THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF PARIS MASTER OF ARTS IN GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS AND CIVIL SOCIETY Grassroots Support Organizations and Capacity-Building in Mobiles-for-Development: A Case Study of the Jokko Initiative in Senegal A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS AND CIVIL SOCIETY Lindsay E. Powell, B.A. Contact e-mail : [email protected]
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THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF PARIS MASTER OF ARTS IN GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS AND CIVIL SOCIETY
Grassroots Support Organizations and Capacity-Building in Mobiles-for-Development: A Case Study of the Jokko Initiative in Senegal
A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS
AND CIVIL SOCIETY
Lindsay E. Powell, B.A.Contact e-mail : [email protected]
Paris, May 2011
THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF PARIS MASTER OF ARTS IN GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS AND CIVIL SOCIETY
THESIS OF LINDSAY E. POWELL, B.A.
Thesis director, committee members, and the director of the Master’s Program
APPROVED:
Thesis director ___________________________
Committee member ___________________________
Committee member ___________________________
Program director ___________________________
Date: _________________
STATEMENT OF AUTHENTICITY
I have read AUP’s policies on plagiarism and certify that the content of this thesis entitled
Grassroots Support Organizations and Capacity-Building in Mobiles-for-Development: A Case Study of the Jokko Initiative in Senegal is my original work and does not contain
unacknowledged work from any other sources
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Grassroots Support Organizations and Capacity-Building in Mobiles-for-Development: A Case Study of the Jokko Initiative in Senegal
MASTER OF ARTS IN GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS AND CIVIL SOCIETY
Lindsay E. Powell, B.A.
2011
Fueled by renewed enthusiasm about the potential of new ICTs for development, NGOs have been implementing ambitious projects with mobile technology components in the developing world in a phenomenon commonly referred to as “Mobiles-for-development” or “M4D.” A participatory approach that responds to the needs and realities of local communities is widely recognized as a necessary component of a successful M4D intervention. However, project failure-especially in sub-Saharan Africa- remains the norm, pointing towards the need for more thorough enumeration of best practices and more rigorous impact evaluation on the part of field-based practitioners. This thesis calls for greater attention to be given to the role of human capacity, which is often a precondition for participation in M4D interventions but which also tends to be in short supply in rural, poor communities. A greater focus on capacity would entails both assessing capacity- in terms of physical resources and human capabilities- in the design phase of interventions and including capacity-building in project activities when necessary. This study employs the human development and capabilities approach and the case study and participant observation methods to examine the efforts of the American NGO Tostan to integrate mobile technology into its non-formal education and empowerment program in rural Senegal. The findings of this study underscore the decisive role played by local capacity and intent and by locally-based and effective intermediary organizations, conceptualized in this paper as grassroots support organizations (GSOs), that support the acquisition of the human capabilities needed to meaningfully use ICTs.
KEYWORDS: CAPABILITIES INTERMEDIARIES MOBILE
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First I would like to say “jerejef” (“thank you” in Wolof) to the men, women and children who participated in the pilot phase of the Jokko Initiative, and especially those at the Tostan centers of Khai-ra 2, Touba Bêgg Bamba, Touba Palléne and Touba Diémoule. I am humbled by your kindness and hospitality, and without your commitment and enthusiasm, my work would not have been possible. I would also like to extend my gratitude to Tostan for this valuable learning experience. I would especially like to thank my fellow Jokko Team members- Malick Niang, Alimatou Diao, Yoro Badji and Finté Bioro- for their guidance and support.
I must also thank Professor Charles Talcott for his extensive feedback on previous drafts of this thesis and Professor Susan Perry for supporting my application to conduct this research at Tostan and for aiding me in the early stages of developing my argument. I am also grateful to Fatou Ba and Djily Fall for their help with translating qualitative data from in-field interviews.
I would also like to extend my gratitude to the Guyon-Sabbe family for their unwavering support of my ambitions and especially to Matthieu for his patience with me over the course of this very productive and, at times, extremely challenging year.
Lastly, I would like to thank Aunt Cathy, Uncle Greg, Uncle Mark and Aunt Ellen for planting the seed of inspiration in my mind that ultimately led me to Africa.
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
A printed copy and an electronic version of this thesis have been given to The American University of Paris - AUP for its library collection and to grant scholarly access. As of today, I authorize the AUP to archive, perform any needed cataloging, keep records of this thesis and disseminate them in France and abroad. In addition, I authorize AUP to provide free access to the entire work for on-site consultation, loan, dissemination via Internet/Intranet and for interlibrary loan, for as long as this work exists. The University must acquire my explicit approval before making any additional copies of this thesis.
Signed: ____________________________
Date: ______________
5 CITE AELMAS, OUEST FOIRE VDN, EN FACE CICES,
B.P. : 29371 Dakar Yoff – SénégalTél : 33820 5589 / Fax : 33820 5632
Guillaume Debar Dakar, Friday April 1, 2011International Program ManagerTostan [email protected]él. : (+221) 33 820 55 89
To Whom It May Concern,
This letter has been prepared in recognition of the fact that Ms. Lindsay Powell, intern
at Tostan from March 2010 to July 2010 contributed to the research and writing of
several blog articles that now appear on www.jokkoinitiative.org.
Any resemblance between the blog articles and Ms. Powell's original research is due to
Lindsay's active participation and contribution to the blog articles content, not due to
any form of plagiarism from our blog or associated articles on her part.
Sincerely,
_________________________________Guillaume Debar
TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Tables vii
List of Figures viii
Key to Abbreviations ix
Chapter One: Introduction 1Research Methods 2Context 3Research Problem 5Research Goals 7Overview 7
Chapter Two: Review of the Literature 9The Human Development and Capabilities Approach9ICTs and Human Development 11Lessons Learned and Best Practices Identified in ICT- and M- 4D 13
Participatory processes 13Inviting local input and assessing needs 15Understanding local contexts 16
Gaps in the Literature 17Evidence of impact and quality of impact assessment 17The problem of deficient local capacity 18The crucial role of intermediary organizations 21
Chapter Three: Methods 24Methodological Strengths 26Methodological Limitations 27
Chapter Four: Case Study 28Tostan 28
The Community Empowerment Program (CEP) 30The Jokko Initiative 32
Project objectives 32Project timeline and activities 35
The Mobile Phone for Literacy and Development (MPLD) Module 36The RapidSMS Community Forum. 38
Development impact of the pilot phase. 40Community members’ perceptions of impact. 42
Chapter Five: Discussion 45Tostan’s Participatory Approach to Capacity-Building 45
Involvement of local communities as project stakeholders 46Learner-centered pedagogical methods 47
The mango tree activity 48
The Importance of Capacity and Intent 51
Foundational capabilities 54Positive intent 54Deficient local capacity and negative intent as barriers to implementation 55
Physical resources 55Electricity 55Network coverage 56Cost for participants 56
Intent 57Gendered access to mobile phones 57Inequitable access to training phones 58
Capabilities 59Multi-level classes and differing learning paces 59Inadequate literacy skills 59
Deficient organizational capacity as a barrier to implementation. 60
Chapter Six: Conclusion 62Implications 64Future Research 66
Impact evaluation 66Mobiles and positive social transformation 67
References 69
Additional Sources 79
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Community Empowerment Program (CEP) Timeline 32
Table 2: Anticipated outcomes of the Jokko Initiative 33
Table 3: The Jokko Initiative and literacy 35
Table 4: Selection criteria for the pilot phase of the Jokko Initiative 53
Table 5: Baseline data on gender and mobile phone usage 57
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: The MPLD Module and Table of Contents 37
Figure 2: MPLD session at the Khaira-2 Center in Touba, April 2010 38
Figure 3: The RapidSMS Community Forum WebUI back-end 39
Figure 4: Visual aid explaining how the RapidSMS Community Forum works 40
Figure 5: Mango Tree visual aid 49
Figure 6: Participant demonstrating how to navigate the main menu of a mobile phone using the Mango Tree visual aid 49
Figure 7: The Mango Tree outdoor/floor activity 51
Figure 8: The challenge of shared training phones 58
KEY TO ABBREVIATIONS
CEP Community Empowerment Program
CFA Central African franc
CMC Community Management Committee
ICTs Information and Communication Technologies
ICT4D Information and Communication Technology for Development
M4D Mobiles for Development
MDGs Millennium Development Goals
NGO Non-governmental organization
SIM Subscriber Identity Module
SMS Short Message Service
MMS Multimedia Message Service
UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund
MPLD Mobile Phone for Literacy and Development
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Fueled by renewed enthusiasm about the potential of new information and
communication technologies (ICTs) for development, non-profit organizations (NGOs)
have been implementing ambitious projects with mobile technology components in
developing countries in a phenomenon commonly referred to as “Mobiles for
development” or “M4D.”1 Both research and experiential learning have demonstrated
that a participatory approach- as opposed to the “top-down” approach of earlier
interventions- that responds to the needs and realities of local communities is a
necessary component of a successful M4D intervention. However, demonstrated
successes, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, remain few, pointing to the need for more
critical self-reflection and thorough enumeration of best practices on the part of field-
based practitioners.
This study calls for greater attention to be given to critical perspectives that have
traditionally been marginalized in the discourse surrounding the use of ICTs for
development. Specifically, this thesis hypothesizes that a greater focus on the role of
local capacity will lead to the enumeration of new best practices and will increase the
likelihood of project success. In ICT- and M- 4D interventions, capacity is often a
precondition for participation. However, while this capacity is generally assumed, it
tends to be in short supply in rural, poor communities. A greater focus on capacity
would entail assessing human capacities in the design phase of M4D interventions but
would also require including capacity-building in project activities when found to be
insufficient for accessing the technologies being deployed. In order to test this
hypothesis, the present study employs the human development and capabilities
1 Less commonly, the term “m-development” is used. In this paper, M4D is discussed as an off-shoot of the “ICT4D” or “ICTD” (Information and Communication Tools for Development) paradigm.
approach and the case study and participant observation methods to examine the efforts
of the NGO Tostan to integrate mobile technology into its non-formal education
program in Senegal, West Africa.
This thesis argues that when capacity building is required in a M4D project,
project goals are most likely to be achieved when activities are designed and
implemented by an organization that has an in-depth understanding of the local context
and a proven track record of building local building. These organizations,
conceptualized in this paper as grassroots support organizations (GSOs), often provide
information, services and resources that are essential for empowering rural communities
to engage in their own development processes. This thesis confirms that, when properly
designed and implemented, mobile technology can have positive development impact.
Additionally, this thesis points to the need for rigorous impact assessment of M4D
interventions and lends support to critical claims that cost-effectiveness relative to non-
ICT tools and program supports should be a decisive factor in the implementation of
ICT- and M-4D initiatives.
Research Methods
This thesis employs the human development and capabilities framework and the
case study and participant observation methods. The human development and
capabilities approach, as articulated by Amartya Sen (2009) and Martha Nussbaum
(2003), constitutes a preferable alternative to approaches concerned primarily with
economic growth and captures the multidimensionality of development. The case
examined in this thesis is the “Jokko Initiative,” a M4D initiative implemented by the
American NGO Tostan using mobile phones to teach literacy and to bolster community-
led development efforts in Senegal. The focus of this study is on the pilot phase and
phase prior to scaling-up, during which time the researcher engaged in a process of
action research/learning as Assistant Project Manager of the Jokko Initiative.
Context
In the past two decades, the growth of global information and communication
networks, the proliferation of new technologies- especially wireless Internet and mobile
technology- and the applications and processes facilitated by these networks, and the
perceived impacts of new technologies has led to widespread enthusiasm about the
potential of ICTs to promote social and economic development in developing countries.
While the international development community’s interest in ICTs can be traced back to
the early ‘80s (Hamel, 2010), it was the advent of the Internet and the identification of
ICTs as an important development tool in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)2
that gave birth to the ICT4D paradigm (Heeks, 2009a). ICT4D can be conceptualized as
both a subset of the international development community and an array of experiments,
initiatives, reports, conferences, papers and other efforts on the part of NGOs, bilateral
and multilateral funding agencies, governments and corporations employing ICTs to
achieve international development goals in various sectors.
Underpinning mainstream ICT4D practices are a few key assumptions. One such
assumption is that ICTs’ potential for development lies in their uniqueness as tools that
have revolutionized the speed and ease with which people are able to share and
exchange information across vast distances. Another of these assumptions is captured
by the “digital divide” concept: that the disproportionate access of poor communities to
ICTs put these groups at a further developmental disadvantage. As a macro-level
phenomenon, the digital divide concept signifies the skewed distribution in the
2 MDG no. 8 is to, “(i)n cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies- especially information and communication technologies” (UN, 2010).
production, access to, and consumption of ICTs as mechanisms for social and economic
development, between and within regions, countries, and communities, as well as along
dimensions of gender, ethnicity, age, income and levels of freedoms; hence, one of the
broad objectives of ICT4D interventions has been to contribute to closing various
digital divides.
