A TMCD project to study the use and impact of mobile payment technologies in the urban water sector in Tanzania has won £12,000 in funding from the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship.

The use of mobile technologies in payments for public services, particularly in East Africa, is becoming increasingly pervasive and has the potential to measurably impact development outcomes. This project aims to rigorously analyse the reasons why customers choose these options and the ways in which these innovative financing mechanisms are influencing the transparency and accountability of water utilities – institutions often characterised by poor performance and unresponsiveness.

The project is being conducted by Dr Xiaolan Fu and Aaron Krolikowski, a member of the Oxford Water Futures Programme at the School of Geography and the Environment and a former MPhil student at ODID. The project will use quantitative and geospatial analyses of billing and payment data, survey questionnaires of water services customers, and interviews with key water utility staff in Tanzania.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Date: 16-05-2012