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UNECA mandate |
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Gamos has been able to be a key part of the CODIST process. The Committee on Development Information, Science and Technology (CODIST) is one of the seven subsidiary bodies of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) composed of senior officials and experts from member States who meet on a biennial basis. The role of CODIST is to review challenges and issues pertaining to the information and communications technology (ICT), geoinformation, science and technology sectors; formulate policies and strategies to address Africa’s development challenges; and determine priorities to be reflected in the work programme of the ICT, Science and Technology Division of ECA.
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M_Governance |
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The Electronic and Mobile Government Knowledge Repository (emGKR) is a global online facility for knowledge transfer, information dissemination, partnership and state-of-the-art research on central and local e/m-government development in Member States.
Gamos was invited to present a keynote paper on mobile Government in Africa at the first African workshop on emgkr - Capacity Building Workshop on Electronic/Mobile Government in Africa, .
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Microfinance Field Technology |
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Working with VisionFund, Gamos has been exploring the use of phones for enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of the work of agents at the field level of microfinance. Kadet is piloting using Mpesa in Kenya, and VisionFund Cambodia is leading the way working with WING.
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Ericsson Assessment of M-Content Requirements |
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This summary report presents key findings from a research report produced by the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) with Gamos being the research engine. Funded by Ericsson, the project called on the CTO to describe and analyse the current and future mobile content (m-content) requirements of end-users in India and Uganda. Although some research in this area has recently been undertaken in India it is by no means comprehensive. In Uganda there has been little analysis of the situation despite the fact that an m-content industry has existed for more than ten years. As such, the CTO and Ericsson hope this report will contribute towards improving m-content development in both countries, as well as further a field.
Full report at http://www.ericsson.com/telecomexpansion/resouce/pdf/assessment_mcontent_requir_in_Indai_Uganda.pdf
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Nokia Siemens Networks Report |
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Gamos contributed strongly to NSNs report "Towards effective e-governance: The delivery of public services through local e-content"
This report indicates that, although all technologies should be considered, mobile devices have the potential to be the most effective technology for stimulating the demand and supply of public services through local e-content in a broad range of contexts. The large and increasing subscriber base of mobile devices, the way they enable users to demand services, and the way they are giving an increasing number of users an “Internet experience” are important. In addition, the private sector is already delivering services over mobile devices, while convergence means mobile devices now incorporate many of highly effective technologies such as Internet and radio. The promise of mobile devices is unequivocal.
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Research ICT Africa - MPayments |
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Research ICT Africa, hosted by Wits University and funded by IDRC, kindly added some questions on mobile enabled payments to their ICT Household usage survey. They are busy analysing now (Early 2008), but some preliminary results were created in partnership with Gamos. Some draft briefing notes were created. BUT PLEASE NOTE - these early results are not nationally weighted samples.
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New M-Money Report |
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M-Money - Finances, Banking and Payments through mobile phones
This report provides the information needed to assess M-Money as a business opportunity. It outlines the various models and concepts of mobile enabled transactions (Mbanking, Mpayments, Mtransactions), differentiating between the various business models, and illustrating the potentially disruptive nature of some of the models. The different business models are further differentiated in the light of the relevant technologies - eg Near Field Communication, Sim Cards and Combined Smart Cards.
Out: 15 April 2008
For a detailed breakdown of contents:
http://www.balancingact-africa.com/mmoney.html
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Knowledge Sharing and Learning |
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There is a growing interest in the impact of development interventions and ways in which development aid can be used more effectively.
This portal, commissioned by DFID through our framework agreement considers five key sectors and suggests ways in which incorporating good communication practice can enhance the delivery of development outcomes. Although the importance of communications has been recognised for several years now the development community have recently recognised the need to demonstrate the impact of this. The portal brings together materials that demonstrate what does (and does not) work. The portal informs policy debate and provides a forum for users to share additional evidence.
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Good Practice Paper on ICTs for Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction |
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This report, prepared by Gamos, aims to give an overview of what the OECD Journal on Development members currently know about how ICT use in developing economies can stimulate economic growth and poverty reduction. It draws attention to the cross-cutting applications of ICTs, to their role as tools, not goals, and links their use to development co-operation.
