Mobile
Technology Helping Drive Social Change
New report showcases innovative uses of technology
in the field
WASHINGTON, DC (April 29,
2008) – Mobile technology is transforming
the way advocacy, development
and relief organizations accomplish their institutional
missions, according to the results of a global
survey and a series of case studies in the report
Wireless Technology for Social Change: Trends
in NGO Mobile Use, released today by the United
Nations Foundation and The Vodafone Group Foundation.
“Well over 3.5 billion mobile phones are
in use around the world and organizations are
harnessing this technology to help overcome humanitarian
challenges,” said Timothy E. Wirth, President
of the United Nations Foundation. “Modern
telecommunications, and the creative use of it,
has the power to change lives and help the UN
solve some of the world’s biggest challenges.
It can connect families separated by disaster,
help emergency relief workers respond more quickly,
empower health workers with data to help combat
disease and epidemics, track the impacts of climate
change, and even help in the resolution of civil
conflicts.”
Wireless Technology for Social Change: Trends
in NGO Mobile Use examines emerging trends in
“mobile activism” by looking at 11
case studies of groups active in the areas of
public health, humanitarian assistance and environmental
conservation.
Among the programs highlighted are two conflict
prevention projects, both active in Kenya. Oxfam-Great
Britain and the Kenyan umbrella group PeaceNet
created a text messaging ‘nerve center’
that collected alerts about violent outbreaks
during the recent civil unrest and mobilized local
‘peace committees.’ The project served
as a vital tool for conflict management and prevention
by providing a hub for real-time information about
actual and planned attacks between rival ethnic
and political groups.
The GSM Association, together with a handful of
non-profit and private sector groups in Kenya,
developed another conflict prevention project
that allows farmers to preserve their crops while
protecting wildlife. The program monitors instances
when elephants approach farmed land, and provides
an early warning system via mobile that is reducing
the incidence of human-elephant conflict in an
area where as many as five humans and 10 elephants
are killed each year.
“The innovative use of mobile communications
demonstrated by the groups profiled in this publication
proves that wireless technology can be a vehicle
to drive social change," said Andrew Dunnett,
Director of The Vodafone Group Foundation. "The
case studies show how mobile technology has a
critical role to play in enabling the NGO community
to bridge the digital divide and deliver their
services more effectively, particularly in areas
where IT infrastructure is limited.”
Wireless Technology for Social Change: Trends
in NGO Mobile Use was written by Sheila Kinkade
(ShareIdea.org) and Katrin Verclas (MobileActive.org),
and commissioned by the United Nations Foundation-Vodafone
Group Foundation Technology Partnership. The report,
the second in the Access to Communications Publication
Series, produces studies that give governments,
NGOs and the private sector research and recommendations
on how to use technology and telecom tools to
effectively address some of the world’s
toughest challenges.
The report also highlights the results of a global
web-based survey of NGO mobile technology use
developed by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research,
and distributed via the email networks of eight
partner groups reaching a geographically and thematically
diverse group of NGOs: Idealist, InterAction,
International Youth Foundation, MobileActive.org,
New Tactics in Human Rights, OneWorld, SANGONeT,
and ShareIdeas. Responses were collected December
10th, 2007 through January 13th, 2008, and generated
560 surveys completed by representatives of NGOs
working in all parts of the world.
The global survey found that 86% of non-governmental
organization (NGO) employees use mobile technology
in their work, and 25% believe it has revolutionized
the way their organization or project works. While
the most common uses of mobile technology by NGO
workers are voice calls (90%) and text messaging
(83%), more sophisticated uses, such as mapping
(10%), data analysis (8%) and inventory management
(8%) also were reported.
About the UN Foundation and The Vodafone Group
Foundation Partnership
The UN Foundation-Vodafone Group Foundation Partnership
strives to be the leading public-private alliance
using strategic technology programmes to strengthen
the UN’s humanitarian efforts worldwide.
Created in October 2005, with a £10 million
commitment from The Vodafone Group Foundation
matched by £5 million from the UN Foundation,
the Partnership has three core commitments: (1)
to develop rapid response telecoms teams to aid
disaster relief; (2) to develop health data systems
that improve access to health data thereby helping
to combat disease; and (3) to promote research
and innovative initiatives using technology as
an agent and tool for international development.
Further information can be found at: www.unfoundation.org/vodafone.
Press contact:
Adele Waugaman
United Nations Foundation
T: (+1) 202 778 1635
M: (+1) 202 758 6943
E: awaugaman@unfoundation.org
I: www.unfoundation.org/vodafone