The M4D paradigm emerged in the early 2000s with immense mass-mediated
coverage and the endorsement of renowned development experts3 and prominent donors
and was largely prompted by, on the one hand, the dramatic increase in mobile network
expansion and rapid rate of mobile technology uptake in developing countries that has
occurred in recent years and, on the other hand, research demonstrating the potential of
mobile technology for macro-level economic development. International aid agencies,
private philanthropists and mobile industry actors number among M4D’s strongest
champions, offering an abundance of funding for M4D initiatives in various sectors,
including health, social change, income, political participation, education, agriculture,
and the environment.
As the region with the highest mobile growth rates4 as well as and some of the
world’s most intractable socio-economic development challenges, sub-Saharan Africa
has become a major focus of M4D initiatives. With mobile networks covering an
approximate 41 percent of the continent and mobile pricing schemes tailored to the
lowest market segment,5 mobile technology not only represents a far more accessible
means of communication than fixed-line telephony6 but a more appropriate
3 such as Jeffrey Sachs and former ICT4D skeptics like Bill Gates4 An impressive array of statistics illustrate the rapid growth in mobile subscribers, the spread of network coverage, and the growth of mobile-based small entereprises and services (Beardon, 2009).5 The availability of pay-as-you-go phone credit in small denominations allows those who cannot afford mobile phone subscriptions to access mobile technology.6 For example, in Senegal, there are approximately two fixed lines for every 100 people (Mobileactive.org, n.d.).
development tool than fixed broadband and wireless Internet-based technologies.7 In
even the most isolated rural areas, mobile phones have become commonplace.
Ownership tends to be shared, with multiple household members using the same
handset and sometimes multiple Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards, and
expenditure on mobile technology and services represents a disproportionately large
amount of household income (Diga, 2007). With the decrease in pricing anticipated as a
result of growing competition in the telecommunications markets of sub-Saharan
Africa, uptake of mobile technology by the rural poor is expected to further increase
(Hammond et al., 2007).
Research Problem
While a few exemplary studies have supported claims of mobile technology’s
potential for advancing socio-economic development, knowledge of the actual impact of
M4D interventions remains limited, with stories of success and failure of M4D
initiatives equally scarce. In recent years, M4D practitioners have begun subjecting their
efforts to greater scrutiny, speaking openly of failures experienced in project design and
implementation, and formerly marginalized critical perspectives in ICT- and M- 4D are
gaining a wider audience. An important consensus has developed regarding what
constitutes best practice and what requires improvement. Taken as a whole, the criteria
for a successful intervention identified by practitioners signify a move away from the
technocentricity of early interventions in favor of participatory processes that privilege
local needs and realities. In order to achieve positive impact, sustainability, and
scalability, M4D interventions must grow from a firm understanding of the local
context, including socio-cultural constraints and other barriers to implementation. Such
7 Mobile penetration in SSA is 41 percent, compared to a mere 9.6 percent for Internet penetration (ITU, 2010).
an understanding is to be gleaned from a participatory or “bottom-up” approach- in
contrast to the top-down approach that characterized early ICT- and M- 4D
interventions– that privileges the development needs of local community members by
inviting their input in project design and treating them as project stakeholders.
While important strides have been made towards developing a sound set of
criteria for improving M4D practices, critical gaps remain. In particular, the importance
of local capacity- in terms of physical resources, motivation and capabilities- has been
largely understated. With the ascendancy of the participatory approach in M4D, there
has been greater focus on assessing capabilities at the local level. However, the frequent
deficiency of capacity in poor communities is given far less consideration, and there is a
tendency to assume that capacity exists when, in fact, “there is often the need to develop
this capacity” (Byrne & Sahay, 2006, p. 89).
Recent scholarship stresses that local capacity- in terms of physical resources
and human capabilities- and intent are the most important determinants of ICT- and M-
4D project success. In particular, the lack of capabilities (i.e. illiteracy and low levels of
education) in poor communities has been identified as one of the most significant
obstacles to using ICTs for development (Ashraf et al., 2007; Cecchini & Scott, 2003;
Boayke et al., 2010). There is growing recognition that ICT4D projects will not be
successful unless “technology is applied where human intent and capacity are already
present, or unless you are willing also to invest heavily in developing human capability
and institutions” (Toyama, 2010a, para. 19). The presence of grassroots intermediaries-
conceptualized in this study as grassroots support organizations (GSOs) - who “add
human skills and knowledge to the presence of ICTs” by building the capacities of local
communities is therefore critical in development projects with mobile technology
components.
Research Goals
This thesis seeks to build on the work of other scholars to enumerate best
practices and address critical gaps in the literature regarding the role of local capacity
while responding to the call for increased self-reflexivity and reporting on participatory
and action research methods on the part of M4D practitioners.8 The following questions
are explored in this paper: What was the development impact9 of the pilot phase of the
Jokko Initiative? To what practices and factors can this impact be attributed? What sort
of organizations and approaches are most effective in building local capacity to harness
the potential of mobile technology for development?
This thesis hypothesizes that organizations with a proven track record of
empowering poor communities to carry out their own development initiatives are best
situated to do the important work of local capacity-building and most likely to enjoy
success with ICT4D interventions. In order to test this hypothesis, the human
capabilities approach and the case study method are employed to examine a M4D
intervention conducted by an American NGO based in Senegal, West Africa.
Overview
Chapter One articulates the human development and capabilities approach and
explores the development impact of ICTs, demonstrating how ICTs have potential to
enhance human capabilities. This chapter also reviews lessons learned and best practices
identified in the ICT- and M- 4D literature, with an extended focus on the components
of a participatory approach in M4D. This chapter concludes with a discussion of the
8 Duncombe (2009) draws attention to the fact that M4D lacks reporting of participatory or action research methods and in this respect is lagging behind development studies.9 In this paper, impact is discussed as short-term “outputs,” or micro-level behavioral changes and longer-term “impacts,” or contribution to broader development goals (Heeks & Molla, 2009).
importance of local capacity and the role played by GSOs in building the local capacity
necessary for a successful M4D intervention.
Chapter Two discusses the research methods employed in this study: the case
study method and the participant observation method. The implementing organization-
Tostan- and the M4D intervention that is the focus of this study- the Jokko Initiative- as
well as the local communities that participated in this intervention are described at
length. This chapter concludes with an extended discussion of the Jokko Initiative’s
development impact.
Chapter Three explores the linkages between the Jokko Initiative’s positive
development impact, Tostan’s learner-centered, participatory approach, and the capacity
of participating communities in terms of physical resources, intent, and capabilities.
This chapter demonstrates the importance of local capacity in M4D interventions and
the crucial role played by GSOs in building this capacity.
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
The first section of this chapter describes the human development and
capabilities approach and how ICTs, particularly mobile phones, can contribute to
human development. The second section describes the evolution of the ICT4D and
M4D paradigms and best practices, with an extended focus on the components of a
participatory approach to M4D. The last section focuses on the critical gaps in the
literature concerning impact assessment and the role of local capacity. This chapter
concludes with a discussion of the role played by GSOs in building local capacity and
ensuring the success of interventions.
The Human Development and Capabilities Approach
Any account of ICT4D should begin with one’s definition of “development”
(Unwin, 2009; Burrell & Toyama, 2009), as this is a contested concept among both
practitioners and theorists. The human development and capabilities approach frames
development as a multidimensional and multidisciplinary process of enlarging people’s
freedoms and choices. The human development paradigm has gained wide acceptance
in the international development community in the past two decades as an alternative to
the dominant development paradigm, which is concerned primarily with economic
growth and increasing the effectiveness of poor countries’ economic systems. Based on
the assumption that economic growth alone will provide for other central human needs,
quality of life was measured by looking at gross national product per capita. As
Nussbaum (2003) explains, the main issue with the dominant development paradigm
lies in the fact that “(d)evelopment is a normative concept and we should not assume
that the human norms we want will be delivered simply through a policy of fostering
economic growth” (p. 328). Because it does not consider the distribution of wealth and
fails to address other social issues, such as health, education and income, as well as
participation and empowerment, economic growth by itself is a limited indicator of
development.
The human development and capabilities approach frames development as a
process of expanding people’s choices. Fundamental to enlarging these choices is
building human capabilities (UNDP, 2009, para. 1). According to Sen (2009),
“Capability reflects a person’s freedom to choose between different ways of living” (p.
5). Synthesizing the various views on the approach, Alkire (2010) explains that the aim
of human development is “to expand people’s freedoms- the worthwhile capabilities
people value- and to empower people to engage actively in development processes… in
ways that appropriately advance equity, efficiency, sustainability and other key
principles” (Alkire, 2010, p. 39). Of special relevance to this thesis is the idea that
human development is a process that is both participatory and empowering.
Participation entails having the opportunity to be involved in decision-making processes
that affect one’s life. Empowerment is a process of “enhancing an individual’s or
group’s capacity to make effective choices and translate these choices into desired
actions and outcomes” (Alsop & Heinsohn, 2005, p. 5).
The human development and capabilities approach addresses the complex nature
of the obstacles that the poor face in their development processes. The poor are not
simply lacking in material and financial resources, nor do they perceive poverty solely
in these terms (McNamara, 2003). The poor lack opportunities to convert their labor,
skills, experience into value-creating activity. They lack information about resources,
tools and processes that could help them to be more productive; about opportunities to
improve their livelihoods; about markets and prices and the availability and reliability
of the intermediaries on whom they depend. The poor lack access to education and
knowledge that could improve their lives and expand their opportunities and which is
widely recognized to be one of the most important factors in development processes.
The poor also lack communication opportunities and influence in the institutions that
affect their lives.10 In this and many other ways, as Sen (2009) has articulated, the poor
lack the opportunity to make the choices that constitute freedom.
ICTs and Human Development
Despite the ascendancy of the human development paradigm in recent decades,
the majority of ICT4D research has, until very recently, focused on exploring the impact
of ICTs on economic growth in developing countries. A review of the literature reflects
the tendencies within ICT- and M- 4D to conflate growth in GDP with economic gains
for the poor11 and to conflate growth rates with improvements in overall socio-economic
welfare (Mansell, 2010, p. 35). In order to gain a fuller understanding how ICTs can
contribute to development, it is necessary to move beyond the one-dimensional view of
development primarily concerned with economic growth.
Given the immensely important interplay between information and one’s
capabilities (Sen, 2009), the human development and capabilities approach is especially
relevant to the ICT4D paradigm. Specifically, ICTs have the potential to increase
people’s capabilities by expanding the choices available to them (Hamel, 2010). As
Mchombu (2004) explains, the human development and capability approach employs a
“people-centered” model12 of information flow for development that positions ICTs as 10 The complex deprivations facing the poor are compounded by weak access to the legal status, by lack of documentation for themselves and the resources they own, and by vulnerabilities to which they are especially prone (i.e. environmental shocks and disease). In rural communities, these deprivations are further compounded in many ways by the hardships entailed by physical isolation.11 While data has lent support to claims that increases in ICT uptake in developing countries can contribute to economic growth (Hosman et al., 2008; Waverman, 2001) and can lead to improved economic opportunities for the poor (Jensen, 2007; Burrell, 2008), evidence at both the macro- and micro- economic levels remains limited (Aker & Mbiti, 2010; Donner, 2008; Rashid & Elder, 2009).12 as opposed to the “top-down” model associated with theories of modernization, in which development is premised on the transfer of useful information from experts to locals
tools that increase access to information for marginalized groups within society; as tools
that promote autonomy and participation; as a means to promote and protect local
knowledge; and as vehicles that are complimentary to traditional channels of
communication (p. 19).
Recent ICT- and M- 4D studies have focused on non-economic dimensions of
development and have confirmed ICTs’ potential for positive impact in various areas.
Employing the human development and capabilities approach, Hamel (2010) finds that,
when properly designed and deployed,13 ICTs can have positive impact on the core
dimensions of health, education, income and for participation and empowerment.
According to Hamel (2010), “ICTs are most effective when they are seen as means of
engagement and enhancers of participation, which are crucial for human development”
(p. 16). Other studies (Brown et al., 2001; Kleine, 2009; Hosman & Fife, 2008) confirm
that having access to ICTs can positively impact people’s sense of empowerment and
ability to be active participants in their societies on both social and political levels. In
particular, case studies demonstrate the critical role that ICTs, especially mobile phones,
can play in remedying information asymmetries faced by the rural poor (Rashid &
Elder, 2009). Furthermore, mobile phones can play a “disintermediating” role by cutting
out the middle men that the rural poor often have to go through in order to access
information and services (Heeks, 2010).
