Lifelines

The Lifelines project came about when, in 2004, British Telecom's CSR Department put out a tender for non-profits to work on ICT innovations for sustainable development. OneWorld UK had been working with Vodafone on using mobile phones for a Q&A service on health issues in Kenya.

This led us to the idea of doing something similar for farmers, based on the technology we had developed, and BT warmed to the idea. We approached OneWorld South Asia to partner with us - and the Lifelines programme in South Asia was further developed as a combination of OWUK's idea, experience and software and OWSA's active work on the ground, particularly with the organizations ISAP and Tarahaat.

We were delighted when BT awarded the contract to us. We also approached Cisco Systems, who joined BT to sponsor the project, bringing additional resources in phone-based technology solutions.

Lifelines in India

For farmers in rural India, advice on how best to protect their crops or Livestock is thin on the ground. So if disaster strikes, or the farmers are faced with problems theyve never encountered before, their hopes of saving their family from destitution or even starvation can literally depend on access to clear information about what to do.

Lifelines India was launched in direct response to this need to bridge gaps in knowledge and help farmers access the expert advice they need, at the exact time they need it.

All farmers have to do is to buy just two phone calls from a local kiosk (or from a neighbours mobile phone no need to even own a phone themselves!). First they call the Lifelines number, where they are given a reference number and can then ask their questions. The queries are then immediately circulated to a panel of Indias agricultural experts, whose advice is stored in the Lifelines database. The farmers then make their second call to the service at a time of their choosing, give their reference number and pick up the answers needed.

Simple as that in theory. But would farmers unaccustomed to modern technology really benefit from such a service, or even be willing to try it out? The service was launched in December 2006, and the results have been speaking for themselves.

Within the first few months, farmers asked 9,000 questions - and the rate of questions received each day keeps rising. Over the last year, coverage has steadily increased and, as of December 2007, the service was reaching 40,000 farmers in 700 villages across four states, with more than 300 calls to the service taken each day. The database of frequently asked questions has swelled to 85,000 and is so content rich that it is now possible to start analyzing it for trends opening up new possibilities for developing the service further.

With such great success among farmers, Lifelines is being adapted to support other groups, such as teachers and students in rural areas of West Bengal.

Launched in January 2008, Lifelines for Education is a pioneering academic support service that operates in the same way as the service for farmers. Teachers make just two calls to access advice and information that will help them best support their students. Their queries are put to a panel of experts that include professors from renowned universities, child psychologists, officials from the Department of School Education, and heads of different school boards. The answers are then relayed back to the teacher within 48 hours.

The service is implemented by OneWorld South Asia (OWSA) alongside the QUEST Alliance, which has provided financial support, and Vikramshila Educational Resource Society (Vikramshila), a respected educational resource organisation.

For details, see:http://www.lifelines-india.net/

Lifelines team

Gopal, Ken and Peter in the UK, working closely with the OneWorld South Asia Lifelines team

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