioned plans to establish new broadband cables. All of the stars have aligned. The tricky part is getting officials to the table and churning out an action plan. This will involve NGO officials talking with South Sudanese Government officials and making this opportunity a priority.

South Sudan has already seen its darkest days. They want to move now from being a hub for relief efforts to a hub for development. The health sector can benefit tremendously from using ICTs to prevent an HIV/AIDS disaster. Once HIV/AIDS is under control, the ICTs can be utilized strategically to tackle other health issues, as they are being done all over Africa and the developing world. If not, it may not be long before South Sudan encounters its darkest days once again.

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iWeek South Africa

The 2011 10th Anniversary iWeek conference, a South African Internet and telecoms industry’s annual gathering, will feature international speakers from six continents.

The 10th staging of the iWeek Conference kicks off on September 21 to 23 this year at the Royal Elephand, Eldoraigne, Centurion, South Africa. The annual event is a gathering of internet and telecoms players, but it is open to others. This year’s staging will focus on how the internet has changed societies.

The event, which is sponsored by MTN Business Solutions, Ad Dynamo and Vox Telecom, will feature leading speakings, including Juan Du Toit from MXiT, Peter Coroneos, chief executive of the Internet Industry Association (IIA), Dr. Roger Leslie Cottrell from the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford University, Jack Unger, president of Ask-Wi.Com and Ramy Raoof, online media officer at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights.

Go here to register.

 

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Drug traders paying pharmaceuticals for counterfeit drug detection?

U.S. based social enterprise Sproxil announced the start of its counterfeit drug detection program in India two weeks ago. This comes after the company announced it would receive a $1.8 million financial backing from Acumen Fund to expand its operations to India back in March 2011.

Sproxil is well known for its Mobile Product Authentication (MPA) architecture which fights the distribution of counterfeit drugs in developing nations. The MPA system takes advantage of the mobile phone market which is widely accessible in Africa. MPA uses scratch off cards that come with purchased drugs. These scratch off cards display a unique identifier which is texted to the pharmaceutical supplier to verify the authenticity of the drugs.

Photo Credit: Sproxil

When drugs depart the factory they are manufactured at, the scratch off card with the unique identifier accompanies every package manufactured ensuring authenticity from the source. When the drug is purchased, customers can scratch the card and text the identifier to a number provided by Sproxil from any cell phone and receive verification within seconds on the authenticity of the drugs. Sproxil says the texts are free of charge to the consumer.

Sproxil has affected the lives of many uninformed consumers before going into India. They established the first national mobile-based anti-counterfeit program in Africa and has already sold millions of anti-counterfeit labels which provide services to several global pharmaceutical companies, the company says. Drug suppliers in Africa that have lost potential revenue claimed to have covered for their losses and even experienced growth after using MPA.

Sproxil moves to a market in India that is suffering from counterfeit drug trade. “India has one of the largest pharmaceutical markets in the world, but is plagued by counterfeit (spurious) medicines made elsewhere that tarnish brand India,” said Ashifi Gogo, CEO of Sproxil. Gogo cites the recent success of a pilot program in Nigeria as the basis to expand to India. Sproxil’s Mobile Product Authentication technology has touched the lives of over 80,000 people, helping patients avoid getting ripped off by counterfeiters,” said Gogo.

Photo Crdit: SRxA

The world of counterfeit drug trade is a devastating one. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), up to 30% of drugs sold in developing nations are counterfeit with the counterfeit drug market estimated at $200 billion by the World Customs Organization (WCO). The number of deaths and drug resistance levels continue to rise due to consumption of fake drugs, which is creating a healthcare nightmare.

The MPA system is a cost effective and relatively simple way to track fake drugs for both consumers and (authentic)drug suppliers. To allay the costs of his service, Gogo thinks his system gets drug counterfeiters to pay for MPA services. “Consumers are not paying, government is not paying as well. Pharmaceuticals are paying Sproxil to recoup shares lost to counterfeiters. So in some sense, the counterfeiters are paying for this service.”

In any case, Sproxil seems poised to make a dent in India’s counterfeit drug trade, and it is much needed.

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Kenya university to roll-out e-care

Kenya’s Kenyatta University

Kenya’s Kenyatta University’s referral hospital’s doctors and interns are getting a boost in the services they are able to provide to patients with the establishment of an e-care system that will enable them to consult with doctors and experts across the globe.

