Bringing mobile to, and empowering more women

The Mum & Baby (South Africa, DRC, Mozambique and Lesotho), in partnership with the Vodafone Foundation, a zero-rated mobile health service, provides information on maternal, neonatal and child health and well-being. In South Africa customers have the option to register for the Mum & Baby premium service to get richer content such as educational videos as well as discounted coupons for essential needs that are redeemable at any Shoprite, Checkers, Dis-Chem and Baby City stores country-wide.

m-mama in Tanzania and Lesotho, in partnership with the Vodafone Foundation, uses mobile technology and M-Pesa to connect pregnant women and new mothers to emergency transport, and empowers a network of local taxi drivers to act as “taxi ambulances” in places where few ambulances are available.

Nokaneng app informs users in Lesotho about the different forms of GBV, their rights and the available support services, and protection tools such as a sound alarm and emergency SMS. The app provides a safe space for conversation, support and advice, including from counsellors linked to the Lapeng Centre – the government’s safe house and one-stop centre for GBV survivors.

Vodafone Egypt acted as the catalyst for the formation of the Egyptian Gender Alliance (EGA), the first national alliance in Egypt to combine public and private efforts to improve female inclusion and empowerment. The EGA was launched by Vodafone Egypt in partnership with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, National Council for Women, United Nations Women, P&G, PepsiCo, Microsoft, Cisco and SimonKucher. It promotes the social and economic empowerment of women through digital inclusion and skill upgrading to increase their employability and increase economic participation.

Examples of how we are contributing to the ambitions and targets of SDG 5