ICTs & SDGs: Sound Policy & Regulation required for beneficial effects of ICTs

I was deeply impressed with the ITU Publication 'ICT-centric economic growth, innovation and job creation.'

This book has many takeaways. My favourite ones are as follows:

The  publication captures the essence of the undeniable linkages between ICTs and the SDGs. It is both comprehensive and contemporary covering various aspects such as the digital divide, innovation and latest technologies and their connection with sustainable development

In particular, I  support and underline the contention in Chapter 2 that highlights that more emphasis needs to be placed on addressing inequalities in access and usage of ICTs between people and regions which if left unaddressed will exacerbate all other inequalities in development, growth and quality of life over time adversely affecting the progress in realizing the SDGs. The stress on ICT related Targets in SDGs (table 1.) is very important. The measures contained in sub goal 9c must include all disadvantaged persons including Persons with Disabilities (PwDs).

In this context, while governments have a very important role to play, the way forward is a multi-stakeholder model wherein private sector, academia and civil society are actively engaged and involved by governments. I wholeheartedly endorse the importance of good regulation that encourages and facilitates private sector innovation and government support (through inter alia innovative use of Universal Service Funds) to empower the poor, women and PwDs etc. such that they are provided the benefits of ICTs. 

The multi-stakeholder partnership model described in Appendix A to Chapter 2 is very relevant and tried and tested in India in its Sanchar Shakti project  for access to Mobile Value-Added Services for rural women. 

Chapter 4 with its emphasis on a conducive institutional and regulatory framework is highly relevant especially for policy makers and regulators in developing countries. Competition, liberalisation and innovation go hand in hand with sustainable growth. In particular, the trade-off between short term gains and long-term harm caused by policy decisions impacts all sectors including ICTs and has a very important bearing on achieving sustainable development. 

I also appreciate the stress on the capacity of ICTs to empower citizens by providing information and a feedback mechanism to express their views and preferences. The sections on competition, consumer regulation and State owned Enterprises (SoEs) are very well written and pertinent. Competition, credible governance, universal service regulation, privacy and data protection can have a critical impact on, long term growth of ICTs and hence overall socio-economic development given the intricate linkages between ICTs and the SDGs. This is an important precondition for overall balanced growth in international context.

Chapter 5 speaks about new data driven business models based on sharing and personalisation in the context of increasing growth of IoT, multi-sided platforms and the App economy, highlight the need for focus on  important issues such as privacy and data protection and cyber security which are critical to consumer protection, trust and hence uptake of ICTs and their continued contribution to sustainable development.

Renewable Energy for Powering Smart Phones

The Times of India today has an article that reports  that scientists have developed bio-batteries that use sugar to generate electricity enough to power cell phones for 10 days. These batteries are also lighter. In the Indian scenario this would be a boon. At present rural areas face heavy power cuts and people resort to unconventional means such using tractor batteries to charge cell phones.

The smart phone with its potential for job search, education, data, e-commerce  and e-government applications is the primary device though which the average Indian would access ICTs and ICT enabled services. Making it last is vital. Long lasting batteries are also vital from the disaster communications viewpoint.

Progress the E-way

A though provoking article "Solving Social issues through Technology" draws attention to the progress India has made in the realm of technology (reference the latest Mars mission) and the need to harness technology to bring education, facilities and opportunities to rural Indians and others who aspire to break out of poverty. It pins hope inter alia upon the NOFN.

Another article, "Technology rings in Financial Inclusion" highlights that in India, 65% of population has no access to banking but mobile phones  can change that. Innovative applications can enhance financial literacy and in fact, it has been proven by field research that even illiterate Indians take to financial inclusion apps and become adept at mobile banking.

All this has been said before (and posted about before in this blog). What we need most in my opinion is the Market Efficiency side of reforms to ensure that connectivity is widespread and universally available and that regulations encourage the use of ICTs including all aspects of the mobile/broadband ecosystem. This includes of course Universal Service Regulation.

Internet/Broadband in India-So Important and Yet So Scarce

An article by Mr Manzar in the Mint  highlights at the end of 2012, internet users were only 10% of the population making it among the lowest in the world in internet and computer penetration.

Another article by him points to the sheer importance of internet in creating awareness about government services and entitlements among illiterate rural poor who otherwise remain ignorant and are duped by unscrupulous elements. This was in the context of Indias' MNREGA-a rural employment guarantee scheme.
 An inspiring  article on "'Enabling access to vocational training content on cellphones" tells us about "'SkillTrain" being run Mr Ganesh.B in the state of  Madhya Pradesh.

