The Mobile for Development team drives innovation in digital technology to reduce inequalities in our world. Singularly positioned at the intersection of the mobile ecosystem and the development sector, we stimulate digital innovation to deliver both sustainable business and large-scale socio-economic impact for the underserved.
AgriTech
The GSMA brings together and supports the mobile industry, agricultural sector stakeholders, innovators and investors in the AgriTech space to launch, improve and scale impactful and commercially viable digital solutions for smallholder farmers in the developing world.
Digital Agriculture Maps
This report on the key trends in digital agriculture, in collaboration with IDH Farmfit, offers a snapshot into the digital agriculture landscape in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs).
Digital Innovation for Climate-Resilient Agriculture
This report highlights the potential of digital services to strengthen the climate resilience of smallholder farmers, and focuses on how MNO assets – including rainfall observations from mobile networks – can be used to localise and scale these services.
Covid-19: Accelerating the use of digital agriculture
Covid-19 exposed the vulnerability of agricultural and food systems in LMICs. This report provides agritechs, MNOs, investors, and donors with insights into the adoption of digital agriculture and how to accelerate it in light of new challenges.
Assistive Tech
Our mission is to drive greater access and use of mobile technologies for persons with disabilities in emerging markets and maximise opportunities for social and economic inclusion.
Principles for Driving the Digital Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities
In conjunction with mobile operators and disability and accessibility experts, the GSMA has developed the Principles. These principles provide a framework for action for the industry along with a set of potential activities that can be taken by mobile operators to reduce the gap in access and use.
The Mobile Disability Gap Report
Driving greater inclusion of persons with disabilities requires data and evidence to inform actions from multiple stakeholders. This report looks to understand the digital divide experienced by persons with disabilities, identify existing barriers to digital inclusion and define strategies and actions to close the mobile disability.
ClimateTech
We unlock the power of digital technology in low- and middle-income countries to enable their transition towards a low-carbon and climate-resilient future. We do this through the collective support of the mobile industry, as well as public and private actors.
Digital Dividends in Plastics Recycling
This report explores the specific benefits that plastics organisations in low- and middle-income countries currently reap, or could eventually reap, from using digital tools or services or partnering with technology organisations.
Renewable Energy Dashboard
A central repository for industry information on using renewable energy to power mobile towers.
Connected Society
Our mission is to support the mobile industry to increase access to and adoption of mobile internet, focusing on underserved population groups in developing markets.
The State of Mobile Internet Connectivity 2020
The State of Mobile Internet Connectivity report provides the mobile industry and other stakeholders with a comprehensive overview of the trends in global connectivity to inform progress towards closing the coverage and usage gaps and the key challenges.
GSMA Mobile Connectivity Index (MCI)
The GSMA Mobile Connectivity Index is an online tool which measures the performance of 170 countries against the key enablers of mobile internet adoption: infrastructure; affordability; consumer readiness; and content and services. Its objective is to support the efforts of the mobile industry, governments and the wider international community to deliver on the ambition of universal access to the internet.
Accelerating mobile internet adoption: Policy considerations to bridge the digital divide in low- and middle-income countries
This report responds to the need to accelerate mobile internet adoption and use, which is the biggest challenge in bridging the digital divide. The report sets out a wide range of policy considerations and proposes a comprehensive framework for action to help tackle the five main barriers to mobile internet adoption in low- and middle-income countries.
The Mobile Internet Skills Training Toolkit
The GSMA Mobile Internet Skills Training Toolkit (MISTT) is a set of free resources to teach people the basic skills they need to access and use mobile internet. It uses a ‘train the trainer’ approach and consists of short lessons in PDF and video format that can be easily adapted to local needs and languages.
Connected Women
Our mission is to reduce the gender gap in mobile internet and mobile money services in low- and middle-income countries and unlock significant commercial and socio-economic opportunities.
Mobile Gender Gap Report 2021
The Mobile Gender Gap Report 2021 highlights how the mobile gender gap continues to improve in South Asia, but less so in other regions. It explores the key barriers preventing women’s equal access to mobile internet as well as the rise of women’s smartphone ownership, notably in India.
