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Digital possibilities in international development_Soundbite

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•
F
Freddy Bob-Jones

The document discusses the potential benefits of digital technologies in international development as well as challenges to realizing that potential. Key benefits include mobile phones improving access to markets and services for farmers, reducing travel needs through e-government services, and delivering education and health information via mobile apps. However, affordability, literacy, lack of local content, and limited physical access continue to constrain digital's impact. Moving forward, focus is needed on expanding connectivity, developing relevant local content, increasing affordability, and strengthening real-world foundations to support digital growth.

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Promoting sustainable prosperity and growth for all Digital possibilities in international development Soundbites
online search tools, the migration to mobile devices, the creation of social networks and crowd sourced collaboration has created an unstoppable wave of digital innovation that is transforming whole industries, societies, economies and people. In looking at ‘digital’, it is important to understand that this is more than just a set of instrumental technologies like analytics, big data, mobile, cloud and social networks. For example, a smartphone has information intensity and connectedness, but also has applications that can bring real value to its user, and transform and disrupt industries. To understand the full potential of ‘digital’, one needs to go beyond single technologies and ‘apps’ to consider the ecosystems that are being built based on making things digital. This Soundbite considers the application and potential benefits of digital technologies in international development, before exploring some of the key challenges to realising the full potential of digital technologies in development. It concludes with a consideration of what might come next. As a concept, digital can best be defined as the increasing trend towards greater information intensity and connectedness of physical resources. Organisations, processes, people, teams become digital through applying technologies that can extract information and connect resource and its information to other resources. Heralded as the third industrial revolution, digital technologies are dramatically changing the scope of our lives across the globe at an unprecedented rate. Just as the steam engine powered the second industrial revolution, the new digital age has been driven forward by innovations in the internet and personal computing. Over the last 3 decades or so, the evolution of Digital possibilities in international development Figure 1. A typical day in the life of the internet 186 Instagram photos 4.2 billion Google searches 36 million Amazon purchases 803 million tweets 8.8 billion Youtube Videos watched 152 million Skype calls 207 billion emails sent
The solutions – what benefits can digital deliver in development countries? Digital technologies are having a transformative impact on the lives of many in developing countries. Mobile phones, in particular, have been the driving force of the digital revolution in developing countries. 65% of Sub- Saharan Africans, for example, now own a mobile phone and this is projected to increase to 91% by 20201 . This widespread adoption of mobile devices are making a real difference in the lives of many people in developing countries. Millions of farmers, for example, now use mobile applications such as Esoko and Manobi to search prices and sell in more markets thereby helping to improve their income and welfare. Countries such as Uganda and Kenya are increasingly using e-government portals to digitise the delivery of public services such as the registration of drivers’ licenses and payment of taxes which in turn reduces the need to travel long distances or the opportunity for bribery. M-PESA (the mobile money platform made possible as a result of seed investment by the UK Department for International Development) is now used as the currency of choice across most of Kenya, allowing many families to easily pay bills and buy goods and services using their mobile phone. The benefits (and potential) of digital can also been seen in the delivery of key basic services such as education and health. Many developing countries are facing a youth demographic bulge as they continue to grow their development trajectory. Africa’s population, for example is projected to rise from 1 billion in 2010 to 2.7 billion by 20502 . The implications of this will involve dramatic increases in the number of children to be educated and technology will need to play a central role in addressing this. Mobile devices and apps are increasingly being used to deliver learning and education to children in remote areas across many developing countries. In Malawi, for example, Onebillion.org has established learning centres, providing education applications in the local language on tablets powered by solar power. The use of this technology is allowing educators to reach many more children without the prohibitive costs of having to build more schools. Organisations like Camfed are at the forefront of using mobile technology to monitor individual girls’ progress through school, uploading data on bursaries, family situation, attendance and performance and using the insights generated by data analysis to inform positive action. Mobile innovation is also delivering positive health outcomes. For example, maternal and infant mortality is a major healthcare challenge in developing countries with a new-born baby dying every 30 seconds due to delivery complications. Many health workers in the periphery of these health systems (such as midwives in remote areas) do not have sufficient levels of training and are difficult