MobileAdvocacyToolkit final report

Mobile advocacy toolkit testing questionnaire
Your organisation
What is the name of your organisation? Please supply a contact name, email and URL of your
website if you have one.
International Center for Accelerated Development (ICAD).
Haga plaza Gada biyu, Jos Plateau state.
P.O.Box 10496 Jos.
Abakaliki office
c/o Ebonyi Partnership Against Poverty,
Nnorom street by old customs barracks, Abakaliki,
Ebonyi state.
NNADI Kevin – Country Director K37c@yahoo.com, icadnig@gmail.com
Phone +234 (0) 8036074792, +234 (0) 8087572929
Obiageli Grace Ngwu – Administrative Officer – obyngwu@yahoo.com,
icadnig@gmail.com +234 (0) 8060536083
What are your organisation's core activities?
• Meeting the needs of our communities with intervention in the area of
Reproductive Health /HIV and AIDS targeting women and youths,
• Enhancing knowledge of ICT for rural development through intervention
geared at sourcing information for use in Agriculture and community
development at the rural areas, and creating equal opportunity of participation
for youth in the rural areas.
• Human right – with intervention in provision of information and
mainstreaming Information Communication Technology for communities to be
able to demand for their rights from the duty bearers towards promoting
equitable opportunities for growth and development at villages, local, state and
national level.
What hardware did you use for testing the tools in the toolkit? Please give the specification
of the hardware and software you used in testing the tools.
Desktops – Acer Pentium 4
- HP Compaq home edition- Pentium D – windows vista
Laptops – Toshiba (intel centrino) Pentium M running on Microsoft windows Xp,
- Hp Compaq nc6000 Pentium M running on Microsoft windows xp
Mobile phones – Nokia 3310,
Nokia 3230
Nokia 1610,
Nokia N73 MUSIC EDITION,
Sagem – My X5, and Sony Ericson K750i
Sim cards

MTN,
Glo Mobile
Celtel network.
USB Cables – NOKIA CA-53
Pre-paid sim card fees to access the services of MTN and Vmobile Nigeria
What type of mobile phones are used by your organisation for professional purposes –
please give model number and manufacturer (e.g. Nokia 9100)
Sony Ericson model - K750i ,
Nokia 3G phones model - N73 music edition
Nokia model – N91 8GB
Nokia model 3230
What communities is your work targeted at?
Our work is targeted at the rural women and youth population in two states of Nigeria
namely plateau state and Ebonyi state were the poorest of the poor are dwelling. The
two states are far apart by about 674 kilometres by land.
In plateau state, we are working with women and youths in three communities –
namely Jos-north which is a peri-urban area, Bassa and pankshin local government area
(typical rural areas but have mobile services base station there.)
While in Ebonyi state, we are also working with women and youth in three
communities of two local governments namely Agbaja, Ovuoba and Ehuenyim (typical
rural communities) in Ekumeyi local governments.
We target people of demonstrable relationship with civil society organisations, Non
Governmental Organisation and faith based institution within the state and community
of work.
Projects
What projects using mobile phones is your organisation planning?
• Campaigns/provision of Information to the rural communities on basic facts of
HIV and AIDS, its prevention and control and how to care for and support
people living with HIV and AIDS.
• Mobilization of people to participate in advocacy visit/campaign to duty bears
in two states of Nigeria (Ebonyi and Plateau) to ensure an access to nutritious
food, ARV and livelihood options and to demand for better funding of
community development projects such as schools, bridges and posting of
teachers to rural areas and action on the implementation of the Universal Access
to treatment, care and support for PLWHA.

