Tamale, GhanaMohammed Mumuni spends most of this time on the road. And in Northern Ghana that road is long, usually unpaved, and always full of surprises. Mohammed is the Project Director of the small but innovative ECAMIC project--funded by SEND West Africa, the project works with small-scale producers in Northern Ghana through improving access to market information and data—i.e., market information via mobile. A self-proclaimed ICT4D geek, Mohammed's fascination with the power of technology to help his community has kept him content while bouncing up and down in the back of a car for half of his waking life as he travels to visit and hold trainings for three very isolated producer cooperatives. Setting up SMS alerts to deliver price information to these farmers means that for the first time the seller has more power in a relationship that is historically dominated by the buyer, and he's seen evidence of the power dynamics within these small communities starting to change. Mohammed is honest about the challenges of infrastructure and illiteracy, but instead of viewing them as immovable obstacles he strives to be inventive in his trainings and strategies instead. It's characters like Mumuni--dedicated, inspired, and able to bridge the gap between new technologies and their own communities--who will shape the success of such projects, and of ICT in the developing world at large.