According to Vice-Chancellor Olive Mugenda, the new e-technology will enable patients to receive the appropriate care needed inside the country, and not be forced to travel abroad to consult other experts. The move is likely to see Kenyans overall health costs reduced.

The KES Sh9 billion (about USD $100 million) hospital,  funded by the Chinese and Kenyan governments, will also connect medics at the referral hospital with those in rural areas.

Mugenda says the facility would have a cancer unit and a geriatric wing to provide health care for the old. ”The need for a cancer unit is justified by the increasing cases of the disease among our people,” says Mugenda.

The university will, on 8 July 2011, officially launch a centre to equip students with the necessary skills to be job creators.

The Business Innovation and Incubation Centre will offer students office space, Internet facilities, capital to start businesses and assistance in marketing their products.

Janan Yussif

 

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New mHealth service gives Iraq options for monitoring health

Iraq’s largest private telecommunications company, Asiacell, announced this week the launch of its mobile health content download and SMS service which is now available to its prepaid and postpaid subscribers. Asiacell is the only mobile telecom company providing coverage for all of Iraq.

An Iraqi man holds a cell phone. Photo Credit: Mario Tama, Getty Images

The new service offers information on various health practices which can be discriminately selected by the user. Asiacell offers a weekly and a daily health update service. The daily health updates include information on women’s health, men’s health, children’s health, dieting, mental health, and diabetes. Albeit a little more limited, the weekly updates is a downloadable service which only cover topics such as sports and fitness, mental health, and emergency medicine.

Customers can subscribe to the daily SMS service, by sending a blank SMS message to the toll-free short code “2330”, and then send their preferred health topic, which they can choose from a list that will be automatically sent via SMS, to short code “2331”.  This service costs IQD 2,500 ($2.14) per month.

Subscribers can also download content on a weekly basis by sending the number “1” to short code “2332” for sports and fitness information, or to “2333” for mental health information, or to “2334” for emergency medicine information. This service costs IQD 2,000 ($1.71) per month.

A similar service operates in India called mDhil which uses SMS to send health messages on various topics. The service overcame social stigmas regarding certain topics of health such as reproductive health, and became one of the most successful mHealth programs in India. Asiacell’s new service faces identical hurdles in Iraq and hopes to prevail like mDhil did.

Photo Credit: Asiacell

Asiacell is the only telecom provider to cover all of Iraq. They provide services to nearly 8 million of the estimated 31 million living in Iraq. This is remarkable given that just 5 years ago under the reign of Saddam Hussein, less than one million Iraqis had access to land lines and the average civilian did not have access to a mobile phone. Despite that and the war which ruined telecommunication infrastructure, Iraqis now have steady access to telecom services, especially mobile phones.

It is probably due to the increased access to information that has led Iraqis to become more health conscious claims Asiacell. Dr. Mustafa Adil, an Iraqi physician, said that maintaining a healthy lifestyle has become a major concern for communities, as people are more aware of the importance of following the latest health advancements and practices. He explained that Asiacell’s Mobile Health service supports the healthcare sector’s goal to promote sound health habits.

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Unlimited medical consultation offered in India

A telehealth service was launched in India in early May called MeraDoctor. Created by the managing director of mHealth Venture India Pvt Ltd. Dr. Ajay Nair, MeraDoctor is the first service in India to offer unlimited medical consultations with a licensed doctor over the phone.

The service is highly convenient and highly accessible, since Indians can call the service from any part of India that has phone connectivity. It sounds like a customer service hotline, but unlike customer service systems which usually provide 24 hour coverage, MeraDoctor only operates from 8am to 10pm. However they are now advertising that 24 hour coverage will be coming soon.

Photo Credit: MeraDoctor

The MeraDoctor system is quite simple. They offer two plans, one for 300 Rs and a second for 500 Rs, for 3 months and 6 months of coverage respectively. The customer has the freedom to make unlimited consultations during hours of operation from any where in India and medical help can be offered for up to 6 family members.

Customers call the number, explain the symptoms and receive a diagnosis along with a drug prescription. The drug prescription is designed to be sent via SMS to the customer. If the condition is complex or enigmatic, the doctor sends information via SMS to the customer on the location of the nearest health facilities and the medical tests to take.

Nair says the doctors are fully licensed and are not to exit the phone conversation until the customer is completely satisfied and has all questions answered. “We encourage them to call us if they don’t understand their test results or what the doctor told them. Our aim is to answer all queries until the caller is satisfied,” explains Nair.

