The workshop is sponsored by Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and organised by Directorate for ICT Support (DICTS) at Makerere University in partnership with Knowledge Consulting Ltd and UPGRAID.
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.
Objectives of the workshop
The general objective of this workshop is 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 include:
- 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.
To register for this event, please visit http://m4d.kcl.co.ug/content/karibu.