"The company records videos of the module that students can download on their mobile phones for free and learn from it.SkillTrain offers four courses—mobile repairing, electronics, computer science and computer hardware—that extend from 12 to 20 modules. It plans to extend it to wider subjects such as welding, two-wheeler and automobile mechanic, electrician, plumbing and tailoring next year." 

The article also states that,

 "It is estimated that about 15 million Indian students drop out of school every year. The gross enrollment ratio in higher education in India is at 17.9%, much below the the global average of 27%.
The government has set an ambitious target to train 500 million people by 2022 to help them acquire vocational skills and provide an efficient workforce for industry. There is a shortage of trained manpower and even the available talent does not match the requirements of industry.
School dropouts fail to go for mainstream education for several reasons, including ineligibility, the family’s financial conditions, academic pressures and regulatory requirements."

Learning on the mobile for a fees was found to be more economical by students rather than travelling long distances to a training centre.

All this goes to show the importance of broadband connectivity which India is struggling to provide to especially its rural population.Please also see previous posts on Mobile VAS and USOF India's Mobile VAS Scheme Sanchar Shakti..

Mobiles for Medical Help in Rural Areas

In an article titled "Soon Medical Services through Phone"it is informed that

"Notwithstanding challenges like low bandwidth and internet penetration, health professionals feel that there is a huge market (900 million Indian cellphone owners) waiting to be tapped. A recent study conducted by Apollo Hospitals and Georgia State University , Atlanta, gives credence to this belief. The survey found that nearly 28% people in rural areas and 46% in urban areas owned smartphones. Conducted across a sample of 1,866 people spread in five states — Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu — it also found that one-third of those interviewed had not undergone a health check-up in five years with 55% saying they were open to accessing medical services through mobile phones."

Given the overall underdevelopment of rural areas, doctors are not easily available. Providing medical services through ICTs is the best bet in rural India. This underlines the importance of universal availability of high speed broadband.

Technology and Universal Service

I have two pieces of information to share. Both of them are related to technology and  telecom penetration.

The first is the welcome initiative on the part of the  Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in exploring  the possibility of providing SMS-based mobile banking through a single application on all types of handsets.

It is reported that,

"A Technical Committee on Mobile Banking has been set up to "examine the options/alternatives including the feasibility of using encrypted SMS-based funds transfer using an application that can run on any type of handset for expansion of mobile banking in the country," the central bank said.The panel will conduct an in-depth study of the challenges faced by banks in taking mobile banking forward to the desired level. At the end of July, there were about 70 lakh users of mobile banking, which is currently offered by 78 banks.The panel will also examine "any other optimum solution" that would take mobile banking to every nook and corner of the country, in addition to drawing a road map for implementing the solutions or options recommended."

With mobile penetration outstripping land lines in India and smart phones becoming affordable, this measure could greatly address the yawning financial inclusion gap in the country. As an interesting aside, the promotion of mobile banking  is identified by the Economist as one possible way to reduce channelization of rural household savings into financially less productive assets such as cows, in India! The article is called Udder People's Money and makes for interesting reading. Please also see my previous post on mobile VAS.

The second is news about the use of  television and radio channels to transmit cellular signals when systems are pushed beyond capacity as during a disaster. "Mai Hassan, a PhD student has managed to [change] the shape of the wireless signal so she could transmit on channels that use radio or television frequencies. She then had to change the direction of transmission away from the original channel. Instead of using traditional antennas, which transmit signals in all directions , she used smart antennas in mobile phones. Smart antennas transmit signals in a single direction and can steer the beam to any direction. By manipulating the direction of the cellular signals, Hassan was able to transmit calls and texts to a receiver while avoiding any interference with the original radio and televisions signals."

Please see my previous posts on disaster communications. I am of the view that keeping the public (rather than only official first responders) connected is of critical importance during disasters.

More about USOF India's Device Subsidy Scheme

The Economics Times today reports that the Telecom Commission of India has approved a Rs 50 billion scheme to provide subsidised mobile phones to specially identified beneficiaries in rural areas. the original proposal was to provide these to workers enrolled in the state funded MNERGA (employment guarantee scheme). However it now appears that a more detailed mechanism for identification of beneficiaries is to be determined. further, the TC has also raised objections about choice of the incumbent operator on nomination basis. These are in my view positive developments. Please see my comments under USOF India. The last post on this subject was titled, "Reactions to USOF India's Device Subsidy Schemes & the Confusion over Universal Service Funding"

ICTs for Indian farmers

A 2009 Deloitte Assocham Report on mobile VAS as a means of inclusion speaks about the sheer enormity of the problem of reaching out to a billion plus population to ensure provision of "basic hygiene and sanitation, clean drinking water, basic healthcare, primary education to adequate housing, roads, higher education, banking facilities, disease control, and disease management. Each problem is exacerbated by its sheer magnitude.  (Refer Table 1)."

Thus, India is a country where rural areas in particular are financially excluded. The RBI has officially directed banks to explore ICTs based solutions through the business correspondent model whereby a village can be covered even in the absence of a brick and mortar branch.

Recently, the Mint carried an article about RuPay a card payment network like Visa and masterCard that is revolutionizing how Indian farmers handle money. Through RuPay Kisan (farmer) cards farmers can make electronic payments at lower transaction costs. It is a domestic system launched in 2012 by the National Payment Corporation of India and many banks (national, private, cooperative and rural) provide vards affiliated to it for population in small towns and villages. While RuPay cards are usable at all ATMs, only 25-30% of the point of sale(PoS) machines are compatible and this is being tacked. Nevertheless, such facilities are empowering farmers through ICT enabled financial inclusion.

The Indian USOF  had also initiated a scheme for ICT enabled banking services in rural India on pilot basis in collaboration with BSNL as an adjunct to the Rural Wire Line Scheme. It dis not succeed due to various stakeholder coordination issues but USOF should in my view continue to strive to support such services. 

Markets Miracles-Internet.org

Under the label  Market Efficiency Gap, I have written earlier about How Markets Address Access Gaps. This post was about an Indian telecom operator creating awareness about mobile internet in rural markets.

Continuing with this topic, another example of service providers going out of their way to develop markets is seen in a new initiative called Internet.org to increase access to the internet "aimed at drastically cutting the cost of delivering basic Internet services on mobile phones, particularly in developing countries. "

This involves a partnership between big service providers such as  Facebook, Samsung, Nokia, Qualcomm and Ericsson etc. 

"The companies intend to accomplish their goal in part by simplifying phone applications so they run more efficiently and by improving the components of phones and networks so that they transmit more data while using less battery power."

This makes business sense when we understand the need to find new markets as the developed world nears 50% plus penetration levels ad to tap into potential markets in developing countries. 

Thus, it is reported that,

"Poorer countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America present the biggest opportunity to reach new customers — if companies can figure out how to get people there online at low cost.....The immediate goals of the new coalition are to cut the cost of providing mobile Internet services to 1 percent of its current level within five to 10 years by improving the efficiency of Internet networks and mobile phone software. The group also hopes to develop new business models that would allow phone companies to provide simple services like e-mail, search and social networks for little or no charge."

ICTs for Rural Healthcare

I had written recently about USA's refurbished rural healthcare programme and that Indian USOF could study the same for guidance on do's and dont's.

A very inspiring example of use of ICTs for rural healthcare, in this case maternity and neo natal healthcare is reported in an article "ASHA 2.0: Barmer block’s healing touch on tablets."

ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers in rural Rajasthan's Barmer district have been equipped with tablets which are helping them and the beneficiaries of the Governments's health benefits programme to better track maternal health while also generating interest in ICTs in rural women. Rajasthan is one of the  very conservative state of India.

My own experience with the Sanchar Shakti project was that rural women take  to ICTs  very rapidly with great benefits. One of the projects is being implemented in Ajmer district of Rajasthan  where rural women are keen as any other to improve their and their daughters' lot through information and ICT enabled  services. A full description of the implementation experience so far may be read at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2302471.

India's Massisve Potential for Online Services

A report from comScore titled,  2013 India Digital Future in Focus report provides an insight into India's growth in the online space with the following highlights:

• At 73.9 million home and work internet users, the Indian online population currently ranks as the 3rd largest in the world after China and the U.S.
• With 75 percent of its internet users under the age of 35, India has the youngest skewing online population among BRIC countries.
• Across all age and gender groups, Women between the ages of 35-44 are the heaviest internet users in the Indian market.
• The Indian blogging audience grew 48 percent in the past year to 36 million visitors, while 26 percent of category traffic comes from mobile phones and tablets.
• 54 million internet users in India watched online videos on their computer, representing a 27-percent increase over the past year.

