How Mobile phones are Promoting Rural Transformation in Africa

Millions of mobile phones are currently being owned by many rural people in nearly all parts of the developing countries of the South. Scientists at the University of Washington have developed a system for remote areas of the South code named, the Open Data Kit, (ODK) that uses Android, an open source mobile operating system to gather and process data.

NGOs running various projects in the rural areas of Africa for example, can now use mobile phones to collect a variety of information and have it quickly analysed. The system is already helping community health workers to locate and test patients for disease as part of the model of providing access to health care in rural areas. In Kenya this system has registered many success stories in area of community health.

In Zanzibar, Community animal health workers are also using Mobile phone operating system to collect information from livestock owners which is then quickly analyzed and used to treat animals. It has significantly help Para vets to handle animal health conditions efficiently in many parts of Zanzibar.

In Uganda my country, the system is being used to guide the development of Farmer’s Friends, a mobile phone based service that offers Agricultural advise via SMS. Farmers simply access extension service by sending SMS to technical persons in the rural areas who then extend the advice either through SMS or come over by motor bikes to assist the Farmers practically. This has helped to boost agricultural production in many areas of Uganda.

For a long time mobile phones were being tools used to commit social crimes such as bank robberies, murders, adultery and other dangerous gossips in society. Now a more productive use of these modern time technology is beginning to change many lives in the rural areas of the developing countries-thanks to the American researchers who came up with these ideas.