Apps For Development: Lessons From mPowering

Posted on MobileActive.org, this article reports on technology developed by the California, United States (US) non-profit organisation mPowering: customised mobile apps (computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks) to help reach people living on less than US$2 a day and connect them with funding opportunities and programmes in the developed world. The goal of mPowering is to leverage existing mobile infrastructure to open up channels of access to those living in remote areas of Nepal and India. These programmes provide incentives to economically poor individuals for reporting to school or work, via mobile application.

For example, in Orissa, India, 175 children in the village of Juanga earn points for attending school and can redeem the points for food, clothing, and medicine. Teachers have been supplied with donated Android phones with the mPowering application. Through the app, they can "scan" children in for attendance. The programme is expanding: the mPowering app will allow teachers to enter additional information on grades and attendance, and a daily lunch will be provided to the participating students who have successful attendance. The team has data on student attendance for 3 months in Orissa; data from the school in Orissa, for example, comes in to mPowering servers on a daily and weekly basis. These data show that those children who were part of the incentive programme had a near perfect attendance compared to those who were not in the programme.

Before an mPowering application is developed, such as the one being used in Orissa, the mPowering team conducts field research and partners with local institutions to implement the programme. Local partners, such as the Citta Foundation in India, also help monitor and lead programmes after mPowering employees implement the project and leave the field. A team of volunteer developers based around the world help build the apps. In developing mobile apps, mPowering keeps in mind:

1. The local language: mPowering apps are meant to transcend any language barrier.
2. Ease of use: mPowering focuses on smartphones because "[w]ith text messaging, if one letter or one character is off, you've lost them."
3. Pictures over words: mPowering apps are meant to transcend literacy rates.
4. Follow "intuitive behaviour: If a normal day for a child is to come to school and then take part in roll call, the app will follow the same behaviour: a student comes to school and then scans in via mobile.
5. Include all potential users: According to mPowering, "[w]e also want to incorporate women into our program and they are the most shy when it comes to some technologies. We wanted to make sure we didn't create something that had them taking five steps ahead of what they already use a mobile phone for."

A mobile donor app that mPowering is developing will incorporate photos and videos in order to connect donors with sponsored schoolchildren. Donors can select how often they wish to receive updates (daily, weekly) and on what platform (via the mobile app, SMS, or on the mPowering website).

A recurring challenge for mPowering is mobile access and service; in some programme locations, service can be limited and it can be difficult to figure out how to collect data via the app.