GSMA and The MasterCard Foundation Release Report on Mobile Learning

London and Toronto, May 24, 2012 – The GSMA and The MasterCard Foundation today released a new report, ‘Shaping the Future – Realising the Potential of Informal Learning Through Mobile’. The report focuses on the needs and aspirations of underserved young people, the barriers they face to education and employment, and how the existence of mobile technology in their lives can enable them to achieve their ambitions. It also highlights opportunities that exist for the industry to develop mobile learning services that can directly benefit underserved young people in developing countries.

“Currently, 69 million young people globally have no access to basic education, while 759 million adults don’t have a formal education – there is clearly a huge opportunity for mobile in addressing this issue,” said Chris Locke, Executive Director, GSMA Development Fund. “Mobile is already playing a key role in development areas such as providing access to banking, health information, and to agricultural services reaching rural farmers. The scale and ubiquity of mobile networks means they are often the only infrastructure in remote and rural areas, and the mobile industry has shown incredible innovative and sustainable approaches to using their networks to aid disadvantaged groups.”

The study took place in 2011 and GSMA researchers interviewed 1,200 underserved young people in Ghana, Uganda, Morocco and Maharashtra in India, to explore the potential of mobile technology to support their education and employment goals. The findings indicate that mobile learning (mLearning) has a unique role to play in reaching those who are outside of the scope of traditional schooling, and who can benefit from access to simple educational programmes. It also points to challenges that limit the uptake of mLearning services, such as cost of services, lack of infrastructure, limitations of basic mobile phones in delivering visual content, and lack of long-term investments in mLearning.

“By listening directly to underserved young people and their experiences, this report takes a bottom-up approach to identify opportunities for mobile technology to expand learning,” said Reeta Roy, President and CEO of The MasterCard Foundation. “Our hope is that insights shared by young people in this study will be used to create mobile learning initiatives that are tailored to their needs.”

Key findings across the youth from the four countries are as follows:

• Education is one of the three biggest priorities in life for the young people surveyed, with 39 percent naming it as their key priority to providing the financial stability and improved standard of living that they currently lack;
• Only one quarter of participants named the classroom as their primary source of information and education. Friends and family were seen as far more important information sources, named by 41 percent, while 43 percent relied on television;
• One in four said that the number one barrier to accessing educational resources was lack of funds, and in Ghana, this number reached almost half of those surveyed;
• Seventy-four percent of mobile owners surveyed said that it is the number one asset they own and 63 percent believed that they could learn through even a basic mobile device; and
• Eighty-five percent of young mobile users made voice calls every day and 67 percent of respondents believed that calls would be the most desirable method for receiving content such as educational information.

The report includes recommendations such as:

• Linking mLearning services into existing behaviours, priorities and interests of young people, for example, through sport activities, music or informal social settings;
• Targeting whole families when advertising mLearning services, so that parental ‘gatekeepers’ see its value and can loan or invest in handsets;
• Using mLearning services to connect young people together to discuss current lessons or homework;
• Incorporating advertising in mLearning services to drive down costs;
• Using role models to promote mLearning services; and
• Collaborating with governments, policy makers and international development community to deliver employment information and opportunities through mLearning services.

The report was released at the 2012 e-Learning Africaconference in Benin. To download this free report, visit www.mastercardfdn.org or www.gsma.com/development-fund/.

About the GSMA

The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide. Spanning more than 220 countries, the GSMA unites nearly 800 of the world’s mobile operators, as well as more than 200 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset makers, software companies, equipment providers, Internet companies, and media and entertainment organizations. The GSMA also produces industry-leading events such as the Mobile World Congress and Mobile Asia Expo.

For more information, please visit the GSMA corporate website at www.gsma.com or Mobile World Live, the online portal for the mobile communications industry, at www.mobileworldlive.com.

About The MasterCard Foundation

The MasterCard Foundation advances microfinance and youth learning to promote financial inclusion and prosperity. Through collaboration with committed partners in 48 countries, The MasterCard Foundation is helping people living in poverty to access opportunities to learn and prosper. An independent, private Foundation based in Toronto, Canada, The MasterCard Foundation was established through the generosity of MasterCard Worldwide at the time of the company’s initial public offering in 2006. For more information, visit www.mastercardfdn.org.

For further information, please contact:

For the GSMA:
Abigail Faylor: +44 (0)2070 670 851
afaylor@webershandwick.com or press@gsm.org

For the MasterCard Foundation:
Toni Tiemens
Senior Manager, Communications, The MasterCard Foundation
Email: ttiemens@mastercardfdn.org