The Mobile phone, social and economic development engine in Africa (1/2)

On October 2, 2010, in Posts in English, by Pierrick Jacob
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Technology follows a different path in Africa as in the West, due to poverty. The mobile phone has become the most widely used tool of communication, with still-expensive computers lagging behind. According to a report published by the French Institute of Foreign Affairs (IFRI), there were 246 million mobile line users in 2008. (…) The growth rate of the mobile market and the Internet in Africa is two times bigger as the global average.

Mobile usage growth in Africa

The mobile phone technology is creatively used by health programmes, weather forecasts, to control the price of goods and to access banking services.

A tool of prevention and medical assistance

The AIDS epidemic in Africa is still dramatic, with many HIV-positive people not having access to any kind of treatment. Cell Life is an initiative developed together by the University of Cape Town and the Peninsula University of Technology with the aim of improving the lives of the people infected with the HIV, with the help of the mobile phone technology in South Africa.

The areas worst affected by the HIV suffer from a lack of qualified health professionals. Cell Life uses mobile telephones to put in contact professionals and patients so they can communicate information about the treatments. Each doctor or nurse can thus give advise remotely to about 20 patients. There are other diseases that can be equally fought off in this way: This system of health care through mobile communication has helped to impede the propagation of Typhoid epidemic in Uganda too.

Photo futureatlas (Flickr) sous licence CC by

Widely accessible weather forecasts

The initiative ‘Weather forecasts for everyone’ was launched in June 2009. In Africa there is an important lack of weather stations and monitoring, so the weather forecast coverage is 8 times lower than the minimum recommended by the World Meteorological Organization. There is a sense of urgency in solving this problem: The climate change affects directly the daily life of farmers, who need accurate weather information in order to prepare themselves against potential problems. The project ‘Weather forecasts for everyone’ counts with the help of the World Humanitarian Forum, Ericsson, the World Meteorological Organization and the Telecom Zain. They will install more than 5000 meteorological autonomous stations and transmit the data collected with the help of mobile telephones. The initial deployment has already started and is concentrated in the areas of the South of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

A useful way of managing prices in the agricultural market

The cellphone allows farmers to know the prices of agricultural products firsthand and avoid middle men by selling directly to the consumer. Mobile phones help also increase revenues while reducing the final price for the consumers. In Kenya this service is provided in the cereals market by the DrumNet network.

People using their cellphones in Soweto, South Africa —JON HRUSA/EPA/SIPA

Mobile banking

In the rural regions of Africa, access to traditional banking is heavily limited. This means that a big number of people can only use cash as a method of payment, which not only is less convenient but also limits their business opportunities. Mobile phones help change this reality by offering the users a way to access banking services through mobile networks.

Gimme that code

More specifically, mobile banking allows the users to make bill payments, transfers, deposits and withdrawals. These orders are done by SMS, with PIN codes to authenticate the transaction authors.

In the cases of Congo and Zambia, customers can use their cellphones to pay their bills. The customer opens an account with Celpay and then can make payments by sending SMS to Celpay, which in turn transfers the money to the merchant’s account.

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The Great Green wall under heavy criticism

On October 1, 2010, in Posts in English, by Pierrick Jacob
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Certain people among environmentalist groups and scientist question the project of the Great Green Wall in Africa (we talk about it here: The Great Green Wall project: 11 African countries against the advance of the Sahara)

‘Nothing but a daydream to misuse money’

The FFEM (French Global Environment Facility) has promised 119 million dollars (97 million euros) to finance the project.

Haidar El Ali, leader of the Environmentalists Federation in Senegal declared in RFI -Radio France International- the 17th of June 2010 that this project wasn’t convincing enough: ‘I just come from the countryside and everywhere I hear the same complaints. The farmers don’t have enough seeds, and sometimes none at all. For me the Great Green Wall is a Utopia, daydreaming to misuse money‘.