A reading of the whitepaper reveals the huge potential for online services and content in India. This includes e-commerce, financial services, real estate, travel, social networking, entertainment and news. This can be expected from a young country with growing literacy rates and generally poor infrastructure. Broadband/internet are the bridge across infrastructure/facilities gaps which enables  apparitions to be fulfilled and promotes empowerment. Interestingly blogging is growing rapidly in India and I guess new users like me get added every day!

On the technology/device side it becomes clear that mobile devices and services are what is enabling the rapid increase in consumption of online services.

Previous posts on Broadband Ecosystem and Mobile VAS, Mobile Education etc. may also be of interest.

The Demand Side of Broadband Expansion-Telemedicine

As per the telecom live magazine (August issue) the Department of Telecommunications is collaborating with other ministries/ departments to establish the utility of the NOFN. This includes the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare which has reportedly stated in an inter ministerial meeting held in June 2013 that fibre connectivity and computers are critical for telemedicine applications. There is no doubt about that but a proper and detailed assessment of needs and gaps would be critical for BBNL to usefully boost telemedicine in rural India in a systematic manner.

We could learn something from USA 's experience. It has for the past 15 years run a programe to subsiise connectivity fo rural healthcare. 

As per an article titled, "FCC Rural Health Care Program coming up woefully short" in November 2010 a Government audit  said that the FCC "has not conducted an assessment of the telecommunications needs of rural healthcare providers as it has managed the primary Rural Health Care Program, which limits FCC's ability to determine how well the program has addressed those needs." In addition, government auditors found that the FCC has not developed specific performance goals for the Rural Health Care Program and has developed "ineffective" performance measures." 

However another article, "$400 million FCC fund to bolster rural telemedicine networks," describes the Federal Communications Commission plan to expand on the above-mentioned programme to " make up to $400 million available to healthcare providers in order to create and expand telemedicine networks nationwide, linking urban medical centers to rural clinics while providing greater access to medical specialists and instant access to electronic health records. "

It is said that, 

"According to the FCC, the Healthcare Connect Fund could cut the cost of broadband healthcare networks in half, through group purchases by consortia and other efficiencies. The fund will provide a 65 percent discount on broadband services, equipment and connections to research and education networks, and healthcare provider-constructed and owned facilities (if shown to be the most cost-effective connectivity option), while requiring a 35 percent HCP contribution.To be eligible for the funding, applicants must be public or not-for-profit hospitals, rural health clinics, community health centers, health centers serving migrants, community mental health centers, local health departments or agencies, post-secondary educational institutions/teaching hospitals/medical schools, or a consortia of the above."

USOF India needs to learn from successes and pitfalls of such initiatives while coming out with specific programmes to address demand side of the broadband ecosystem.

The Huge Potential of Internet in Young India

An interview with Google's Managing Director Rajan Anandan published in the Mint on August 10, 2013 makes it clear how positive they are about the growth of mobile internet/broadband in India. He has been quoted as follows:

"India has the third largest number of Internet users in the world right now, at around 150 million users, and most of the new additions have been mobile users. That’s a huge audience, and what we’re seeing is that the Internet has gone mainstream. Around 50 million people are watching video online, up from 15 million two years ago. Around 37% of all YouTube viewers in India are doing so on a mobile device.

One area that’s of particular interest to us is the small business uptake. SMB (small and medium businesses) ads have been growing in the triple digits, with large adoption. Our role there has been to help build the ecosystem. We’re also seeing some very positive trends with e-commerce. I think that the industry reached its inflection point at the end of 2011. The growth was around 40% in 2011, and in 2012 it was 120%. People became familiar with buying things on the Net...

The audience has also definitely become more sophisticated, and the kinds of offerings available now, prove that.For example, “Local” is growing now; it’s in its early days, and there isn’t enough data in place yet, but if you look at things like Maps, or movie ticketing, or look at a company like online food and restaurant guide Zomato, then you can see that there is a lot of great potential, and I think that by the end of 2014 all the pieces will be in place for this to really grow."

