On the Digital Divide’s Frontlines: Empowering Grassroots NGOs through Mobile Technology

The potential of mobile technology to help close developmental gaps has been a source of excitement and hopeful discussion.  Such discussions, however, often lack the concrete, tangible details of how to translate this potential into real-world tools for local NGOs on the frontlines of international development.  Ken Banks discovered this disconnect between possibility and practicality while living and working in Africa on environmental conservation.  On March 19, 2009, Banks, the developer of FrontlineSMS, and his collaborator Josh Nesbit, Executive Director of FrontlineSMS: Medic, shared their continuing response to this problem as featured speakers of IREX’s Technology Serving Civil Society Speakers Series.
 
Banks developed FrontlineSMS software to empower local communities seeking to incorporate mobile technologies into their work.  The software is easy to use, requires only a computer and SIM card, and does not require an internet connection.  Once installed on a laptop, FrontlineSMS allows community-based organizations to connect any cellular phone to their computer, and send and receive messages.  Thus, FrontlineSMS is easily adaptable to the work of any NGO focused on community outreach and development.  Banks gave examples of how the software has been used by the development community, such as to monitor elections in Nigeria, disseminate alerts to aid workers in Afghanistan, mobilize youth voters in Azerbaijan, and share crop prices in Indonesia’s Aceh Province.  Vital to the program’s broad appeal is its simple user-friendly interface.

Josh Nesbit’s Mobiles in Malawi project proved a powerful case study of employing information technology in development efforts.  Nesbit, now a senior at Stanford University, had been looking for a way to improve the community-based care services of Namitete, Malawi’s Saint Gabriel’s Hospital.  At the time, the hospital’s two doctors had to coordinate with 400 volunteer health workers trekking back and forth from the hospital to outlying communities, relaying information, seeking consultations, and carrying supplies.  After meeting Banks and discovering his innovative new tool, Nesbit installed FrontlineSMS at the hospital, distributed mobile phones to the volunteers, and taught them how to send text messages.  He then left the operation in Home-Based Care Nurse Alex Ngalande’s capable hands, who became proficient in the software in a matter of hours.  This innovative use of technology paid immediate dividends, as the health workers improved their ability to track patients, request dosage information, and submit requests for remote care.  In its first month of use, FrontlineSMS allowed these workers to serve 130 more patients, save 500 hours of commuting, and spare $1,000 worth of fuel expenses.

Banks’ and Nesbit’s efforts have proven successful for several reasons.  The tool they offer becomes a locally-owned means of building local awareness.  It enhances community connections and is readily adaptable to whatever needs are presented by the organization and target community – be it election monitoring or increasing citizens’ access to healthcare.  Furthermore, it is replicable and scalable, allowing a variety of NGOs to move beyond the intangible discussions of mobile technology’s promise and towards applying its considerable power toward their unique efforts.

View Ken Banks’ presentation