Many news reports and statistics on mobile phone ownership in Africa show us that there is a rapidly
growing number of people that have a mobile phone in mainly urban, but also rural areas. Many
research has already been conducted on the possibilities and applications that a mobile phone has to
offer, but what does it really mean for the people who are living there? Therefore, this research
focuses on people’s personal usage of the mobile phone and its impact on the development of their
livelihoods. Theoretically speaking, because a mobile phone gives people the possibility to connect
with different geographical places without actually going there, they are able to act in a new
perception of space and time: the Space of Flows. The space of flows should be seen as the abstract
translation of the compressed time and multidimensional space we live in nowadays due to
information and communication technologies. The fieldwork was conducted in rural Rwanda, partly
because of the RurbanAfrica project, wherein this study took place, and because the country has
shown interesting social and economic dynamics since the horrifying genocide that took place exactly
20 years ago. With its Vision 2020, the government is trying to transform its economy from
subsistent agriculture to knowledge based and want to become an ICT-hub for Eastern Africa.
The objective of the research is; To understand how Rwandan people take part in the space of flows
by investigating how the use of the mobile phone affects their daily livelihoods in terms of
connectivity and mobility. This objective leads to the following research question; How are mobile
phones enabling Rwandan people to take part in the space of flows and how does this impact their
livelihoods in terms of connectivity and mobility?
By visiting households in rural Rwanda and conducting questionnaires, data was gathered about
household characteristics, their mobile phone use and in particular the impact of the mobile phone
on connectivity and mobility of one member of the household. A total of 112 households were
reached, which resulted in data about 554 household members. In statistics, 47% was male, the
average age was 23.3 years old, 55% was 16+ in age and out of these ‘adults’, less than 20% was able
to continue education after primary school, only a few were able to go to university and 25% had not
had any education at all. Of the 112 households, 76% was active in agriculture and 14% of them did
not own land. Concerning the ownership of mobile phones, 50% of the 307 adults had one, while of
the 112 households, 24% was without a mobile phone.
Taking a closer look at the individual experiences of 112 respondents showed that the impact of the
mobile phone on connectivity was considerable high; people with a mobile phone were able to
create economic networks which provided them with informal and part-time job opportunities, set
up logistical systems for their trade business, got information about markets and prices and were
able to reach more markets. The connectivity provided by the mobile phone made it also possible for
people to ask for support during hard times as they could receive money via the mobile money
system. However, not everyone who has a mobile phone was using it for economic development of
their livelihood and it turned out that the quality of someone’s mobile phone had some influence on
its usability. People with a (partly) broken mobile phone are, for instance, limited to just calling or
texting. The impact on people’s mobility was also considerable, but very diverse. It turned out that
mobility for social reasons decreased, while economic related mobility increased. A clear outcome
was that people with a mobile phone were organising their movements much more, which led to
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very efficient mobility behaviour. Because people get more job opportunities through the mobile
phone they are tempted to travel further; higher frequency and diversification of mobility.
The networking logic of the mobile phone and the efficient travel behaviour gives people the
possibility to diversify their livelihoods much more. Having access to the space of flows seems to lead
to a change in society; people are able to inform themselves much more and are arranging many
things through the mobile phone. A network society is becoming apparent in rural Rwanda and
together with the ability to act in the space of flows when you have a mobile phone, it gives these
people a more active role in their struggle against poverty. They can build up a more efficient and
commercial economy from the basis; from their own livelihoods.
It is vital for the Rwandan government to know how the everyday life of Rwandans is affected by the
mobile phone in order to refine the Vision 2020 and reach its goals. Because the group of people
without a mobile phone is still an existential one, research with a more qualitative dimension of
mobile phone use, focussing on (partly) broken mobile phones and on the sharing of mobile phones
could provide important insight on how these people are developing their livelihoods. Altogether,
acknowledging that livelihoods are increasingly being developed in a new dimension of time and
space would be a good start for further research on ‘mobile development’.