to reach with traditional classroom training. Mobile innovations such as the Delivery App (developed by the Maternity Foundation) can deliver guidance (via animations) for health workers in handling childbirth complications, for example if the mother begins to bleed after giving birth or the newborn is not breathing. The animated videos, available both in English and local languages, can be used irrespective of poor literacy skills and language barriers and help to save lives. Digital possibilities aren’t just confined to the widespread application of mobile technology. Other technologies such as blockchain, smart cards, 3-D printing, big data analytics, sensors, drones and machine learning are increasingly being used to deliver positive solutions in international development. For example, the use of smart card readers was critical to delivering a relatively fraud-free outcome in the 2015 Nigerian elections. India’s National Aadhaar program has biometrically identified 900 million Indians, thereby making it easier for its citizens to attain fuel and food subsidies. 1 http://www.gsmamobileeconomy.com/GSMA_Global_ Mobile_Economy_Report_2015.pdf
In Rwanda, authorities are currently drafting regulations to allow for the building of the world’s first drone airport. This will enable more effective shipping of health equipment, goods and food to remote rural areas. Big data analysis of mobile call data records and data from sensors are delivering insights into real time economic activity patterns in urban areas thereby informing better planning around social services and infrastructure as these communities grow. The challenges – what’s stopping the potential development? The benefits and potential of digital in developing countries are clear. Despite this, however, there remain significant challenges to realising the full potential. These include constraints around affordability, literacy, gender, relevant local content and physical access. • Affordability: Although there have been concerted efforts to bring down the costs of mobile devices and data plans, the costs of accessing the internet still remains prohibitively high for many people in developing countries. As a consequence, connectivity remains beyond the reach of the poor, particularly those who must prioritise basic needs (such as food, shelter, water and energy) over access to the internet. • Literacy: Significant progress has been made improving adult literacy rates across developing countries. Despite this, however, there are still significant sections of these populations that lack basic literacy skills. For example, around 37% of the adult population in Sub Saharan Africa still lack basic literacy skills. In addition to basic literacy, digital literacy (i.e. the ability to navigate, evaluate and create information using a range of digital technologies) is also a major constraint to the effective take-up of digital technologies in developing countries. There are also gender and age related dimensions to the effective use of digital technologies in many of these countries. • Local content: Digital content and services that are relevant, accessible, and available to users in local languages are necessary to realise the full benefits of digital applications in developing countries. The majority of digital applications and services used by people in these locations, however, continue to be developed in OECD markets with little customisation for local markets. Local content developers often face significant barriers to entry including lack of access to the main mobile application stores, lack of access to necessary developer skills, and management of fragmentation caused by multiple operating systems and devices. The go-to-market costs for new apps can also be substantial due to the significant marketing investment required to build awareness and discoverability in app stores. • Physical access: Many people in developing countries live in rural and geographically remote areas. Whilst 2G networks have been extensively developed in many developing countries (for example, 70% of the mobile connections in India and China are on 2G networks), higher speed mobile broadband network coverage remains limited to urban areas due to the lack of investment in 3G/4G networks and local internet exchange points. These areas have additional infrastructure challenges such as a lack of electricity infrastructure and low road density, which can provide additional obstacles to accessing digital services. 2 http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and- africa/21598646-hopes-africas-dramatic-population-bulge- may-create-prosperity-seem-have
What next? The potential of digital technologies to improve lives in developing countries can’t be overstated. Digital tools can open access to free education via mass open online courses and mobile devices, farmers can use mobile information to improve their crop yields and get better prices for their produce, midwives in remote areas can use mobile information to support the safe delivery of babies and citizens can use digital technology to access services, better understand what their governments do and improve transparency and accountability. As momentum gathers around the digital revolution in developing countries, we suggest four areas of ongoing focus for the coming period: • Connect the unconnected: The U.N. has tied global development goals to universal, affordable Internet access and many key global stakeholders have signed up to the Connectivity Declaration. The private sector has been at the forefront of initiatives to bring better digital access to the unconnected in developing countries. Innovative projects like Google’s Loon, in addition to drone based pseudo- satellites, have demonstrated the potential to bring high quality mobile and internet access to remote areas of the globe. Stakeholders from the public and private sector should continue to support these innovative projects