According to Nair, calls sometimes last up to 45 minutes long. MeraDoctors train their doctors not to use medical jargon in order to make the customer comfortable. Says Nair, “all the doctors at MeraDoctor besides being trained in internationally accepted phone triage protocol, are also taught to offer a friendly ear to each caller.”

MeraDoctor has reached 900 families so far in India and looks to keep growing. Similar programs have been implemented in Bangladesh, Australia and Kenya with mixed success. However, if MeraDoctor stays true to its claims of customer friendly service, reliability and unlimited consultations, the service may become a popular fixture.

According to Nair, the patient-doctor dynamic in India is one where a patient refrains from medical consultation until the condition worsens. And when a patient sees a doctor, he/she waits at the doctor’s office for hours for only 5-10 minutes and then pays for the visit out of pocket. Nair wants MeraDoctor to serve as an avenue for thorough and convenient consulting.

Ideologically, the MeraDoctor system is precious for many Indians who have inadequate and substandard medical care. However, immediate issues surface when talking about quality of medical advice and providing accurate diagnoses. Also, if patients are referred to visit a clinic, are they still asked to pay full price for the clinic services despite paying for MeraDoctor services? That wouldn’t seem opportunistic at all. Especially when Indians spend up to an eight of their income paying for medical services. In any case, MeraDoctor seems to be gaining ground, and any success will be significant for Indians.

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ICT Africa Summit 2011 in Pretoria, South Africa

The second staging of the ICT Africa Summit will be held at the CSIR Conference Centre in Pretoria, South Africa on October 24-26.

Project Manager Rocky Kabeya says the focus will be on regional integration in ICT. He says “There has to be one platform on the continent that is strongly committed to connecting the Public and Private sectors to synchronize policy and regulatory frameworks with business opportunities sort after by the private sector and the ICT Africa Summit is the best place for that.”

The summit, which will be sponsored by MTN, Kaspersky, IBM, Meraka, CSIR and the Africa e-programme, is expected to host more ICT delegates than it did last year.

The 2010 staging of the submit in Cape Town attracted 200 delegates from 12 countries. The expected growth in delegates from across the continent will establish the submit as the Africa’s leading ICT expo.

Given the growing significance of ICTs to African economies, this submit is highly likely to become a mainstay. The ICT sector accounts for nearly five percent of Kenya’s GDP, and a growing portion of Ghana’s and Tanzania’s. Over the last decade, some African governments have shown firm political will to tackle the digital divide.

To learn more about the ICT Africa Summit 2011, please go here.

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Can Mobiles Increase Farmers’ Profits? Evidence from Malawi

USAID’s Mission in Malawi has evidence that mobile phones can and do have an impact on local farmers’ profits, according to Vince Langdon-Morris, an agricultural specialist with the Agency. Langdon-Morris explained that USAID Malawi’s is helping small-medium agricultural enterprises monitor and sell their products using an innovative mobile phone platform, similar to Esoko from Ghana.

In very simple terms, the commodity chain of agricultural production in Malawi is being modified in the following way by this project:

  • Farmers harvest grains and communicate with buyers via phone.
  • Small-medium business owners purchase farmers’ grains and monitor their product inventory and sales at their aggregation centers by phone.
  • The owners sell the grains in bulk to larger agri-businesses, checking market prices on their phones to ensure a quality sales price.

The phone helps the farmer to know where he should sell his grains at the best price and when the owner is willing to buy.  The phone helps the small-medium enterprise owner because he can monitor the collections at the 20-30 aggregation centers that he usually operates, allowing him to sell in bulk at the right times and limiting his travel costs, among other benefits.

Mobile phones are tools to promote economic growth and other forms of development.  Certainly, mobile phones are not the cure to all problems, but they can facilitate programs that do directly reduce poverty, such as this agricultural project by USAID Malawi.  Other missions would do well to mimic their efforts and incorporate technology into their current projects in order to enhance effectiveness.

Given the success of M-PESA and other revolutionary applications like MXit and Ushahidi, mobiles4development (hastag #m4d on twitter) is gaining political clout within many development spheres, seemingly replacing microfinance as the solution to end poverty.  Champions of m4d do not fail to mention World Bank studies that describe the connections between mobile phone usage and economic growth, improved healthcare, better agriculture, etc.

Unfortunately, such claims are overstated, as mobile phones cannot solve poverty.  They can, however, be tools for improving development projects, as seen in Malawi.  The test for USAID missions, then, will be to utilize mobiles phones as tools for development projects, but maintain a critical eye about their effectiveness.

 

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