This presentation covers the work of MobileSenegal (http://mobilesenegal.org, http://facebook.com/mobilesenegal, @mobilesenegal).

1. MobileSenegal: Five Years of Lessons of
Capacity Building with Impact
Dr. Christelle Scharff
Pace University, New York, NY, USA
Founder of MobileSenegal The 1st mobile
community in
http://mobilesenegal.org Senegal since
2009
mobilesenegal@gmail.com
cscharff@pace.edu
@mobilesenegal /mobilesenegal

2. Founded in 2008
First initiative of this type in a Francophone
country of Africa
Goal: Capacity building in M4D
Sponsoring from:

3. Our mission
• To build capacity in mobile technology by facilitating the
introduction of mobile courses in educational institutions and
organizing activities for the wider community.
• MobileSenegal is a virtual mobile lab that organizes bootcamps,
courses, competitions and dedicated field projects, and arranges
training for faculty and industry professionals. We are the first
initiative of its kind in a Francophone country in Africa.

4. Collaboration with Universities
and the Ecosystem in Senegal

5. Ecosystem and Communities
• Universities, companies, NGOs, associations,
incubators etc
• Mobile Innovations Dakar
– http://www.meetup.com/mobileinnovationsdakar
– More than 400 members
– Founded by Dr. Christelle Scharff
• Mobile Monday Dakar
– For the professionals
– http://mobilemondaydakar.org
– Founded by Dr. Christelle Scharff
First Mobile
Monday in
West Africa

6. Model for Capacity Building
Community
building
Real Projects (Global) Software
Real Beneficiaries Engineering
Model for
Entrepreneurship Capacity Technology skills
Building
Mentoring / Follow-up Marketing and
business skills
Oral / Written Skills

7. Global Software Development as a
Model for Capacity Building
Collaboration
between students Interdisciplinary Global vision of Mobile solutions
from the US, teams to work Smarter Energy relevant globally
Senegal and India together

8. 6 Courses in 3 National
6 Bootcamps universities Competitions
on Java ME Dakar and St Organized
Louis
4 training on 4 Prizes at National
jQuery 3 Faculty and International
Competition
Mobile training
4 Years of Global
Publications Software Development
(M4D, ICSE) (US, Senegal, India,
Cambodia)
More than 30 apps
More than 300 developed (6 in the
students in 3 pilots store – 2 Android, 4
courses et implemented Nokia)
bootcamps
Evolution of the focus on
From Dakar to Ziguinchor
different technologies

9. Outcomes : National and International
Competitions
• A “license” in Mobile Application Development was created at the
University of Thies in 2011 with the sponsoring of Google
• KomKom, an accounting app for artisans, was awarded a Judge
Choice Prize at the Nokia Calling All Innovators Competition in 2009.
KomKom was piloted in the artisan village of Thiès.
• StopMalaria was awarded first prize at the Population Council Data
Uncovered Contest in December 2011, participant of Carrefour des
Possibles 2011, and presented at the GSMA Mobile Health
University Challenge in June 2012.
• ArClean (submitted to the 3rd National Mobile Competition of
MobileSenegal) was the winner of the Ericsson Application Award in
2013.

10. Outcomes : Apps in the Store
• 6 applications mentored by MobileSenegal
competitions were released in the Google Play
(SenGeoSante, Recycletron) and Nokia Store (Africa
Quiz, Donor, CodeDeLaRoute, and Niett)

11. Outcomes: CibleCI
• CibleCI, education app for 1st grade pupils, was developed by
students from Pace University (US), Thies, ESP and ESMT
(Senegal), and Dehli (India) in 2010, and piloted in Senegal in
July 2012
• Our results were cited in the mNumeracy report of GIZ:
Promoting Numeracy in Pre-School and Early Grades

12. Where are the graduates of
MobileSenegal?
• Developers and projects managers in the IT companies in
Senegal (GSIE, Chaka Group…)
• Founders of startups incubated at CTIC
• Google student ambassadors
• Microsoft student partners
• Students in Europe…

13. Publications and Presentations
Over 20 papers and presentations on our work were
published in journals and presented at conferences

14. MobileSenegal has its own Blackberry app!
(PlayBook and Blackberry 10)
http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/24373904

15. MobileSenegal has its own Nokia app!
• http://store.ovi.com/content/355704

16. The Mobile Ecosystem of Senegal
http://mobileecosystem.org
Mapping the mobile
actors in Senegal
Powered by :

17. Current and Future Projects
• Strengthening the project in Senegal during
Fulbright at UCAD
• Extending the project in West Africa
1st bootcamp in June 2012 Online courses

18. Video: 5th Anniversary
• http://youtu.be/cpAhWyTKsM8