What it means to be a Tech First Charity

There are long-standing misconceptions about the levels of technological penetration across the developing world. Western media and governments frequently paint pictures of populations with incredibly limited access to technology, especially those living in rural communities. 

The reality is far removed from these portrayals. Across Sub-Saharan Africa, technology is already a part of everyday life for millions of people, including smallholder farmers. 

At the end of 2021, 515 million people subscribed to mobile services in Sub-Saharan Africa, representing 46% of the population. It’s estimated that by 2025 this number will have increased by almost 100 million, or over 50% of the population. 

For Haller, the high level of mobile phone adoption across the continent, but in Kenya in particular, represented an opportunity for the dissemination of knowledge and expertise. Our award winning Haller Farmers app was designed to put decades of research & best practices into sustainable agriculture directly into the hands of smallholder farmers. 

Since the app’s release in 2020, we have seen 3,000+ downloads in over 180 countries. Crucially, not every farmer in a community needs to have access to a phone to be able to tap into the app's resources. Our approach has always been to ‘train the trainers’, and facilitate the transfer of knowledge. 

In 2024, we want to use technology to help expand our impact beyond Kenya. With the support of our partners at JPMorgan through their Force for Good program, we are now in a position to update and improve the app. 

The aim is to make the app more inclusive and responsive to rural smallholder communities not just in Kenya but across all of Africa. The app updates will boast an enhanced User Experience, and include innovative wireframes allowing it to host multiple languages, adding to the existing options of Swahili or English. It will also allow our partners to share their original content and expertise directly through the app. 

Thinking globally, we will continue to white label the app as we successfully did in Romania. White labelling technology means it’s fully customizable, saving partners time and costs, and helping the process of scaling impact. We want to allow other partners on other continents to replicate our design and technology, but tailor content to new audiences in line with their specific needs. 

Our experience with smallholder farmers in Kenya has demonstrated the positive impact that a focus on technology can help drive. Not only does the app give farmers access to essential knowledge around sustainable agricultural techniques, we’ve also built out resources for healthcare and education. 

Being a tech first charity means understanding the opportunities that technology can help to unlock, and working to ensure that those potentials are realised. 

If you’re interested in partnering with us to utilise and leverage  Haller’s technology to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers around the world, get in touch.