Mr. Meteo is a proposed system to provide weather information to rural farmers in a developing country via multiple channels. It would adapt to the local context based on input from farmers, local institutions, and NGOs. The system would source weather data from national meteorological services and local weather stations, and deliver personalized forecasts to farmers through voice calls, SMS, radio, and the internet using appropriate technologies. The goal is to develop a sustainable and user-centered solution to help farmers deal with issues like variable weather conditions.
4. Sustainability
• Two people
• Only Hand Luggage
• Don’t mind spending some time on the road
• Have no idea what a game is
• Prefer fresh air to AC
• Not enough income to buy fuel
• Not enough income to do maintenance
8. Putting it all together
Workshop
ICT4D
Computer Science
Agriculture
Agribusiness
Food Security
Gender
Radio
Rural Communities
9. Putting it all together
Mr. Meteo
Relevant – Global Weirding
Specific – Local Weather Information
User-centered - Requested from Rural Farmers
10. Putting all together
Adaptive – Influenced by Use-case
Weather Information Source
Wind
Wind Direction
Temperature
Rain
Humidity
UV Exposure
Mobile
GSM
2G
3G
4G
Radio
VXML
SQL
SPARQL
JSON
Audio
Plug PC
SMS
Privacy
Security
Local Context
Language
Sustainability
Software
Hardware
Servers
VOICE
Free
Open Source
Internet
Prices
Relevant Information
Buyers
Sellers
Farmers
11. Putting all together
Adaptive – Influenced by Local NGO’s, Institutions, Radio
Weather Information Source
Wind
Wind Direction
Temperature
Rain
Humidity
UV Exposure
Mobile
GSM
2G
3G
4G
Radio
VXML
SQL
SPARQL
JSON
Audio
Plug PC
SMS
Privacy
Security
Local Context
Language
Sustainability
Software
Hardware
Servers
VOICE
Free
Open Source
Internet
Prices
Relevant Information
Buyers
Sellers
Farmers
12. Putting all together
Adaptive – Influenced by Local NGO’s, Institutions, Radio
Weather Information Source
Wind
Wind Direction
Temperature
Rain
Humidity
UV Exposure
GSM
2G
3G
4G
VXML
SQL
SPARQL
JSON
Audio
Software
Hardware
Open Source
Local Context
Language
Sustainability
VOICE
Internet
Farmers
Mobile
Radio
Plug PC
SMS
Privacy
Security
13. Putting all together
Adaptive – Influenced by End-Users (Farmers)
Weather Information Source
Wind
Wind Direction
Temperature
Rain
Humidity
UV Exposure
Measurements
Numbers
Labels
GSM
2G
3G
4G
VXML
SQL
SPARQL
JSON
Audio
Software
Hardware
Open Source
Local Context
Language
Sustainability
VOICE
Internet
Farmers
Mobile
Radio
Plug PC
SMS
Privacy
Security
14. Putting all together
Adaptive – Influenced by End-Users (Farmers)
Weather Information Source
Wind
Temperature
Rain
Measurements
Numbers
Labels
GSM
2G
3G
4G
VXML
SQL
SPARQL
JSON
Audio
Software
Hardware
Open Source
Local Context
Language
Sustainability
VOICE
Internet
Farmers
Mobile
Radio
Plug PC
SMS
Privacy
Security
15. Mr. Meteo
Rural Farmers
Mr. Meteo
Online
Weather
Information
Sources
Local
Weather
Stations
Weather Information
National
Meteo
Service
Weather InformationWeather Information
Voice
16. Mr. Meteo
W4RA
2CoolMonkeys
University for Development Studies
Savanna Agricultural Research Institute
Radio Savanna
Local Farmers
Dark Sky
web
Ghana Meteorological Agency
UDS/SARI
17. Sustainability
Political – consider election cycles and government budget
cycles and support
Legal –work within local legal frameworks or the project may
fail once it gets going
Managerial – have the right people managing a program,
especially if it’s meant to grow and scale.
Social sustainability – ensure local community ownership,
interest, buy-in
transparency, accountability, good governance are key in all the
above
Provide them the best available transport money can buy
Context
If the aim it to make them financially sustainable then it’s counter-productive if the solution is not sustainable in itself
In December 2014 we visited the Guabuliga community in the West Mamprusi District in the north of Ghana. Guabuliga has about 2000 inhabitants who live from agriculture and trade. The farmers here produce and sell maize, millet, sorghum, shea butter and livestock, but trade is often difficult. 120 farmers, of which 85 women and 35 men attended the Living Lab workshop. Their enthusiasm was very encouraging.
Interesting story – We attempted a joint group discussion and the women completely suppressed the men; we had to separate the genders.
Global Weirding describes how the rise in average global temperature leads to all sorts of crazy things — from hotter heat spells to colder cold spells, more drought and intense flooding, as well as slow-onset changes such as ocean acidification and sea level rise.
Farmers used to be able to predict weather based on indigenous knowledge. It has become increasingly difficult to do so over the years. A little more information weather and weather forecasting will enable them have a better idea of weather trends.
Meteo case is slightly unique because we are not augmenting an already existing process
Note on SMS – Originally, SMS was considered because the people from Guabuliga used to receive weather info from a service in symbols in SMS.
It was later learned that they received training by an NGO (scalable?) and it was paid for by the NGO (sustainable?)
Detailed information, get technical
-local weather stations hardly available – build them?
-national meteo data unavailable or unreliable – will have seasonal forecasts (is this interesting to the farmer?)
-online weather data can be more accurate – local stations would improve them
-language integration must be easy; a lot of local languages (250 in Ghana)
Dark Sky – Local Weather Information and Forecasts ($0.0001 per forecast)
GMA – Seasonal Regional Weather Information
Look beyond the use case. It’s about availability of information
Unfortunately there are other concerns surrounding the sustainability of ICT4D projects
https://lindaraftree.com/2012/03/13/ict4d-and-sustainability/ - Linda Raftree
Political – interesting example is Trump; reduction in funds for USAID means reduction in funds for SARI