13 As tools, ICTs have no inherent value and can be used to both positive and negative ends. Indeed, studies from various disciplines demonstrate how ICTs can reinforce existing inequalities between developed and developing countries as well as within the developing world (Unwin, 2009b, Carmody, 2009; Wilson, 2003; Toyama, 2010a). Far from being a panacea for development challenges, ICTs’ potential lies in the ways in which they are applied.
Lessons Learned and Best Practices Identified in ICT- and M- 4D
In recent years, M4D practitioners have begun speaking more openly amongst
themselves about project success and failure,14 and formerly marginalized critical
perspectives on M4D have begun gaining a wider acceptance. While there remains
contention over certain issues between the various schools of thought within the M4D
community,15 a review of the literature reveals a significant consensus around best
practices and areas requiring improvement. Taken as a whole, the criteria for a
successful ICT4D intervention identified by practitioners signify a move away from the
technocentricity of earlier interventions in favor of participatory processes.
Participatory Processes
The widespread failure of early ICT4D interventions resulted largely from a
reliance on the top-down approach that had long ago been abandoned by the rest of the
international development community in favor of participatory processes16 in
community-based interventions. This experience prompted a move towards more
participatory processes. The main aim of participatory processes in development is to
involve marginalized people meaningfully in the decisions that affect their lives in order
to improve the relevance and sustainability of interventions.
Heeks’ (2010) differentiation between “ICT4D 1.0” and “ICT4D 2.0” is
especially useful for understanding the adoption of participatory approaches in more
recent ICT- and M- 4D interventions. ICT4D 1.0 favored a “pro-poor” or top-down
14 A good example of honest self-reflection is embodied by FAILFaire: an informal event, organized by the NGO MobileActive, that brings together practitioners to discuss the failures of technological innovation in an effort to learn from mistakes and further improve ICT- and M- 4D practices.15 For example, there is vigorous debate around the mainstreaming of ICTs within development. 16 Participatory processes in development emerged in the 1970s out the recognition of the shortcomings of top-down development approaches. The issue of community participation has since been dealt with comprehensively by international aid agencies and other development organizations, employing techniques such as rapid rural appraisal (RRA), participatory rural appraisal (PRA), and more recently, participatory learning for action (PLA).
approach: interventions were designed outside of the target communities but done so on
its behalf. This approach often resulted in a mismatch between the assumptions and
requirements built into the design and the on-the-ground realities of poor communities.
The resulting widespread failure of interventions employing this approach to meet their
goals- due to the fact that they did not meet users’ needs nor take into account local
contexts- led to the realization that the use of ICTs in development needed to be
conceptualized from the ground-up (Hamel, 2010).
In ICT4D 2.0- the current phase- approaches are increasingly “para-poor,” with
interventions designed in consultation with poor communities and in accordance with
the communities’ specific resources, capacities, and demands (Heeks, 2009a, 2009b). A
para-poor or participatory approach involves inviting local input and treating local
communities as project stakeholders; assessing development-related needs at the local
level; understanding the local context and potential barriers to implementation; and
deploying appropriate technology based on the outcomes of the above processes.
Appropriateness, as conceptualized by Hosman and Fife (2008), deals with meeting
local communities’ wants and needs as well as to what is possible “given the physical,
geographical and/or infrastructural reality on the ground” (p. 53). In M4D, the adoption
of a participatory approach has also manifested itself in the increasing recognition of the
importance “embedding the mobile element into an otherwise ongoing development
effort” and using mobile technology to complement existing practices (Donner et al.,
2009, p. 3; Beardon, 2009) as opposed to allowing technology to lead the effort- a
common practice in M4D prior to 2005 that mirrored the technocentricity of early
ICT4D interventions.
Inviting local input and assessing needs.
A key component of any para-poor approach is the participation of local
communities. Inviting community members’ input in project design serves to privilege
their development needs (Hosman & Fife, 2008) and to ensure sustainability (Cecchini
& Scott, 2003). ICT4D interventions that fail to involve local communities often
insufficiently deliver on the real information and communication needs of poor people
and therefore prove unsustainable once initial external funding and support have been
consumed (Unwin, 2009a). Treating local community members as stakeholders in
ICT4D interventions engenders local ownership, which in turn leads to project
sustainability (Cecchini & Scott, 2003).
In assessing participants’ information and communication needs, it is also
important to gain an understanding of how poor people actually use ICTs and how this
usage relates to development processes. There is a paucity of studies on how rural
people use ICTs in their everyday lives (Donner, 2008; Rashid & Elder, 2009). Existing
studies on this topic highlight the fact that in many developing countries, rural people
access ICTs mainly for social uses (Souter et al., 2005) and for entertainment (Toyama,
2010a). For example, Souter et al. (2005) found that rural people use mobile phones
primarily for communication with friends and family (social networking) rather than for
accessing new information. While this evidence might, on the surface, appear to have
negative implications for M4D practitioners, it is important to acknowledge the
difficulty and impracticality of compartmentalizing people’s lives into separate
categories such as economic, social, religious and cultural- what has been referred to as
“the blurry boundary between instrumental and social use”(Rashid & Elder, 2009, p. 4)
and between “‘development’ and the everyday” (Donner, 2008, p. 151) and between
“livelihoods and lives” (Donner, 2009, p. 91). To dismiss poor peoples’ social uses of
mobile technology as frivolous would be to ignore the fact that, as McNamara (2003)
notes, the rural poor rely heavily on social networks to seek and share information that
is crucial to meeting their development needs.
Understanding local contexts.
Most experts and practitioners also now agree that a successful M4D
intervention grows from a firm understanding of the local context, with special attention
to traditional knowledge systems, and potential barriers to implementation. Traditional
knowledge systems refer to the long-standing and highly contextual- and therefore,
highly valuable (McNamara, 2003) - practices, traditions, and knowledge possessed by
local communities. With the ascendancy of participatory processes in ICT4D,
increasing emphasis is being put on studying traditional knowledge systems and
exploring how they can be used to deliver ICT4D objectives (Unwin, 2009a).
Understanding the information and knowledge that communities already possess and
the ways in which they absorb and use information and knowledge is considered to be
an important first step in project design (McNamara, 2003). Without such an
understanding, Unwin (2009b) cautions, it is unlikely that an intervention will be
successful and highly probably that unanticipated negative consequences will be
encountered (p. 49).
In designing M4D interventions, it is also essential to identify potential
constraints originating from both within and without local communities.17 Those
barriers that originate from outside local communities include the presence of service
providers; the availability and strength of networks; telecommunications regulation,
pricing and services; national legislation; equipment and technical know-how; and
electricity and other physical infrastructure.18 Obstacles to implementation that originate 17 Taken as a whole, these constraints make up the “digital divide”.18 These represent long-term obstacles to the use of ICTs for development and are factors that must be addressed via public policy in order for the ICT4D paradigm to truly flourish (Hamel, 2010).
within local communities include discriminatory practices and rights violations linked
to harmful social norms; lack of education and skills, especially basic literacy; and
severe financial and resource restrictions. When the context is rural, the numerous
challenges faced when attempting to harness ICTs for development are multiplied (Day
& Greenwood, 2009; Hamel, 2010).
Gaps in the Literature
Evidence of Impact and Quality of Impact Assessment
While a handful of exemplary studies have supported claims of ICTs’ potential
for development, knowledge of the actual impact of ICT- and M- 4D interventions
remains limited (Rashid & Elder, 2009; UNCTAD, 2010; Ashraf et al., 2007). The
impact of mobile technology in the area of education is especially uncertain, with
“demonstrated successes at scale” numbering far fewer than those in the health
sector (Boayke et al., 2010, p. 61). While it is generally believed that mobile
technology, along with other ICTs, can “empower teachers and learners, promote
change and foster development” (infoDev, 2005) and “serve as an effective and
sustainable learning tool for rural populations” (Aker et al., 2010, p. 1) there is limited
data to support these beliefs (Hamel, 2010; infoDev, 2005).
The paucity of information regarding impact in M4D has been attributed to
several different factors. First, most M4D innovation has not achieved scale and
remains either localized or at the pilot or proof of concept stage (Duncombe, 2009;
Donner, 2009), while impact assessment- when done correctly- should occur once a
project has been fully scaled-up (Heeks & Molla, 2009, p. 4). Second, very few ICT4D-
and by extension, M4D- practitioners actually implement ongoing monitoring into their
interventions, even when this is specified as an integral part of their original design
(Unwin, 2009, p. 5). Third, there has been a general lack of rigorous19 impact evaluation
on the part of organizations implementing ICT4D projects (McNamara, 2003; Ashraf et
al., 2007; Duncombe, 2009). While some good evaluative studies are now beginning to
be undertaken (Unwin, 2009b), data on impact remains largely anecdotal or illustrative
and “causalities are very often impossible to establish” (Hamel, 2010, p. 3). Ashraf et al.
(2007) have also identified the need to “understand impacts of ICT projects in their
local context considering the participants’ perspectives at the micro (community) level”
(p. 1). Impact evaluation has, therefore, been identified within the ICT- and M- 4D
communities as an area of increasing importance for proving development impact,
justifying donor expenditures and informing policy (Duncombe, 2009).
The Problem of Deficient Local Capacity
Given that participatory processes have been the preferred approach in
international development since the ‘70s, the benefits and shortcomings of the various
participatory methods have been dealt with comprehensively. While the ICT4D
community seems to have a firm grasp on the benefits of participatory approaches, it is
only beginning to grapple with some of its shortcomings. The most problematic of these
shortcomings concerns the capacity of local communities to participate. According to
Byrne and Sahay (2006), in participatory approaches, “capacity to participate is usually
assumed, but there is often the need to develop this capacity” (p. 89).
The assessment of capabilities at the local level (Hamel, 2010; Heeks, 2008;
Ashraf et al., 2007) is often discussed in the mainstream ICT- and M- 4D literature as a
necessary component of participatory processes. However, the importance of local
19 Duncombe (2009) claims that rigor is the key indicator of good quality research and that it is made up of two key components: a sound conceptual foundation and the use of rigorous methods. In a review of 18 M4D published impact studies, Duncombe (2009) found that those employing a rigorous approach to both conceptualisation and methodology accounted for a small proportion of the total number of articles reviewed.
capacity is often understated, as it is typically submerged in a broader discussion of
potential obstacles to implementation. An extended focus on the link between local
communities’ capacities and the achievement of project objectives and on the problem
of capacity deficiencies in rural communities is only now beginning to emerge.
Scholarship of this nature (Hosman & Fife, 2008; McNamara, 2003; Toyama, 2010a,
2010b, 2011; Hamel, 2010; Ashraf et al., 2007; Cecchini & Scott, 2003) stresses that
local capacity- in terms of physical resources and capabilities- and intent (Toyama,
2010a, 2010b, 2011) are the most important determinants of impact.
Of the many obstacles to harnessing mobile technology’s potential for
development, those most likely to persist in the long-term concern local capacity. A
study of 14 developing countries conducted by Boayke et al. (2010) revealed that while
the high price of handsets and services and poor enabling environments are, indeed,
serious obstacles to M4D, the obstacles most likely to persist “beyond the short- and
medium- term” are low local capacity- in terms of innovation and content production-
and illiteracy- both textual and technological (p. 67). Other scholars (Ashraf et al., 2007;
Cecchini & Scott, 2003) concur that it is a lack of capabilities- especially illiteracy and
low levels of education- in poor communities that has proven to be the most significant
obstacle to using ICTs- especially those with text-based interfaces (Day & Greenwood,
2009, p. 332). This is especially a challenge in rural areas of the developing world,
which tend to be characterized by disproportionately low literacy rates (Day &
Greenwood, 2009, p. 332).
Sufficient local capacity and positive intent is crucial to the success of ICT4D
interventions because, as Toyama (2010a, 2010b, 2011) has asserted, technology is
merely a magnifier of human capacity and intent; it cannot substitute for the deficiency
of these qualities. Toyama (2010a) attributes the wide-scale failure of past ICT4D
interventions with the fact that technology’s beneficial contributions to development are
“contingent on an absorptive capacity among users” that is often missing in the
developing world (para. 18). While the emphasis in ICT4D interventions has thus far
been on hardware, software and access, the “human capabilities needed to transform
data and information into useful knowledge are often missing” (Ashraf et al., 2007,
p.12).
Given the deficiency of capacity in rural communities, making information and
knowledge available to the poor through technologies and services that require very
little skills and resources beyond what is already at their disposal is often a very
effective approach (Unwin, 2009; Donner et al., 2008). For example, as Donner et al.
