A global scan of m-apps

Attachment to the report ―Mobile applications in Afghanistan: Mainstreaming across Government and
developing the ecosystem,‖ of June 2010.

Health

Name of
Category Description/Summary Target Users Country
Service/Product
1. Learning Provides an anonymous forum to learn General Population, Nigeria
Education, about Living about health, AIDS, personal HIV/AIDS Patients
Awareness development, and living skills.
Interactive eLearning tool based on the
Nigerian Family Life and HIV/AIDS
Education (FLHE) curriculum, as well
as the mobile phone-based programs
MyQuestion and MyAnswer.
2. HealthLine Speech recognition-based information Healthcare Workers Pakistan
system with a menu-driven program
that can be accessed via landlines or
mobile phones.
3. Mobile Provide high-quality medical Healthcare Workers Uganda
HIV/AIDS information and advice to healthcare
Support workers using PDAs.
4. Primary A virtual nursing course, which is Healthcare Workers Guatemala
Healthcare taught via a combination of telephone
Nursing and two-way data communications,
Promotion was provided.
Program
5 .Cell- Provide real-time data to members of Healthcare Workers Peru
Data PREVEN the health care ecosystems through an
Gathering interactive voice response system
enabling health workers in the field to
collect and transmit data via basic
mobile phones.
6. Media Lab Use handheld devices to collect a wide Healthcare Workers India
Asia – Shared array of data in the field—medical
Resource for history, demographics, immunizations,
Rural Health and instances of disease, which will be
Management transmitted from the devices to the
and Information health information system database,
Infrastructure, where it can be accessed on a real-time
basis.
7. Mobile- SMS-based interface, which will allow Health Officials, India
Based Primary patients to transmit information to or Patients
Healthcare receive information from a central
Management database via a basic mobile phone.
System Medical staff and health officials will
be able to access this database from
 more sophisticated, web-enabled
mobile phones.
8. PC-based software application used for Healthcare Workers Worldwide
FrontlineSMS sending and receiving group SMS
messages allowing NGOs to run
awareness-raising campaigns and
competitions, and carry out text-based
surveys, or to simply keep in touch
with fieldworkers and supporters.
10. Handhelds Open source disease surveillance Healthcare Workers India
for Health allowing health workers to use mobile
devices to collect, validate, and
transmit data to a centralized server,
which is accessible to resident experts,
who can use the real-time data to
rapidly identify disease trends and
make informed public health decisions.
11. Anthro Software for assessing growth and General population International
2005 development of the world’s children (3 and public officials
modules: Anthropometric, individual,
nutrition)
12. Cell-Life Aftercare health workers monitor Healthcare Workers South
Monitoring Project patients whom they visit at home. Africa
and Workers use data-enabled mobile
Treatment phones to record information about the
Support patients’ medical status, medication
adherence, and other relevant factors
Data is transmitted via SMS to the
central Cell-Life database
13. Mobile Enable HIV/AIDS patients to use their Health Officials, India
Care, Support mobile phones to access their lab tests Patients
and Treatment and medical history reports.
Manager Can be used for nutritional planning,
(MCST) and creating alerts reminding patients
to take their medication, and connect
with a help line
14. Voxiva Service to help strengthen the capacity Government agencies USA
HealthWatch of national, state, regional and local
governments to monitor and respond to
disease outbreaks (done in real-time
via web, text messaging, mobile phone
or PDA)
15. Mobile Use of VHF radio and mobile walkie Pregnant women and Uganda
Walkie Talkies talkies to enable a network of health care providers
traditional birth attendants to partner
with public health service centers to
deliver health care to pregnant women
Source: Compendium of ICT Applications on Electronic Government, UN

Education
 Name of
Category Description/Summary Target Users Country
Service/Product
1. Lifelines A service that facilitates the exchange Teachers, India
Instruction Education of vital information using the power of Students,
Process voice as the primary means of Administrator
knowledge disseminations.

