The role of mobile phones in facilitating communication for socio-Economic development among pastoralists: a case of Maasai in Monduli district, Tanzania

This study aimed at examining the role mobile phones in facilitating information communication for socio-economic development among the Maasai pastoralists in Monduli District, Tanzania. Specific objectives were to examine the pattern of access to and use of mobile phones by the pastoralists, investigate the ways in which mobile phones facilitate socio-economic communication among pastoralists, and determine ways in which the usage of mobile phones by the Maasai pastoralists would be improved. The study was basically cross-sectional and data was mainly collected through questionnaires, interviews and observations. Major findings of this study revealed that many of the mobile phone options are known and used, but dialing is the most used option. It was also revealed that mobile phones are used for many things by the pastoralists, such as communicating with friends, family, veterinarians, etc., carrying out financial transactions, finding out about the latest price of commodities and livestock in the market, coordinating people and social functions, contacting others in an emergency, asking for information on new grazing areas and improving social relationships among the pastoralists. The constraints limiting the use of mobile phones effectively and successfully were revealed as network outage, high cost of recharging batteries, travelling and vouchers, lack of electricity in the village and the language barrier of English limit. Suggestions for improving mobile phone usage including reducing the cost of airtime and vouchers, improving the network infrastructure, supplying electricity to the villages, selling vouchers in the village at a reasonable price and helping the pastoralists, to acquire solar power in the village at a reasonable price and helping the pastoralists, to acquire solar power in their homes. Based on the findings, it is recommended that mobile phone companies should help pastoralists in how to access and use all the mobile phone options, supply networking infrastructure in the rural areas, reduce air-time cost and further studies for this topic is recommended.