M4D: Mobile Applications Development in East Africa
The first M4D in East Africa workshop is over but the work will continue. Please join the M4D in East Africa Forum here for continuous networking, sharing of ideas, knowledge and developments.
What did the participants think about the workshop? Here are some quotes from the evaluation: "Would love to attend next year", "The workshop has been an eye-opener for most of us on the potentials and opportunities of mobile applications", "The workshop came at the right time", "It was excellent and unique in its own right", "The format was great and networking was excellent", "Annualize the workshop!".
Background
The growth and proliferation of mobile telephony in the developing world has exceeded most expectations and is causing excitement in many development circles. While still largely used for voice communication and SMS (Short Message Service), many are betting that mobile phones could be used for much more than just calling and texting each other.
Unfortunately, despite the increasing coverage of mobile networks in East Africa, mobile applications and services beyond voice are still few and/or limited geographically. Many observers have posited reasons to explain this situation, but none have strived to bring together relevant stakeholders to try and better articulate the lack of development on this front or better still chart a way forward. In order to address this state of affairs, in collaboration with a variety of both local and international stakeholders, a workshop was organised 5th-6th of November, 2008, at Protea Hotel, Kampala, Uganda.
Objectives of the workshop
The general objective of the workshop was to discuss and explore the current and future use of mobile applications in East Africa and to collaboratively identify a list of obstacles hindering the success of mobile applications and how we can potentially address them.
- The specific objectives of the workshop included:
- To show-case successful environments as well as development applications based on the mobile platform, focusing on East Africa
- To identify and explore obstacles that hinder the take-off of mobile applications in Eastern Africa
- To formulate potential solutions and generate a plan of action that we can use to move forward. This should include avenues to engage national governments, development partners, regulators, operators, application developers and other identified stakeholders.
The workshop was organised by:
Proudly Sponsored by:
