We are a leader in community-led development and grassroots innovation. For more than 40 years, we have worked with frontline activists, community organisations and individuals to help people to gain agency over their own lives – so they can move Beyond Aid. For United Purpose digital technologies and ICTs are central to achieving this.
The use of mobile telephones has exploded in Sub-Saharan Africa, from an estimated 20 million in 2000 to around 500 million in 2010, with Ghana as one of the 5 biggest markets. In Brazil, there are more mobile phone numbers in use than there are citizens. Internet penetration across Africa was 35.3% in 2017 (Internet World Stats) but this varies between countries and urban; rural markets; eg it is 70.7% in Brazil, 34.3% in Ghana and only 6.3% in Guinea-Bissau. Use of social media is increasing; 66% of the Brazilian population uses Facebook, although this remains low at 11% in Guinea. This proliferation in the availability and use of technologies, we believe, hold profound opportunities for our development goals. We believe that digital technologies can play an empowering role in the lives of marginalised citizens, by amplifying voices, increasing access to information and positively changing power dynamics. We recognise that digital technologies are not a silver bullet to issues of access to information, data collection and participation, and thus we take a systemic and participatory approach to address behaviour change, multiple levels of discrimination and challenges with accessing
1,400,000 reached in 201718 in Brazil through radio and media information campaigns on rights Over 339,825 rural people reached in Senegal and the Gambia since 2016 by Jokalante with messages including good agricultural practices Over 170 people directly engaged in Ghana using mobile technology for accountability in health
United Purpose’s model is to implement intelligent, innovative projects that are adapted to, and meet the needs of, some of the world’s most vulnerable and marginalised communities. In our use of ICTs for development this can mean that our technology can be voice based not SMS so can be used by the illiterate; the design and mes; saging is tailored to needs of women; it doesn’t always require a smartphone; uses local languages and trusted voices (not automated or a remote official); the end user doesn’t pay; it uses integrated responses, not just broadcast or survey to promote horizontal conversations and advice, drawing on community and expert knowledge. The Jokalante model demonstrates the possibilities for sustainability; the concept was initially devel; oped through project funding and they are now a registered, self-managed enterprise. We are currently working hard to share lessons between our West Africa and Brazil cluster on the use of ICTs across sectors, including gov; ernance, agricultural mechanisation, disaster risk reduction and nutrition.
The Jokalante team, Senegal Ghana MOTECH—UP Ghana partnered with Grameen bank to use the innovative mobile technology, MoTECH to improve health outcomes for mothers and their newborns in rural Ghana, through the EC-funded ’Citizen Participation for Improved Maternal Health’. Originally used to share information about pregnancy and the first year of life, our project went further to use the SMS based platform to enable feedback to service providers and public officials. The pilot collected 178 unique responses, with feedback on; distance to health facilities;, whether health centres had sufficient medical supplies;, overall satisfaction with services;, and implementation of the National Health Insurance Scheme. The information was used to conduct evidence based advocacy to improve health services. Senegal/ – Jokalante is an ICT startup and a social enterprise established in 2016 in Senegal. It currently operates in 11 of the 14 regions in Senegal and has a database of over 70,000 farmer profiles, and began replicating the approach in the Gambia, to implement information campaigns targeting rural women to adopt high nutrition crop varieties and nutrition behaviour change. The core business model of Jokalante is a business-to-business-to-citizen (B2B2C) model, where the company offers a portfolio of ICT services to organizations that want to engage and interact with rural smallholder farmers. Jokalante operates an ICT platform, developed by SBC4D, that is structured around a farmer profiling service, and a series of communication modules that supports two-ways communication between farmers and the organization. The platform is completed with a series of smartphone tools for intermediaries such as extension agents. Jokalante uses radio stations across Senegal to promote its services, train farmers on the use of the ICT service – reach ing 810,000 farmers across Senegal. Radio campaigns are interactive, using radio broadcast and ICT tools to inform farmers and collect their feedback. Gambia— funded by the US Embassy, we are working with CSOs and small businesses to improve their ICT capacity and to empower them with ICT tools. To do this we; 1. facilitated basic ICT training for their ICT focal person in a Tech Camp, 2. Built a voice based Market Price Information System for horticultural producers, 3. Supported them to gain online presence via social media and awarded 20 websites and 4. supported initial internet setup cost. Our sustainable Market Price Information System uses the two main local languages and English, and about 2,500 farmers;facilitators across the country are connected to the system. These facilitators are selected individuals from garden groups that call the system with their mobile phone for market prices and share with the rest of the garden members. Market price collectors go to 10 markets across the country on a weekly base to update the market price of key crops. The main aim is to enable vegetable producers (particularly women) to have regular market price information to enable better planning and selling of their vegetables leading to improved income. Guinea – Open Data Kit (ODK) –used by UP Guinea as both a monitoring and evaluation, and a project implementation tool. ODK is a free and open-source set of tools which help organizations author, field, and manage mobile data collection solutions. Benefits of the ODK; it is not paper based, reducing the risk of data loss due to paper handling,; increasing efficiency and likelihood of accuracy (due to removal of manual data input);, it enables real time data management, it can be used offline and then integrated in an online cloud, and it includes functions such as GPS and photo integration. So far we have used it to enable community based surveillance of the Ebola outbreak and to monitor our work with female vegetable growers. In 2019 we will begin an initiative with the Against Malaria Foundation to use ODK to monitor ownership and use of malaria nets . Guinea – One Mobile Projecter per Trainer (OMPT) – UP Guinea partnered with this NGO to promote video technology at low prices through our Development of the market Garden (DEFMA) project. The NGO trains users in video production and provides camera kits, projector and recharging kits (using solar). The technology enables us to carry light and space-saving equipment to produce and broadcast films to target groups, for awareness raising and training with the 3,000 producers (at least 50% women) and 200 market gardening actors involved in the project. The seven films produced through this project focus on market gardening techniques, to contribute to the adoption of agro-ecological practices. Brazil – Technology for advocacy – In Brazil we work with local civil society organisations and networks to advocate for the rights of children and youth, and for improved services for vulnerable groups. Each year we reach up to 2 million people through information campaigns, including through the use of radio, TV, social media and mobiles, to increase access to information about rights and available services, and on the importance and potential of participation on social organisations including community associations, women and youth groups and workers’ gropus. Communities are involved, through focus groups, in designing the focus of the campaign and its moto. Campaigns have included ’Our community has our voice’ and ’when the people join the power spreads’. We tailor our campaigns to use the channels most popular with the target, marginalised groups, and broadcast them at convenient times.