AudiencScapes

As healthcare projects deploying text messaging multiply in Africa, researchers are beginning to evaluate their effectiveness. Dinfin Mulupi reports on some of the emerging results.

The U.S.-supported Sudan Radio Service is actively encouraging its audience to vote in the upcoming referendum. The station has struggled to find voices in favor of peace if the results don’t conform with their wishes.

Farmers throughout Africa are using mobile technology to get access to current market information for their crops. Esoko, a Ghanaian software company, is moving from a nonprofit model to a business model to increase the use of its agricultural software. Dinfin Mulupi reports.By Dinfin Mulupi A mobile application created by Ghanaian software company Esoko has enabled small holder farmers in Africa to negotiate better price deals for their crops and control the timing and location of their supplies. With a successful pilot project in Ghana off the ground, and expansion underway to several other African nations, the company is now setting up country franchises to run Esoko’s system as a business. Agriculture has for years been described as the engine for growth in most African countries.

Evidence is increasing that information and communication technologies can be applied to help people adapt to the impacts of climate change. The world’s most vulnerable populations are also feeling the greatest effects of global warming. Newton Sibanda reports on how ICTs may help mitigate the damage in Zambia and beyond.By Newton SibandaCANCUN, Mexico --  While the climate change summit here wrapped up with an agreement on funding adaptation to climate change, a recent UN report argues that people on the ground can use technology now to help cope with the effects of climate change. For much of the world, this technology is used mainly to chat or play games, but it can be vitally important for the world’s most vulnerable populations, those hardest hit by the impacts of climate change.