In GSMA Connected Women’s recent study Bridging the gender gap: Mobile access and usage in low and middle-income countries and our Pacific landscaping exercise in 2013, Mobile Technical Literacy was identified as a key barrier to women’s adoption and usage of mobile services. Mobile technical literacy is defined as the ability to use a mobile phone, its core functions such as SMS, and Value Added Services such as mobile money and disaster alerts. Working with a group of community stakeholders in Fiji and Papua New Guinea (PNG), GSMA Connected Women addressed this barrier through the creation of a toolkit explaining the value and functionality of core mobile services – SMS, mobile money and mobile payments.
The lack of mobile technical literacy is not a phenomenon unique to the Pacific; it is experienced to varying degrees in many geographies. Making this toolkit available to other markets is crucial to Connected Women’s aim of providing tools for the wider community to address the gender gap in mobile access and usage. However, it is not a case of simply translating the content we created for this toolkit. It was developed with, and for the people of specific geographies and its value lies in its relevance in the local context.
Using a Human-Centric-Design process, Connected Women worked with women in rural and urban communities to understand their habits, behaviours, aspirations, mobile usage patterns, and learning styles to build a toolkit. Once it was drafted, we went back to seek their feedback, talked to stakeholders, engaged with distribution partners – until we were able to get a clear picture of what would be effective, realistic and used in each environment. Subtle cultural differences can alter the end toolkit; for example, in both Fiji and PNG, women wanted stories to explain and contextualize new services. However in Fiji, women wanted to approach the stories like dramas, and take turns playing different character roles, whereas in PNG, women did not like this approach, but preferred to sit back and view a drama. While these may seem like small differences, these insights can affect the interest in, and recollection of, the story and messaging and ultimately impact the adoption of mobile services.
This adaptation framework outlines the process we went through, so that other parties – MNOs, NGOs, governments – can also produce contextually relevant tools. It is not a matter of simply translating the content into a different language. If a Nigerian operator just translated the existing PNG toolkit into Hausa, it would not resonate with a Nigerian audience, as the stories, cultural references, and even services profiled are firmly based in Papua New Guinea.
In this framework, we’ve outlined the method we used to create the PNG tookit, breaking it down to five phases – Scope, Understand, Design & Build, Deliver, Test & Refine – and provided our research tools (FGD guides, interview guides, technical competency tests). This framework is a guide, and is by no means set in stone or exhaustive; it can and should be used creatively – added to, changed, as per the realities of where the toolkit will be deployed. Use it as it, or as a jumping off point – make it your own and improve the mobile technical literacy of your community.