• Bridging ICT knowledge gap in the rural communities and provision of
knowledge on the use of some phone and ICT tools for enhancing rural
development (ICT for rural Development).
• Enhance community knowledge on how to raise alarm on human right violation,
natural disaster, and communal clashes/emergencies.
• Using the mobile phone to aid communities in gathering information/data on
needs assessment and also helping in ranking same so as to prioritise
community needs for purpose of interventions and decision making.
What projects using mobile phones has your organisation already implemented? Please also
describe how you are already using mobiles in your work – please include informal use such as
SMS communication between members of staff.
USE OF MOBILE PHONES BY MEMBERS OF STAFF.
Staff within the organisation use mobile phones to either make voice call or to send
text messages to one another especially when they are in the field or at different point
during an assignment.
They use the mobile phone to capture images and store them later on the PCs for
organisational use. This happens mainly when a need is identified in a community and
it makes sense to keep a picture of the current situation so as to compare with future
situation when intervention must have taken place (for example constructing a bridge).
Agbaja river (a bridge has been constructed now across the river)
The phones are used for multiple purposes by members of staff which include sending
text messages with pictures via internet, Bluetooth, or infrared on their phones.
When salaries are paid, staff members receive an SMS that a certain amount have been
credited to their accounts from their banks and when withdrawal is made, it states same.
Therefore, if there is an undue deduction, they send quarries through text to their banks.
Staff members often use mobile phones to perform the function of calculator within the
office.
At different seasons, the mobile phones are used for sending seasons greeting
Messages to organisations, institutions, corporate bodies and individuals that have
contributed to the wellbeing of the center. We in turn received some acknowledgment
for the messages sent via SMS too. This has gradually replaced season greeting cards
for us.
Members of staff use the mobile phone to check mails or browse on the field using the
MTN mobile service provider and it has been exciting how it works except that it is
costlier than using the café.
Some staff members use the mobile phones to download music from the net and share
with friends via Bluetooth or infrared.

MOBILIZATION FOR MASS PARTICIPATION IN CAMPAIGNS/RALLIES.
We are using mobile phones to enhance provision of correct and consistent information
on Reproductive Health with greater emphasis on HIV and AIDS prevention amongst
women, children and youth in Jos and Abakaliki
to expectant mothers who register for antenatal services in health facilities (and have
mobile phones) we use for referrals. These SMS contains information on Prevention of
Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT)
Youths text in to give consent for HIV Counselling using SMS soon after their first
personal appearance at either our organisation or health facility we use for referral.
We in-turn, counsel and refer people for HIV testing and subsequent enrolment into
drug regimen with the aid of the mobile phones for those found positive.
When +people are enrolled, we gather data through telephone (SMS only) information
from the support groups formed. With those data, we provide information on the
consequences of non-adherence for patients already on Anti retroviral therapy (ART)
using the mobile phone.
The mobile phone helps us in contact tracing for those who abscond from treatment as
they are supposed to come to clinic on the days written their cards.
We tested the frontline SMS in sending messages to selected community/community
facilitators on the need to go for Tuberculosis test if cough persist for three weeks.
This campaign became necessary as several myths and misconception surrounds people
coughing for a long time - this includes catching and pounding/mixing dried ‘agama’
Lizard to food as cure for tuberculosis.
We send bulk SMS to community development committees and community facilitators
on different issues especially on the out come of our RFELECT circle(community
gathering, selection of key problems and prioritizing them for participatory solution)
meeting and also way to care for the Orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), People
Living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA), People Affected by HIV and AIDS (PABA) We
use it to generate data on number of persons positive and number persons negative so as
to form support groups for them.
Hence we have provided information on HIV prevention, Prevention of Mother to
Child Transmission (PMTCT), and methods for care and support for orphans and
vulnerable children (OVC), people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA), people
affected by HIV and AIDS (PABA) through messages via SMS and multi media
messaging to community facilitators/community members.
The most active in terms of using phones for SMS are the in school youths whom we
had focused in the course of our testing the tools.
ORGANISED CAMPAIGN ON GLOBALAIDS WEEK FOR ACTION
We had used the mobile phone to mobilize the community to demand for their rights
and or prompt action on the part of government who are duty bound to provide essential
services being demanded by her citizens. We facilitated a rally on the global AIDS
week of action through the use of phones – (SMS and voice calls). The participation of
civil society organisations, community members, youth groups and all stake holders to