The future is very bright as far as m and e services are concerned. As I have written earlier in my post titled, "M Education & the Demographic Dividend," which may be seen under posts labeled Mobile Education, India is a young country with 54% of the population being under 25.  In fact India is often cited as an example of the demographic dividend whereby the larger relative share of working age population has the potential to progress the economy to higher rates of growth.

In the near future India will be the largest individual contributor to the global demographic transition. A 2011 International Monetary Fund Working Paper found that substantial portion of the growth experienced by India since the 1980s is attributable to the country’s age structure and changing demographics. The U.S. Census Bureau predicts that India will surpass China as the world’s largest country by 2025, with a large proportion of those in the working age category. Over the next two decades the continuing demographic dividend in India could add about two percentage points per annum to India’s per capita GDP growth.[ Extreme actions are needed to take care of future basic minimum living standards including food, water and energy. As per Population Reference Bureau India's population in 2050 is projected to be 1.692 billion people. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographic_dividend)

Thus, educating, employing and mainstreaming all segments of India's youth and working age population is critical for socio-economic progress. I have also mentioned earlier in several posts including those labeled Broadband Ecosystem, that locally relevant content in the local language is the key to growth. Mr Anandan too has drawn attention to the fact that the next 300 million customers in India will not speak English. The spread of local language content will be helped along with "improvements in speech to text and voice controls." He has very rightly pointed out that internet offers more value in small towns which are in fact driving growth. I believe that this is also true of rural India.

In an article titled "Empowering India-Opportunities in Rural Telecommunications" published in the Telenet magazine in January 2012, I had written that,

 "there is tremendous potential in rural markets especially given the background of robust mobile connectivity and the imminent spread of broadband to rural India.  What rural India needs desperately is information, knowledge and urban quality services. This translates into a huge market opportunity for providers of ICT enabled access to information, education, health, financial services, commerce and employment opportunities etc." 

I had also mentioned that,

 "it is amazing how many an urban Indian actually believes that there would necessarily be very low demand for broadband in rural areas. Already there are more internet users in small towns than the top eight metros put together. Interestingly more than 20% users are school children and 10% users belong to lowest socio-economic strata . While only a minority of rural Indians may be able to afford individual access to broadband on account lack of computing devices and power, this does not imply a lack of demand for broadband enabled services. In interactions during the verification of USOF’s wire line broadband scheme, it has clearly emerged that better off rural families across the country do buy computers for the same reasons as urban families do -children’s education, knowledge and entertainment or as an aid to their incomes/businesses. They would relish good broadband connectivity as much as urban Indians do........There is also a healthy demand for public access broadband facilities. This is logical in the face of near absence of local infrastructure and services. Just as an urban Indian searches online when looking for a new or locally unavailable information, service or product, rural Indians too would like to research/access the same online. This is a rural reality even today.  Booking journey tickets online is a simple example. If credit cards are a problem intermediaries (village level entrepreneurs (VLEs)) with credit cards step in to facilitate transactions.  VLEs also facilitate online money transfers, download mobile software etc. Skype is just as useful and popular amongst rural Indians as a means to reach out to relatives in cities/abroad. This demand will only grow as the rural literacy rate rises beyond the current 68.91%  and knowledge and            e-connectivity increasingly become key to empowerment.  The demographic profile of our country means that more than 50%.rural Indians are less than 25 years old. They have the same affinity for the worldwide web as urban youth. I have personally seen rural school girls downloading online games with as enthusiastically as any city-bred child. The frustration with the speed of the connection was palpable!"

News about a USOF Mobile Handset Scheme

It has been reported that USOF India may fund a scheme wherein mobile handsets are given to female members of poor rural households who have completed 100 days of work under India's rural employment guarantee scheme-MNREGA. Eligible beneficiaries would be identified by the state administration and handsets bundled with connectivity and m-government content such as health records and entitlements transfers would be provided by the USP chosen either through bidding or on nomination basis. Present USOF Rules would require choice of USP by bidding.

While the focus on women and m-government is welcome, I am not sure that mobile handsets are needed to be subsidized. It is the connectivity and content that USOF could focus on instead. If these are available, handsets (even second/third hand) would be purchased in any case. It is however a fact today that rural women may not own handsets. This was noticed during the implementation of USOF's Sanchar Shakti scheme. 

USOF may have to think of adequate safeguards to prevent transfer of the phone to non beneficiaries and false claims by USPs as implementing such schemes can be  administratively very challenging.