(2008) point out, “(r)equiring only basic literacy or skills from users, versus requiring
additional technical knowledge or support” is one ICT4D practice that can be correlated
with project success (p. 3).
With more complex ICT- and M- 4D projects, however, there is increasing
recognition that success is unlikely “unless the technology is applied where human
intent and capacity are already present, or unless you are willing also to invest heavily
in developing human capability and institutions” (Toyama, 2010a, para. 19). This
endeavor would extend beyond the provision of training in the use of ICTs (technical
capabilities) to focus on building the many other capabilities required by poor people to
effectively use ICTs to enhance their well-being. As Unwin (2009b, p. 48) points out,
education and learning are of “overarching importance” for poor people in responding
to their information and communication needs. In the human development and
capabilities approach, education is also seen as essential for developing other, central
human capabilities (Nussbaum, 2003, p. 337), especially participation and
empowerment (p. 351).
An especially critical component of education (Nussbaum, 2003), literacy is
recognized as one of the most important factors in poor peoples’ ability to harness the
empowering potential of ICTs for development (Day & Greenwood, 2009; Rashid &
Elder, 2009; McNamara, 2003; Lekoko & Morolong, 2006). Empirical evidence
demonstrates that the most basic forms of literacy can be sufficient for accessing
appropriately-designed technologies (Lekoko & Morolong, 2006). However, the
literature is lacking an enumeration of other capabilities required for meaningful use of
ICTs.
The Crucial Role of Intermediary Organizations
The existing literature claims a critical role for intermediary organizations in
supporting local communities’ use of ICTs in their development processes. What is
variably referred to as “mentorship” (Toyama, 2011); a “hybrid approach” (Cullum,
2010); and an “intermediary” model (Cecchini & Scott, Heeks, 1999; Beardon, 2009;
McNamara, 2003) describe a process by which a group of individuals or an organization
builds the capacity of local communities to access ICTs, or according to Toyama’s
(2011, 2010a, 2010b) magnification thesis, a process by which implementing
organization(s) “magnify the intent and capacity of the communities it works with”
(Toyama, 2011, para. 10). Because poor people often rely on trusted intermediaries in
using ICTs to access information that is critical to their livelihoods (Cecchini & Scott,
2003; Heeks, 1999; Beardon, 2009; McNamara, 2003), the presence and profile of
intermediaries who “add human skills and knowledge to the presence of ICTs” is
critical at the local level of any ICT4D intervention (Cecchini & Scott, 2003, p. 80).
McNamara (2003) defines grassroots intermediaries as
individuals, informal networks, or formal organizations (particularly NGOs) that have, because of their resources, networks or experience, access to information
and knowledge on a particular set of issues that is particularly important to the poor or costly for individual persons to access themselves. (p. 47)
By virtue of their capacity-building functions, intermediary organizations play a
key role in ensuring that ICT- and M- 4D activities have positive impact that can be
sustained beyond the pilot phase (Cullum, 2010; Cecchini & Scott; Heeks, 1999;
McNamara, 2003). The capacity-building work of these intermediaries exemplifies the
para-poor or participatory approach that scholars and practitioners agree is vital to
ensuring the success of ICT4D interventions. However, ICT intermediaries also
demonstrate what Cullum (2010) describes as a “hybrid approach”: a combination of
top-down and bottom-down practices (pp. 32-34). Cullum’s (2010) call for a hybrid
approach to M4D underlines the fact that local initiatives are rarely possible without the
resources, tools and support provided by governments, institutions and organizations. A
hybrid approach
not only acknowledges the influence of the poor in determining their own path and defining their own needs, but also creates space for institutions to build the capacities of the poor while also giving them the room to make their own decisions. (Cullum, 2010, p. 34)
While the presence and profile of intermediaries in ICT- and M- 4D has been
identified in the literature as crucial to project success, there is a lack of specificity
concerning the preferred characteristics of these intermediaries and the functions that
they perform. Specifically, the literature does not distinguish between the different
levels and types of mediation possible, nor does it enumerate the capacities that
intermediaries should strive to build. Given that the participation of local communities
and the presence of sufficient local capacity and intent are crucial factors in the success
of M4D interventions, this study argues that intermediary organizations that
demonstrate a high level of involvement at the grassroots level and employ a
participatory approach to capacity-building are most likely to experience positive
impact and project sustainability. In order to demonstrate the importance of local
capacity and intent in M4D interventions, this study will now turn to examining the
pilot phase of the Jokko Initiative, a M4D activity implemented by a NGO in Senegal.
CHAPTER THREE: METHODS
This thesis draws upon an extensive examination of literature covering
development theory, methods and practices with particular focus on development
communications and current research in ICT4D as presented in the literature review
section of the previous chapter. This thesis also applies the case study method and the
participant observation method. The specific case examined is the Jokko Initiative, a
M4D pilot project implemented by the American NGO Tostan in Senegal, West Africa.
Primary data for this research was collected during a five month period (from March
2010 to July 2010) of participation in the project in the capacity of Assistant Project
Manager- through various qualitative and participatory research methods, including
daily note-taking, interviews and focus groups, and participant observation recordings.
Some of these methods were also employed as part of an action research/learning
process initiated by Tostan in order to identify best practices in the absence of an
overarching theory or model to guide the cutting-edge work in which they were
engaging.
As part of this action research process, the researcher conducted two field visits
to six different communities participating in the Jokko Initiative in June and July 2010
in order to gain greater insight into the experiences of community members and
Facilitators prior to scaling-up activities. The sites were selected to represent the
different activities and different types of communities in which these activities are being
implemented. Four of the communities visited- Khai-ra 2, Touba Bêgg Bamba, Touba
Palléne and Touba Diémoule- participated in one of the two main activities of the Jokko
Initiative: the “Mobile Phone for Literacy and Development” (MPLD)20 module. These
communities are semi-urban, located on the periphery of Touba, a holy city with semi-
20 This activity is described in detail in the second part of this chapter.
autonomous status known for its conservatism, in central Northern Senegal. Two of the
communities visited- Sare Dialo and Barkatou- participated in the MPLD module as
well as the other main activity of the Jokko Initiative: the RapidSMS Community
Forum.21 These communities are located in Vélingara, a rural, economically
marginalized region in Southern Senegal.
In two of the communities, the researcher attended MPLD class sessions and
recorded her observations. In all of the communities, informal focus groups and semi-
structured interviews were conducted in local languages by national and local level staff
members and translated into French by a national level staff member.22 The class
sessions, focus groups, and interviews were all recorded, and the researcher
subsequently translated this material into English. In keeping with African tradition, the
focus groups were conducted in a “town hall” spirit: any and all community members
were invited to voice their experience with Tostan’s non-formal education program, the
Community Empowerment Program (CEP),23 the Jokko Initiative, and mobile
technology, more generally. Individual interviews were conducted with Facilitators and
community leaders, and participants- selected at the suggestion of Facilitators and on
the basis of their willingness to share their experiences- were interviewed in pairs.
A total of 36 people were interviewed, including three Facilitators24 and three
community leaders.25 Of the 33 community members interviewed, five were
adolescents, 28 were female, 16 were participants in the MPLD module, and 15 were
21 This activity is described in detail in the second part of this chapter.22 It should be noted that while the researcher is a native English speaker, she has lived in francophone countries and is comfortable with translating material in French. 23 The Jokko Initiative is a built-in component of the CEP, which is described in detail in the second part of this chapter.24 Tostan’s term for “teacher”25 the director of a nearby school, a village chief, and spiritual leader who hosted the MPLD in his community at his home
members of their Community Management Committee (CMC)26 and active users of the
Community Forum. In the focus groups and interviews, the researcher’s main goal was
to discover what participants themselves considered to be the development impact of
the Jokko Initiative as well as which aspects of the project they felt they benefitted the
most from and which aspects they would change.
Additional data for this study include quantitative and qualitative data collected
by Tostan’s Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) department at the
baseline and at the end of the pilot phase; an independent impact evaluation of the pilot
phase conducted by Theresa Beltramo and David Levine with the Center for Evaluation
of Global Action (CEGA); Leah Jaschke’s evaluation of Tostan’s integration of mobile
technology into its literacy program; peer-reviewed scholarly articles on Tostan’s
approach; documents produced by Tostan staff members for both internal use and
external communications, including web log posts, narrative reports, concept notes and
PowerPoint presentations; the researcher’s daily notes; and video recordings of staff-
attended discussion panels held at the end of the pilot phase prior to scaling-up.
Methodological Strengths
The research methods employed in this study are those that are most appropriate
for contributing to field-based practices. The participant observation method allowed
the researcher to become deeply familiar with and on-the-ground realities and to
scrutinize the quality of impact assessment conducted by two independent research
teams. The case study method is best employed when there are a limited number of
cases for analysis, as it allows the researcher to examine the study intensively. Given
the limited number of demonstrated successes in M4D and scarcity of in-depth analysis
26 CMCs are community-based organizations that Tostan helps to establish over the course of the CEP. These will be discussed in detail in the second part of this chapter.
of M4D interventions, the case study method is highly appropriate for this research. The
case study method is valuable for identifying best practices and contributing to theory-
building. In this study, the case study method is employed in order to examine a
synthesis of theories and to elaborate on best practices discussed in the review of the
literature.
Methodological Limitations
Potential limitations of the methods employed in this study include the following:
Objectivity. For a period of five months, the researcher was deeply involved in
the everyday realities of the project under study, and her perceptions and
interpretations have inevitably been shaped by her strong level of commitment.
Time period. Due to both practical considerations and the fact that the researcher
was not present for the full life cycle of the project, the focus of study is limited
to specific period of project life cycle: the pilot phase.
Language. The researcher does not speak nor understand the national languages
spoken in Senegal and therefore had to rely on third parties to translate
qualitative data in Soninke, Wolof, and Pulaar derived from interviews and
focus groups into French, which the researcher subsequently translated into
English.
Influence. The researcher’s presence in the village setting undoubtedly affected
participants’ behavior, though the extent of this influence is difficult to measure.
In order to verify her observations, the researcher consulted with field-based
staff members.
CHAPTER FIVE: CASE STUDY
The Jokko Initiative was launched in April 2009 through a partnership between
Tostan, an American NGO based in Senegal, West Africa, and UNICEF to “support
rural Africans’ ability to harness the empowering potential of mobile technology to
improve their lives” (Tostan, 2010). Initial funding was provided by UNICEF27 to
Tostan, UNICEF NY’s Department of Communications (DoC) and UNICEF Senegal
for their respective roles in the project. The pilot phase of the Jokko Initiative lasted
from July 200928 through April 2010, during which time, two main activities were
implemented: the MPLD module and the Community Forum. These activities were
implemented within Tostan’s main program, the CEP. The CEP and Tostan’s approach
are given in-depth consideration in the following section.
Tostan
Tostan, an American NGO based in Senegal, West Africa, works to support
grassroots development initiatives in primarily rural regions in eight Sub-Saharan
African countries.29 Tostan’s mission is to “to empower African communities to bring
about sustainable development and positive social transformation based on respect for
human rights” (Tostan, 2010a, para. 1). For Tostan, “empowerment” refers to
communities’ acquisition of “knowledge and practical skills necessary to become self-
sufficient and productive” (Tostan, 2010c, para. 3). In recent scholarship, Tostan
describes its approach as serving to awaken what Apparundai (2004) describes as “the
capacity to aspire,” which, once awakened, leads to the engagement of other
“capabilities” essential for development (Gillespie & Melching, 2010).
27 in the form of a discretionary grant awarded by the then-Executive Director Ann Veneman 28 While the Jokko Initiative was officially launched in April 2009, activities did not actually begin until July 2009 due to a delay in the transfer of funds to Tostan. 29 Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, The Gambia, Djibouti and Somalia
The intermediary role that Tostan plays in local communities’ development
processes is best encapsulated by the grassroots support model described by Boglio
Martinez (2008) and Carroll (1992). Grassroots support organizations (GSOs) are types
of intermediary organizations that operate at a level above primary grassroots (or local)
organizations and that forge links between local communities and the more remote
levels of government, donor, and financial institutions (Carroll, 1992). Through the
provision of services and resources, GSOs serve to enhance the capacity of poor
communities and local organizations “to build sustainable alternatives to their
challenging life conditions” (Boglio Martinez, 2008, p. 359). The most crucial
dimension of performance by GSOs is their contribution to capacity building for
collective action (Carroll, 1992; Boglio Martinez, 2008).