stage a rally within ABAKALIKI to do a “stand-up” campaign to present a even (7)
point agenda to government was facilitated by the use of mobile phone – SMS and
Voice calls.
while that happens, attention was drawn and the government made a lot of
commitment which we hope would be fulfilled.
Did using the toolkit inspire your organisation as to new ways you might use mobiles and if so what
were they?
YES. It is very rewarding using the toolkit as it is “hands on” very practical and
fulfilling. It reduced cost in the long run and built internal capacity of staff.
It had helped in reducing the cost of traveling and communication.
Interestingly we now use the mobile phone to keep the government on their toes by
taking pictures of different areas of need, download them into our PCs and send them to
various agencies of government who are responsible for provision of solutions.
Initially we could only reach one person at a time but with the toolkit, we could reach
so many people requiring information at the same time even though we had to pay for
the telecom service provider charges.
Compared to our old practice before using the toolkit, we would usually give an
operator a phone and load a minimal call credit to enable him/her contact us with
questions from their remote location through SMS but now phones are owned by more
people in villages were we work thus we use the frontline SMS to reach as many as
possible with HIV information and information on rallies especially marking special
United Nation days like – World AIDS Day, Mothers Day, or the Global AIDS week of
action.
Are there specific communities that you work with that you think might want to work with mobile
phones and who are they? What might they want to do?
I worked in these communities - Lakan community in Pankshin local government and
Agbaja in Abakaliki Ebonyi state.
Lankan people live in a valley. Living in a valley had made network and
communication network near impossible penetrating the area. Hence they want to
explore more avenues to tackle development issues most of all running a campaign to
call attention of the government to build access road, education and health care centers
in that area. Above all, they have the intension of having a help line for their
agricultural project which is grown abundance but does not exceed the village market
due to access road.
Whereas in Agbaja, they are predominantly farmers. They would also want to work

with us using mobile phone in the area of information gathering and sharing among
members regarding budgeting for the farming season, new farming techniques, and
information on high yielding crops and price comparism.
Content - general
What is your opinion of the language and style of the toolkit – what would you change or improve
about the toolkit to make it more useful?
The language used in the toolkit is simple and can be understood by many with low
level education, although more could be done with common symbols/signs and
pictorials picture codes or basically for semi literates working with Non-governmental
organisations or community based organisation working on different fields of
development.
To improve it we can add pictures or symbols or signs to depict various type of
scenarios available in the toolkit.
Which content is understandable and appropriate and which is not in your opinion? For the content
that is not appropriate – what is the reason why?
The content most understood is the case studies and how the toolkit is structured and
how it should be used.
While the content that is not very much understood is the “How-to’s” this is because a
caveat has been sounded making a first time user believe it is very difficult to use the
tool especially if he is not an expert.
“Please note that most of these (tools) require a significant degree of technical know-
how”
In all honesty, some of the tools are very difficult to navigate and needed considerable
time to pull through.
How would you change or improve the structure of the toolkit to help you find the information that
you need?
The present structure is not the final structure
Was the language used too technical or not technical enough – please give examples.
The language used in the toolkit is not very technical that may warrant not being
understood.
But let’s look at the toolkit structure – even though many would understand the sub
headings of the structure such as fundraising, information gathering, A lot may not be
conversant with or misunderstand some of the terms such as “peoples media” and or
“enabling participation’.
I suggest an addition of simple embossed picture of a rally to depict Enabling
participation etc.
What is missing from the toolkit?
Apparently the toolkit captures all that is needed. Though I think a portion for “help”
should be included against the backdrop of people having certain problem using any
part of the toolkit.

What isn't needed that has been included in the toolkit?
So far all the contents in the toolkit are very essential to the realization of the final
toolkit.
Scenarios
General questions about scenarios
Were there any scenarios that were particularly relevant to your area of work?
Yes. The following scenarios provided inspiration in the cause of the testing of the
toolkit.
• The enabling participation scenario;
• Coordinating and organising;
• Action alert and quick response.
• People’s media
Were there scenarios for mobile use that were missing from the toolkit?
None that I know of for now, but should there be any it would manifest in the process
of deployment in the near future. Such additional scenarios so noticed could be added
to the content review in the future.
Enabling participation
Did you find this scenario useful and if so why?
Enabling participation scenario was helpful as that helped us to monitor the local
government elections in Jos plateau state.
The election authority was proved incompetent due to the level mobile usage. At a
point (12:45AM), the electoral officials have perfected plans to move sensitive election
materials to another location were rigging would take place. When we received such
signal from our team of staff at different locations we composed an SMS and
forwarded it asking any one that receives it to forward it to others including our
number at the base.
By dawn, the Governor announced cancellation and postponement of the local
government polls in plateau state.
The scenario provided a clue for us towards organising a campaign to prompt
government to action.
If you didn't find it useful please give a reason
It was very useful.
What other information should be included in this scenario?

