Empowering farmers and fighting child labour through digital innovation: MobiPay and ACCEL Africa

The ACCEL Africa project has partnered with MobiPay to strengthen rural livelihoods and advance the elimination of child labour in Uganda’s coffee and tea supply chains. Through cutting-edge agricultural technologies and financial inclusion services, MobiPay brings a powerful set of tools to support the project's core goals of reducing vulnerability, increasing incomes by reducing additional selling costs, and promoting decent work in rural communities.

MobiPay offers a range of services designed to boost agricultural productivity, enhance market access, and promote financial resilience among smallholder farmers and cooperatives:

Digital innovations

© ILO/Erick

© ILO/Erick

The AgroBase is a comprehensive, cloud-based Management Information System (MIS) for agriculture. It offers:

• Real-time traceability of commodities to build market trust
• Digital advisory services to support better farming practices
• Secure payment systems to facilitate transactions
• Data-driven insights to inform decisions and improve yields

By linking farmers, cooperatives, and Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) to AgroBase, ACCEL Africa will enhance transparency, improve incomes, and support data-driven agricultural management, tackling some of the root causes of child labour related to poverty and informal work conditions.

The KASAPA is an innovative, voice-based and SMS information system that delivers localized agricultural knowledge directly to farmers’ mobile phones — even without internet or smartphones.
It provides:

• Voice messages in local languages
• Market updates
• Weather alerts

This service ensures that even illiterate or semi-literate farmers are empowered with critical farming information, contributing to improved harvests, reduced economic vulnerability, and safer environments for children.

Web-Based Learning – Building skills for the future

Through web-based learning platforms, MobiPay facilitates flexible and scalable access to training content, videos, and interactive agricultural modules.
This approach will:

• Build skills in modern farming techniques
• Support youth entrepreneurship
• Strengthen farmer cooperatives’ capacity

These skills are essential for creating alternative livelihood opportunities, further reducing reliance on child labour.

Mobile applications – Smart farming

Smart farming applications integrate:

• Weather forecasts
• Market prices
• Pest and disease alerts
• Farm management tools

These apps empower farmers with real-time data to make better decisions, manage risks, and increase farm profitability, thereby enhancing household resilience and helping families keep their children in school.

USSD Platforms –Connectivity

© ILO/Erick

© ILO/Erick

For farmers in remote areas without smartphones or internet, USSD services deliver essential agricultural information, financial services, and market updates through simple text menus accessible from any basic mobile phone.

This inclusive technology ensures that no farmer is left behind, strengthening community resilience against poverty-related drivers of child labour.

Why this partnership matters

These innovative tools directly contribute to ACCEL Africa’s objectives of:

• Strengthening institutional frameworks by providing digital infrastructure for cooperatives and VSLAs
• Institutionalizing innovative solutions to address the root causes of child labour
• Scaling proven strategies by expanding access to financial services, technology, and markets

Together, ACCEL Africa and MobiPay are working towards sustainable, child-labour-free supply chains — where rural families have the resources, knowledge, and opportunities they need to thrive.