How Mobile Technology Is Improving Everyday Life in Africa

Title: How Mobile Technology Is Improving Everyday Life in Africa.

There exists a time of the mobile revolution in all cities in Africa. It arrives at nightfall when the market places are shut, the commuters before boarding the last danfo or matatu, and the farmers are about to get their tools down. Millions of phones light up in that moment not to get a call, but to do everything: to send money back home, to check the prices in the market and to receive medical preliminary help and read about the news on the other side of the continent and even beyond. The mobile phone is the most transformative technology in the African history in less than twenty years. Its influence in the day-to-day life is so widespread that one can forget that it all started so recently.

The Leapfrog that Changed Everything.

Mobile phones were initially introduced in Africa in late 1990s as an exclusive product of the rich. There were limited landlines and long distance communication was a luxury. In ten years mobiles became a necessity. Africa was the fastest growing mobile market in the world by the year 2010. There are over 600 million Africans on mobile subscriptions today, by far the number of subscribers in the United States and Europe is less than that.

The absence of legacy infrastructure made this leapfrog. North America Africa had not invested heavily on landline networks unlike Europe. When mobile technology came there was no established system to defend or substitute. The continent might jump directly to wireless where it constructed networks which could penetrate areas that landline had never experienced before. Villages that were a few weeks away in distance before could be reached by telephone could now be contacted. It led to the communications revolution which connected Africans with each other and the world in a way never before imagined before.

Farming: The New Best Instruction of the Farmer.

No other sector has been changed so fundamentally as agriculture which provides jobs to most Africans. Weather forecasts and market prices are sent to farmers in SMS through which they use to adjust their farming skills of planting and harvesting. In Kenya, there are apps like iCow which can assist with the monitoring of livestock breeding periods. In Nigeria Farmcrowdy provider platforms match small-scale farmers with markets and investors. A farmer in Ghana now has the capability to know how to control pests, get credit, and thus sell his products at prices more advantageous all with a phone that cost less than a bag of fertilizer.

The effects on income have been recorded in the continent. Research indicates that farmers who have access to market information via their mobile phones receive better prices of their commodities. They do not waste produce as they are able to determine when and where to sell. They embrace superior practices as they access the extension services by using messages instead of travelling. The cellphone has taken the position of connecting the rural Africa to the contemporary economy.

Healthcare Saving Lives at a Distance.

Mobile health, otherwise known as mHealth, has revolutionized care in the regions where there are limited physicians and clinics. Text to Change program in Uganda delivers HIV prevention messages to millions. In Nigeria Hello Mama offers pregnancy education and appointment warnings to pregnant women. The CHWs on the continent are using mobile applications to monitor vaccinations, record disease outbreaks, and patient history. Telemedicine has evolved strongly and interlinked patients living in rural areas and forming network with specialists living in cities. Now, a patient in a remote village can consult a doctor at Lagos or Nairobi through video calling in which diagnoses and prescriptions can be performed without need of days-long travelling. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, mobile platforms turned out to be necessary to spread correct information, trace the contacts, and organize resuscitations. The phone is not a substitute of a doctor but this is the infrastructure that offers medical care to those that previously were out of reach.

Education: Education Without Classrooms.

The scarcity of the classrooms in Africa is astounding. There are schools in which millions of children study without textbooks, desks, and qualified teachers. There is a partial solution of mobile technology. In Nigeria, there are educational applications such as uLesson that offer video lessons and practice tasks based on national curricula. Remote students are now able to receive an instruction that is equal to that found in city schools. In adult platforms like ALX and Andela, they provide training on technology skills that result in employment. This change was hastened by the pandemic. Millions of people on the continent were left with no alternative other than mobile learning since schools were closed. Lessons were being distributed to the non smartphone holders through radio and SMS. Previously neglected governments started investing in educational technology. The impact is a production of learners who no longer see education based on the physical classroom. Mobile phone has become an entry point into the knowledge that was hitherto unreachable.

Business: The Marketplace in your Pocket.

One of the most apparent changes is the change of commerce brought about by mobile technology. Mobile money has transformed the phone into the bank account. Kenya M-pesa carries out transactions valued at above 300 billion a year. In Nigeria, fintech companies such as Paystack and Flutterwave have enabled the ubiquity of the digital payment in Nigeria. The market trader who previously accepted payments in cash also takes payment in the form of QR code. The owner of the small business who had difficulties obtaining credit is now issued loans according to his transaction history. E‑commerce has followed. Online stores like Jumia and Konga have brought up continental scale markets. A customer in Abidjan can order products in Accra and deliver at their home. An artisan in Nairobi is able to sell to clients in London. The distance, payment and trust barriers which were limiting African trade before are being broken. Mobile phone has democratized the markets.

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Governance and Civic participation.

The mobile technology has transformed Africans interaction with their governments. Lastly, in Nigeria, the BVN (Bank Verification Number) system is a system that identifies millions of citizens with financial services via their phones. In Kenya the eCitizen system enables the citizens to access services in government through the internet. Monitoring of elections has become revolutionized in which citizens who are the observers report on what has taken place in real time. Citizens have been provided with an instrument to hold them accountable using the mobile phone and engage in the democratic process. We can call the situation in Senegal the Y en a Marre movement where through mobile technology, the youth organized protests that altered the political environment. Social media enables activists across the continent to coordinate, document human-rights abuses or give voices that previously were suppressed. The phone has because become an instrument of empowerment.