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Conferences

Organised by the:
Development Informatics Group,
Institute for Development Policy and Management
and the Brooks World Poverty Institute (BWPI),
University of Manchester.

According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), there are now more mobile subscribers than fixed line subscribers, and mobile teledensity rates continue to outstrip fixed teledensity in every region of the world. ITU statistics show that global mobile subscribers increased from approximately 740 million subscribers in 2000 to over 1.8 billion subscribers, or 28 per cent of the world’s population, by the end of 2004. This translates into approximately one in three people around the world have a mobile phone. Furthermore, with one million new subscribers every day, it is estimated that almost four billion people will have a mobile phone by the end of 2010.

Rising figures of the uptake of mobile phones are indicative of the huge potential mobile devices have in reaching significant portions of erstwhile excluded populations. Could such devices also be used to deliver development initiatives to these sets of people? This workshop will bring together field evidence on the use of mobile devices in delivering development objectives in a range of developing and transitional countries. It will explore the application of mobile devices to health, education, economic and social empowerment, human rights, commerce etc.

Workshop Report

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A short report on key "m-development" issues and research priorities arising from the workshop is available.

• Workshop Report (PDF, 28KB).

Agenda

Please refer to the agenda for further details.

• Agenda (PDF, 20KB).

Speakers at the workshop

Presentations