Speaking at a two-day consultation on mobile for social change, Trevor Clark, Chief of UNICEF Field office for Madhya Pradesh said that it is a tool which can deliver services for benefit of Children.
This meeting was organized by UNICEF and Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) on ‘Mobile Phones: A tool for Social and Behaviour Change’ at Bhopal.
Mobile still has a limited reach in rural areas of MP, said Osama Manzar, Founder and Director Digital Empowerment Foundation speaking at the meet. While Faiz Ahmed Kidwai Managing Director National Rural Health Mission, said the Health Department has given 80,000 mobiles to Asha and ANMs in Madhya Pradesh to connect them.
“We need to increase its usage and this workshop will help in the same. The workshop had participation of officials of Government of Madhya Pradesh, NGOs, and telecom companies. This meet is to share best practices in use of mobile in various areas,” shared UNICEF official. Tarun Abhichandani, Group Business Director of IMRB and others also expressed their views on the occasion. According to Tarun Abhichandani, as of March 2014, there are 55.4 million wireless subscribers in Madhya Pradesh.
The workshop was attended by officials from Health, Woman and Chief Development (WCD), PRD and School Education departments.