CRS ICT4D Conference

In 2010 Human Network International, CRS, Airtel and the Government of Madagascar launched a new way for isolated people to access 'life services' information on their own simple mobile phones.  We call our on-demand search engine the '3-2-1 Service' because 3-2-1 is the toll-free number people call to access important information across a broad range of development topics.  

The 321 Service works like a search engine where there is no Internet; wherein, at a moment of need, men and women can use their own mobile phones to proactively retrieve information across a range of topics. Callers dial the toll-free number '3-2-1' anytime, anywhere and hear the following menu: 

'Would you like to know about: Gender Equality? Press 1. Health? Press 2. Agriculture? Press 3. Micro-finance? Press 4. Water and Sanitation? Press 5. Land Title? Press 6.' 

In a series of 'listen, then choose' steps, callers use their telephone keypad to select from among hundreds of pre-recorded voice and text messages. The 321 Service is innovative because 1) men and women can retrieve the information that addresses their immediate needs at a time of their choosing, both independently and confidentially; 2) it takes advantage of cell phone proliferation in developing countries to reach millions of the most vulnerable women and girls; and 3) it is an effective, sustainable and cost-effective intervention provided at national scale by telephone companies without donor dependency. 

Since 2010, more than 4 million people in Madagascar have used the 321 Service to conduct over 50 million information queries. Impressed with subscriber uptake, Airtel offered to launch the 321 Service in Malawi. The 321 Service was officially launched in October 2014. In only three months, half a million people have already made more than 1.5 million information queries.   In 2015, HNI plans to launch 321 in Ghana, Mozambique, Nigeria and Zambia.