Pose questions on academic matters via

mobile phone; Teacher queries are
answered within 48 hours by a qualified
panel of experts
2. Tribal CTAD Automated SMS response for paper- Educators, UK
– M-Learning based multiple-choice quizzes. Learners
Products
Students text in answers from their
mobile phone and receive instant
feedback.

Access a growing online library of

ready-made content.

3. Project view Explore the use of camera phones and Teachers, USA,
(Visual Inter- digital storytelling for cross-cultural Students Japan,
culture connections among students around the South
Education on world. Africa,
the Web) Brazil
Students exchange video messages on
locally relevant issues or more general
content such as neighborhood
exploration
4. Sakai Project Open source learning environment University International
project that produces mobile community
applications for students: SMS and
MMS to a student’s personal learning
space.

Many members of Sakai use it to

support teaching and learning, ad hoc
group collaboration, support for
portfolios and research collaboration.
5. ChinesePod Learning Chinese and Spanish with General population People’s
SpanishPod instruction delivered through mobile Republic of
devices. China

Learning 6. Ask Me Now Offer a natural language-based General population USA

Products interaction and dynamic provision
platform designed for simple and quick
information retrieval.

7. Declan Language learning software that can be General population USA

 Language used on mobile platforms.
Learning
Software for
windows
Mobile Pocket
PC

8. Dr Math The very successful South African Students South

mobile instant message math tutoring Africa
platform.

9. Inveneo Support in-country information and Schools, African

communications technology (ICT) General population countries
professionals in remote and rural
communities in the developing world.

To server remote and rural

communities in developing countries.
10. ICT BITES The project was initiated by the Students Tanzania
Ministry of Education and Vocational Teachers
Training in Tanzania and is funded by
SPIDER.

There is a special focus in the project

on in-service education of "Licensed
Teachers", teachers with only a few
weeks of formal teacher education.
11. SyberWorks Offer Mobile Learning, which allows Corporate trainers, USA
Organiza- Training Center organizations to install their online Training materials
tional – Mobile courses locally. developers
Training/ Learning
Informal Since a user does not have to be
Learning connected to the Internet to the course,
training can occur virtually anyplace
and at any time.

12. mLearning Automate the delivery of content to Organizations’ USA

Pro today’s diverse mobile devices. training,
Development staff
Organizations can easily publish,
notify, and deliver learning content to
mobile users.
13. Fifedirect Offer free school closure alerts to Fife Country Scotland,
School parents, pupils and other people community UK
and affiliated with the Fife country school
Program system.
Administ-
ration The mobile text alert service lets
residents know about disruptions to the
school schedule due to bad weather.
 14. SEMA SEMA (SMS Education Management Ministry of Education Kenya
Project Application) provides the Ministry of
Education with technology to enable
SMS based communication with
primary school teachers for school
empowerment program, EMIS
(Education Management Information
System), ongoing teacher training.

15. Frontline The system enables users to send and Various users Various
SMS receive text messages with groups of
people through mobile phones; allows
surveys or data collection, supporting
M&E and program administration.
Source: Compendium of ICT Applications on Electronic Government, UN; Mobile phones for good governance
– challenges and way forward

Rural development

Name of
Category Description/Summary Target Users Country
Service/Product
1. Village This program allows individuals to Villages Various
A means to Phone programs open a mobile phone business to
entrepreneurship sell airtime to local villagers.
2. The It is an initiative of the Grameen Farmers Uganda
Community Foundation explores how locally-
Knowledge based individuals equipped with
Worker (CKW) mobile phones can serve as ―trusted
intermediaries‖ for small-holder
farmers in Uganda.

Working in collaboration with local

partners, the Grameen Foundation is
developing information services
using locally-created content that
allow CKWs to access a wide range
of information for farmers upon
request.
Access to 3. Disaster & The program uses widely available General population Sri Lanka
information Emergency mobile communication technologies
Warning such as short messages (SMS) and
Network cell broadcast (CB) to create a cost-
(DEWN) effective and reliable mass-alert
system.

