Learn2Earn: photo of a farmer with daughter using mobile phone

Learn2Earn

Using incentives to bolster public awareness campaigns

“Right information at the right time”

Suppose that you want to share critical information about a upcoming vaccine clinic,  local elections or an impending natural disaster. How would you spread this information to people in rural, remote areas given limited time and budget?

Awareness is the first step towards bringing change, both for ourselves and for the society at large. Established in April 2016, Learn2Earn is a project that encourages spreading awareness about important issues through incentives that are delivered using a mobile phone. It combines learning about topics with earning incentives. We have deployed the system to spread awareness about land rights among farmers in Chhattisgarh; HIV prevention and treatment in Solapur, Maharashtra; and voting rights in four states in the recently concluded Indian national elections.

Learn2Earn is based on an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system that allows anyone to call in and listen to a pre-recorded message in their local language. They then answer a few questions related to the message and receive a mobile airtime topup if they answer correctly. If they share the Learn2Earn number with their friends, they receive a further topup whenever one of their friends completes the quiz.

Learn2earn system call flow

People

Portrait of Amit Sharma

Amit Sharma

Principal Researcher