[(es) Not available in ES]

Demystifying mobile phones for social change

(es) Location: Kampala, Uganda
(es) Created By: Esther on 23-jul-2008 6:50

Harriet Oloro is a model farmer in her village in Apac district. She plants over five acres of cassava annually and from her yield, she is able to send her children and siblings to school. Last year, she was chosen to represent her village at a conference for successful rural women farmers in German.
But this is too much to say of a woman who only three years ago was earning less than one dollar a day.
Oloro has the Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) to thank for this change in her life. She was among the first beneficiaries three years ago when WOUGNET started the Enhancing Access to Agricultural Information using ICTs (EAAI) project.
WOUGNET opened up Kubere Information Centre (KIC), a telecentre in the heart of Apac town to help the farmers access technology and information in one place. The information center trains farmers on how to use computers and mobile phones to collect, process and disseminate agricultural information which has benefited Oloro and other women in Apac.
WOUGNET has organized the women into 12 groups each with over 30 members throughout Apac. The groups were given mobile phones and radio handsets to enable them communicate and access information.
“We chose to use mobile phones because they are handy, cheap and have a wider coverage as compared to the community radio in the district,” explains WOUGNET’s Gender and Advocacy Program Officer, Goretti Zavuga.
For the last three years, the organization has been sending information on market prices, pest and disease control, improved crop varieties and agricultural practices to the farmers through the Simple Messaging Services (SMS). Busoga Rural Open Source Development Initiative (BROSDI) (www.brosdi.org) is the major source of this information.
KIC information officers translate the information to Luo before sending it to the farmers.

Talk shows
Since the SMSs are rather brief, KIC staff organises dissemination meetings to answer any questions that may arise. Some of the questions are raised by the farmers when they visit the centre. Others are collected by staff during field visits.
“The centre has partnered with other development partners in the district including ASDI, VEDCO, Kawanda Agricultural Research Institute and the District Agricultural Officer who provide a pool of ‘experts’ to answer the questions,” explains KIC Projects Officer, Moses Owiny.
WOUGNET has partnered with Radio Apac, the only community radio in the district to disseminate the information.
“Talk shows are organized every Monday afternoon in Luo. Farmers call in using their mobile phones to ask the ‘experts’ questions,” Owiny explains.
The talk shows are recorded and tapes distributed to the farmers groups. Extra questions are sent to the government research centre in Kawanda.
“The main challenge is the delay in responses to questions sent to the experts at Kawanda. Sometimes by the time responses are sent, crops have been destroyed,” Owiny explains.


Changed lives
Oloro is one of the many women whose lives have been changed through their encounter with technology. The information got has helped the farmers improve their agricultural practices especially in sunflower and soya bean growing.
“The improved yield has helped them sell at better prices, which means higher incomes and improved livelihoods,” Owiny explains.
“Women have also set up individual projects like poultry, piggery, goat rearing among others,” he adds.
The farmers’ lives have changed considerably due to their interaction with ICT technology like mobile phones SMS and call-in radio talk shows.
“Farmers with a basic education can now send and search for information on the internet and use mobile phones for more than just calling and receiving calls. UNESCO trained some of the women in radio presentation skills,” Owiny explains.
The EAAI project is run by WOUGNET with support from the Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Cooperation, ACP EU (CTA), UNESCO and Hivos.
WOUGNET through such innovative use of ICTs has helped demystify technology thus creating a new breed of rural empowered women like Oloro.

For details about the project, visit www.wougnet.org OR email: kicinfo@wougnet.org

Web site: http://www.wougnet.org

(es) Contact Name: Esther Nasikye

375 (es) people have read this article