The m-Powering Development Initiative 2nd Advisory Board meeting was held in Geneva from 8 to 9 June.
The meeting reviewed reports prepared by the Board's Working Group on Advocacy, Working Group on Affordability and Access and the Working Group on Partnerships.
The work plans includes proposals for innovative and concrete partnership models related to fostering access and affordability, solutions to lift the barriers to mobile technology uptake and engaging governments and the private sector through clear messaging on the importance of mobile technologies in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Mr Brahima Sanou said, "the m-Powering Development Initiative seeks to encourage and facilitate the large expansion in mobile communication use to address inclusiveness and stimulate economic and social development, especially in those communities around the world that lack access to vital services.
He added, "cross-sectoral collaboration is vital in order to build synergies which will foster access, affordability and skills development. New partnerships and funding models are needed to build impactful solutions to improve access to education, healthcare, agricultural, financial and government services at affordable prices."
The m-Powering Development Initiative is chaired by Mr Sam Pitroda.
The 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 and m-Commerce. In doing so, it can cut costs and reshape, for the better, public service delivery for many millions of individuals, particularly those living in remote or rural areas of the world.
The next meeting of the Advisory Board is tentatively scheduled for November 2017.
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