to bring better connectivity to the unconnected. • Make content local and relevant: The potential of digital technologies to create new eco-systems and open up economic opportunities (for example the ‘App’ economy driven by the Apple App Store and Google Play) is already evident in trends observed in many developed economies. The explosion in mobile subscriptions and availability of increasingly affordable smart phones points to similar possibilities in developing countries. The provision of digital content that is local, accessible and relevant will be a key aspect of making this happen. Multiple stakeholders (i.e. governments, mobile operators, tech companies, device manufacturers, donors and NGOs) will need to play an active role in facilitating more local digital content in developing countries. • Make the technology more affordable: Low GDP per capita income levels in developing countries means that consumer digital technology such as smartphones are simply unaffordable for a majority of people in these countries. Similarly the cost of running these devices (e.g. data plans) can also be prohibitively expensive for many people. Efforts are already underway to produce affordable smartphone handsets in Africa such as the MTN Steppa $50 smartphone recently released in South Africa. • Strengthen the real world foundations for digital growth: As set out in the World Bank’s forthcoming World Development Report 2016, developing countries need to ensure that the real world foundations for digital growth are not neglected in their economies. Improvements in the business and regulatory environment will be key to stimulating the right levels of private investment into the infrastructure and support services necessary to drive digital growth and innovation in developing countries and protect the poor and marginalised in these countries. As digital technologies continue to evolve, it’s imperative that developing countries are not left behind. The benefits that digital can bring to these countries is huge and bringing connectivity to the unconnected has the potential to transform lives for the better across the globe.
This publication has been prepared for general guidance on matters of interest only, and does not constitute professional advice. You should not act upon the information contained in this publication without performing appropriate due diligence and/or obtaining specific professional advice. No representation or warranty (express or implied) is given as to the accuracy or completeness of the information, and, to the extent permitted by law, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, its members, employees and agents accept no liability, and disclaim all responsibility, for the consequences of you or anyone else acting, or refraining to act, in reliance on the information contained or for any decision based on it. © 2016 PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. All rights reserved. In this document, “PwC” refers to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP which is a member firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited, each member firm of which is a separate legal entity. www.pwc.co.uk/internationaldevelopment follow us @PwC_InterDev Contact Andy Woodfield 0207 804 3750 andy.woodfield@uk.pwc.com Freddy Bob-Jones 0207 213 8286 freddy.bob-jones@uk.pwc.com

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Digital possibilities in international development_Soundbite

  • 1. Promoting sustainable prosperity and growth for all Digital possibilities in international development Soundbites
  • 2. online search tools, the migration to mobile devices, the creation of social networks and crowd sourced collaboration has created an unstoppable wave of digital innovation that is transforming whole industries, societies, economies and people. In looking at ‘digital’, it is important to understand that this is more than just a set of instrumental technologies like analytics, big data, mobile, cloud and social networks. For example, a smartphone has information intensity and connectedness, but also has applications that can bring real value to its user, and transform and disrupt industries. To understand the full potential of ‘digital’, one needs to go beyond single technologies and ‘apps’ to consider the ecosystems that are being built based on making things digital. This Soundbite considers the application and potential benefits of digital technologies in international development, before exploring some of the key challenges to realising the full potential of digital technologies in development. It concludes with a consideration of what might come next. As a concept, digital can best be defined as the increasing trend towards greater information intensity and connectedness of physical resources. Organisations, processes, people, teams become digital through applying technologies that can extract information and connect resource and its information to other resources. Heralded as the third industrial revolution, digital technologies are dramatically changing the scope of our lives across the globe at an unprecedented rate. Just as the steam engine powered the second industrial revolution, the new digital age has been driven forward by innovations in the internet and personal computing. Over the last 3 decades or so, the evolution of Digital possibilities in international development Figure 1. A typical day in the life of the internet 186 Instagram photos 4.2 billion Google searches 36 million Amazon purchases 803 million tweets 8.8 billion Youtube Videos watched 152 million Skype calls 207 billion emails sent
