by Jim Wiiliams, TFCA 2012, Almaty, Kazahstan

1. Pick the Right Tech
Designing Tech Projects for Communities
in Hard to Reach Areas
Jim Linton Williams
PEPL jim@pepl.org.uk
@williamthejam

2. Pick the Right Tech
Pick the problem first, not the tech
Design around the community’s habits
Keep it simple
Make it useful
Build on existing relationships of trust

3. Basic Community Habits
Income
Literacy
Mobile Penetration
Internet Penetration
Media Use

4. Low Tech Awesomeness
Example Pros and Cons
Missed Call Voting Cheap, low literacy. Needs mobile phones only.
Web to Paper Needs literacy. Can be expensive.
Loudspeaker + Car Get a simple message to a single community
GPS + Motorbike Can be expensive, and needs training.
Interactive Voice Response Complex for organisation, easy for users
FabFi Brings fast intranet to nearby organisations / facilities

5. Mobile Penetration - 2009
Country SIMs per 100 people
Afghanistan 40.3
Kazakhstan 94.4
Kyrgyzstan 84.3
Tajikistan 70.5
Turkmenistan 29.4
Pakistan 60.7

6. Mobile Penetration - Pakistan
Indicator Data
SIMs per 100 60.7
More than one SIM 22%
Phones per 100 37% *
Access in the Household 65% *
Use in Last Three Months 96% *
* (amongst poorest 60%)

7. Mobiles and Women in Pakistan
1. Ownership: 17.6 % of poorest 60% women nationwide (n=900)
12.5 % women in Sindh (n=81)
17.6 % women in FATA / KPK (n=224)
2. Access: 65 % of poorest 60% - ‘access in household’ (n=900)
70 % nationwide – ‘access in household’ (n=1200)
3. Use: 12.5 % in Kashmore use a phone daily (n=81)
13.5 % in FATA use a phone daily (n=224)

8. Decision Time
Detailed Discussion of Project Design
Or
Research Training

9. Sampling
Random
Comprehensive
Equal chance of participation

10. Research Questions
Not open ended
Specific
Not leading
Comprehensive

11. Bad Questions
1. Jude Law is a terrible actor, isn’t he?
1. If you need to borrow money, who do you ask?
2. What time of day do you listen to the radio?
• Morning
• Afternoon
• Lunchtime
• Breakfast time
• After school

12. Good Questions
1. How good an actor is Jude Law?
• Brilliant
• Good
• Ok
• Bad
• Terrible
1. What time of day do you listen to the radio?
• Between 6am and 12pm
• Between 12pm and 6pm
• Between 6pm and 12 am
• Between 12am and 6pm

13. Sample Size
Regions Population Sample Size Max Margin of Error
FATA & KPK 26,730,375 800 3.46%
KPK 22,650,788 400 4.90%
FATA 4,079,587 400 4.90%
Lecture Hall 100 80 4.92%

14. The Magic Formula
But if that makes no sense, just try to do at least 400 interviews

15. Choosing a Medium
Broadcast at Scale
Accessible
Familiar
Appropriate
Conducive to Responses
Manageable Data

16. Choosing a Medium
Broadcast at Scale Cost-efficient communication to the audience
Reliable access to the medium
Accessible
Competence in the use of the medium
Familiar Above all, do no spam.
Appropriate Language, script, style, voice
Conducive to Responses Easy, cheap and culturally normal to reply
Manageable Data Clean, discrete, comparable data

17. Comparison
SMS Voice
Broadcast at Scale Cheap and simple Also simple; More expensive
Speaking and listening are intuitive;
Accessible Tech-literacy is a barrier
button input is not
Familiar Unknown numbers Unknown numbers
Literacy is a major barrier, especially for
Appropriate women; shared literacy can mitigate Much easier to manage
Scripts are problematic
More expensive for end user;
Conducive to Responses Literacy a barrier
Can be a toll free number
Easier with IVR button input – audio
Manageable Data Very difficult
calls need to be listened to