Aid and Development Agencies Provide Real World Examples of Use

Boston, MA - August 10, 2011 – When the mayor of El Negrito, a small village in Honduras, saw a volunteer from Water for People use an Android smartphone to capture data about the community water supply, he immediately started thinking about ways to use such devices in tax collection. This kind of real life demonstration of capabilities is helping promote awareness and use of advanced devices in the developing world, according to “Second Screen Prospects in Developing Countries: The NGO Market,” a report from the Strategy Analytics Emerging Markets Communications Strategies (EMCS) service.

Millions of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) provide critical health, education, and economic development services in developing countries. They are increasingly using advanced mobile devices to deliver services and leverage their field staff.

• International Medical Corps, one of the first responders after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, uses BlackBerry smartphones to coordinate field work in chaotic situations.
• Worldreader is completing trials in Ghana of using Kindle eReaders to deliver books and educational content to elementary and secondary school students.

“NGOs have an influence that is disproportionate to their size as a market,” says Tom Elliott, Director of EMCS and the author of the report. “By using devices and services in a wide variety of applications, they create a lot of exposure among potential government and business users, as well as consumers.”

NGOs play an increasingly important role in many developing countries, as they assist governments in providing essential services. They act as local conduits for international aid from donor nations, as well. “The NGO vertical market may not be huge,” notes Andrew Brown, Director of Strategy Analytics Wireless Enterprise Strategies (WES) service, “but when they use a tool, a lot of people see them using it and realize its usefulness.”