Fundraising
I did not apply the fundraising scenario in my work at the moment. I could not report
on it now. I shall apply it later and report it along with other findings in the report
update later in the near future.
Though given the fundraising I saw on the toolkit structure, it would be very useful
when applied.
I did not deploy this scenario during the test. I hope to deploy it in my future work and
also make my finding known to Fahamu/TTC.
People's media
People’s media had been helpful to us in gathering evidence. Of particular interest is
the bridge we constructed in Agbaja community in Ebonyi state. Our leaders are fond
of claiming other peoples work and present it to the mass media as their work to justify
what they stashed away from the budget and taking glory for what they did not labour
for.
We took picture evidence of the early to completion stage of the project and ran a
parallel documentary on a different media.
It generated uproar but it endeared to participate in sand filling the bridge and grading
a road across the bridge.
We also generate information on the level of poverty of women and children and raise
awareness through campaigns. One of our works is creating consciousness regarding
the plight of children in the rural “so-called primary schools” as is depicted below in
one of our project sights at Ovuoba in Ebonyi state. Using this tool has attracted
actionaid Nigeria to build 6 blocks of class rooms for some of the communities.
It was very useful and applicable to the work.
None. It contains major information that is good enough to help any user make good
use of the content.

Coordinating and organising
This scenario was very useful to our organisation while testing the toolkit.
We were able to use the tool as a guide towards planning some of the activities.
We used mobile phones to organise community meetings- through an SMS that
contains date, time, and venue. We used the mobile phone to run our RFELECT circle
meeting.
At the community level, we use the mobile device to do prioritisation, or ranking of
community needs after a community needs assessment. We used the mobile phone to
conduct community development committee election.
Whereas if the election was open balloting, the best may not be elected due to
censorship. We got contestant to give their phones and numbers while the rest of the
community members an either “yes” or “No” just once to either of the contestants
phones and at the end we scroll and count the number of votes and announce winner.
This helps openness and acceptance.
It was very useful to us and made a lot of sense using it.
We would continue to use the tools and make our suggestions for inclusion in the
revised edition of the toolkit. For now is it exactly good for use.
Action alerts and quick response
Action alert was good as we use it to circulate information regarding topical issues and
or prompting people to action.
An instance of its deployment in the field is during elections. We compose the
character of most personalities contesting election in view of their antecedent holding
public positions before and send out via bulk SMS and encourage them to pass it on.
This has helped in initiating questions about people holding public trust.
It is good and very useful.
One or two more example of how it had been deployed and were such scenario took
place so to have a varied sample of how it works.
Case studies
Did you find the naming of the case studies useful?
The case studies are named accordingly and it provides a concise match for scenario.
The naming of the case studies drives home the point of what each does.

Did the way the case study was described, meet your expectations? If so please explain why not?
The case study so described the intent of each
What other content should be included in the case studies?
The case studies available on the toolkit have more on emergencies. It would be good
and very exciting to capture more scenarios on health for instance.
Have you got any other case studies that you think should be included in the toolkit?
Vmobile Nigeria had dedicated special mobile phone help lines to the National Action
for control of AIDS (NACA).
Hitherto the help line for counselling, people do not come out openly for HIV
counselling for fear of stigma and discrimination but now they use the mobile services
to access help and information of how to manage their health.
An estimated 4 million Nigerians have called in to access this service from 2005.
General comments on case studies
The case studies are cool and serve the purpose of guidance to users.
Tools
Which of the tools did you use?
Frontline SMS,
Episurveyor
Fring
Gizmo
BulkSMS.
Blasterisk
Nokia PC suite
Were there any tools you particularly liked or disliked?
I particularly took interest in frontline SMS,Gizmo fring and bulkSMS
Episurveyor, Nokia PC suite.
Was it clear what each of the tools was able to do?

