USAID’s own Development Challenge 2.0 exemplified the important role mobile phones are playing in meeting the needs of various issues in the developing world. More recently, evidence of this evolution has come from a new pilot program being launched by the World Food Program (WFP).

Mobile phones heated up once again the development 2.0 summer debate: from the NYT on the uses of mobile phones for safe water distribution, to the upcoming World Bank study on mobile phones for education; from CTA’s overview of the uses of mobile phones for agricultural development to Chris’ foray into sensors and micro-voluntarism. And if you are interested in mobile banking for the unbanked, don’t miss Jim’s summer round-up.

Imagine we do not only use our mobile phones to make phones calls and SMS, but to contribute to science. How does that work? We can directly engage in micro-voluntarism or contribute valuable information without doing much more than carrying our mobile phone with us.

You can monitor activities, violence, and trends related to the August 20th Afghanistan elections  thanks to a collaborative partnership enabling people on the ground in Afghanistan and others to share their data in real time on an online map.

The Commons congratulates Tostan and UNICEF on their partnership with hundreds of African communities in the new Jokko Initiative in Senegal.  Jokko, which means “communication” in Wolof, is opening up new methods of communication and education for people using mobile phones.

The sign of success in foreign assistance is that “We are partners in building capacity for transformational change,” President Obama said in a recent speech in Ghana.

“Africa’s future is up to Africans,” he said.

The Commons is excited to see that USAID partner Western Union has announced it will be certifying mobile platform vendors to provide money transfer services- traditionally only available at Western Union outlets- through mobile phones.

Yesterday Grameen Foundation announced the launch of a suite of mobile phone applications developed with Google and MTN Uganda (MTN) that deliver services and information that were previously unavailable to Uganda’s poor and disadvantaged communities.

Check out the apps here!

E-Fulusi Africa (T) Limited is a Tanzanian company that aims at developing solutions to benefit the African continent as a whole. E-Fulusi began with the intention of content and services provision using existing infrastructure such as mobile networks.

Numerous initiatives, most prominently the One Laptop Per Child program, seek to introduce computers to students around the globe. Yet, are computers the right technology for ICT in education?