The document discusses how mobile technology is utilized in international development and humanitarian assistance to address challenges such as disaster response, health data systems, and conflict management. It highlights various case studies, including the use of tools like Ushahidi and Cell-life in Haiti and South Africa, respectively, to enhance disaster relief and health care. The paper also examines the benefits and shortcomings of mobile tech in these contexts, emphasizing the need for sustainable practices and standardized data sharing.

1. How telecom tools address
some of the world's toughest
challenges:
OR HOW MY PHONE
SAVED THE WORLD

2. How mobile tech makes a difference
Areas in international development and humanitarian
assistance where mobile tech is used:
 to provide a rapid and coordinated response to
emergencies and disasters;
 to develop health data systems that help combat
disease; and
 as an agent or tool for international
development activities.

3. Emergencies and disaster relief: Haiti
 Ushahidi: a platform first used in Kenya that allows
anyone to gather distributed data via SMS, email or
web and visualize it on a map or timeline. Was first
to deploy its platform in Haiti to determine the needs
of victims and other relief and aid requirements on
the ground.
Sahana: a Sri Lankan engineered web based
collaboration tool designed to address common
coordination problems among actors involved in
relief work - was also quick to deploy its platform in
Haiti.

4. Health: Cell-Life in South Africa
 Uses mobile phones for home care of AIDS patients
receiving ART treatments.
 Mobile tech facilitates individual patient care, but
also builds a database of information on the severity
and prevalence of the AIDS epidemic by region used
for prevention and improved treatment.
 Goals: reduce treatment errors, increase the volume
of patient data, and increase comfort for the patients,

5. International development
 Conflict prevention and management: SMS system
collected alerts about violent outbreaks during civil
unrest during Kenyan elections a few years ago. Provided
real-time info about actual and planned attacks between
rival ethnic and political groups.
 Resolve human-wildlife conflict in Africa: small farms,
big elephants. More than 3,000 incidents occur annually
in northern Kenya. Mobile comm. inexpensively
pinpoints the elephants' location (tags) and text
messages the coordinates back to a central location.

6. International development
 Panama: disaster risk management:
 The situation: country prey to massive rainfalls,
windstorms, floods, droughts, wildfires, earthquakes,
landslides, tropical cyclones, tsunamis and El Niño episodes.
 Who’s at risk? Many people live in areas exposed to natural
hazards.
 What’s needed?: an affordable system to keep local
communities informed during disaster, facilitate
communication, evacuation, and avoid loss of life.
 What happened?: Set up an early warning system with
mobile phone, radio broadcasts, light systems. Monitored
weather and water conditions, sent data to central place.

7. International development
 Liberia and Mauritania: Food Security and mobile tech:
 The situation: drought and desertification are making
it very hard to grown food = massive food shortages.
 Who’s at risk? Poor Liberians: 41% food insecure;
42% chronic malnutrition. 2/3 of food is imported; 64%
of the population lives on $1 per day or less.
 What’s needed?: early warning of food situation by
developing centralized data collection.
 What happened?: food markets monitored for food
prices and availability. Data sent by SMS to central
database. Government and NGOs see the data, can target
interventions

8. International development
 Afghanistan: emergency health access:
 The situation: access to emergency healthcare is very
limited.
 Who’s at risk? All, especially pregnant women and
children under five.
 What’s needed: transport to hospital. Wanted to fill
communication gap with phone.
 What happened?: didn’t think about short vs. long
term need/thinking (phone card/car). Didn’t alert
hospital, or think about limited capacity of hospital.

9. Trends/ Benefits/ Shortcomings
 Trends: How UN/ NGO staff use mobile tech: voice
calls, text messaging, mapping, data analysis and
inventory management, photo and video, data
collection or transfer, and multi-media messaging.
 Benefits: real-time response, access, affordability,
accountability, transparency, public participation.
 Shortcomings: can facilitate change, but change to
what? Need context for info receiving, need to
standardize reporting, open data sharing policies,
sustainability, training, cost.

10. What’s it all mean?

Sharing knowledge = power
 Who’s paying, who’s benefiting, who’s controlling the
info?
 Burma: biggest BarCamp in the world yesterday.