The network connects mobile

subscribers, police stations,
religious/social community centers
and the general public to a national
 emergency alert center.

4, Reuters A personalized professional Farmers India

Market Light information service for farmers.
(RML)
RML has over 170,000 subscribers
across 12,000 villages.

Farmers subscribe to get SMS alerts

a few times a day, with the content
being based on a choice of three
markets and two crops.

RML provides farmers information

on market prices, weather
information, and agricultural
practices and farming strategies
5. Souktel Connects job seekers with Job seekers, Iraq,
Access to employers and connects employers, Jordan,
markets humanitarian groups with people humanitarian Palestine,
seeking aid agencies Somalia
Souktel’s JobMatch allows users to
create mini-resumes, which are then
accessible by employers who can
post job listings, which users can
search by factors like job or
location.
6. KomKom A simple m-application that allows Artisans Africa
craft artisans to manage their
business better: it tracks their sales
and personal and professional
expenses, allowing artisans to be
more aware of their earning and
spending and make appropriate
financial decisions.
7. WIZZIT MTN Banking customers in South General population South
Access to Africa use their phone as the Africa
finance primary way of accessing their bank
account.

MTN, a mobile network operator, is

partnered with Standard Bank, and
WIZZIT is partnered with the South
African Bank of Athens Customers
load cash into their bank accounts at
branches or automatic teller
machines (ATMs), or through a
direct deposit of salary, and can use
their mobile phone to purchase
 airtime and make payments,
transfers, and balance inquiries.
8. M-PESA (Being piloted as M-Paisa in Government, Africa,
Afghanistan) allows users to general population Afghanistan
transfer money using their mobile
telephones.

It may be used for person-to-person

transfers or even for Government to
person transfers, cutting the costs of
managing social protection
programs, for example.

A tool for 9. Avaaj Otalo A ―voice-based community forum‖ Farmers India

program that connects farmers in Gujarat,
management India to relevant and timely
agricultural information over the
phone.

Farmers call up and then navigate

through audio-prompted menus to
ask questions, listen to answers to
similar questions, and listen to
archives of a popular radio program
for Gujarati farmers.

The number farmers can call is toll-

free.
10. EMIT It is a mobile and web data Government, South
collection system, that can be used internation Africa
to collect, analyze, and report using organizations, aid
live data from the field. agencies

Features include online form

creation, online or mobile interface
for data entry, and built-in logic,
error checking and decision support.

EMIT simplifies the data collection

process that might otherwise need
lengthy paper surveys.
Source: Authors’ analysis and research.

Agriculture

Name of
Category Description/Summary Target Users Country
Service/Product
1. WOUGNET Pulling information regarding livestock Farmers Uganda
Livestock management.
management
 Supports female farmers by answering
livestock, agricultural and business
questions over mobiles in addition to
encouraging women to use ICT.
2. GL-CRSP Utilizes mobile phone technology in Farmers Africa
Livestock Early research and intervention programs
Warning System linking rural livestock producers with
(LEWS) markets through the provision of
market prices, and forage quantity and
quality forecasts via SMS text
messaging.
3. Farmer’s Pushing information on livestock Farmers Uganda
Friend (Grameen management
AppLab) Provides crop and livestock, pest and
disease control information, planting,
storage and harvesting tips, as well as
regional weather forecasts.

The technical farming information is

provided by Busoga Rural Open Source
Development Initiative, a local NGO
that works with a network of farmers to
collect and share local farming
techniques
Answers to common questions are
provided in English.
4. GL-CRSP Utilizes mobile phone technology in Farmers, traders Kenya,
Livestock research and intervention programs Ethiopia,
Information linking rural livestock producers with Tanzania
Network and markets through the provision of
Knowledge market prices, and forage quantity and
System (LINKS) quality forecasts via SMS text
messaging.

