Mobile technology for development! Yes,
we all try to taste the success of mobile: mobile applications for fund
transfers in micro-insurance, introducing smart cards for health care, mobile
apps for agricultural trading, and so on. We also note and quote the challenges
when it comes to engaging the mass participation of the intended rural
beneficiaries. We recently studied closely 10 selected projects, representing
East Africa, East Asia and South Asia, to clarify the nature of these
challenges. Our study shows that the three most common factors contributing to
tensions, and often unwritten failures, were found to be:
- Tension between IT
solution providers and project owners;
- Blind spots in the
innovation process;
- Failure to introduce change management models for field staff.
Let’s look at the reality of these challenges in a bit more detail.
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