An interesting article over on the Harvard Business Review blog network, looking at the rising use of mobile devices for providing healthcare and financial advice to women in developing countries. One of the challenges faced – how to build relationships using a medium that involves non-visual clues.
And a great soundbite explains how one company is tackling traditions that can inhibit the use of mobile phones for women in some cultures:
“A lot of big organizations will say we need to get every woman a phone. But it’s not that simple. Women can get in trouble for having a phone — what we’re trying to do at FrontlineSMS is to make phones such useful tools that it becomes a financial liability for the family to not let the woman have a phone.”
I can’t add much to the article and recommend reading in full. Sharing it here because I love stories about new technologies making a positive difference in the world.
Reference
- If you’re mobile strategy can win here, it can win anywhere – HBR, June 2013
Related blog posts
- Life, death and Twitter in Africa – May 2008
Flickr image ‘User Testing in Kwali’ kindly shared by The Reboot
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