What each tool is supposed to do is clear and process driven too especially for the ones
tested.
Frontline SMS/BulkSMS – sending one or multiple SMS to a person or group – it is
very good for enabling participation and for mobilizing people to a campaign or rally,
and also for information gathering.
Gizmo and Fring are also able to send and receive SMS too. Good for coordinating and
organising.
Is the level of expertise described as being necessary to use the tools accurate?
Yes. The level of expertise described as being necessary to use the tools is adequate
even though at some point it became highly technical that we resorted to the help of a
consultant to make input some of the technology used. In the process of installing some
of the tools, some of the tools are more complicated than was described in the
introduction to the toolkit. Some would not run on some windows e.g. Asterisk won’t
run on windows Xp.
Which of the supporting documents and links did you find useful?
I sincerely found ‘budgeting for mobile advocacy’ most useful from the list of
supporting documents. It is a complete encyclopaedia of how to go about budgeting for
a campaign. It contains vital strategies that would ensure you don’t get into any pitfall
in carrying out a project.
Reviewing tools is yet another link that is excellent and very useful to the toolkit.
What difficulties did you experience using the tools – were the difficulties to do with using the
software, the hardware or other difficulties?
I experienced difficulty using some software especially installing some of the tools to
my laptop and to my phone.
For instance, frontlineSMS was successfully installed but could not run until the
password was released.
BulkSMS also had its own fair share of the problem. After all the process of
installation, it referred me back to another site for those in Nigeria – that is,
textnigeria.vsms.net.
Buying of credit from textnigeria site was in British Pounds Sterling which implies
changing the Nigerian Naira to Pounds to be able to purchase credit. This may hinder
the use of this tool.
Episurvayor needed the installation of JAVA run time environment (JRE) on which ever
system one has to use before it could work and that goes for some of the tools.
What other information would have helped you make better use of the tools provided?

General comments on tools section
The use of the tools was very exciting and very fulfilling most of all, when replies from
sent mail began to trickle in. Some of the tools serve the same purpose and are
interwoven. Pictures were transferred with ease through infrared and activated
Bluetooth. This is really very exciting to see them come through with ease.
For each tool you used please complete the following;
What did you use the tool for?
1. BulkSMS –send SMS to group of community members at different location in a
state to prepare towards a campaign which would prompt government to take
action regarding increase good nutritional provision, more primary health
centers etc for people living with HIV and AIDS in these communities. The
project is tagged “Food first then ARV”
2. Fring - used this tool for chatting, and for making calls especially with other
civil society organisations whom we had convinced to join us in the rally. It was
a cheap way to talk and organise a meeting. I also installed on the laptop.
3. Frontline SMS – we used it to send SMS messages to different groups and to
store cell phone numbers and gather data and analyse the data.
What worked what did not and why?
1. This worked for us as the number in attendance far out weigh the
budgeted/estimated number because of the strength of the text (SMS) and the
number reached.
2. installing it on the phone took quite a while and it consumes so much credit as
at the time it takes to connect via (“MTN” – the mobile carrier used) GPRS.
3. The frontline SMS needed password. It was possible to send bulk mail but it
still consumes the same amount of credit the carrier is charging per SMS.
If it is a computer-based tool what operating system did you use?
1. Windows Xp
2. Windows xp, windows vista
If it is phone-based tool what phone did you use it on?

