Cellular Citizenship: Invigorating Development through Mobile

In Nigeria, hundreds of government-hired enumerators armed with GPS-enabled smartphones have systematically been visiting schools, water points, and health facilities across the country. At each location they take a photo, record a GPS point, and with the aid of a mobile data collection form, assess local capacity based on the availability of necessary human and material resources to deliver a given service. The goal of this ambitious effort by the government of Nigeria, with technical support from the Earth Institute at Columbia University, is to quickly develop a complete, accurate, and timely understanding of the issues related to access to vital services that are critical to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, especially by the rural poor. One of the keys to closing the poverty gap is to provide planners with increased access to accurate and up-to-date data that mobile data collection systems are making increasingly possible.