MobileActive's Blog

**Update***

Bill Clinton is announcing the commitment from a group of members of the Clinton Global Initiative to provide access to financial services to millions of people currently unbanked and living under $2 a day. Some of the people on the stage are Elizabeth Littlefield from CGAP, Dawn Haig Thomas from the GSMA Development Fund, and the Sosas from MPower Ventures, Brian Richardson from Wizzit, and others who are committing more than $100 million to mobile fincancial services for the poor.  

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CNN recently reported on mobiles in election  monitoring -- providing real-time data from the polling stations transmitted via mobiles. The article asserts:  "The humble mobile phone is driving a new revolution which some experts hope could bring fairer elections and democracy to some African states. During the 2006 local government elections in Senegal, Radio Sud used reporters and correspondents with cell phones to call in what they saw. Many African countries have struggled against rigged elections and authoritarian rule since gaining independence last century.

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What does it take for smaller organizations to adde a mobile strategy to advance the work?  What are some ways in which small organizations can get started in mobile, and get what they need for free or at very low cost to try the mobile medium for their work?

We were recently at the Institute for Nonprofits organized by the Bay Area Video Coalition to help a select group of organizations develop their social media strategy.

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We have written a lot about providing consumers with just-in-tine information about products on their mobile.  Shoppers can receive an SMS about sustainable fish or climate impact of products already.  This is the idea of the new GoodGuide, a new start-up spun out of the University of Berkeley. Good Guide provides 'green' consumer information for shoppers who want to buy products in line with their values.

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One India reports on how mobile phones are used after the devastating floods in Bihar, India. While relief and aid have been very slow to get to Bihar, mobiles are proving to be a life saver.  According to One India,

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This conference might be of interest to the Mobile Active community!  September 22, 2008 is the last date for submission of papers for the 3rd IEEE/ACM International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD2009).

ICTD2009 will be be held in Doha, capital of the small, oil-rich country of Qatar along the Arabian Gulf. This conference is a focal point for new scholarship in the field of ICT and international development. Confirmed speakers include a keynote by Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft Corporation.

Conference Co-chair Richard Heeks notes: "As noted previously, we will particularly welcome papers about mobiles and development."

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Yael Schwartzmann is a social entrepreneur, a programmer, and a mobile innovator.

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When we hosted MobileActive07 in Brazil last year, this beautiful mobile baby was still in his mother's belly -- Graziela from Avaaz.org who was a MobileActive07 participant.

As we are getting ready for MobileActive08 in Johannesburg, we are happy to report that, in true MobileActive.org fashion, this child (a baby no more) MOVES!   We hope to see more of the next generation of MobileActives in South Africa!  Register now for MobileActive08  as the spaces (and baby motos) are filling up fast! And congratulations, Mama Graziela!

MobileActive is a member of a new working group on the 'mobile web' for social development. (Discloure: we underwrote a recent event in Brazil of the group). Now the Economist has written a piece on the working group. Here are some excerpts and some thoughts and critiques of this effort.

The Economist states the case:

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By Katrin Verclas and John Soeren Petterson

There are two notable events this fall focusing on mobile telephony for social impact and for development. The first event is MobileActive08, October 13-15 in South Africa. The second is M4D 2008: Mobile Communication Technology For Development, December 11 and 12 in Sweden.

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