The Mighty Mobile

In continuation of my last post on The Era of Mobile Internet, I would like to share with readers another unique initiative to provide free access to Wikipedia on Mobile Phones including zero.wikipedia.org, which is a text-only version of Wikipedia's mobile site, optimized for slower connections.. This will benefit about 60 million Indian subscribers and content will be available in English, Hindi and 18 other Indian languages. 

It is reported that this is a 3 year partnership and that "Wikipedia Zero was first rolled out in Uganda in April 2012 with mobile operator, Orange."

I think this demonstrates one of the possibilities of mobiles as a means of Universalizing the benefits of ICT enabled services. 

The Era of Mobile Internet

I have been writing about the benefits of mobile value added services. 

For a developing country where personal computer penetration is very low and power is an issue, mobiles/smart phones are the key to penetration of ICT enabled knowledge and services. India has a host of m-government initiatives to its credit including the Universal Service funded Sanchar Shakti for rural women. The mobile can also be usefully tapped in a  commercially viable manner to provide market access and educational, financial  and a host of other services especially to rural populations who are otherwise cut off from such services.

 It has been reported by Steven Musil, that  according to a year-end Internet Trends Report ,

 "13 percent of all Internet traffic is now executed from a mobile device, up from 4 percent just two years ago. In tech-savvy India, mobile Internet traffic has reached 60 percent, surpassing desktop Internet traffic, which has declined to 40 percent." (For more information please see  http://www.kpcb.com/insights/2013-internet-trends)

As mentioned in my earlier posts, given India's young population, mobile VAS is here to stay and represents an opportunity to  bridge the digital divide relatively easily. However with only 6% subscribers using smartphones and a less than 20% internet penetration we have a long way to go.

How Markets Address Access Gaps

A news item titled "Vodafone to educate students on benefits of mobile internet" shows us how markets can effectively close access gaps. 

Vodafone India  has launched a programme called ‘Gammat Jammat’,  aimed at educating rural school children in the state of Maharashtra  about the  the benefits of mobile internet. To this end they will train over 300 school children and award them certificates of course completion. Simultaneously they will conduct a campaign to create awareness among adults covering 118 villages. Further, they have launched an entry level tariff plan with the same name, which gives concessional  internet access and 'a free 30 page booklet containing basic information on some key internet applications and websites that are relevant to rural customers. It has separate sections and applications catering to the requirements of Youth, Farmers, Job seekers, Housewives and Businessmen.'

It is stated that,

"Vodafone says it sees immense growth potential in mobile internet and are exploring options to further accelerate mobile data adoption through penetration, consumption and value addition. Various industry studies indicate a spiralling growth in sales of smartphones, particularly in locations beyond the metros. However, this community is still largely unaware on how they can get the best out of their data enabled handsets, through mobile internet"

Very recently I had written about "M Education and the Demographic Dividend" wherein I had discussed the potential of mobile screens to impart education in developing countries. India is a young country with 54% of the population being under 25.  In fact India is often cited as an example of the demographic dividend whereby the larger relative share of working age population has the potential to progress the economy to higher rates of growth. However it has been reported that only 12% of the 38 million internet users in India can access internet on their mobiles. The use of internet/broadband in rural areas can effectively compensate for the lack of various essential services and facilities and affordable smart phones and tariff plans and content in local languages can unlock this potential.

This   initiative by a service provider underlines the importance of markets and the need to address the Market Efficiency Gap which in turn leads to a conducive environment for operators to function and serve customers. Once servicing under served segments is seen as an opportunity rather than an obligation the government would need to concentrate only on the actual access gap.

M Education and the Demographic Dividend

Two interesting news items caught my attention and I though these are worth sharing and reading.

The first is "Mobilising  Education in India" which highlights the potential of mobile screens to impart education in developing countries. India is a young country with 54% of the population being under 25.  In fact India is often cited as an example of the demographic dividend whereby the larger relative share of working age population has the potential to progress the economy to higher rates of growth.

