Saturday 15 September 2012

Android - SmartPhones + Social media for Bottom of the Pyramid

Can smart devices be introduced as community owned shared devices?
How would different age groups respond to smart phones?
How would they trigger rural community participation with social media?
Can they scale up the rural micro-enterprises?

A ground breaking SmartVillage project of Sarvodaya-Fusion has started providing encouraging answers to these questions. Started in early 2011, project has pilot tested introducing Android SmartPhones to seven rural communities in Sri Lanka. Among the highlights:
  • Verity of shared ownership models are emerging, among them random ownership by youth circles stands out.
  • Android apps are being picked up by school children to supplement their educational activities
  • Youth circles started using Local language Blogging as a new mode of expression of their views
  • Facebook pages generated via Smartphones could scale up micro-enterprises, that have been starving to connect with up-markets. 
For more details of the project - visit the SmartVillage blog.

SmartVillage project is implimented by Sarvodaya-Fusion with sponsorship from Tag-ID, UK and Google. 
eNovation4D provides expert contributions in the areas of social media and social innovation. 
Posted by Harsha Liyanage, Principal Consultant at 09:38 0 comments
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We are consultants for European organisations working in international development. Specialized in Innovation - Economic Sustainability - Social Impact Assessment in ICT4D and Mobile for Development (M4D) sectors. We have 20 + years of experiences and our clients include UN Agencies, EU, IDRC.

What we can offer you?

Are you involved in International development, introducing Information Communication Technologies and Mobile Phone applications to support disadvantage communities? Are you concerned about effective products and services in this sector, we can help to innovate them. Do you want to see their sustainability beyond funding cycle? We can help converting the project into a social enterprise. Do you want to understand the social impact? We can design a tailor made model to surface the social impact.