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Video 4 Development |
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Gamos employs an innovative approach to using video in their projects. They treat video as a tool for documenting knowledge, similar to a word processor, and have found it effective in sharing lessons learned. They also train others to use digital video - see http://www.video4d.org for more information.
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Transformational M-Payments |
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Gamos (Simon in particular) has been very interested in the potential of mobile phones for money transfer since about 2002. He has been actively championing and lobbying for it since then. His interest started when he realised that at that time migrant workers sent home $80 Billion, and the average charge from Banks and Western Union was 12%. The phone companies told him that it could be done, with international transfers coming in at around 4% but that regulations prevented them implementing such services. Now Migrants send homw over $200 Billion (2007), and Simon and others have also realised that MBanking or MPayments could be a possible gateway for the unbanked to access financial services.
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The Impact of Mobile Phones in Africa |
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The demand for mobile phones in Africa in the last few years has been more than most people expected and continues to expand. Operators have traditionally targeted urban areas, but it is the demand from rural and low income areas that have exceeded all expectations. This paper, prepared by Gamos for the Commision for Africa, proposes three key areas where support from high level institutions could help African countries exploit the potential that mobile technology offers to the vulnerable.
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CATIA - Catalysing Access to ICT in Africa |
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The Catalysing Access to ICT in Africa (CATIA) programme aimed to enable poor people in Africa to gain maximum benefit from the opportunities offered by Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and to act as a strong catalyst for reform.
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Economic Impact of Telecommunications Access on Rural Livelihoods and Poverty Reduction |
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The last five years have seen tremendous growth in telephone ownership and use in developing countries. But what impact has the telephone had on livelihoods – on how people live their lives, protect themselves against vulnerability and take opportunities for a more prosperous future? Gamos has been involved in a research project assessing the impact of the telephone on the lives of the rural poor in three developing countries – in the state of Gujarat in India; in Mozambique; and in Tanzania.
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Using ICTs for Vocational Training in East Africa |
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This project, funded by DFID and undertaken by Big World in collaboration with Gamos Ltd., aimed to assess the value of multimedia and Internet based resource creation and collaboration in extending the ability of training centres to train effectively. The focus was on centres responding to the needs of the poor; delivering training which improves employment opportunities and therefore the livelihoods of trainees and their communities.
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Sustainable Initiatives - ICTs |
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Funded by the Department for International Development, this research programme identified activities that sought to benefit the poor and had an ICT component. In particular it considered programmes where ICTs had enhanced ongoing development activities, the ICT activity could be replicated without sizeable investment, and there was a measure of sustainability.
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ICT for Development: Contributing to the Millennium Development Goals |
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How can ICT be used effectively across a variety of sectors to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals? What can we learn from ICT pilot projects in developing countries about proper design, sustainability and impact of such interventions? infoDev commissioned Gamos to conduct a detailed analysis of seventeen ICT-for-development projects it had funded in the past several years to capture lessons about how, and why, such projects succeed or fail.
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Community Television for the Poor |
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The Purpose of this DFID funded research was to explore the opportunities presented by digital convergence for locally produced and broadcast integrated television & radio for development education, development communication strategies and local content capture among the poor. Research was susequently conducted in Honduras, South Africa, Tanzania and Ghana.
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Africa's New Communications Users - Household Survey Findings |
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One of the key issues in promoting access for telephony and internet in Africa is the need for information about how new services are likely to be used by consumers - both citizens and small businesses. This research - based on a statistically valid sample of households in Botswana, Ghana and Uganda in 2002, applied across the whole country – takes the first step in providing this information.
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Community TeleCentres for Urban Youth |
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The community telecentres are used in many situations as tools to facilitate community learning, technology transfer and to tackle poverty on the ground. Gamos, in partnership with Big World (www.big-world.org) and commissioned by DIFD helped to start and support two such telecentres with the objective of evaluating a distinctive new content-led approach.
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ICTs