Reaching 50 Million Women with Mobile: A Practical Guide
Drawing on research and work across low- and middle-income countries over the last decade, the Connected Women team have distilled 10 key recommendations for reaching women with mobile. This guide outlines the practical steps mobile operators and other stakeholders can take.
Connected Women Life Stories
We asked women from across Africa and Asia to share their stories through their mobile phones. In these short videos, we hear how mobile internet or mobile money has transformed the lives of these women – in their businesses, studies or family life, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic.
GSMA Connected Women Commitment Initiative
As part of the GSMA Connected Women Commitment Initiative which launched in 2016, 40 mobile operators have made formal Commitments to accelerate digital and financial inclusion for women across Africa, Asia and Latin America. So far, they have collectively reached over 40 million additional women with these services.
Digital Utilities
Supporting urban resilience in low- and middle-income countries by enabling access to essential utility services through digital solutions.
Scaling Digital Solutions in the Water Sector – Lessons from CityTaps and Wonderkid
This report examines the scaling journey of two innovators in the water sector, Wonderkid and CityTaps, whose experiences hold lessons for all seeking to accelerate digitalisation.
What is the value of pay-as-you-go solar for mobile operators?
The first multi-country analysis quantifying the value for pay-as-you-go (PAYG) solar models for mobile operators from mobile money and mobile connectivity.
Digital Solutions for the Urban Poor
Unless city authorities and utilities find innovative ways to include informal settlements in service provision, water shortages, lack of sanitation, unreliable power and insufficient waste management will remain a reality for most of the urban poor. This report explores the potential for mobile-enabled innovations to provide solutions to these pressing challenges.
Ecosystem Accelerator
Our mission is to build synergies between start-ups and mobile operators, with the aim to scale innovative and sustainable mobile services in emerging markets.
Scaling digital platforms through partnerships: The value of collaboration between mobile operators and digital platforms in emerging economies
This research identifies enablers that create a suitable environment for scaling digital platforms, explores strategies for scaling, and determines the challenges faced by digital platforms trying to scale.
Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation
Our mission is to accelerate the delivery and impact of digital humanitarian assistance, with improved access to and use of life-enhancing mobile-enabled services during humanitarian and disaster preparedness, response and recovery.
Covid-19 and digital humanitarian action: Trends, risks and the path forward
This report looks at how partners and grantees in the GSMA Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation (M4H) portfolio have shifted or maintained their services in humanitarian contexts during the Covid-19 pandemic, and how mobile network operators have engaged in this process. It also highlights key trends in digital programming that have emerged since the onset of Covid-19.
Partnering during crisis: The shared value of partnerships between mobile network operators and humanitarian organisations
This research aims to provide evidence to help MNOs make informed decisions about engaging in partnerships with humanitarian organisations, and to help humanitarian actors better understand their MNO partners and build successful long-term partnerships. Available in multiple languages.
Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation: Annual Report
This report documents the progress of the M4H programme and partners in 2020, highlighting the key trends impacting the humanitarian sector in this unprecedented year, and summarising the activities and outcomes of research, the M4H Innovation Fund, strategic partnership projects and advocacy efforts.
Mobile Money
Our mission is to support our members and industry stakeholders to increase the utility and sustainability of mobile money services and increase financial inclusion.
State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2021
This report looks at what this year of uncertainty has meant for mobile money providers, agent networks and the millions of new and existing customers that embraced mobile money in 2020 as a safe and secure financial lifeline. In a snapshot, we explore how the mobile money industry has moved quickly, embraced disruption and built resilience as a result, while working towards creating a digital and inclusive future for all.
Assessing mobile money consumer trends in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic
This report identifies key demand-side trends on general and Covid-19-specific mobile money awareness and adoption and usage levels, including its impact on the diversification of use cases, frequency of transactions and agent interactions.
The GSMA Mobile Money API as an enabler for Sustainable Development Goals
This report examines the ways in which the Mobile Money API contributes towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Enabling the mobile money ecosystem through open APIs enables a wide range of products and services to be expanded to the over one billion people who use mobile money, increasing financial inclusion of underserved populations.