Agriculture & Livestock
Changing Environment
In 2009, the population of Senegal was estimated at 13.7 million. The number of mobile subscriptions (mostly prepaid) in 2008 was 5.4 million. This means that there is a cellphone for 2.5 residents. In a context where 42.2% of the population are aged under 15, this ratio is doubled for persons over 20 years.
For Mali, the ratio is slightly lower but still significant. For an estimated population of 13.4 million inhabitants (2009), there were 3.4 million mobile phone subscriptions in 2008 (also prepaid). This means that approximately one out of four inhabitants has a mobile phone. With 48.3% of the population aged under 15 years, this means that that roughly 50% of all inhabitants over the age of 20 years have a mobile phone.
The figures below provide some insight about the development of technologies and the use of mobile phones that has literally exploded in Mali and Senegal in recent years.
Mobile phone subscriptions by country (Source: UIT)
| Country | In 2003
(000s) | In 2008
(000s) | Increase
in 5 years in % | Ratio mobile phones / fixed lines |
| Mali | 247.2 | 3'439.0 | 13.91 | 42.4:1 |
| Sénégal | 782.4 | 5'389.1 | 6.89 | 22.7:1 |
Afrique du Sud
| 16'860.0 | 45'000.0 | 2.67 | 10.2:1 |
| Espagne | 37'219.8 | 49'677.5 | 1.33 | 2.5:1 |
| Suisse | 6'189.0 | 8'896.7 | 1.44 | 1.8:1 |
| France | 41'702.0 | 57'972.0 | 1.39 | 1.7:1 |
| Etats-Unis | 160'637.0 | 270'500.0 | 1.68 | 1.7:1 |
Internet Connection in 2008 (Source: UIT)
| Countries | Subscribers
(000s) | Subscribers
per 100 inhab. | Users
(000s) | Users per
100 inhab. |
| Mali | 10.1 | 0.08 | 200.0 | 1.57 |
| Senegal | 48.1 | 0.39 | 1'020.0 | 8.35 |
| South Africa | 3'566.0 | 7.51 | 4'187.0 | 8.43 |
| Spain | 9'135.8 | 20.54 | 25'240.0 | 56.74 |
| France | 18'700.0 | 30.14 | 42'315.4 | 68.21 |
| United States | 72'721.0 | 23.56 | 230'630.0 | 74.00 |
| Switzerland | 2'780.0 | 36.86 | 5'806.8 | 77.00 |
| World | 528'035 | 8.32 | 1'587'419.8 | 23.44 |
Solutions SMS
Several programs use SMS to distribute information. We are in touch with several actors involved in these services:
Manobi
Manobi (http://www.manobi.sn) is a social enterprise based in Dakar which has been working on SMS applications since 2003.
Trade at Hand
RapidSMS
RapidSMS (http://www.rapidsms.org) is based on Python.
Jokko Initiative
The Jokko Initiative deals with teaching youth and women in Senegalese villages how to use cell phones to (un)subscribe to e-mail-like mailing lists for communicating with a user-defined network of cell-phone-owning friends. This project was at least partially funded by UNICEF Innovation and uses the RapidSMS system.
Mindmeister
Mapping of projects that use SMS: Meindmeister