In the creation of the Great Green Wall there are economic and political interests at play, so for Haidar El Ali ‘this wall is show biz. Name a single Senegalese project that has succeeded. People have other things to do and don’t trust this anti-democratic government that presents itself as green but over exploits the forests and doesn’t even consider the solar energy‘.

The desert approaches

Scientiest doubt the effectiveness of the project

For Marc Bied-Charreton, president of the French Scientific committee for desertification in an interview in www.terre-eco.com, this initiative is going to inevitably fail: ‘It’s incorrect to say that the desert is advancing and that we need to stop it. What is progressing is the deforestation of soils. Therefore what we need to do is protect the soils and not build barriers like these‘.

Martin Benistor, lecturer in the Institue of Environmental Sciences in the University of Geneve questions the efficacity of the project: ‘A green cover to interact with the atmosphere and increase the rains. But with a width of about 15 km, this seems insufficient. The wall could modify the atmospheric conditions and counteract the expansion of the desert in certain semi-arid zones, but never along its whole length‘.

This is the answer of one of the people promoting the project, professor Abdoulaye Dia, of the University of Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar: ‘Around one hundred scientists, American, Israelis, Japanese and African met in February 2009 to study the viability of the project. They identified the species of trees, the soils and the rain rates better adapted to the conditions of reforestation. In Senegal for example, we plant above all acacias ‘.

What are the alternatives to the project?

Marc Bied-Charreton proposes a solution based on two main axis: Sustainable agriculture and Decentralization.

Sustainable agriculture

The implementation of Sustainable agriculture to protect the soils means:
  • Stopping the practice of leaving the land fallow six months per year.
  • Limit the ploughing
  • Introduce rotation of cultivation
  • Decrease fertilizer usage
On the political side of the problem, Decentralization:
  • The states must accept the management of farmable land to the villages or groups of villages. This is the way it is done in Mali, Niger or Burkina Faso and it works.
  • For the reforestation to take place, the local people should have access to the profits. This is how they can get engaged in the process and how the massive cutting down of trees avoided.
  • The administration should not try to establish a top-down system for transfer of technical help and information, this is bound to fail.

Related posts: The Great Green Wall project: 11 African countries against the advance of the Sahara

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How to travel in Africa: #5 The Holy Guide Book

On September 19, 2010, in Posts in English, by Baobabguides
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In Baobab Guides we have thought that, as we know everything about travelling, it would be great to share our infinite wisdom and help other travellers. This is why we have created this article series ‘How to travel in Africa’.

The Holy Guide Books. Pic by Sheep"R"Us

The most important object in your trip after your passport is your guidebook. As everyone knows the guide is infallible, so follow its instructions exactly as they are printed and you will be fine. If anyone says anything that contradicts the guide, don’t trust them.

The guide is also perfect to learn about the country’s history and national psyche. If you have read it you probably know everything there is to know and you won’t need to speak to any local.

It is very important never to deviate from the trip’s plan and absolutely never visit any place not described in the guidebook. If a route or accommodation is not printed in our beloved book, it doesn’t exist or even worse, it hasn’t been certified the author as a visit-worthy, ‘good’ place. Beware of those advising you to get lost in the streets of the cities and wander! That’s not a plan, it’s a complete waste of time, and you know what we think about wasting time!

Actually, it is probably best not to take any risks buying any guidebook that is not widely known. If you buy a Lonely Planet or a Rough Guide, you will definitely won’t fail. Even better, this way you’ll meet lots of travellers like you who go to the same places, which is always comforting.

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How to travel in Africa: #4 Ice cubes in your drink and other dilemmas

On September 14, 2010, in Posts in English, by Baobabguides
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In Baobab Guides we have thought that, as we know everything about travelling, it would be great to share our infinite wisdom and help other travellers. This is why we have created this article series ‘How to travel in Africa’.