  • 3. The solutions – what benefits can digital deliver in development countries? Digital technologies are having a transformative impact on the lives of many in developing countries. Mobile phones, in particular, have been the driving force of the digital revolution in developing countries. 65% of Sub- Saharan Africans, for example, now own a mobile phone and this is projected to increase to 91% by 20201 . This widespread adoption of mobile devices are making a real difference in the lives of many people in developing countries. Millions of farmers, for example, now use mobile applications such as Esoko and Manobi to search prices and sell in more markets thereby helping to improve their income and welfare. Countries such as Uganda and Kenya are increasingly using e-government portals to digitise the delivery of public services such as the registration of drivers’ licenses and payment of taxes which in turn reduces the need to travel long distances or the opportunity for bribery. M-PESA (the mobile money platform made possible as a result of seed investment by the UK Department for International Development) is now used as the currency of choice across most of Kenya, allowing many families to easily pay bills and buy goods and services using their mobile phone. The benefits (and potential) of digital can also been seen in the delivery of key basic services such as education and health. Many developing countries are facing a youth demographic bulge as they continue to grow their development trajectory. Africa’s population, for example is projected to rise from 1 billion in 2010 to 2.7 billion by 20502 . The implications of this will involve dramatic increases in the number of children to be educated and technology will need to play a central role in addressing this. Mobile devices and apps are increasingly being used to deliver learning and education to children in remote areas across many developing countries. In Malawi, for example, Onebillion.org has established learning centres, providing education applications in the local language on tablets powered by solar power. The use of this technology is allowing educators to reach many more children without the prohibitive costs of having to build more schools. Organisations like Camfed are at the forefront of using mobile technology to monitor individual girls’ progress through school, uploading data on bursaries, family situation, attendance and performance and using the insights generated by data analysis to inform positive action. Mobile innovation is also delivering positive health outcomes. For example, maternal and infant mortality is a major healthcare challenge in developing countries with a new-born baby dying every 30 seconds due to delivery complications. Many health workers in the periphery of these health systems (such as midwives in remote areas) do not have sufficient levels of training and are difficult to reach with traditional classroom training. Mobile innovations such as the Delivery App (developed by the Maternity Foundation) can deliver guidance (via animations) for health workers in handling childbirth complications, for example if the mother begins to bleed after giving birth or the newborn is not breathing. The animated videos, available both in English and local languages, can be used irrespective of poor literacy skills and language barriers and help to save lives. Digital possibilities aren’t just confined to the widespread application of mobile technology. Other technologies such as blockchain, smart cards, 3-D printing, big data analytics, sensors, drones and machine learning are increasingly being used to deliver positive solutions in international development. For example, the use of smart card readers was critical to delivering a relatively fraud-free outcome in the 2015 Nigerian elections. India’s National Aadhaar program has biometrically identified 900 million Indians, thereby making it easier for its citizens to attain fuel and food subsidies. 1 http://www.gsmamobileeconomy.com/GSMA_Global_ Mobile_Economy_Report_2015.pdf
  • 4. In Rwanda, authorities are currently drafting regulations to allow for the building of the world’s first drone airport. This will enable more effective shipping of health equipment, goods and food to remote rural areas. Big data analysis of mobile call data records and data from sensors are delivering insights into real time economic activity patterns in urban areas thereby informing better planning around social services and infrastructure as these communities grow. The challenges – what’s stopping the potential development? The benefits and potential of digital in developing countries are clear. Despite this, however, there remain significant challenges to realising the full potential. These include constraints around affordability, literacy, gender, relevant local content and physical access. • Affordability: Although there have been concerted efforts to bring down the costs of mobile devices and data plans, the costs of accessing the internet still remains prohibitively high for many people in developing countries. As a consequence, connectivity remains beyond the reach of the poor, particularly those who must prioritise basic needs (such as food, shelter, water and energy) over access to the internet. • Literacy: Significant progress has been made improving adult literacy rates across developing countries. Despite this, however, there are still significant sections of these populations that lack basic literacy skills. For example, around 37% of the adult population in Sub Saharan Africa still lack basic literacy skills. In addition to basic literacy, digital literacy (i.e. the ability to navigate, evaluate and create information using a range of digital technologies) is also a major constraint to the effective take-up of digital technologies in developing countries. There are also gender and age related dimensions to the effective use of digital technologies in many of these countries. • Local content: Digital content and services that are relevant, accessible, and available to users in local languages are necessary to realise the full benefits of digital applications in developing countries. The majority of digital applications and services used by people in these locations, however, continue