Literacy Bridge
Summary
Beginning in January 2009, we piloted Talking Books in a rural village in Ghana. After conducting over 100 interviews to evaluate the impact of giving farmers on-demand access to agriculture guidance, we found that:
- -91% of residents using Talking Books in their homes applied a new health or agriculture practice.
-Farmers who had access to the Talking Book had an average increase in crop production of 48% compared with non user’s decrease of 5%.
-This program created a return of more than three times the current investment in just the first year.
When asked how they would use the extra crops, 75% of farmers said they intended to sell their new surplus to:
- -Pay for health insurance
-Invest in farming inputs (seeds, labor, animals)
-Improve their houses (especially important before the next rainy season)
-Pay for their children’s school fees
The increase in crop production shows that the Talking Book helped rural people adopt improved practices. In this case, they were agriculture practices but we expect the same results will be found when we applied to health, microfinance, and other areas.
To hear directly from residents who benefited from this program, see the testimonials page.
Read the complete impact evaluation paper, which was invited for presentation at the ICTD 2010 Conference. Some details from the paper are summarized below.
Pilot Launch
We began by collaborating with local experts to produce content for the devices. Experts included officials from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Ghana Education Service, and Ghana Health Service.
In early 2009, we distributed Talking Books to a rural, remote village—a village with no electricity and a very low literacy rate. The devices were pre-loaded with messages about more efficient agriculture techniques (e.g. proper seed spacing and livestock care), health practices (e.g. malaria prevention and antenatal care), and educational stories. We collaborated with village leaders to create a committee whose role was to allocate the devices to residents using a check-out system.
From August 2009 to January 2010, we conducted interviews to evaluate the impact of the devices on the community. Question topics ranged from training, usability, and device allocation to learning, adoption rates, and results.
Usage and Allocation
Residents showed great interest in the devices and were able to learn to use them from each other. Women commonly reported listening to the devices after dinner with their children. With 21 devices for 110 households, providing fair access to all groups was challenging, but 100 percent of surveyed non-users agreed the devices were providing value to their village.
Farming was by far the most popular category followed by health. Residents requested that recordings be updated continually. Residents also created their own content – most commonly about injustices that they had seen or experienced.
Learning and Behavior Change
When asked if they had learned anything from the device, a resident’s ability to recite specific details about the guidance confirmed that they had indeed learned and retained the information. Many farmers were anxious to share what they had learned from the Talking Book and how it had benefited their families.
Through our research, we found that 91% of residents using Talking Books in their homes had applied a new health or agriculture practice. 71% of people applying the guidance chose to test it on only a portion of their land; this reduced their risk and allowed them to compare the recommended practice with their traditional practice. The following pictures show the side-by-side difference of one farmer who planted corn using traditional methods in one section (left) and planted the same crop using guidance from the Talking Book in an adjacent section (right).
Impact on Crop Yield
In addition to our qualitative research, we collected quantitative data to compare crop production between farmers who had access to the devices and those who did not. We found that farmers who had access to the Talking Book had an average increase in crop production of 48% compared with non-user’s decrease of 5%. In addition, our statistical analysis suggests that after controlling for a variety of other factors, farmers with access to information from the Talking Book produced 2.75 additional bags of crops compared to non-users, representing an 18% increase, on average.
Sustainability
These numbers suggest that this program created a return of nearly three times the current investment in just the first year. If the same practices are applied in future years, the return on the original investment will continue to accrue. Lastly, 75% of farmers expected to sell their surplus at a local market and many of those planned to use the cash to invest in agriculture inputs like seeds, animals, and labor. Other plans included paying of health insurance, improving their home, and paying school fees.
Conclusion
Collectively, our evaluation shows that access to information through the Talking Book can considerably impact the lives of rural, illiterate communities. Based on these results, we have more interest than ever from organizations around the world who want to use Talking Books to increase their impact. In June 2010, the Ghanaian government purchased Talking Books, and they are now using them to give women better access to farming information. As our current capacity allows, we are launching partnerships to enable even more rural people to improve the health and income of their families.