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Mobile phones help lift poor out of poverty: U.N. study

ReverendHellh0und said:
how would they do it themselves? how come it hasn't happened?
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Did you miss the part about internet enabled phones? One has to know how to build things before they can. Right now there is a real problem with literacy, education, expertise, etc in those areas.
 
megaprogman said:
Did you miss the part about internet enabled phones? One has to know how to build things before they can. Right now there is a real problem with literacy, education, expertise, etc in those areas.
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and what makes you think handing them cheap internet enabled phones will be the tool that lifts them out of poverty? It's a naive view my friend.
 
ReverendHellh0und said:
and what makes you think handing them cheap internet enabled phones will be the tool that lifts them out of poverty? It's a naive view my friend.
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I am not advocating handing them anything. My premise is that as technology progresses and internet enabled phones become cheaper to the point that it will probably happen naturally. However, they would have to be the ones to take action, which I assume they would once they find out the value of what they have in their hands. Its a natural progression to having long distance communication which is always helping their situation (such as finding out the proper grain prices and not having the local buyer have a monopoly on that info to scam them.)
 
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megaprogman said:
I am not advocating handing them anything. My premise is that as technology progresses and internet enabled phones become cheaper to the point that it will probably happen naturally. However, they would have to be the ones to take action, which I assume they would once they find out the value of what they have in their hands. Its a natural progression to having long distance communication which is always helping their situation (such as finding out the proper grain prices and not having the local buyer have a monopoly on that info to scam them.)
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I think you are being naive, are we talking about a farmer, or the inner city folk? I think a farmer usually is pretty set in his ways, and inner city folk lack initiative, value in education, drive, and motivation, making iphones the price of a 40 won't help them one bit,.
 
ReverendHellh0und said:
I think you are being naive, are we talking about a farmer, or the inner city folk? I think a farmer usually is pretty set in his ways, and inner city folk lack initiative, value in education, drive, and motivation, making iphones the price of a 40 won't help them one bit,.
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Perhaps in this country, but the survival pressures here are a lot lower than in Africa.
 
megaprogman said:
Perhaps in this country, but the survival pressures here are a lot lower than in Africa.
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Mobile phones -- spreading faster than any other information technology -- can improve the livelihoods of the poorest people in developing countries, a United Nations report released on Thursday said.
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so you are telling me the some tribe in the bush of liberia will benefit from cheap iphones? /facepalm
 
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ReverendHellh0und said:
I'll believe it when i see it...


Does that chart really say we are worse off than africa?
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I think you will see it when you believe it ;).

I assume you mean the one on page 4. It shows network maturation, since the US already has an advanced network, it will mature more slowly. The same amount of change from a small base will yield a higher change percentage vs a larger base.
 
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Ahh i get it. I skimmed it, honestly i didn't doubt there was a study, just from my experience, I don't think this will be as successful as the author claims.
 
ReverendHellh0und said:
Ahh i get it. I skimmed it, honestly i didn't doubt there was a study, just from my experience, I don't think this will be as successful as the author claims.
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The paper is more focused on what has already happened, not in making predictions. The prediction is mine and is based on observed trends.
 
megaprogman said:
The paper is more focused on what has already happened, not in making predictions. The prediction is mine and is based on observed trends.
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If I get a chance i'll take a closer look.... I just don't see any "success stories" in other places, do you?
 
ReverendHellh0und said:
If I get a chance i'll take a closer look.... I just don't see any "success stories" in other places, do you?
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Its not something I have studied in depth, but I have read a few articles on the subject from various magazines and they all tend to be focused on Africa and rural India. The general theme is that a low technology agricultural society has benefitted from increased access to information through cell phones because it allows them to be more able to participate in markets and have less reliance on middle men who monopolize information such as prices for the goods they produce. Than they are able to use that success to increase investment in whatever they do and get better at it.

The next step I imagine is for those people to be able to look at a website and find out how to better do things such as use fertilizer, crop rotation, build infrastructure, fix broken machines, etc. This would increase self reliance and success.
 