In the near future India will be the largest individual contributor to the global demographic transition. A 2011 International Monetary Fund Working Paper found that substantial portion of the growth experienced by India since the 1980s is attributable to the country’s age structure and changing demographics. The U.S. Census Bureau predicts that India will surpass China as the world’s largest country by 2025, with a large proportion of those in the working age category. Over the next two decades the continuing demographic dividend in India could add about two percentage points per annum to India’s per capita GDP growth.[ Extreme actions are needed to take care of future basic minimum living standards including food, water and energy. As per Population Reference Bureau India's population in 2050 is projected to be 1.692 billion people. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographic_dividend)

Quality education is critical for this existing/potential labour force. With schools and teacher availability being below par and computer penetration being very poor (Only 80 million personal computers in a nation of 1.2 billion population), we can take advantage of the affordability and ubiquity of smart phones as a medium for delivery of text, voice and video based educational content. The affinity that youth has for ICT enabled information and entertainment is a major plus point. 

This brings to to the second news item of interest titled "Making the Most of Mobiles" This article points out that even in the absence of internet,(only 12% of the 38 million internet users in India can access internet on their mobiles), micro secure digital (SD) cards are used to a good amount of store music and video on second/third hand smart phones by even poor labourers. This indicates that large variety of content can be made available even offline and the is a huge market potential in this area.

The increasing trend of educational material from even top universities being available free of cost is an opportunity waiting to be tapped. In India's case, ensuring affordability of smart phones, better & affordable connectivity (and in the interim  availability of content offline) and translation of content to local languages would be key requirements for us to reap the benefits of M-education.This would also be true of many developing countries.

Another wonderful thing about mobile education in my view is that with a little effort it can be made accessible to persons with disabilities. In fact mobile content is a powerful tool of empowerment of PwDs as long as its accessibility is ensured. 

USFs across the developing world would do well to concentrate of creating an enabling environment for M-Education. India has made a start with Sanchar Shakti but we need to do more.

Mobile VAS as a means of Mpowerment

I have already written about Indian USOF’s Sanchar Shakti programme. This programme has been instrumental in bringing highly customized  knowledge inputs to rural women’s Self Help Groups through mobile VAS helping them improve their livelihoods, self confidence and social standing. The uniqueness of this programme lies in its ability to reach out to these women in situ i.e. in their villages and homes and in that the content being delivered to them is gender sensitive and in the local language. Sanchar Shakti includes many woman farmers in its purview. Its gender specificity makes it a very unique programme in a country which still does not give enough importance to  the fact that many small holdings are farmed by women, while the men folk seek jobs on construction sites/urban areas.

Other  recent  initiatives include the soon to be launched Kisan portal for framers in India wherein 'SMS advisories and alerts will enable farmers to take informed decisions relating to different aspects of farming including crop production and marketing, animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries.' It has also been stated that, 'Officers of various departments, experts and scientists in research institution and in the field will use this portal for disseminating information, giving topical and seasonal advisories to farmers in their local languages.'

A simple form of communication like mobile SMS can be a powerful tool for empowerment of two way communication between the government and  target beneficiaries in a country where mobile penetration is strong while fixed line and broadband penetration is abysmal especially in rural areas. mVAS can provide knowledge and market information in situations where access to both is difficult on account of poor infrastructure and facilities.

A  news item titled Mobile Phone-Medically Yours describes the innovative use of mobile phones by the Government to reduce maternal and infant mortality by training health workers and providing tools for data collection and knowledge dissemination. Like Sanchar Shakti, here too the content is in the local language. What is particularly noteworthy in the case of the mobile Kunji  programme described in this article is revenue sharing between the NGOs, Government and service providers demonstrating  the commercial viability of such beneficial applications. This is also one of the aims of the Sanchar Shakti programme

Special Initiatives-ICTs for Rural women

In my very first post I had mentioned that USFs need to devise schemes to meet needs of specially disadvantaged groups and address demand side gaps.  I had alluded to USOF, India's special initiatives by way of pilot programmes to bring the benefits of ICTs to rural  women and the disabled. Today I will cover the former.

We in USOF labelled our project for women Sanchar Shakti. This name signifies the synergies to be achieved by empowering  women with  communications while recognizing the inherent importance and power of women. This scheme  aims to provide a highly customized bundle of relevant information and mobile value added services (mVAS ) to the rural SHGs to suit their unique cultural and socio-economic context.

Given the capacity of telecommunications services to deliver valuable information, impart education, connect with markets and supply essential citizen services, while transcending economic, social, cultural, physical and literacy barriers it is apparent that ICTs can make a significant contribution to the lives of rural women. From the very beginning, we were clear about our objectives. We wanted our projects to empower rural women in a manner that would enrich their personal lives while bringing about a sustainable change in their economic position.  

