Vodacom says the three-part ICT development initiative it launched last week with Nigeria's Kaduna State will benefit more than 4000 schools once the education component is fully implemented.

The company says the project will support mass service delivery in education, healthcare and agriculture through the deployment of tailored ICT solutions to promote greater efficiency in each sector.

Vuyani Jarana, Chief Officer of Vodacom Business, says the ICT initiative is part of a continent-wide program as the solutions rolled out in Kaduna State are also available in Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia.

He adds that plans are afoot roll them out to new countries on the continent throughout 2017.

"Vodacom is taking the lead in leveraging mobile technology to address healthcare, education and agricultural challenges in Africa. We see technology playing an increasing role as an enabler of economic development as governments on the continent are able to leapfrog developmental stages. Vodacom's critical role through its partnership with Kaduna State is to help improve service delivery in the region, supporting healthy, well-educated and economically active citizens."

The first of the three solutions in the ICT development initiative with Kaduna State is a mobile school management solution which provides real-time visibility of all management activities at schools.

A school feeding programme module on the solution allows the State to monitor feeding programmes to ensure that pupils receive quality meals, according to Vodacom. The district office will gain access to real time reports on teacher and learner data through the application.

Vodacom says the solution, which uses mobile phone and tablet technology, will be implemented in 4 000 schools across Kaduna State by June 2017.

The second of the solutions is 'SMS for Life 2.0', a mobile technology-based healthcare program which aims to improve the delivery of healthcare for citizens who access public health services as well as increase the availability of chronic or essential medication by monitoring drug stock levels.

Vodacom is the technology partner for the initiative, which is a public-private partnership with Novartis and the Kaduna State Ministry of Health. The telco says it has commenced with the training and deployment of SMS for Life 2.0 in Kaduna, with 255 primary healthcare facilities using the platform to date. The initiative will be implemented in all of Nigeria's 36 states.

The third solution is focused on agriculture and will be launched in March 2017. Called connected farmer, it is a cloud-based web and mobile solution which supports smallholder farmers' registration and profiling. Vodacom says this enables them to be linked to financial institutions, agribusinesses, information, services and markets, all with an aim to increase their productivity.

Malam Nasir El-Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State, said, "The Kaduna State Government is delighted to apply technology to advance governance and the delivery of public services. Working with Vodacom, we seek to further enhance service delivery, improve data collection and strengthen accountability."