Challenges of Co-Developing a Smartphone-Delivered Climate Change Adaptation Application in the Global South and the Value of Global North/South Partnerships in Overcoming Them

Background

Climate change and related extreme weather events (EWEs) are expected to have a profound impact on interpersonal violence, especially for people living in ecologically sensitive areas such as informal settlements. Residents of these settlements—defined as residential areas lacking durable housing; sufficient living and public spaces; access to basic infrastructure and other services; and secure tenancy—are especially vulnerable to EWEs. Women in informal settlements experience higher rates of intimate partner violence (IPV) and related mental health challenges, and face barriers to climate change adaptation including political and social marginalization and limited access to health-related services. Despite this, there is a paucity of real-time data collection and intervention to help residents minimize the impact of climate change on their safety and well-being. Ecological momentary approaches (EMAs) can capture real-time data and provide immediate support to users through mHealth interventions triggered by that data. However, the majority of EMA applications are developed by and for use in the Global North. In this paper we discuss the co-development of a smartphone-based EMA application focused on climate adaptation, safety, and harm reduction for women experiencing IPV in informal settlements in Kenya. In particular, we focus on the facilitators of and barriers to this process and the value of Global North/South partnerships.

Methods

A team of three Kenyan application developers, a Kenyan IT specialist, and a team of two researchers—a Kenyan and an American—co-developed the smartphone-based application for women experiencing IPV in informal settlements in Kenya. The application was tested by community advisory board members; community health promoters/residents in informal settlements; and experts in the US and Kenya. We report on five critical barriers we faced, and the value and creativity of Global South/North partnerships in overcoming them.

Results

We ran into six major challenges, including use of Global North data collection software and storage in Global South EMA applications, developing a “decoy app” to protect the safety of women actively experiencing IPV and getting Global North application hosts to approve it, sending app notifications to participants in marginalized contexts in the Global South who limit data usage due to pre-paid data plans, linking EMA applications to local meteorological data to trigger EMAs in response to local EWEs, and creating a hidden text-based emergency button for survivors who need immediate assistance. We discuss our creative strategies to solve each issue, and the value partnerships have in that process.

Conclusions

Developing EMA or mHealth applications for women experiencing IPV in marginalized communities in the Global South is challenging. Data security requirements, unlimited data plans, mobile phone contracts, and application development systems in the Global North create challenges for using existing EMA applications and developing new ones in the Global South. Additionally, developing applications for use by women actively experiencing IPV requires special attention to safety features. However, equity-based Global North/Global South partnerships have tremendous potential to overcome these challenges. This paper provides important practical findings that can be used to guide mHealth development and use in Global South contexts.