Mobile for Development Blog

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The State of Mobile Internet Connectivity in South Asia: the coverage gap is narrowing but the usage gap remains the largest in the world

In this blog, we present highlights of the State of Mobile Internet Connectivity in South Asia. Mobile internet connectivity has continued to grow in many countries across South Asia during 2020. Despite, or perhaps partly driven by, the COVID-19 pandemic, 34% of the ...

The State of Mobile Internet Connectivity: the coverage gap continues to narrow but the usage gap remains wide

More than half the world’s population are now using mobile internet. That’s just over 4 billion people connected, and with 94 per cent of the world’s population covered by a mobile broadband network, lack of coverage is no longer the main challenge to digital inclusion. The ...

A new mechanism to catalyse distributed renewable energy

Research shows that accessing finance is a critical barrier limiting mobile tower owners from adopting on-site renewable energy solutions. Typical fossil fuel powered solutions like diesel generators are relatively cheap to buy; the materials are readily available, and the ...

Building digital ecosystems: Partnering for market readiness and local contexts

Digital solutions do not exist in vacuums. They require a system of end-users, service providers, regulators and, in the humanitarian context, both local and international humanitarian actors. A well-established ecosystem ensures provision of mobile and digital services in ...

Unlocking agri DFS: new business models addressing the financing gap

Globally, nearly 500 million households depend on smallholder farming for their livelihoods. However, farmers are often financially excluded with limited access to financial products. Recognising this gap, the GSMA undertook research to investigate the rise of digital ...

Want to build your voice biometrics experience? We have the code!

In the previous months the GSMA Inclusive Tech Lab has worked with different mobile operators to make the Biometrics for All (B4LL) open platform live and functional. The B4LL innovation project aims to help reduce identification barriers, enabling the inclusion of ...

Navigating Cameroon’s Tech Ecosystem: Five Key Insights

Cameroon’s economy was the hardest hit by COVID-19 in Central Africa. Information and communications technology (ICT) has been identified as a key driver of jobs and economic growth and a pathway for Cameroon to recover from the effects of the pandemic and transform the ...

COVID-19: Strengthening well-being through innovation

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused global disruption in the provision of essential goods and services, and Tunisia is no exception. Tunisia recorded its first COVID-19 cases in March 2020 rising to 423 cases by the end of the same month and the government quickly responded by ...

Mitigating the threats of illegal wildlife trade flows

This blog was guest written with Russell Wallace, Senior AML Compliance Manager and Viola Qefalia, AML Compliance Manager from Vodafone Group. The illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is a serious multi-jurisdictional crime that generates billions of dollars in proceeds every year. ...

GSMA mobile money enabled cash aid delivery courses

With over 235 million people worldwide in need of humanitarian assistance and protection, cash and voucher assistance (CVA) is increasingly becoming the modality of choice in many crisis situations. For many humanitarian organisations, this shift from in-kind aid (food & ...

Thriving in crisis: how oDoc adapted during COVID-19

Start-ups are key for driving economic growth and employment, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where markets and industries are less mature. In OECD countries, start-ups employ 20 per cent of youth and account for half of new jobs created. The role of ...

Insights from evaluating SkyEye

SkyEye is a Samoan start-up that provides localisation and mapping solutions to solve logistical challenges in Pacific Island countries. In November 2018, the Ecosystem Accelerator programme – supported by the Australian Government and UK Foreign, Commonwealth & ...

Three lessons from LevelApp, REFUNITE’s GSMA-funded innovation project

The GSMA Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation Fund aims to promote innovation in the use of mobile technology to address humanitarian challenges. The first round of the Fund focused on providing support to help to test or scale innovative ideas which support ...

Impactful Innovation: Insights from evaluating Qlue

Qlue is an Indonesian start-up that provides smart city solutions to governments and businesses. In November 2018, the Ecosystem Accelerator programme – supported by the Australian Government and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) – awarded Qlue an ...

Digital Agriculture opportunities in Indonesia: A discussion with PT Koltiva

This is the fourth blog in a series of blogs introducing the grantees and key partners supported by the GSMA Innovation Fund for Digitisation of Agricultural Value Chains. Agriculture contributes 13.7% to the Indonesian GDP while providing employment to over 26% of the ...

Bank Asia’s top agent and the lessons from her success

Alsin is a young mother and wife, and the top performing agent among Bank Asia’s over 4,800 active agents (of which only about 10% are female). In recent months, her average monthly commission has grown to over 40 times the average commission of all other active agents. In ...

Tech for a Better Planet: Perspectives from the ClimateTech team

On 5 August it was a privilege to take part in the Tech for a Better Planet symposium, which was co-organised by Huawei and IUCN, and supported by the ITU. The online event was held in recognition that there is an urgent need for innovative digital solutions to address the ...

Building and strengthening digital ecosystems in humanitarian contexts: Shaping an enabling environment

The transition to digital humanitarian assistance has exponentially increased in the last year, largely driven by COVID-19. The pandemic has interrupted conventional humanitarian assistance, and demanded a shift to more agile, adaptable and contactless humanitarian ...

Verifying recipients of cash assistance through Voice ID: Pilot project lessons and outcomes

Somaliland has an incredibly developed mobile money market, with an estimated 78 per cent of adults using the service. The situation is similar across the other regions of greater Somalia. ZAAD, the mobile money service from the Somaliland operator, Telesom, is the market ...

Announcing the GSMA Innovation Fund for Assistive Tech Grantees

15 per cent of the world’s population, live with a form of disability, 80 per cent of whom live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). For persons living with a disability, access to assistive technology (AT) can be life changing. Yet around 90 per cent of persons with ...

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