Mojito without crushed ice, please. Pic by 'JACoulter'

If you drink something containing ice cubes in an exotic country, you’ll die soon. You know it, you’ve read it in the guide, you’ve seen it in the Foreign Office website, your friends told you, the doctor warned you, even the neighbor’s wife, who last year went to Morocco in summer mentioned it. You will also die if you eat any piece of fruit that you haven’t peeled yourself, or if you drink from a bottle of water you didn’t see how was opened.

As you don’t want to die, the best thing to do is to take countermeasures. Whenever you get served ice cubes, ask -demand!- they are immediately removed from your drink. Never mind that almost-boiling Coca Cola, take off those ice cubes, you fool! Always demand it, do not dare to forget it. It’s not proven, but everybody knows that in certain countries they make ice cubes out of polluted water. Be strong. Neither the mojito nor the caipirinha will be the same, but you’ll be safe.

In the case you have been invited to a house and someone is offering you their traditional food and warm hospitality, you’ve got a dilemma. Of course you don’t want to offend them by not eating their salad, the already-peeled fruit and the meat that’s a bit too red inside. At this point, there are two schools of thought. One says you should be firm and not eat absolutely anything remotely dangerous for your delicate health. Say it clearly to the lovely local: You are not eating his suspicious food. There is no point in not offending them if as a result you die. And, anyway, this food looks strange! What you’d like a a good dish of spaghetti with tomato sauce.

The second option is more radical: Eat it all and then at the end of the meal, go discreetly to the toilet and force yourself to throw up. Be careful not to make too much noise or they will get suspicious. With this handy technique, you won’t offend anyone, but will go hungry.

Remember to be alert at all times, make no exceptions, danger hides in every corner. The most important thing is to make it back home alive.

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Okavango Poler’s Trust. Mbiroba Rest Camp (Botswana)

On April 27, 2010, in Posts in English, by Javier Leandro Sobradillo
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Mbiroba is a Rest camp which also offers hot showers, traditional huts and bungalows. It is right on the Delta shores. The main activities to be done here are the Mokoro traditional canoe trips, which are managed through the Okavango Poler’s Trust organisation. You can make one day or two day trips, sail deep into the delta and contemplate the landscapes, fauna and absolute quietness of the waters, only interrupted at dusk by the calls of the hippos.

Don't bother him

We had a fantastic time here. We took the two-day Mokoro trip, and led by the experienced poler we were able to spot a lot of wild animals in the delta. The hippos were really impressive, and seeing them from so close is quite an experience. They are maybe 15 or 20m away, and they suddenly submerge into the water, and you get nervous and think “where is it!? is it diving towards us?”. The poler knows perfectly how not to disturb them, and keeps always a good safety distance.

Also, we saw a big group of Elephants crossing the river and again this is one of those moments when nobody has to tell you to shut up, you just do it naturally as you contemplate the scene amazed, with no other option than waiting.

For the two day trip, you camp in a small island at the heart of the delta. You need to bring your own camping gear, the poler brings his own. Then at night you cook around the fire under the stars, and early in the morning you go for a game walk, quite an experience too.

All in all, we found it a superb way of enjoying the delta and making sure our money was well spent as all of it gets to the Poler’s Trust, supporting directly the community.


View Namibia and Botswana. Baobab Guides in a larger map

Contact: Simba Madigah, Tourism Consultant and Rest camp Manager

Address: PO Box 24 Seronga Botswana

Tel: +2676876861

Fax: +2676876939

Mobile: +26775168206

Web: www.okavangodelta.co.bw

Email: okavangodelta@botsnet.bw

How to get there: Mbiroba is about 2km South of Seronga, on the Northern part of the Okavango Delta. To get there it is necessary to cross the Okavango River in the free Ferry of Mohembo, close to the border with Namibia, in Shakawe. Once crossed, you need to travel south to Seronga. There are clear signs on the road. If you want to cross without your car, you can leave it in Sepupa. Take the ferry there (90 min) and cross directly to Seronga. If you do this, make sure you call Mbiroba in advance so they go to pick you up.

Price: Around 250 pula per person per night

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