Youth, mobility and mobile phones in Africa: findings from a three-country study

Abstract

The penetration of mobile phones into sub-Saharan Africa has occurred with amazing rapidity: for many young people, they now represent a very significant element of their daily life. This paper explores usage and perceived impacts among young people aged c. 9–18 years in three countries: Ghana, Malawi and South Africa. Our evidence comes from intensive qualitative research with young people, their parents, teachers and other key informants (in-depth interviews, focus groups and school essays) and a follow-up questionnaire survey administered to nearly 3000 young people in 24 study sites. The study was conducted in eight different sites in each country (i.e. urban, peri-urban, rural and remote rural sites in each of two agro-ecological zones), enabling comparison of experiences in diverse spatial contexts. The evidence, collected within a broader research study of child mobility, allows us to examine current patterns of usage among young people with particular attention to the way these are emerging in different locational contexts and to explore connections between young people's phone usage, virtual and physical mobilities and broader implications for social change. The issues of gender and inter-generational relations are important elements in this account.

Keywords:

• adoption and diffusion of IT and rate of uptake
• sustainable development in developing and transition economies

Acknowledgements

We thank the many people who have contributed to this study: the young people who agreed to participate in this study as researchers and respondents, other informants and the following RAs and researchers: Ghana: Samuel Agblorti, Esia Donko, Regina Obli-Odei, Mercy Otsin, Samuel Owusu and Ekaw Afful Wellington; Malawi: Linny Kachama, Matthews Nkosi, Bernie Zakeyo, Brian Mkandawire, Meya Mkandawire, Faith Hackim, Lucia Desire, Maurice Zulu, Kisinger Chima and Chiwaula Joseph; South Africa, Eastern Cape: Sipho Dube, Goodhope Maponya with assistance from Andisiwe Bango, Nokholo Hlezupondo, Busi Luwaca and Noma Mlomo. We are grateful for their assistance. The larger study was funded by ESRC/DFID (RES-167–25-0028): however, the funders can accept no responsibility for any information provided or views expressed. We also thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.

Notes

Thomas Molony is the accepting Guest Editor for this article.

We use the terms children and young people interchangeably in this paper to refer to the age group with which we worked (principally 9–18-year-olds). The definitions of childhood and youth are difficult, especially in an African context (e.g. Durham, 2010).

Our research also had a novel young researcher strand whereby 70 school pupils aged between c. 11 and 20 years undertook their own peer research. This was conducted at an early stage in the project and findings were fed into and helped shape the adult academic research questions. Mobile phones became a key communication tool for linking with and supporting the young researchers as they undertook studies in their communities. Further information is available on the project website: www.dur.ac.uk/child.mobility/.

Among other uses of mobile phones, use for emergencies was only rarely reported, but much valued when circumstances arose such as sickness or serious travel problems: “I used it [mother's mobile] to call my dad who was at work to inform him that one of my brothers was sick. My mother told me to make the call”. [Boy, 12 years, U, Ghana coastal zone]. “[15-year-old daughter] has her own mobile phone … she does not use it in class but in case of emergencies like when it rained hard and the bus could not bring them back [home from school]” [Mother, 45 years, RR, South Africa GNW]. There were also occasional references to use for trade as in the case of an 18-year-old girl in Ghana's forest zone urban site who had bought her mobile phone from the proceeds of onion trading and now finds it essential for her trading activities. As Overå (2005, 2008) reported for Ghana, the cost-saving potential is particularly great in organizationally complex, geographically dispersed, commodity chains such as the onion chain, if all network partners have mobile phones.

Non-usage sometimes occurs, especially among younger children, in those circumstances where the phone has to be borrowed from family members, but was more often presented as due to lack of resources or lack of connectivity in remote locations. Deliberate total non-use was not reported in our study.

Out-of-school, that is, not currently enrolled or attending school, despite being of school age.

The Malawi government is not satisfied with the poor coverage of rural areas by private and state-operated telephone network providers and has developed a Universal Access Policy to give rural populations access to affordable communication (Nkawihe, 2007).

Solar and wind-up phone chargers have not, as yet, become widespread, so rural mobile phone owners resort to charging their phones (for a fee) intermittently at settlements which have electricity supply but may be some distance away from their homes.

The potentially disruptive influence of phones in school has become a major issue across the world (Ford & Batchelor, 2007). At the time of our research, we found this to be mostly reported as a concern among teachers in urban secondary schools where pupils are older and wealthier: outright bans on phone use in school were becoming increasingly common, especially in South Africa, where phone use among young people is particularly high: “School policy is that learners are not supposed to bring cell phones to school. The policy was introduced two years ago. We have resorted to confiscating the cell phones … ” [Deputy High School principal, PU, South Africa GNW] However, teachers’ use of phones in class was also (as noted in Malawi school essays and elsewhere) observed on occasions by pupils to be a disruptive influence.

Though Slater and Kwami (2005, p. 12) suggested that gifts of phones by sugar daddies (i.e. older, cross-generational – usually sexual – partners) to young girl friends in Ghana allow both control and surveillance.