LINKS has provided the platform for

the development of a National
Livestock Market Information System
(NLMIS) in Kenya, Ethiopia, and
Tanzania.

The overall objective of the NLMIS is

to increase market access for livestock
producers and traders.
5. Pilot by RVC: Royal Veterinary College students – Farmers, Vets Tanzania
Monitoring cattle Andrew Hagner and team – launched a
disease pilot to monitor cattle disease.

Using a multiple choice form

(developed on the Google Android
platform) on their mobile phones, the
 students entered details about the
animals they examined, specifically to
track the spread of East Coast Fever.
6. Qualcomm’s Primarily pushing information on Farmers, fishermen India
Wireless Reach agriculture.
initiative –
BREW program Allows farmers to access up-to-date
information on weather, crops, pest
control and markets, so they can make
better-informed farming decisions.

Also serves fishermen by providing

information on weather, fishing areas
and fish markets.
7. Distance A system that allows for digital sample Farmers USA,
Diagnostics submission through mobile telephony Central
through Digital as well as the Internet for diagnosis of America
Imaging (DDDI) plant diseases, weeds, insects, and other
- International agricultural problems.
Regional
Organization for OIRSA specializes in the areas of
Plant and Animal animal health, plant health and
Health (OIRSA) quarantine services.

Its objective is to develop and

coordinate programs for the prevention,
control and eradication of diseases and
pests in its member countries.
8. KSL Agri Farmers who purchase a Bharti Airtel Farmers India
Helpline (Bharti ―Green SIM‖ have access to value
Airtel and IFFCO added services, which include daily
Farmer Co- agri voice messages and an agri
operative) helpline
VAS platform to offer free daily voice
updates on mandi prices, farming
techniques, weather forecasts, fertilizer
availability.

Dedicated helpline for farmers to

answer their queries.
9. 1919 Agrarian advisory service by Ministry Farmers Sri Lanka
of Agriculture.
10. Kenya This project will establish a new voice- Farmers Kenya
Farmer’s based Farmer Helpline to provide
Helpline agricultural information to Kenyan
(KenCall) (it may smallholder farmers via their mobile.
not be live yet)
The Farmer Helpline (sponsored by
GSMA) will be broadly available
across all of the mobile networks
 within Kenya and will be set-up by an
established provider.
Irrigation, 11. Industrial automation control via SMS General population, Sweden,
water GSM/SMS/GPRS message farmers Finland,
resources Remote Control Subscribers can receive text messages Estonia,
management and Monitoring with the occurrence of an event Poland,

via Cellular automatically to GSM cell (mobile) Lithuania,
Phone or GSM phones. Latvia
modem
Subscribers can transmit command
messages and switch remote
equipment.
12. Dynamet The Dynamet is a high quality weather Farmers North
(Not an station with a complete set of sensors America
application but for measuring key environmental
retrievable parameters and calculating ETp
through evapotranspiration.
cellphone and
could be turned A solar panel and 12 volt battery allow
into an the weather station to operate
application) continuously unattended.
Data can be retrieved by a PC using
RS-232 interface and cables. Modem,
cellphone and RF radio data retrieval
options are also available.

Growers can schedule irrigation, pest

control applications and other crop
maintenance programs to optimize
harvests using this approach.
13. Rain Bird Irrigation is controlled from the General population, North
Landscape computer or using a cellular phone via farmers America
Irrigation the FREEDOM system
Company Users can stand next to a suspect
sprinkler head and turn the valve on by
simply punching numerical codes into
the phone.

Users can immediately verify that the

sprinklers are working.
14. It monitors the crop's water needs via Farmers USA
SmartCropTM cell phone, which can be electronically
linked to irrigation.
base stations
It can track the temperature of crop
leaves and report it to computers that
SMS message the farmer.
Source: mobileactive.org and search engines