An essential component of Tostan’s program of community empowerment is the
reduction of harmful traditional practices, which “can be highly inequitable, reducing
opportunities for people to make effective decisions” and often serve to disempower
women (Alsop et al., 2005, p. 3). Two such harmful traditional practices that Tostan
seeks to reduce are child/forced marriage and female genital cutting (FGC). In Senegal,
Tostan’s work has prompted a nation-wide community-led movement to abandon
FGC.30 In recent years, Tostan has expanded its activities to other countries in West and
East Africa, where it has achieved additional successes in this area. Tostan’s approach
to achieving social change and supporting grassroots development has received
extensive recognition within the international development community for its
effectiveness and sound theoretical basis.
The Community Empowerment Program
30 Female genital cutting, alternatively called “female circumcision ” and “female genital mutilation,” refers to any procedure involving the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia practiced on girls in parts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, as well as by immigrant populations living in Europe, the US, and other countries.
Tostan’s vehicle for building community capacity is the CEP, a holistic, human
rights-based non-formal education program taught in local languages over the course of
three years.31 The CEP has been developed methodically over the past 20 years through
an ongoing process of community consultation and careful revision (Gillespie &
Melching, 2010; Easton et al., 2003) and is recognized as one of the most unique and
effective community development programs in sub-Saharan Africa. The success of the
CEP is attributed to its sound theoretical basis and to Tostan’s learner-centered,
participatory approach that builds on the “pre-existing strengths, assets, and goals of
communities themselves” (Tostan, 2010a, para. 6). Tostan’s approach demonstrates a
firm understanding of the socio-cultural context and respect for traditional knowledge
systems: by integrating African cultural practices, including dialogue, storytelling, song,
poetry, theatre and dance (Gillespie & Melching, 2010, p. 484) and by employing a
problem-solving focus and nonauthoritarian forms of communication, Tostan aims to
stimulate dialogue and discussion rather than to prescribe different behaviors and to
build on traditional knowledge rather than replace it.
For participation in the CEP, Tostan selects villages that have requested the
program and that possess strong market and social ties with already participating
villages.32 In each village a Facilitator is responsible for two separate classes: one
composed of adults and the other, adolescents. While classes are open to all community
members, the majority of participants are mature women, and in some regions and
centers, classes are composed entirely of women and girls. The typical CEP participant:
has never been part of the formal education system; is among the poorest in their
village; is socially and economically excluded; and has a traditional knowledge base, as
31 or approximately 30 months, as classes typically do not convene during the rainy season, when many of the everyday challenges faced by the rural, agricultural villages in which Tostan primarily works are multiplied, and at the height of the harvest32 Tostan’s strategic use of organized diffusion is best articulated by Gerry Mackie (2000).
opposed to the base of knowledge provided in the CEP (Jaschke, 2010, p. 37).
Participants commit to “adopting” a non-participating friend or relative with whom they
were expected to share the information learned in the CEP.33
The curricular content of the CEP is defined by two distinct phases: the “Kobi”
and the “Aawde.” The first part of the CEP, the “Kobi,” focuses on social empowerment
and includes modules on democracy, human rights and responsibilities; health and
hygiene; and problem solving. The second part of the CEP, the “Aawde,” broadens the
focus of the curriculum to include modules on economic empowerment, incorporating
modules on pre-literacy, literacy and writing; numeracy; and project management.
During the second half of Aawde- referred to as the “Aawde II”- the “Knowledge to
Action” workbook is introduced to provide participants with review exercises that allow
for the practical application of the skills gained in the previous modules.
In each village participating in the CEP, Tostan helps establish community-
based organizations called “Community Management Committees” (CMCs). CMCs are
composed of 17 democratically-elected community members who are responsible for
the management and coordination of CEP activities; for ensuring collaboration between
CEP participants and other community members; and for developing and implementing
specific action plans through subcommittees focused on topics of importance to the
community, including the environment, community health, education and social
mobilization, income-generating activities and child protection. Tostan provides the
CMCs with project management training and modest initial funding for the
implementation of income-generating activities while facilitating linkages with other
development partners, microfinance institutions, companies and government officials.
33 Tostan’s strategy of community-led outreach “is based on traditional ways of sharing important information and was adapted to maximize dissemination of the information within the villages” (Diop & Askew, 2009, p. 309).
Table 1 Community Empowerment Program Timeline
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Kobi I Kobi II Aawde I Aawde II _________
Problem-solving Health Pre-literacy Project managementHuman rights Hygiene Literacy Workbook reviewDemocracy Nutrition Writing
Basic mathematics
The Jokko Initiative
Tostan launched the Jokko Initiative in July 2009 as a built-in component of the
CEP, coinciding with the beginning of the Aawde II module, using mobile technology
in innovative ways in order to meet various programmatic objectives.
Project Objectives
The broad objectives of the pilot phase of the Jokko Initiative were to use the
mobile phone as a “reliable pedagogical tool” to reinforce the skills learned in the
Aawde- especially literacy and management- and as “an efficient development tool for
rural communities” (Debar, 2009). The pilot phase of the Jokko Initiative focused on
the development of a model for teaching the practical uses of standard mobile phone
functions and SMS texting and on the development practical SMS-based applications
that have the potential “to accelerate positive social change” through the means listed
below.
Table 2Anticipated outcomes of the Jokko Initiative
Connecting women and encouraging them to develop consensus positions on local development priorities;
Amplifying the voice and influence of youth and marginalized groups in decision- making processes;
Providing a platform for exchanging information, broadcasting ideas and organizing advocacy work;
Accelerating social interaction and facilitating large-scale and significant cross-group effects at community and societal levels
(internal Tostan document).
Tostan’s decision to launch the Jokko Initiative was based on several practical
considerations and astute observations. First, Tostan has long stressed that
communication is critical to the spread of positive social change and to community-led
development processes. Tostan recognized that the ubiquity of mobile phones and the
primarily social purposes for which they are used in the rural, marginalized areas in
which it works presented a unique opportunity to strengthen and expand traditional
communication channels through which positive social change takes place.
Second, by integrating mobile phones into the curriculum, Tostan hoped to
bolster participation in the latter part of the CEP. Tostan noted that the start of the
workbook review component of the Aawde II often corresponds with a sharp drop in
attendance,34 which, as staff members have speculated, stems from the difficulty of the
material, especially for older adults. With the Jokko Initiative, Tostan hoped to
capitalize on the novelty of mobile technology and the social phenomenon that it
represents in rural sub-Saharan Africa to retain current participants and to attract new
ones.
Third, Tostan recognized that mobile technology- especially SMS texting- could
support their objectives relative to literacy. Tostan viewed the comparatively cheaper
pricing scheme of SMS texting services relative to voice calls in Senegal and the other
34 While Tostan’s adult literacy program has been recognized as one of most effective of its kind, it is nonetheless affected by some of the challenges commonly associated with large-scale adult literacy programs, which include low enrollment, high dropout rates, and a rapid loss of acquired skills (Aker et al., 2010).
developing counties in which it works as a powerful financial incentive to use SMS,
thereby allowing people to practice their reading and writing skills in local languages.
Assuming that, as mobile uptake continues to surge in West Africa, mobile technology
will increasingly serve as the platform for services provided by governments, health
clinics, schools and banks, both textual and technological literacy will become
increasingly important, and those lacking basic skills in these areas will risk further
marginalization. As Guillaume Debar, the former Project Manager of the Jokko
Initiative, explained at the 2010 M4D Conference in Kampala, Uganda, the Jokko
Initiative aims to create “a foundation of empowered people, ready to use mServices”
(slide 6).
Tostan also sought to increase opportunities for participants to practice their
newly acquired literacy skills outside of the classroom and to mitigate skills
depreciation once the CEP had ended. Tostan conceived mobile phones as more
practical alternatives or complements to traditional literacy materials in national
languages, which tend to be insufficient, unadapted to local contexts, and ill-suited for
the harsh climatic conditions that characterize rural regions. Given their ubiquity in the
regions where Tostan works, mobile phones were also recognized as practical tools for
people to “learn and practice literacy skills on a daily basis, in a way that is relevant to
their lives” (Tostan, 2010b, para. 2).
Table 3The Jokko Initiative and literacy
Africans of all ages and in all countries are now using cell phones to communicate on a daily basisMobile networks cover 90% of the Senegalese population and are growing
exponentially on the entire continentVery few rural community members currently use SMS text messagingAdolescents are the best advocates and adopters of SMS technologyThose who said they did not use SMS text messaging repeatedly cited illiteracy and unfamiliarity with the SMS system as the main reasons for non-useThe prospect of learning literacy through SMS text messaging highly motivated Tostan participants Available reading and writing materials in national languages are insufficient
and unadapted (Debar, 2009, slide 3)
Project Timeline and Activities
The pilot phase of the Jokko Initiative lasted from July 2009 through April 2010
and consisted of the implementation of two main activities- the MPLD module and the
Community Forum- in 350 villages in Senegal. The MPLD module is a built-in
component of the CEP that uses mobile phones as pedagogical tools to reinforce the
curriculum. The Community Forum is a SMS-based application that allows a
community member to disseminate information crucial to local development efforts to a
network of her peers while practicing newly-acquired literacy skills.
The second phase of the Jokko Initiative began in May 2010. After a period of
assessment and modification,35 a revised version of the MPLD module was produced
and this activity was fully integrated into the CEP. At the time of writing, 150
communities in Senegal and 50 communities in Mauritania are participating in the CEP
with the new MPLD component. In November 2010, Tostan also launched a new
mobile technology-based income-generating and social mobilization activity, called the
“Jokko Telecentre,” in seven villages in the Vélingara region in collaboration with the
Rural Energy Foundation, a Dutch renewable energy NGO, to address several key
35 Prior to scaling-up, new interactive features and content was added to the MPLD module was expanded from 14 to 23 sessions in order to “lighten” especially difficult lessons and to incorporate supplementary sessions on topics such as using the calculator function for income-generating activities. This expanded version was integrated into the Aawde I and II.
challenges identified during the pilot phase that rural communities face in accessing
mobile technology.36 During this phase, Tostan also began piloting “RapidSuivi,” a real-
time monitoring system using UNICEF’s RapidSMS technology to support the work of
Tostan’s MERL Department.
As most M4D initiatives do not survive beyond the pilot phase, the Jokko
Initiative provides a unique opportunity for identifying best practices and other factors
contributing to the success of M4D initiatives. For this reason, the two main activities of
the pilot phase- the MPLD module and the Community Forum- are the focus of this
study.
The Mobile Phone for Literacy and Development module.
The MPLD module represents Tostan’s integration of mobile technology into
the CEP as a pedagogical tool for teaching and reinforcing the literacy, organization and
management skills taught in the Aawde. In the pilot phase, the MPLD was implemented
in the Aawde II phase of the CEP in 200 UNICEF-funded communities and in
additional 150 villages funded by other donors who had agreed to support the new
initiative. Prior to its revision and scaling-up, the MPLD module consisted of 14
sessions on topics such as how to navigate the main menu of a mobile phone; how to
use standard functions like the alarm and calculator; the advantages of SMS texting;
how to send text messages; and how to compose text messages on a variety of
development-related themes including health, agriculture and the environment.
36 namely: the lack of electricity and consequent difficulty and expense of charging mobile phones and the inaccessibility and/or expense of mobile phone credit. At the Telecentres, CMC members sell mobile phone credit and provide charging services using solar panels to members of their own communities and those in the vicinity at lower prices than in the nearest urban centers.
Figure 1. The MPLD Facilitator’s Guide
At each center, Tostan provided 15 Nokia 1202 mobile phones for in-class
usage. An additional two phones that Tostan had donated to the CMC in each village
were also made available for class sessions. The handset model was chosen based on the
fact that it is basic, inexpensive,37 robust, and also the most ubiquitous.38 The handsets
have French keyboards and icons, and because local language hardware and software do
not yet exist, standardized substitutions for each language were agreed upon. In class
sessions, the training phones were typically shared by two or three participants at a
time. Those participants who owned their own mobile phones or shared one with other
household members brought these to class.
37 relative to other models but not to the average villager’s income38 in that it is the handset most accessible for purchase in the region as well as the model most likely to be purchased by participants
Figure 2. MPLD session at the Khaira-2 Center in Touba, April 2010
The RapidSMS Community Forum.
The Community Forum was developed by the UNICEF Innovation Team,39 in
collaboration with Tostan, using UNICEF’s RapidSMS technology, an “open source40
platform for data collection, logistics coordination and communication” (UNICEF,
n.d.). During the pilot phase, the Community Forum was launched in 15 UNICEF-
funded villages in Casamance, Southern Senegal that were participating in Tostan’s
CEP. In these villages, supplementary training in the use of RapidSMS technology was
incorporated in the MPLD and workshops were held to teach non-participating
community members how to use the Community Forum. Participation in the
Community Forum, however, was not restricted to these 15 villages: Tostan staff
members used the Forum to communicate with the villages, and as news of this activity
spread, people from neighboring villages also joined.