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megaprogman said:
Its not something I have studied in depth, but I have read a few articles on the subject from various magazines and they all tend to be focused on Africa and rural India. The general theme is that a low technology agricultural society has benefitted from increased access to information through cell phones because it allows them to be more able to participate in markets and have less reliance on middle men who monopolize information such as prices for the goods they produce. Than they are able to use that success to increase investment in whatever they do and get better at it.

The next step I imagine is for those people to be able to look at a website and find out how to better do things such as use fertilizer, crop rotation, build infrastructure, fix broken machines, etc. This would increase self reliance and success.
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Ok, I misunderstood the premise of the thread. my bad. I can see what it's saying now. I can see this as a possible help, I don't still see how big an impact it will be...
 
ReverendHellh0und said:
Ok, I misunderstood the premise of the thread. my bad. I can see what it's saying now. I can see this as a possible help, I don't still see how big an impact it will be...
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It doesn't solve every problem, such as necessary infrastructure for things like transportation, but it certainly helps.
 
megaprogman said:
It doesn't solve every problem, such as necessary infrastructure for things like transportation, but it certainly helps.
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Of course it won't, But from what I was seeing it seems they think it will do much more than I feel it might, but of course I'm speculating here.
 
ReverendHellh0und said:
I'm involved in "small technological projects" in Newark and Paterson and have been for years. can you quantify "possitive[sic] impacts on the local economy"? Thanks
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Simple:

HI-TECH CELL PHONES HELP AFRICANS TRADE CROPS | balancingact-africa.com

Senegalese company Manobi, which operates on-line systems for businesses in the developing world, first launched the trading platform for farmers and fishermen in the west African nation, and says it has signed up 40,000 customers there.

"It's a trading platform and a business space," said Manobi Chief Executive Daniel Annerose. "Small Senegalese farmers even linked up with the French army (on the platform) last year and agreed to supply one of their ships when it docked in Dakar."

Manobi has teamed up with French cell phone manufacturer Alcatel (CGEP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) and Vodacom (TKGJ.J: Quote, Profile, Research), to launch the project in South Africa, where it hopes 100,000 farmers will use the system if the Makuleke pilot project takes off.
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Experts say projects like this are often hit-and-miss and that Makuleke may not turn out to be sustainable, but that it was important to keep trying ways of improving communications in rural areas of Africa.

"Individual projects like this may not be sustainable, but in a wider context it is an important part of getting telecoms out to the rural areas," said telecommunications expert Arthur Goldstuck, from research group World Wide Worx.
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Solar Cookers Taking Hold in Africa: Want to Help? - Planet Green

The first model, called the "Solar CooKit," costs about $6.77 to produce, and is still in start-up phase: 500 have been produced in Tanzania, and 1,000 in Senegal (where another 500 were initially imported). The CooKit is made from cardboard and aluminum foil: in Tanzania, the foil is made from recycled Tetra Pak materials. In Senegal, Sol Suffit couldn't find an aluminum foil supplier so for the time being imports from Holland, but it's actually surplus from a packaging plant.
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Solar-Powered Irrigation Creates a Harvest of Plenty in Sub-Saharan Africa - Planet Green

Whereas vegetable intake in most villages increases during the rainy season about 150 grams per person daily, the villages using the solar pumps saw an increase of 250 grams during the dry season, bringing the average daily intake to 750 grams of vegetables per person—the equivalent of the USDA recommendation of five servings of vegetables a day.

There's no mention in the study of a plan to boost supplies of and distribute the solar pumps (they are cheaper in the long run but have higher up-front costs than fuel-based pumps, but irrigation by hand remains a common practice for economic reasons, not because of an aversion to fuel)—but if the research team can tackle that question, sub-Saharan Africa during the dry season will be a much more well-fed, nutritious, and greener place. This is a great start!
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Again, these projects are A) Africa owned and B) African run. Not only do they have the possitive effect of creating jobs (WHICH ARE NEEDED) but they also eliminate the need to spend money on the many curable and preventable deceases that western countries are still paying to fight off.
 
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