Budgeting for mobile advocacy

When your organisation decides to implement a project using mobile phones it is important to compare the cost of the project with the potential benefits it might bring.

If you prepare a budget and analyse how investment in a mobile advocacy project compares to investing in alternative methods, it is easier to make changes to existing budget allocations or to raise new funds in order to set up the programme or to keep up with the costs of running it. You may need to calculate pricing models if the project needs to sustain itself or generate revenues for the organisation.

Some reasons for investing in using mobile phones to support advocacy:

• The increasing number of phones in use and greater reach of mobile technology has made it easier to reach bigger audiences more quickly and inexpensively than before.
• Mobile phone networks cover many rural communities, and the use of mobile technology as an advocacy medium makes it possible to reach people in areas where traditional advocacy methods such as printed media weren't cost effective.