39 The Innovation Team is housed within the Youth Section of the Division of Communications at UNICEF NY and collaborates with other development entities, academia and the private sector to “empower young people” through the deployment of low-tech hardware combined with open-source software (UNICEF, n.d.). Under the Jokko Initiative, the Innovation Team collaborated with Tostan on the Community Forum’s design and provided technical training and at-distance support for Tostan staff members.40 customizable to meet the demand’s of diverse situations and projects
The Community Forum allowed a user to disseminate a single SMS to a virtual
network of her peers in a cost-effective manner. Community members join the Forum
by sending a simple code via SMS to a “magic number,” which allows for subsequent
messages to be forwarded to the rest of the network via Tostan’s server. This system
functions much like a group list for text messaging, except that the sender only pays for
the cost of one local text message; the cost of the text messages disseminated by the
server were covered by Tostan. The Community Forum was programmed with national
language codes so that participants were able to send messages in either their local
languages41 or in French. The system was supported by a WebUI back-end, which
allowed Tostan to continuously visualize the flow of messages in each forum.42
Figure 3. The RapidSMS Community Forum WebUI back-end
Like the MPLD, the Community Forum’s purpose was two-fold: to reinforce
literacy skills acquired in the CEP and to bolster local development initiatives-
especially those that involve mobilizing people around common causes to effect
41 During the pilot phase, the national languages spoken by Community Forum users were Soninké and Pulaar.42 This function also allows Tostan to filter messages- although Tostan has not, to date, done so.
positive social change. Just as the training phones were meant to complement rather
than replace other pedagogical tools in the CEP, the Community Forum was meant to
broaden rather than replace participants’ traditional channels of communication. The
SMS Community Forum was especially meant to enhance communication between
different communities; between Tostan and communities; between communities and
their extended networks in the global diaspora; and between communities and potential
partners (i.e. . SMS service providers, microfinance institutions, and government
officials) (Debar, 2009, slide 6).
Figure 4. Visual aid explaining how the Community Forum works
Development Impact of the Pilot Phase
It is still too early in the project life cycle of the Jokko Initiative to accurately
assess its development impact: At the end of the pilot phase, nothing concrete could be
said about the direct impact of the Jokko Initiative on the retention of literacy and
numeracy skills (Beltramo & Levine, 2010; Jaschke, 2010) or of its ability to reinforce
the learnings of the CEP (Jaschke, 2010, p. 61). Furthermore, it is not clear whether
literacy training using text messaging is more effective than traditional literacy training
(Beltramo & Levine, 2010, p. 16). Nevertheless, evaluations undertaken by Theresa
Beltramo and David Levine (2010) with CEGA and Leah Jaschke (2010) as well as
Tostan’s own monitoring and evaluation efforts reveal positive outcomes and
demonstrate the potential of mobile technology as an effective learning and
empowerment tool.
In her evaluation of the Jokko Initiative’s integration of mobile technology into
the literacy component of the CEP, Jaschke (2010) concluded that the Jokko Initiative
shows great promise. Similarly, in their evaluation of the effects of the SMS
Community Forum on youth participation, social mobilization and literacy,43 Beltramo
and Levine (2010) found that the Jokko Initiative demonstrates strong potential for text
messaging as a means for improving literacy and promoting community development.
Specifically, Beltramo and Levine (2010) found that literacy and numeracy rates
increased as a result of the Jokko Initiative,44 and that those communities that had access
to and training in the Community Forum scored higher on literacy and numeracy rates
than those communities that participated in the MPLD module but did not have training
in the Community Forum. Beltramo and Levine’s (2010) study also confirmed that the
Community Forum was being used to support local development initiatives, with the
majority of the messages aimed at mobilizing community members around themes such
as women’s activities, the environment (i.e. village clean-ups), health (i.e. mosquito net
distribution and malaria prevention with the approach of the rainy season), and
education (i.e. Facilitators announcing modifications to the class schedule).
43 based on a sample of 20 villages and approximately 800 participants44 The percentage of women and girls who scored in the highest category for literacy and numeracy increased from 12% at the baseline to 29% at the follow-up (Beltramo & Levine, 2010).
Community members’ perceptions of impact.
At the end of the pilot phase, the researcher and her fellow Tostan staff members
conducted field visits in order to assess development outcomes and to explore
programmatic modifications suggested during a staff-attended capitalization seminar.
Accounts provided by those involved in the field-level realities of the project strongly
indicated empowerment at the individual-level and suggest that ICTs can significantly
enhance individual agency and self-esteem.
Participants consistently described having begun the module with either minimal
or no knowledge of how to use a mobile phone or of the usefulness of mobile
technology and, over the course of the MPLD, having acquired an understanding of the
significance of different functions and basic competencies. Participants described how a
combination of these technical skills with the literacy and numeracy skills that they
gained in the CEP translated into varying degrees of economic and social
empowerment. For example, one participant described how mastering the calculator
function on the mobile phone that she shares with her family has protected her from
being “ripped off” at the marketplace (interview, June 21, 2010). Several participants
also related how, after learning how to compose a text message and about the cost-
efficiency of SMS texting relative to placing a call, they were able to communicate
more affordably with family and friends. For many participants, SMS texting became
the preferred means of contacting friends and relatives living abroad. The majority of
participants also described how SMS texting allows them to more effectively engage in
local development processes. For two physically disabled participants, SMS texting has
helped them to participate in community events by allowing them to more easily
arrange for transportation (interview, July 6, 2010).
The Jokko Initiative was especially empowering for women and girls, who are
typically among the most marginalized members of their communities. Female
participants consistently reported that the technical and textual literacy skills that they
gained in the CEP and MPLD granted them greater independence. For example, several
young women in Touba explained how before they began the MPLD module, they did
not know how to send text messages and were forced to rely on a male family member
or neighbor to send a text message on their behalf. Midway through the MPLD module,
they no longer required assistance and expressed great appreciation for the discretion
that their newly acquired skills allowed them. In addition to increased independence,
female participants also described personal gains associated with empowerment at the
community and household levels.
In a phenomenon that is particularly illustrative of individual empowerment,
many female MPLD participants have become sought after by other, non-participating
community members for help using their own mobile phones. As a community leader in
Touba explained, a community member who has participated in the MPLD module
comes to be viewed as a sort of “mobile phone technician” by other community
members (interview, June 22, 2010). Females participants also described how the skills
and knowledge they had gained in the MPLD had positively impacted household
dynamics. For example, several adult female participants related how their husbands,
who had previously either severely restricted their access to the shared household
mobile phone or forbade it entirely, now allow them greater access and even consult
them for help in using it.
Based on the positive outcomes of the pilot phase of the Jokko Initiative, Tostan
has integrated the MPLD module into the Aawde module for all communities
participating in the CEP; thus, the most successful aspects of the Jokko Initiative have
become standard features of Tostan’s main program. Given the limited number of
demonstrated successes in M4D and the fact that most M4D innovation does not
achieve scale, the Jokko Initiative presents a significant opportunity to test existing
theories, identify factors contributing to project success, and articulate best practices. In
the next chapter, we shall explore the role that Tostan’s participatory approach, as an
intermediary organization, and the existing capacity- in terms of physical resources and
human capabilities- and motivation of participating communities played in the success
of the pilot phase of the Jokko Initiative.
CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION
The case of the Jokko Initiative highlights the decisive role played by local
capacity and intent and by effective intermediary organizations in the impact of M4D
interventions. The positive outcomes of the pilot phase of the Jokko Initiative were
ultimately contingent on participants’ level of physical resources, capabilities, and
commitment to the objectives of the Jokko Initiative- and, more broadly, to local
development- and on the intermediary role of Tostan. In the case of the Jokko Initiative,
mobile technology amplified the capacity and intent of participants and the positive
impact of an already successful program, underpinned by good practice and a solid
theoretical basis, that provides local communities with the requisite skills and
capabilities for harnessing the empowering potential of mobile technology.
The first part of this chapter discusses the relationship between Tostan’s
participatory approach in the design and implementation phases of the Jokko Initiative
and the positive outcomes of the pilot phase. The second part demonstrates the decisive
role played by participants’ capacity- especially in terms of foundational skills and
capabilities- and intent.
Tostan’s Participatory Approach to Capacity-Building
As a GSO, Tostan’s capacity-building work exemplifies the para-poor or
participatory approach that has been identified in the literature as vital to project
success. As discussed in detail in Chapter One, a participatory approach involves
designing interventions in consultation with poor communities and in accordance with
the communities’ specific resources, capacities, and demands. Ultimately, the
participatory approach and methods that have made the CEP one of the most effective
programs of its kind are the same ones driving the success of the Jokko Initiative.
Specifically, Tostan’s collaboration with local communities; interactive, learner-
centered pedagogical approach; and firm understanding of the local context contributed
to the successful impact of the MPLD module.
Involvement of Local Communities as Project Stakeholders
In the design and implementation of the pilot phase of the Jokko Initiative,
Tostan invited the input of local communities, engaging them as project stakeholders.
This allowed Tostan to have a firm understanding of the local context and to ensure that
the Jokko Initiative met the needs of participating communities. During the initial field
visit, Tostan spent two months conducting research in the Casamance region- the site
where the Jokko Initiative was eventually implemented- with the help of local
Facilitators and community members in villages that had been, at that time,
participating in the CEP for at least two years. The Jokko team created new approaches
and methods and invited local participation in test sessions. The curricular content for
the MPLD module was then developed by the Project Manager of the Jokko Initiative, a
French national, in collaboration with Tostan staff at the local, regional and national
levels. During subsequent translation and development workshops, the module was
translated from French into Puular, Soninké and Mandinka for the pilot phase by local
staff members and consultants.
With the implementation of the MPLD module, two orientations were held in
each participating community. During the first orientation, which occurred prior to the
launch of activities, (a) a community meeting was held to explain that the MPLD
module was being added to the CEP, (b) mobile phones were presented to the village
chief and imam (religious leader) as a sign of respect, and (c) the mobile phones to be
used during class sessions were presented to the CMC as donations (Jaschke, 2010, p.
45). The second orientation was held at the beginning of the MPLD module. Facilitators
introduced the Jokko Initiative, explaining how it fits into the CEP and with Tostan’s
broader objectives, and participants were invited to “think over their communication
needs…about the means of communication that already exist in the community and the
advantages of these means” and to discuss the potential influence of mobile phones on
the development of their community before deciding whether or not they would accept
the program (Jaschke, 2010, p. 45).
Learner-Centered Pedagogical Methods
During field visits, participants stressed the importance of Tostan’s interactive
teaching methods to the learning process. These findings are in line with those of
Jaschke (2010), who notes in her evaluation that “[t]he pedagogical approaches and
instructional methods used by Tostan…were considered by facilitators, supervisors, and
program staff to be a factor in the successful transfer of learning by participants” (p.
34). Among these, Tostan’s interactive teaching methods, respect for traditional
knowledge, and focus on problem-solving were emphasized by participants (Jaschke,
2010, p. 34). Like the other modules of the CEP, the MPLD module employs a
participatory pedagogical approach, integrating traditional African cultural practices,
such as song, storytelling and theatre. These methods are an integral part of Tostan’s
non-directive approach that aims to stimulate dialogue amongst participants rather than
to prescribe certain behaviors; thus, each session of MPLD module unfolds as a series
of questions posed by the Facilitator that participants are encouraged to address via
discussion and even debate.
In addition to posing questions, a method used frequently throughout the MPLD
module by Facilitators to elicit discussion is skits and role-playing. For example, the
fifth session, which covers the calendar and alarm functions of a mobile phone, begins
with a scenario acted out by three participants in front of the rest of the class that
demonstrates the utility of the calendar function of the mobile phone. In the first part of
the skit, a doctor assigns an appointment to a patient to take a test at the community
health center. The patient does not have any pen or paper to write down the information
and tries to memorize the day and time of her appointment. On the day of the
appointment, the patient forgets and misses her appointment. The second part of the skit
presents an alternative scenario: The doctor gives an appointment to a patient who
knows how to use the reminder function of her mobile phone. The patient creates a
reminder for the day and time of her appointment with the message “Doctor
appointment to take test.” The day of the appointment, her phone rings and the message
appears on the screen. The patient arrives on time at the community health center and
takes her test.
After the skit, the Facilitator provides an overview of the calendar and alarm
functions and invites participants to discuss what they perceive to be the benefits of
these functions. Participants then break into small groups and create their own sketches,
in which one half of the group adopts the role of someone who owns a mobile phone
and has participated in the MPLD module, and the other group, the role of a non-
participant who does not own a mobile phone. The first party then attempts to convince
the latter party, who is extremely reticent, of the usefulness of the alarm function. This
pattern of opening sessions with a scripted or semi-scripted sketch and following it with
an unscripted sketch is repeated in subsequent sessions.