to be developed in OECD markets with little customisation for local markets. Local content developers often face significant barriers to entry including lack of access to the main mobile application stores, lack of access to necessary developer skills, and management of fragmentation caused by multiple operating systems and devices. The go-to-market costs for new apps can also be substantial due to the significant marketing investment required to build awareness and discoverability in app stores. • Physical access: Many people in developing countries live in rural and geographically remote areas. Whilst 2G networks have been extensively developed in many developing countries (for example, 70% of the mobile connections in India and China are on 2G networks), higher speed mobile broadband network coverage remains limited to urban areas due to the lack of investment in 3G/4G networks and local internet exchange points. These areas have additional infrastructure challenges such as a lack of electricity infrastructure and low road density, which can provide additional obstacles to accessing digital services. 2 http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and- africa/21598646-hopes-africas-dramatic-population-bulge- may-create-prosperity-seem-have
  • 5. What next? The potential of digital technologies to improve lives in developing countries can’t be overstated. Digital tools can open access to free education via mass open online courses and mobile devices, farmers can use mobile information to improve their crop yields and get better prices for their produce, midwives in remote areas can use mobile information to support the safe delivery of babies and citizens can use digital technology to access services, better understand what their governments do and improve transparency and accountability. As momentum gathers around the digital revolution in developing countries, we suggest four areas of ongoing focus for the coming period: • Connect the unconnected: The U.N. has tied global development goals to universal, affordable Internet access and many key global stakeholders have signed up to the Connectivity Declaration. The private sector has been at the forefront of initiatives to bring better digital access to the unconnected in developing countries. Innovative projects like Google’s Loon, in addition to drone based pseudo- satellites, have demonstrated the potential to bring high quality mobile and internet access to remote areas of the globe. Stakeholders from the public and private sector should continue to support these innovative projects to bring better connectivity to the unconnected. • Make content local and relevant: The potential of digital technologies to create new eco-systems and open up economic opportunities (for example the ‘App’ economy driven by the Apple App Store and Google Play) is already evident in trends observed in many developed economies. The explosion in mobile subscriptions and availability of increasingly affordable smart phones points to similar possibilities in developing countries. The provision of digital content that is local, accessible and relevant will be a key aspect of making this happen. Multiple stakeholders (i.e. governments, mobile operators, tech companies, device manufacturers, donors and NGOs) will need to play an active role in facilitating more local digital content in developing countries. • Make the technology more affordable: Low GDP per capita income levels in developing countries means that consumer digital technology such as smartphones are simply unaffordable for a majority of people in these countries. Similarly the cost of running these devices (e.g. data plans) can also be prohibitively expensive for many people. Efforts are already underway to produce affordable smartphone handsets in Africa such as the MTN Steppa $50 smartphone recently released in South Africa. • Strengthen the real world foundations for digital growth: As set out in the World Bank’s forthcoming World Development Report 2016, developing countries need to ensure that the real world foundations for digital growth are not neglected in their economies. Improvements in the business and regulatory environment will be key to stimulating the right levels of private investment into the infrastructure and support services necessary to drive digital growth and innovation in developing countries and protect the poor and marginalised in these countries. As digital technologies continue to evolve, it’s imperative that developing countries are not left behind. The benefits that digital can bring to these countries is huge and bringing connectivity to the unconnected has the potential to transform lives for the better across the globe.
  • 6. This publication has been prepared for general guidance on matters of interest only, and does not constitute professional advice. You should not act upon the information contained in this publication without performing appropriate due diligence and/or obtaining specific professional advice. No representation or warranty (express or implied) is given as to the accuracy or completeness of the information, and, to the extent permitted by law, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, its members, employees and agents accept no liability, and disclaim all responsibility, for the consequences of you or anyone else acting, or refraining to act, in reliance on the information contained or for any decision based on it. © 2016 PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. All rights reserved. In this document, “PwC” refers to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP which is a member firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited, each member firm of which is a separate legal entity. www.pwc.co.uk/internationaldevelopment follow us @PwC_InterDev Contact Andy Woodfield 0207 804 3750 andy.woodfield@uk.pwc.com Freddy Bob-Jones 0207 213 8286 freddy.bob-jones@uk.pwc.com