By Adedapo Adesanya
The United Kingdom has announced new funding for the Mobile for Development Programme to help more people access mobile and digital technologies to find new opportunities and boost their livelihoods in Nigeria and other developing countries.
UK’s Minister for Development and Africa, Mr Andrew Mitchell MP, during a speech at Mobile World Congress last week, announced that the UK is providing £37.3 million of new support for the Mobile for Development Programme.
The new UK funding for innovative mobile phone technology will help change lives in developing countries around the world by harnessing AI technology to provide real-time agricultural advice to farmers in Nigeria and provide pay-as-you-go solar-powered fridges globally.
The programme, which the UK funds in partnership with UK-based mobile industry association GSMA and the private sector, has already benefitted more than 94 million people and focuses on women and girls, climate change mitigation, adaptation and resilience and scaling up innovative solutions.
At the congress, GSMA also announced the grantees for its Climate Resilience and Adaptation Fund which is funded by the UK’s FCDO. This fund is designed to test and scale up new technology to combat the effects of climate change in countries throughout Africa and Asia.
The increase in climate crises around the world has spurred the need for new solutions to help vulnerable countries adapt and growing mobile technology can make a big difference to people’s lives.
Some of the projects being funded include one using AI-powered satellite imagery to help smallholder farmers increase their yields and another to reduce food waste via an online grocery platform.
Mr Mitchell said in line with the programme’s goal, entrepreneurs will receive new support to develop innovative mobile technology to help tackle development challenges around the world.
He added that previous funding through the scheme has helped develop AI to provide advice to farmers in remote areas and will bring the mobile industry and development community together to boost livelihoods.
“Mobile technology has the potential to revolutionise the lives of the poor by helping tackle the effects of climate change, creating jobs and boosting opportunities for women.
“The Mobile for Development programme has already benefitted more than 100 million people, and the UK’s new announcement aims to up the ambition, reaching 110 million additional people, including 60 million women.
“Together the worlds of development and mobile tech giants can be a powerful force to unlock opportunities and prosperity, and meet the UN Global Goals,” he said
According to a statement from the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO), funding has previously helped scale up a digital hub in Pakistan, BaKhabar Kissan (BKK), which provides accurate weather forecasting data to farmers to help them make critical farming decisions such as the timing of seed sowing, irrigation, and fertilisation. With the help of this programme, BKK has almost doubled its users from 6.6 million to 12.4 million.
Another innovative business, Ensibuuko, is providing digital skills training to help community-saving groups in rural Uganda keep up with the latest digital products and services where previously they relied on paper record-keeping. Since gaining funding, Ensibuuko has benefited over 236,000 members of rural savings groups, 60 per cent of whom are women, providing them with digital skills training.
On his part, Mr John Giusti, President of the GSMA Mobile for Development Foundation, added that, “For more than a decade, the FCDO and the GSMA Mobile for Development Foundation have worked closely in partnership to drive socio-economic and climate impact for the most underserved populations through digital innovation, and to date our partnership has improved the lives of more than 127 million people.
“Today’s renewal of our partnership will further amplify our joint impact by leveraging the power of digital and emerging technologies to support innovation, improve access to opportunities for women, and tackle the effects of climate change for the most vulnerable.”