The Mango Tree activity.
Another illustrative example of the participatory methods employed in the
MPLD module is the Mango Tree activity. This exercise, introduced in the third session
of the MPLD module, teaches participants how to access different functions in their
mobile phones by using a representation of a mango tree as an analogy for the main
menu of a mobile phone. This activity was devised by local field staff and, having
demonstrated great effectiveness and popularity with participants, is used recurrently
throughout the course of the module.
Using the guidelines laid out in her MPLD handbooks,45 the Facilitator draws a
mango tree. “Big” icons- such as “Messages,” “Contacts,” “Call history” and
“Settings”- appear on the lower level of the mango tree’s branches. Little icons appear
as mangos on smaller branches extending from the appropriate big icons. The Facilitator
explains to participants the signification of the illustration: In order to reach the
different mangoes- or the different functions of a mobile phone- it is necessary to climb
up the trunk and then along certain branches of the mango tree. In order to reach a
certain mango/function, one needs to choose the right path; otherwise, one becomes lost
(Tostan, 2009, p. 21).
45 Many Facilitators stressed in conversations with the researcher the importance of “not being a slave to the guide” and described how they frequently adapt the content of the guide when appropriate (i.e. to accommodate participants’ learning styles or when a recommended technique or approach is judged ineffective). As Malick Niang, the coordinator of the Jokko Initiative at the national level, explained “all the good facilitators say that the guide is just a guide. Once they have a clear understanding of the session and its objectives, they adapt it.”
Figure 5. Mango Tree visual aid
Figure 6. Participant demonstrating how to navigate the main menu of a mobile phone using a Mango Tree visual aid
In the sixth session of the MPLD module, the Mango Tree activity is altered,
with the illustration appearing as a larger-scale representation that participants can
physically walk through. Participants are invited to search for a certain mango/function
while describing each of the steps they take, using the following vocabulary:
I am on the ground in front of the tree. I climb up the trunk. I arrive at many thick branches. I choose the branch that I need. I climb onto the branch. I arrive at many small branches. I climb on the branch that I need. I take the mango.” (Tostan, 2009, p. 35)
As Tostan (2010b) explains, the Mango Tree exercise allows participants to grasp the
concept of the mobile phone menu by presenting it in terms to which they can best
relate; thus participants move from the concrete representation used in the classroom, to
the semi-abstract representation used in the outdoor/floor activity, and finally to the
abstract: the menus of their mobile phones.
Figure 7. The Mango Tree outdoor activity
The Importance of Capacity and Intent
While the participatory methods employed by Tostan contributed in large part to
the success of the pilot phase of the Jokko Initiative, the degree of positive impact
achieved was ultimately contingent on the existing capacity and positive intent of
participating communities. Sufficient local capacity- in terms of physical resources and
human capabilities- and local intent has been identified in the literature as a decisive
factor in the success of ICT- and M- 4D interventions. For example, Toyama’s (2011,
2010a, 2010b) magnification thesis posits that, in interventions using ICTs for
development impact, technology merely serves to “magnify the intent and capacity of
the communities it works with” (Toyama, 2011, para. 10). The role of intermediary
organizations in this process has also been recognized as decisive factor in project
success (Toyama 2011, 2010a, 2010b; Cecchini & Scott, Heeks, 1999; Beardon, 2009;
McNamara, 2003). The case of the Jokko Initiative demonstrates that the most
important functions performed by intermediary organizations in ICT- and M- 4D are
assessing local capacity and intent and supporting the acquisition of the capabilities
needed to meaningfully use technologies.
The success of the pilot phase of the Jokko Initiative was ultimately contingent
on the fact that each of the participating communities (a) had the minimum physical
resources and level of infrastructure necessary for accessing mobile technology; (b)
demonstrated strong motivation to realize the potential beneficial impact of this activity;
and (c) possessed an adequate basis of skills and capabilities to do so.
The first two conditions were explicitly identified in the criteria that
communities must meet in order to participate in the Jokko Initiative selected by
Tostan’s MERL department in the design phase of the intervention. In terms of physical
resources and infrastructure, Tostan required that participating communities
demonstrate adequate prior experience with mobile phones and have mobile network
reception at least during the hours class sessions are typically held.46 In order to ensure
that participating communities possessed the requisite positive intent, Tostan selected
46 While mobile networks cover approximately 85 percent of Senegal (MobileActive.org, 2010), remote areas where Tostan works still lack coverage. Those communities that had either highly irregular network coverage or no coverage whatsoever were not selected for participation. Also not selected were those villages that experienced cross-over with a mobile network from a neighboring country, resulting in exorbitant “roaming” air-time rates that rendered mobile phone usage largely unaffordable for said villages. Such was the case with a handful of villages in the Casamance region close to the border with The Gambia, which were consequently not selected for participation in the Jokko Initiative.
communities by virtue of their dynamism: communities needed to have a minimum
number of participants in both the adult and adolescent cohorts of the CEP and
demonstrate a high level of activity in and commitment to local development initiatives.
Table 4Selection criteria for the pilot phase of the Jokko Initiative
Network: villages had network reception during class hoursParticipation: classes had the minimum required participants (45-60 adults and adios)Exposure to mobile phones: previous experience with mobile tech in villagesProximity: (to Vélingara) allows for access during rainy seasonDynamism: high level of community involvement and activity
(Jaschke, 2010, p. 44)
That participating communities should possess the foundational skills and capabilities
necessary to harness the empowering potential of mobile technology was an implicit
criterion in Tostan’s selection process, which Tostan met by incorporating the mobile
technology element into an existing program with a proven track record of building
local capacity and in which all of the communities under consideration were already
participating. As Tostan explains
Jokko is the third year of the CEP, which consists of a basic literacy module, a practical mathematics module, and a project management module. The participants learn to read, count and write first, and then they are trained on texting, navigation in the phone’s menu and use of applications like the phone calculator…all participants who start the new Jokko module have basic skills in literacy in the national language. (Keralis, 2010, para. 6)
The positive outcomes of the pilot phase of the Jokko Initiative described by
participants was ultimately contingent on the fact that participants possessed a) a
combination of technical skills- how to use mobile technology- gained in the MPLD and
other skills and capabilities relating to information- including literacy, numeracy and
project management- gained in the CEP and the motivation to use these skills and the
technology employed to positive ends and b) the motivation to use these skills and the
technology employed in the Jokko Initiative to positive ends.
Foundational Capabilities
Participants described how their newly acquired skills vis-à-vis mobile
technology resulted in varying degrees of individual empowerment. This outcome,
however, was only possible because participants possessed a foundation of capabilities
which mobile technology only served to amplify. For example, one woman related how
she no longer gets swindled at the market because she knows how to use the calculator
function on her mobile phone. In such a case, it might be tempting to claim a direct and
causal relationship between this outcome and technology. However, had this woman not
acquired basic mathematical skills in the prior module of Tostan’s CEP, she would not
have known how to compose the equation using the calculator function of her mobile
phone. Similarly, other participants discussed how SMS texting serves various useful
functions in their everyday lives, such as keeping in touch with relatives in the diaspora
and engaging in and increasing the scope of community development activities.
However, they would not have been able to take advantage of what they perceive to be
the various benefits of SMS texting without having acquired a basic level of literacy in
the Aawde.
Positive Intent
Participants consistently described how they now use SMS texting to engage in
local development initiatives. All of these individuals, however, had demonstrated
dynamism prior to the implementation of the Jokko Initiative. For example, two
physically handicapped women described how SMS texting has allowed them to be
more active in their community’s development-related activities. Learning how to
compose and send a text message and having access to a platform that allowed them to
widely disseminate messages in a cost-effective manner did not inspire these women to
become engaged in their community’s grassroots development process. Both of these
women were already among the most dynamic members of their community, one of
them being a member of the CMC. The Jokko Initiative did not inspire community
members to become active in their grassroots development processes; rather, it allowed
already dynamic individuals to communicate amongst themselves and with other
development actors, including Tostan, more effectively and efficiently.
Deficient Local Capacity and Negative Intent as Barriers to Implementation47
Further underscoring the importance of local capacity and motivation is the fact
that all of the major challenges faced in the implementation the pilot phase concerned
physical resources, capabilities, or intent.
Physical resources.
Electricity.
The majority of the villages that participated in the pilot phase of Jokko
Initiative were not covered by the national electrical grid.48 Field observations and
Tostan’s monitoring and evaluation efforts revealed that the lack of electricity in
villages makes charging mobile phones extremely problematic in that it requires people
to: (1) improvise with local power sources (i.e. fuel lamps, lead-acid car batteries) that
are hazardous to community health and damaging to phone batteries, and/or (2) travel
long distances to urban centers in order to have their mobile phones charged by small
entrepreneurs, which often entails heavy expenditures on transport; a considerable loss
47 Parts of this section resemble material that has been published online by Tostan staff members. Please see Tostan’s written permission for the researcher to republish this material on page iv of this paper.48 85 percent of rural Senegal is off-grid.
of income due to time spent traveling; and increased risk of theft of and/or damage to
phones (i.e. the replacement of phone batteries with those of inferior quality when
given to be charged).
Network coverage.
While Tostan sought to minimize problems associated with mobile network
infrastructure by excluding villages that did not have reception or where the network
was less than constant from participation in the pilot phase, none of the villages in
which the Jokko Initiative was initially implemented had coverage 100 percent of the
time.
Cost for participants.
The most common reason cited by participants for why they or their households
did not have regular access to a mobile phone was the cost of either the handset or
phone credit; and while gender also emerged as a prominent reason for diminished
access (i.e. female participant’s husband or father not allowing her to use the household-
shared mobile phone) this was often linked to financial concerns. For example, one
woman described how her husband would not allow her to use his mobile phone
because in the past, she had used the credit wastefully because she did not understand
how to manipulate the phone. Such accounts serve to highlight the fact that harnessing
the empowering potential of mobile technology is contingent on having adequate
financial resources.
An additional source of expense that participants’ identified as problematic is
handset charging and the unavailability- or otherwise high cost of- phone credit. In rural
Senegal, it costs 200 Central African francs (CFAs) - approximately .25 U.S. dollars- to
charge a mobile handset battery at a nearby urban center. This represents a high cost for
Tostan’s participants, often requires expenditure in both time and money in order to
travel to the nearest urban center where charging services are offered and entails
considerable risk (i.e. potential theft of or damage to battery) in the process. People in
rural Senegal must also sometimes travel to urban centers in order to purchase credit.
When credit is available in rural villages, denominations are often more expensive by as
much as 25 percent.49 As a result, many rural people cannot afford to use the mobile
phones to which they might have access.
Intent.
Gendered access to mobile phones.
A vast body of research reveals the disproportionate access of women and girls in the
developing world to mobile technology: the mobile gender divide. Tostan’s experience
confirms these findings. Data collected by CEGA for the baseline study of the impact
evaluation of the Jokko Initiative identified a strong disparity between men and women
relative to the use of mobile phones, with men having both greater access to and better
competency at using mobile phones than women.
Table 5 Baseline data on gender and mobile phone usage
Compared to 31% of men, only 12% of women had access to a mobile phone.
Compared to 33% of men, 45% of women had never used a mobile phone.
Men knew how to use the calculator function 3 times better than women.
(Beltramo & Levine, 2010, p. 6)
49 Demoniations that retail at 1,000 CFA in an urban center are often sold for 1,250 CFA in a village.
While these figures greatly improved over the course of the pilot phase, female
participants consistently reported that their access to mobile phones was mediated by
male household members- typically a father, in the case of adolescents, or a husband.
Inequitable access to training phones.
During field visits, the researcher observed that training phones were sometimes
used in an inequitable manner during class sessions. Many participants brought their
own mobile phones to class. Some of these same participants, however, also received a
training phone for in-class use; thus while some participants sat with an unused phone
in their lap and a training phone in hand, others with no phone peered over their
classmates’ shoulders in order to follow the lesson. While it was not possible to
determine how common this phenomenon is in MPLD classrooms, it does highlight the
difficulty of mitigating potential threats posed by aspects of the broader socio-cultural
milieu, even when they have been given careful consideration in project planning and
design.
Figure 8. The challenge of shared training phones
Capabilities.
Multi-level classes and differing learning paces.
Some of the challenges related to the facilitation of the MPLD module during
the pilot phase concern participants’ varying levels of skill, aptitude, and resources and
different needs. As Facilitators explained, age is an important factor in the pace of
learning, with adolescents absorbing new material much more readily than their adult
counterparts, who- despite their strong motivation to master the material- seem to
struggle more, especially with literacy. In some instances, the pace of learning was also
adversely affected by what Jaschke (2010) describes as “multi-level” classes, in which
“some participants had more access to phones or where vision problems and fine motor
skill problems interfered with being able to manipulate the training phones ” (p. 64).
