Report on Proceedings of the State Consultation
Mobile Phones: A Tool for Social & Behavior Change
Date: June 17-18, 2014
Venue: Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh
The MSBC Consultation, a joint effort of UNICEF India and DEF, was organized on 17- 18 June 2014 at Courtyard by Marriott, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. The objectives of the consultation were twofold – firstly, to share select case studies that have effectively used mobile phones in area of health, education, water and sanitation and women and empowerment; and secondly, to create a platform to share implementation mechanisms of the case studies to aid in developing partnerships between state government and MSBC players. The two-day long consultation involved different stakeholders – including government, private sector companies, academia, device, VAS, and telecom players, practitioners, and experts. The consultation also provided a forum for discussion about partnerships and collaborative work amongst government, private, bilateral agencies, CSOs and others in mobiles for SBC. The two-day consultation also dwelt on how mobile phones, which are used mainly for talking and internet based information access, can be used in the areas of women and child health, child nutrition, education, and water and sanitation.