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farmer groups and key players as they learn to construct their own
producer-to-consumer marketing chains.
Africa is now the world’s fastest growing mobile phone market.
Lively competition and increasingly good coverage in Tanzania’s
rural areas by mobile phone companies means rural people are using
mobile phones who might never have used a landline. And soon
the need to use a computer to send e-mails could be eliminated
before most people have even seen a computer, with the introduc-
tion of General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technology. This will
enable people to send and receive e-mails on their mobile phones.
However, experience from the first phase of the First Mile Project
shows that rural poor people use their mobile phones almost exclu-
sively for social communication, to contact families and friends, and
usually only when there is an urgent need. To get market informa-
tion, for example, they are more likely to look at their village
billboard – even though the prices listed might not be up to date.
However, the situation is changing rapidly. As network coverage
expands throughout the country and mobile phones are proving
worthwhile, people are starting to think about the possibilities of
using them for other purposes – including to get updated infor-
mation on market prices, to be posted on village billboards.
An important feature of the First Mile Project is that it works with
groups of farmers, processors, traders and others in the market
chain, who will combine use of old and new communication tech-
nologies – from face-to-face communication to the Internet – to get
the information they need, share it and learn together. Building trust
and collaboration within and between the groups, and ensuring the
relevance of content are already emerging as crucial factors –more
important than actual access to ICT. The problem is not the access
to the technology, which is closer and more accessible than thought,
but whether enough value is seen in exchange of information to
justify the cost.
Networking is critical
Since 1995, IFAD has supported the development of informa-
tion and knowledge-sharing networks: first came FIDAMERICA
in Latin America and the Caribbean; this was followed by ENRAP,
the Electronic Networking for Rural Asia/Pacific; FIDAFRIQUE
in western and central Africa; and Karianet in the Near East and
north Africa. By linking IFAD-funded projects via the Internet,
these four regional networks use a range of electronic services
and activities, including monthly newsletters, mailing lists and
e-conferencing, to complement face-to-face interaction and share
ideas, issues and experience. They also help improve commu-
nication between projects, as well as with IFAD headquarters
and other partner organizations, and provide training and
connectivity support to projects.
To raise awareness of rural poverty as an issue of global, regional
and national importance, IFAD is creating a Rural Poverty Portal,
a one-stop, interactive, Internet-based learning tool that will allow
individuals to create, acquire, adapt, store, disseminate, manage
and use information about rural poverty.
Conclusion
The rapid uptake of ICT like mobile phones is a significant step
forward. But, despite progress towards more widespread access,
it is important not to lose sight of the fact that development is
not about technology or information – it is about the
economic, social and political empowerment of poor people.
Collectively, investments by both the international community
and the private sector can help bridge the gap between the
information “haves” and “have-nots”. But the key to narrowing
the digital divide is understanding that ICT is not an end in
itself.
IFAD is a specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to erad-
icating rural poverty in developing countries. Seventy-five per cent of
the world’s poorest people – 800 million women, children and men –
live in rural areas and depend on agriculture and related activities
for their livelihoods. Through low-interest loans and grants, IFAD
works with governments to develop and finance programmes and
projects that enable rural poor people to overcome poverty themselves.
Twaha Abdallah updates the market information on the billboard in Wili village, Hai district in Tanzania. Chairman of one of the village producer
groups, Twaha said: “Sometimes it takes longer to update the information due to communication difficulties but we do our best nowadays, especially
with the coming of the mobile phones.”
Photo: Mwanzo Millinga