Mobile for Development Blog

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Catalysing climate finance: How can technology make it more accessible, affordable and efficient?

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In our first blog from the climate finance series, we explored climate finance from a mobile and digital technology lens. This blog takes the discussion forward and summarises key takeaways from the new GSMA ClimateTech flagship report – Digitally Enabled Climate ...

Harnessing e-commerce growth opportunities in Tanzania (Part 3) 

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Continuing our blog series on Tanzania’s digital economy, this time we look at the country’s e-commerce potential. In our recent report Tanzania’s digitalisation journey: Opportunities for value creation, we identified e-commerce as an untapped opportunity, despite the ...

What’s going on with transport tech start-up financing in Africa?

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As part of the analysis for our recently released report, ‘Powering Mobility: The Rise of Digital Transport in Africa‘, we took a close look at the funding landscape for African start-ups working in transport and logistics. This blog summarises the headlines ...

A biodiverse planet is more than just a “nice-to-have”

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Around one million species already face extinction and many of these could disappear within decades, unless we take action. Read the GSMA blog on Biodiversity Day 2023

World Food Programme renews partnership with the GSMA to bolster humanitarian assistance

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This blog was originally posted by the World Food Programme on 10 May 2023 on Relief Web. The renewal will help empower more women with mobile money and strengthen emergency preparedness as climate shocks and other crises increase. The World Food Programme (WFP) is ...

Pick up the phone! Accelerating digital adoption through women’s Self-Help Groups in India

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In 2021, BBC Media Action conducted a landscaping study of digital literacy interventions in India to identify which approaches showed the most promise, which hadn’t worked and why, and gaps in evidence. Among the findings, the study identified that most digital ...

Saving lives through mobile-based early warning systems

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Recently the UK tested its new public alerts system that will be used to warn people if there is a danger to life nearby and share information on how to stay safe.  Early warning systems have long been used around the world to save lives by sending alerts regarding ...

Innovator Spotlight Series: Tackling the urban energy challenge through digital innovation

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Through this series of blogs, the GSMA Digital Utilities programme will be profiling innovative companies using digital technology to respond to some of the most important energy access and reliability challenges facing African cities. These innovator spotlights will ...

The GSMA leads digital gender inclusion discussions at 67th Session of United Nations Commission on the Status of Women

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In March, the GSMA joined the 67th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). CSW is the UN’s largest annual gathering where gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls are discussed by governments, the private sector, civil society ...

Earth Day 2023: Four ingredients for digital solutions to help people and nature thrive

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Saturday, 22 April 2023 marks Earth Day, with the theme ‘Invest in our planet’. To mark the occasion, this blog considers the role of digital technology in protecting natural resources and presents recommendations for designing, and investing in, high impact ...

An early look into application trends for the GSMA Innovation Fund for Anticipatory Humanitarian Action

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340 million people are projected to need humanitarian assistance in 2023 — a figure that has grown exponentially in the past decade. Humanitarian needs can be triggered by a range of factors, including natural hazards such as floods and cyclones and man-made disasters such ...

The growth of mobile money: Driving financial inclusion for the underserved

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What a year this has been for mobile money! In every region where the GSMA tracks mobile money services, we found they are growing faster and reaching more people than ever before. As we launch the State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2023, another 184 million people ...

Safe sanitation and solid waste management: Loowatt Madagascar’s evolving partnership with the Antananarivo city authority

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Loowatt have developed a waterless and closed-loop sanitation system that offers a superb user experience. Their hygienic and safe toilets capture waste that can then be treated and transformed into other by-products, including energy and fertiliser. In 2015, the ...

ATEC and ENGIE sign a digital carbon credit agreement

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We would like to thank Judith Mulwa and Zach White for their contribution to this blog. In March 2023, ATEC signed a long-term multi-country agreement with ENGIE’s business entity ‘Global Energy Management & Sales’ (GEMS) for the purchase of up to 11.5 million tons of ...

Advancing e-government: Lessons from Tanzania (Part 2)

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Tanzania’s digitalisation journey: In this second blog, we discuss the quest for implementing efficient delivery of e-government services, which is increasingly becoming a top priority for the country.

How the GSMA Mobile Money API can benefit the mobile money ecosystem

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Several mobile money providers have identified open APIs as the best way to integrate with other service providers – both financial and non-financial. Short for “Application Program Interface”, an API is a standard way for computer programs to communicate with each other. ...

IOH partners with the GSMA Mobile Innovation Hub to support mangrove conservation

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At MWC Barcelona in February 2023, Indosat Ooredoo Huchison (IOH) in Indonesia entered into an agreement with the GSMA Mobile Innovation Hub (MIH), joining hands to use digital technology for mangrove conservation in the region of North Kalimantan, Indonesia. In this blog, ...

Fraud Reporting Template

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Fraud is an ongoing issue for the mobile money industry with new, and increasingly complex, scams being committed as the industry matures and diversifies. This is detrimental to providers who are keen to protect their consumers and retain trust in their services. To address ...

Mobile money activity rates: Which strategies should providers consider

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This is the fourth and final instalment in the series of four blogs aimed at understanding the causes of low user activity rates in the mobile money industry and potential strategies on how to improve mobile money activity. The previous blog focused on successful customer ...

Promoting inclusive digital agriculture: AgriTech’s new self-assessment tools 

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Agriculture is the backbone of most developing economies and a major source of food, income and employment. However, farmers in low and middle-income countries still face significant challenges that limit their agricultural productivity and earning potential. Common ...