Mobile Phones a Luxury?
If your voice is not heard, you will not be acknowledged, says Kenneth Msiska, founder and director of Young Advocates for the Advancement of ICT-related Development (Y.A.A.ICT-D). His organization has proven that mobile phones and political radio programmes can give rural people a voice, especially women.
Over 80% of the population of Malawi live in rural areas. “There is hardly any electricity in these areas, and therefore hardly any ICT,” states Y.A.A.ICT-D director Kenneth Msiska. A missed opportunity, as far as he is concerned. “Naturally we believe that the government must bring electricity to rural areas. We are trying to convince the government to do so. But in the meantime, we do not just wait for things to happen. Recently we piloted the use of small solar cells to charge mobile phones. What we need now is a partner to scale up the initiative.” Whether these phones can then actually be used in rural areas is another matter."
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