Our early discussions with stakeholders made it clear that given the strength of the Self Help Group (SHG) based model for positive interventions; our efforts must focus on rural women’s SHGs in rural India. We strove to educate ourselves and our project applicants about the needs of our target beneficiaries and thus the correct design for our projects so as to best address their requirements. In this journey we were competently assisted by NGOs dealing with women’s SHGs, gender experts from U.N Women (now UNIFEM) and telecommunications service providers. They helped us decide the broad contours of the scheme which were later refined to a project application template. The scheme was however kept open and flexible allowing plenty of scope for innovation and customisation. We went through a very lengthy process of shortlisting and refining the project proposals we received in collaboration with stakeholders with USOF playing a patient, supportive role of active facilitation role.

It is felt that the huge amount of time and effort that we put into multiple rounds of meetings and thorough proof of concept (PoC) roll outs has eventually resulted in four genuinely valuable projects that will have a positive and permanent impact on the gender equity and ICTs scenario in the covered rural areas. The four projects cover about 10,000 SHG members in 10 districts in the states of Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Andhra Pradesh Other projects may follow. These four projects focus on breaking the dependence on intermediaries when it comes to access to input and final product markets for SHGs engaged in cottage industries. The SHGs themselves are engaged in multifarious activities ranging from  handicrafts to agricultural/livestock rearing. Information on weather, crop/livestock diseases, markets and market prices, training courses, raw material /inputs etc. are covered in these mobile VAS bundles. Also covered are inputs on literacy, child and maternal health, pertinent government programmes, social issues such as domestic violence, child marriage, dowry etc. It is hoped that our initiatives will encourage the greater use of mVAS/ICTs in the delivery women-specific government services and influence the private sector to look beyond voice services for rural India. 

What has been truly heartening is the tremendous increase in self-confidence of the beneficiaries as observed during the three to six month period that they were in touch with USOF during the Proof of Concept stage. There is no doubt that these women are truly hard working and contribute greatly to family income and well-being through their dedicated hard work including entrepreneurial activities. The Sanchar Shakti project gave them a source of information, a voice with which to express their aspirations and a hope to enhance their knowledge, contribution and self-worth as earning members of society. They quickly mastered the use of the mobile device and interacted enthusiastically with USOF, NGOs and Service Providers to demand the particular information and services that they needed. They demonstrated an amazing capacity to use data and knowledge to enhance their skills and incomes even in the short span of a month in which the projects were test run to prove concept.

The approach adopted for the Sanchar Shakti Scheme is very different from the usual competitive bidding model of PPPs. The legal framework of USOF allows pilot projects to be exempt from the mandatory bidding process for selection of service providers. This proved to be important in the case of Sanchar Shakti as it enabled USOF to allow diverse stakeholders  much needed time to find each other to partner in these projects. In fact USOF Administration played an important role by transparently placing information on interested parties on their website to allow mVAS providers, Equipment Manufacturers, Service Providers and NGOs to approach each other. In particular NGOs dealing with rural SHGs and the former three stakeholders are not natural partners and without USOF intervention it is doubtful if they would have found each other. As mentioned earlier, each project went through a lengthy design phase wherein USOF and U.N Women assisted the  private partners in development of gender appropriately VAS packages to deliver content identified by NGO partners in consultation with SHG members. Given that Sanchar Shakti’s consultative and iterative methodology was very different from traditional bidding, due care was taken to maintain complete transparency by placing details of all meetings and stages of consultation/project formulation on the USOF website. In the absence of the same it may have been difficult to pass muster as far as the government’s legal and financial vetting and approval processes are concerned. 

It is felt that for delivery of public services aimed at disadvantaged groups such as rural women, the consultative, collaborative, bottom up PPP approach of Sanchar Shakti is very valuable. It is not possible to carry out such schemes in a rigid, structured top down manner. For one thing the stakeholders involved are multiple and diverse and for another such programmes demand intensive customization and localisation. Sanchar Shakti’s success can be emulated for similar efforts towards other segments of society such as the disabled in rural India. In fact a USOF attempt to follow bidding for schemes for disabled did not meet with much success for exactly these reasons. 

It is added that Sanchar Shakti is subject to systematic reporting and monitoring & evaluation requirements as in case of other USOF OBA projects.

Details of the Scheme can be seen at  http://www.usof.gov.in/usof-cms/gender.htm