Inadequate literacy skills.
The importance of participants’ capabilities to the development impact of the
Jokko Initiative is further underscored by the difficulties experienced with the
Community Forum. For example, both Tostan field workers and participants explained
that while many community members use the Forum for its intended purpose- to
mobilize support around local development initiatives- the dissemination of illegible
text messages was a common phenomenon and seemed to indicate that some users
lacked the level of literacy necessary to compose a text message. This phenomenon also
lent support to MPLD participants’ and Facilitators’ requests that, based on the
observation that some participants were unable to compose a text message at the
conclusion of the module, the MPLD module should be lengthened.
Deficient Organizational Capacity as a Barrier to Implementation
The importance of organizational capacity to the success of M4D initiatives is
underscored by the difficulties Tostan experienced with the implementation of the
Community Forum and the ultimate decision to discontinue this activity. Despite
palpable enthusiasm about the activity on the part of both Tostan and the communities it
serves, the Community Forum was ultimately discontinued due, in large part, to the
strain it represented on Tostan’s limited technical and financial capacity.
Tostan “has tried in the past to keep program logistics light, local, and
scalable” (Jaschke, 2010, p. 38); the introduction of a mobile technology element into
their main program has pushed these boundaries at all levels of implementation.
Implementing the Community Forum necessitated a level of technical capacity that
proved to be a challenge for Tostan even at the international level. In order to use
RapidSMS technology, implementing organizations need only possess basic-level
equipment, such as a low-end server in the form of an old desktop personal computer
(RapidSMS, 2010). The requirement of Internet connectivity, however, posed major
challenge for Tostan. The frequent power outages and disruption of Internet
connectivity at Tostan’s international headquarters in Dakar resulted in temporary
breakdowns of the Community Forum server. In addition to disrupting communications
via the Community Forum- much to the frustration of the most active users- this
breakdown hindered CEGA’s data collection process and potentially undermined the
validity of their findings.
The Community Forum activity was officially discontinued in early March. As
Beltramo and Levine (2010) pointed out, given the extremely high cost of the
Community Forum,50 unless Tostan was able to negotiate an agreement with a
telecommunications provider that would reduce costs for both Tostan and participants,
“it is not clear whether this is a good investment for Tostan” (p. 13). According to a
Tostan staff member, the Community Forum was ultimately deemed to be “too costly
without additional support from the telecommunications companies,” which, despite
their efforts, they had not been able to secure (A. Serwaah-Panin, personal
communication, March 31, 2011).
50 Beltramo and Levine (2010) estimated that scaling up this activity could cost upwards of two million dollars.
CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION
The case of the Jokko Initiative demonstrates the decisive role played by local
capacity and intent and by effective intermediary organizations in the impact of M4D
interventions. The positive outcomes of the pilot phase of the Jokko Initiative were
ultimately contingent on participants’ level of physical resources, capabilities, and
commitment and on the intermediary role of Tostan. In the case of the Jokko Initiative,
mobile technology amplified the capacity and intent of participants and the positive
impact of an already successful program, underpinned by good practice and a solid
theoretical basis, that provides local communities with the skills and capabilities needed
to harness the empowering potential of mobile technology.
The findings of this study lend support to the idea that mobile technology- and
ICTs, more generally speaking- are not in themselves empowering; rather, their value
lies in their ability to magnify the capabilities and motivation of local communities and
the impact of good programs. The decisive factor in this process is the presence and
profile of intermediary organizations that assess and strengthen local communities’
capacities to use ICTs in a meaningful way. This study has demonstrated that locally-
based organizations- described in this paper as GSOs- are particularly effective at
enhancing local communities’ capabilities.
While it was beyond the scope of this study to explore the specific capabilities
needed by local communities to harness the empowering potential of ICTs and to detail
the types and levels of mediation possible in ICT- and M- 4D, recent scholarship by
Bjorn-Soren Gigler (2011), of which this researcher was apprised in the revision phase
of this thesis, makes important strides towards filling the gaps in literature on these
related subjects while simultaneously affirming the validity of the researcher’s own
findings. Based on empirical evidence from rural communities’ use of ICTs in Bolivia,
Gigler (2011) concludes that enhancing people’s “informational capabilities”- a
multidimensional concept that he explains in some detail51- is the most critical factor
determining the impact of ICT projects. After differentiating between the different types
and levels of intermediation in ICT programs- between ICT (or technical)
intermediaries and social (community-based) intermediaries and high- and low- levels
of involvement (p. 9-10), Gigler (2011) also proposes an alternative evaluation
framework and ICT impact value chain that demonstrate that “the presence of an
effective and local intermediary organization is the essential factor for enhancing
people’s well-being through the use of ICTs” (p. 24).52 Similar to the conclusions of the
present study, Gigler (2011) finds that “grassroots-level programs are significantly more
successful in enhancing people’s informational capabilities” (p. 16).
Also similar to the researcher’s own findings, Gigler (2011) highlights the fact
that the impact of ICTs on human development is a
Gigler’s (2011) findings regarding impact also underscore the important
contribution of this researcher’s own findings that ICTs can be particularly effective at
the level of individual empowerment, and especially for women and girls. According to
Gigler (2011), “the individual empowerment is the only dimension in which the use of
ICTs can directly enhance people’s human well-being” (p. 19) and enhanced ICT
capabilities “can have significant and direct positive impact on people’s psychological
51 Gigler’s (2011) concept of “informational capabilities” is comprised of four main components: “ICT capability,” or ability to use ICTs in an effective manner; “information literacy,” or ability to find, process, evaluate, and use information; “communication capability,” ability to effectively communicate with family members, friends, and professional contacts; and “content capability,” ability to produce and share local content with others through the network.52 Gigler (2011) also specifies the main functions performed by intermediary organizations in ICT projects: “i) identifying and providing access to ICT products and services that suit the local communities’ information needs; ii) supporting the generation of local and relevant content; iii) and providing ongoing support in the areas of training and capacity-building” (p. 11).
well-being, particularly for people who belong to the most vulnerable groups, such as
women and youth” (p. 19).
Implications
Supporting human capabilities to use ICTs is critical to the development impact
of ICT- and M- 4D. While these communities of practice have made great strides
towards placing people at the center of their approaches, insufficient attention to the
importance of human capabilities inevitably leads to unrealistic expectations and risks
project failure. For example, there has been considerable enthusiasm about what Heeks
(2009) has termed “per-poor innovation”: a shift from conceptualizing local people as
passive consumers to recognizing them as producers of applications and content. While
para-poor innovation occurs as a collaborative effort between NGOs and local
communities, per-poor innovation takes place within and by the community itself. In
order for per-poor innovation to truly take off, however, the human capabilities needed
to use ICTs must be developed and supported. Until capacity-building becomes a
priority, per-poor innovation in the realm of mobile usage will remain limited largely to
money-saving strategies, like the practices of “beeping”53 and conducting financial
transactions via air-time transfer that have received much acclaim in the literature.
The case of the Jokko Initiative demonstrates that technological solutions for
development need not be the most advanced and complex, as simple, low-cost ICTs that
require a basic level of technical skills and informational capabilities can be extremely
effective development tools. The most successful ICT solutions for development are
those that are the most appropriate, accessible, and affordable. They are also those that
are most valued by local communities’ themselves. It is also for this reason that older
53 or “missed calling.” This is a practice of calling a number and hanging up before the mobile user can respond in order to convey a pre-negotiated message (Donner, 2007).
technologies that have proven highly effective, especially in rural areas, should not be
discarded. For example, in the pilot phase of the Jokko Initiative, community radio was
used to spread word about the RapidSMS Community Forum and greatly contributed to
increasing the scope of this activity. The exploration of areas of possible convergence of
older ICTS, like radio, and newer ICTs, like mobile phones, should be a priority in the
international development community.
Some of the issues concerning access, affordability and usability that have
presented seeming insurmountable difficulties when proposing more complex and
expensive ICTs, such as computers, for development, are less an obstacle in the case of
mobile technology, which has been widely adopted and adapted by poor people in the
developing world. Nevertheless, in order for mobile technology to achieve its full
potential for human development, policy makers will need to address the gaps in access
to electricity and other basic infrastructure and the lack of regulation on costs of ICT
services. Indeed, the extent to which the levels of impoverishment in the rural regions
where the Jokko Initiative is being implemented posed a challenge to the achievement
of the objectives of the pilot phase underscores the fact that often, the most critical
needs of the poor are for inputs other than the information and knowledge facilitated by
ICTs. In conditions of extreme poverty, expenditure on ICTs will necessarily compete
with spending on proper sanitation, nutrition, fertilizer, electricity, and roads. Therefore,
the issue of cost, alongside the issues of local appropriateness and anticipated impact,
should always figure into the decision to implement any ICT- or M- 4D project.
Tostan’s discontinuation of the RapidSMS Community Forum after having not
been able to procure support from a mobile network operator for this activity highlights
the need for collaboration between the M4D community and the private sector. For
resource-intensive M4D endeavors, discounts on air-time rates and bulk messaging and
subsidies from handset manufacturers are crucial to project sustainability. With
technology-related giving playing an increasingly central role in the international social
investments of several major firms, public-private partnerships are crucial to the future
of ICT- and M- 4D projects and to the future of these communities of practice
themselves (Lahiri & Pal, 2009).
Future Research
Impact evaluation.
The impact evaluation of the pilot phase of the Jokko Initiative exemplified the
perennial challenges of accurately assessing development impact in the field and
underscores the need for more rigorous impact evaluation as the M4D community shifts
emphasis from deploying mobile technology to assessing its impact. As Ashraf et al.
(2007) have argued, and as the researcher has sought to demonstrate in this study, local
communities’ perspectives on impact should be at the center of this process. The
experience of evaluating the impact of the pilot phase of the Jokko Initiative also points
to the value of longitudinal studies (Walsham & Sahay, 2006) and the need to examine
interventions that have achieved scale (Heeks, 2009, p. 27).
As most M4D interventions either do not progress beyond the pilot phase or
remain localized, the Jokko Initiative presents a significant opportunity to examine the
scaling-up process via longitudinal assessment and to explore the impact of mobile
technology on literacy- of which there is currently little knowledge.54 However, while
the findings of two separate independent evaluations of the pilot phase of the Jokko
Initiative that have been conducted to date highlight the potential of the mobile
54 In one of the few studies of this impact area, Aker et al. (2010) examine a M4D program focusing on literacy and adult non-formal education in Niger and find that “simple and relatively cheap information and communication technology can serve as an effective and sustainable learning tool for rural populations” (p. 2).
technology as a learning tool, they also indicate that it remains unclear whether literacy
training using text messaging is more effective than traditional literacy training
(Beltramo & Levine, 2010, p. 16) and that the actual impact of the Jokko Initiative will
only be apparent in the long term. These findings point to the value of a longitudinal
study that focuses on outcomes areas relating to literacy and that seeks to disentangle
the impact of the mobile technology component introduced through the Jokko Initiative
from that of the other tools and strategies employed by Tostan in the Community
Empowerment Program (CEP) by comparing participants in the Mobile Phone for
Literacy and Development module with control groups of participants in the traditional
CEP.
The Jokko Initiative also presents a significant opportunity to explore how
mobile technology can be used to increase organizational effectiveness- identified by
Beardon (2009) as an important area of future M4D research- and the quality of impact
assessment. With the implementation of the RapidSuivi platform for monitoring and
evaluation, Tostan is seeking to expand and reinforce channels of communication
between different levels of implementation and between the organization and
community members and to improve the quality of data collection and, by extension,
impact evaluation. A case study of this activity would make a valuable contribution to
the literature.
Mobiles and Positive Social Transformation
The potential of mobile technology for promoting positive social change, and
especially for reducing harmful traditional practices, is a potentially rich, yet
unexplored, area of research. As the experience of the Jokko Initiative has
demonstrated, people’s social uses of mobiles in the developing world can be seized on
as sites of positive transformation- as communicative channels for disseminating
information and mobilizing support for various causes. An anecdote related to the
researcher by a community member who participated in the RapidSMS Community
Forum is emblematic of the potential of mobile technology- particularly that of
applications- to accelerate the diffusion of and to reinforce positive social change: a
villager in the Vélingara region wished to have his daughter undergo female genital
cutting in defiance of his community’s collective decision to abandon this practice but
was prevented from doing so in the face of overwhelming social pressure after other
community members disseminated news of his intentions via the Community Forum.
ADD A CONCLUDING SENTENCE
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