Assessment of the community’s technological literacy in the use of mobile phones for rural development

ABSTRACT

Access and use of mobile phones by communities in rural areas is a topical issue in different countries. However, there has been limited empirical literature to account for mobile phone use in rural areas for development and lifelong learning. This study employed the data which were collected from 66 phone users in rural areas to report on their technological literacy in the use of mobile phones. The data were generated through questionnaires, focus group discussions and practical tests. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were employed to analyse the data. The analysis revealed that the majority of adults in rural communities could use mobile phones through voice calls and short messages only. Only a few of them could use mobile phones to access internet services. Financial transactions and searching for information on weather, health, politics and businesses were challenging to them. This led to the conclusion that rural communities need to be empowered to access internet services through mobile phones to enhance their socio-economic development activities. It is recommended that technological literacy programmes on the use of mobile phones and the internet to maximise productivity be implemented in rural communities that are mostly farmers and producers of raw materials.

KEYWORDS:

• Lifelong learning
• socio-economic development
• technological literacy

Acknowledgments

The authors of this paper acknowledge the financial support granted by the University of Dodoma (UDOM) through Junior Academic Staff (JAS) research project that helped during data collection, analysis and report writing. They are also grateful to the Chamwino District Administrative Secretary for granting permission to carry out the research. Furthermore, the researchers are grateful to village executive officers and the local community members of Chamwino and Mnase villages for participating in this study. Finally, we are grateful to the reviewers of the International Journal of Lifelong Learning Education (IJLE) for their constructive comments that helped to improve this paper.

Disclosure statement

We wish to confirm that there are no known conflicts of interest associated with the publication of this manuscript and that it has not been influenced by the financial support which was given for this work. We also confirmed that we have given due consideration to the protection of intellectual property associated with this work. Furthermore, we confirm that we have adhered to the institution’s regulations and policies regarding research and publication.

Additional information

Funding

The authors received financial support from UDOM-JAS research project for data collection, analysis and report writing.