The ​third meeting of the second cycle of the m-Powering Development Initiative took place on 2 February, 2018 in London, United Kingdom.

The meeting  was held at the GSMA London Office, Wallbrook Building.

During the meeting Advisory Board Members recieved  and reviewed the draft final reports of the working groups, agreed on their content and identified ​the next steps to be taken to implement the work plan.

m-Powering Development Initiative Board meeting held in London

The 3rd meeting of the m-Powering Development Initiative Advisory Board was held in London, United Kingdom on 2 February 2018.

At the meeting, the Advisory Board Members reviewed reports prepared by the Board's three Working Groups on Advocacy, on Affordability and Access and on Partnerships.

The reports of the Working Groups include, among others, proposals to set-up an innovative multi-stakeholder partnership framework for the effective deployment, by potential partners, of m-services to contribute to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The reports also make recommendations on actions to be taken to foster access and affordability, and to provide high-level advocacy messages on opportunities and the role mobile technologies play as an empowering tool in a digital world.

"The m-Powering Development Initiative continues to make key recommendations for the effective deployment of m-services across sectors worldwide," said Brahima Sanou, Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau. "While reaffirming the importance of collaboration, partnership building and innovation, the Initiative is putting forward concrete proposals to support socio-economic development."

The Board meeting was chaired by Lawrence Yanovitch, President of the GSMA Foundation. He said, "I am honoured to have chaired the 3rd Meeting of the Advisory Board of the m-Powering Development Initiative in London. There were lively discussions which I hope will pave the way ahead as we move forward to a more action-oriented phase for the Initiative."

The m-Powering Development Initiative is designed to leverage the phenomenal growth of mobile technology to create a resource and an action plan to deploy ICT services, from m-Health, m-Learning, m-Governance to m-Commerce. In doing so it can cut costs and reshape for the better, public service delivery for millions of individuals, particularly those living in remote or rural areas of the world.