Piaras Kelly PR - Public Relations in Ireland

Next time you reach into your pocket for some change for a homeless person, you might be better off giving them a phone charger. So says an article in the News Tribune (via textually.org). The publication reports that:

“… A growing number of thecity’s homeless will surprise you by whipping Nokias and Motorolas from otherwise empty pockets.

Workers at Fort Worth’s homeless shelters say the number of guests with cell phones is growing rapidly. Some shelters have even reported problems with too many guests seeking outlets to charge their phones.

Many homeless people call phones critical tools in getting off the streets. Without a phone number where they can be reached, filling out applications for jobs or housing is often useless.

Tracfones or other cheap phones with prepaid minutes can be bought for $10 to $15. They don’t require credit checks or contracts, and cards for additional minutes sell for $10 and $20 at convenience stores.”

The comments remind me of Iqbal Quadir’s talk ‘The power of the mobile phone to end poverty‘, which I commented on previously:

Iqbal says that despite aid been sent to developing countries over the past sixty years, little has improved. He suggests another approach, empowering citizens in these countries with technology. He recalls an incident in his childhood when a younger sibling was sick. Iqbal was sent to the doctor by his mother and trekked for half a day only to find that the doctor was not in and had to spend the other half of his day returning home without the medicine he was sent for. He highlights the fact that if his village had a mobile phone, they could simply have called the doctor and not wasted an entire day. Looking back on this experience in later life, Iqbal realised that connectivity is productivity. To highlight this he argues that if you counted up the number of similar incidents that could have been prevented due to the lack of technology, you would see the vast amount of resources wasted.

In related news textually.org also reports that “Ecuador has contacted foreign mobile firms to negotiate new contracts that would impose higher penalties over operational errors and push companies to create a fund that would provide cell phone service to the poor.”

Over the weekend it was disheartening to read in the Sunday Tribune that “houses built by the Niall Mellon Township Trust for some of Cape Town’s poorerst citizens are being rented out for huge sums to business people and immigrants.” This unforeseen consequence reflects the reality of the situation and highlights the fact that we need to move away from giving aid to developing countries and, as Iqbal Quadir points out, empower their citizens instead. As Princeton economists William J. Baumol and Sue Anne Blackman, with New York University economist Edward N. Wolff, pointed out in Productivity and American Leadership, “It can be said without exaggeration that in the long run probably nothing is as important for economic welfare as the rate of productivity growth.“

Technorati Tags: Piaras Kelly, Productivity