2. Nokia N73 and Nokia 3230, Nokia 6510 and Nokia 7110.
What skills in your opinion are required to
Install?
Use?
Troubleshoot this tool?
To install the above software, the person needed to be able to read, should also be
computer literate, and above all have skills for patience as some of the installation takes
a lot of time and process.
To use the software, one should have the capacity to read fairly while knowledge of
computer is required to manipulate any of the hardware. (computer or handset)
Trouble shooting mechanism has been factored into the tools which requires that users
should be able to read instructions and follow the step by step instructions
What were the costs if any were incurred in implementing the use of this tool?
The cost of hardware such as computers – desktop or laptops, handset of different
model, bulk credit, support cables, other support program software and installations.
Cost of mobile network connectivity.
How to's
Did you try any of the 'how to's' and if so which ones?
1. how to set up SMS hub
2. how to use and manage Bulk SMS services using website.
What did you find it useful for?
Found it as an explicit instruction of how to install any of the tools and which tool is fit
for what kind of scenario. Taking the ‘How-to’s’ steps made installing the frontline
SMS and the Bulk SMS a lot easier.
General comments on How-to's section
It was good it there on the toolkit for people who might want to use it but have little
ability to using a computer or a laptop.

Localisation
We'd like some feedback on the use of mobile phones in your country.
Are there tools and services that are available in your country or region that we haven't included?
For example in some areas of Africa Mpayment is very popular. Please detail these services and
tools below.
Some of the tools being tested are fairly new to Nigeria. For instance the bulksms is
operational in Nigeria through www.textnigeria.vsms.net
Purchase of mobile phone credit is done through the Automated Teller Machine (ATM)
in a bank and the corresponding credit is loaded to the person’s phone. The bank (UBA)
went into marketing franchise with the mobile carrier (MTN) to sell air time credit to
people at any time of the day.
Some mobile phone transactions that can be conducted using Glo m-banking include,
checking account balance, viewing of the amount of money in account at any time,
account statement, viewing of the last five transactions on account, recharge and buying
of airtime for any Glo prepaid line using money in bank account. Also, Glo mobile
subscribers can transfer money from one account to another within the same bank.
According to the official of Glo mobile company, very soon Glo m-banking subscribers
will be able to pay bills and other utility bills using Glo m-banking service.
Due to recent banking reform in Nigeria, most of the emerging banks are yet to provide
enough branches in some major cities to eradicate some problems such as over-crowded
customers, waste of customers’ time and energy amongst others that are faced by
customers in general/traditional banking system.
Banks opting for Mobile Banking in Nigeria should be prepared to have powerful
hypertext and java script that can disallow any form of extraction of information on the
internet using email extractor. This is also to forestall gaining access to the financial
database of banks.
Some mobile Banking applications in Nigeria use pre programmed configurations
settings.
What other issues are there to do with the use of mobiles in your country or region; for example do
people use SMS rather than voice services? Are missed calls a common method of
communications?
Generally in Nigeria, mobile phones are popularly used for making voice calls and
sending SMS. Missed calls or flashing as it is called here is another way of saying “call
me back”. It is a common method of communication – it could mean ‘you are
remembered’ for those that have not heard from one another for a while, it could also
mean call me back. Here when some one does a lot of missed call or flash, it means the
person is in problem and requires you to call back.
In Nigeria, voice call is expensive but people here prefer voice call to SMS. Major
reason is that SMS does not give the much needed person to person response. It was
also noticed that no matter the urgency in the SMS, people ignore or forget to act on
them.
Majorly, people who can not read or write would naturally prefer Voice calls to SMS.

Even when they receive SMS, they ignore it or find people to read for them. In this
case, their reply would usually be through voice call.
There are some free SMS site largely used by Nigerians - they are free SMS at
www.freemobilesms.com they use a tool known as GLOBE 7 version 8.0 , bulkmail at
www.ebulk.tv
General issues
Are there any tasks you would like to do with mobiles that weren't covered in the toolkit?
Most of the common tasks from the organisational and personal perspective were
covered in the toolkit.
What would make the toolkit more useful in your area of work?
Adding some more symbols in the toolkit so users that are not literate especially the
community based organisation could also enjoy the benefit of the toolkit application.
Early production of the toolkit and a workshop on its usage for civil society
organisations which is expected to be stepped down at state and community levels for
development organisation to use the toolkit effectively.
We say a big thank you the opportunity to be among the testers. A formal report and
appreciation letter would be sent in soon.
NNADI Kevin
International Center for Accelerated Development.

MobileAdvocacyToolkit final report

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