We so often hear that people want more case studies of M4D services that, have scaled to reach wider audiences, or are showcasing new innovative approaches. GSMA’s M4D Impact team recently released 10 new service case studies gathering the latest intelligence and updates from CEOs, founders, and leaders implementing Mobile for Development services across sectors.
Looking to geographies from Africa to Asia, and sectors as diverse as Mobile Financial Services to Utilities, this snapshot of organisations offers insight into a range of activity in M4D at differing levels of maturity and scale. Here are three case studies from the report that we think that are innovative and have scaled.
Zoona– pronounced ‘Z-oh-na’ and meaning ‘it’s real’ – is the leading mobile money operator in Zambia. The company’s core product is a mobile-based Zoona Account. These accounts are managed by their Zoona Entrepreneurs, enabling them to process money transfers, pay suppliers, and access working capital financing.
These Zoona Entrepreneurs provide members of the public – the service’s end users – with a quick and safe money transfer service, along with third-party cash-in/cash-out services. The service has reached over 600,000 end users, through a network of over 650 dedicated ‘Zoona Entrepreneurs’, who earn an average of $500 per month in commission per outlet. Want to find out more? Download the full case study here.
NextDrop leverages the recent proliferation of mobile phones in India to provide households with accurate and timely information via SMS about the intermittent supply of local main-line water in Indian secondary cities. This reduces waiting time for water and enables better planning and rationing of stored water supplies. In order to monitor and improve the operations of the water utility companies with whom it works in partnership, Nextdrop also provides a mobile reporting system for the water utility workforce and utilises customer feedback on the quality of water supply received. This provides unprecedented real-time visibility on the functioning of the system, which improves decision making towards the delivery of a better water service.
The service has reached over 35,000 households, and covers 70-90% or more of the occupants of the areas it serves. With users providing feedback about the quality of service, citizens who never become a registered user of the service may benefit from overall improvements to the water supply delivered because of NextDrop’s work on the utility networks. Want to find out more? Download the full case study here.
BBC Janalais an adult-focused English teaching and learning programme designed for the Bangladeshi market. It is part of English in Action, a UK government-funded programme that works to raise standards of English learning in schools around the world. Operating with a multi-platform approach, it uses mobile technology and other media to connect its users with affordable, accessible, and culturally relevant English lessons in print, video and audio.
Today, it reaches 28 million people across multiple regions and socioeconomic backgrounds, helping them to develop a standard of communicative English that will benefit them in the increasingly internationalised Bangladeshi economy. BBC Janala believes that, in doing so, they can boost individual incomes, bring about economic improvement across Bangladesh, and enhance the nation’s international economic standing. With an impressive 10 million active users of the service across platforms (crucially including a mobile IVR component), 56% of which have shown competency increases, this is service worth finding out more about.Download the full case study here.
Thanks to Pete McNally and Finn Richardson, Research assistants at GSMA M4D Impact for this post
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