TIC y medios de comunicación
Y.A.A.ICT-D
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. “Mobile phone operators are bypassing rural areas. We want the government to regulate this as soon as possible. They should fine operators if they limit themselves to the urban areas and also make regulation more relevant to the needs of the people. Regulation for development, we call it. Furthermore, the rates for mobile phone calls must be lowered significantly. The government recently introduced a tax on air time, making it more expensive to use a mobile phone. The reasoning was that mobile phones are just a luxury! Yet the government also believes, as we do, that ICT is indispensable for the development of Malawi...”
Rural Areas
Kenneth Msiska expects that the effective use of mobile telecommunication will drastically change life in rural areas. “For example, someone with HIV/Aids can use a mobile phone to call the hospital to ask for advice, to get market information for agricultural products or to call the anti-corruption bureau or the police free of charge. Enforcing your rights or contesting matters will become a lot easier. One can also get free information about health care and Aids on mobile phones. It’s also very handy if you can just call family members or business partners in the city to arrange something. You can’t imagine how difficult that often is right now.”
Radio
As mobile telecommunication is still not accessible in most rural areas, Y.A.A.ICT-D currently focuses mainly on radio. Kenneth Msiska: “We make radio programmes in a number of electoral districts. This is done in cooperation with an independent radio station and the government’s national civic education programme. We let the inhabitants of the rural areas speak for themselves, especially women. What do they think should be done? Who do they think should do this? We then approach MPs or the district council for a reaction. Many MP's disconnect with their constituents once they are elected. By confronting them with the opinions of his constituency, we have managed to convince several MPs to adopt a very different attitude, with much more engagement. Some of them initially didn't want to cooperate at all. They thought that the programme was totally against them in order to shame them. But one MP eventually conceded that his constituents were right in one of the radio programs. Now the weekly radio programme is used as a best practices platform for MPs who want to serve their constituencies better by prioritizing their constituents’ needs during the spending of funds for the constituency.
Y.A.A.ICT-D
Young Advocates for the Advancement of ICT-related Development (Y.A.A.ICT-D) was established in 2003 by students of the Malawi Polytechnic (University of Malawi). The organization’s aim is to promote the use of ICT (such as computers, internet and mobile telephones) in order to advance the development of Malawi. The organization focuses mainly on young people and women in rural areas.
Tipo de organización
Intermediary development organisation
Sector
ICT & Media
País
Malawi
Fundado
2002
Contraparte de Hivos desde
2007
Sitio web
www.youngictadvocates.org
Más información
CONTACTO
Y.A.A.ICT-D
» | Dirección:
Msandula House (Off Murray Road)
In regional youth offices
P.O. Box 607
Lilongwe, Malawi
In regional youth offices
P.O. Box 607
Lilongwe, Malawi
» |
Tel. +265 - 8501622/9187026
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