Africa Access Labs

Making essential services accessible to everyone.

Africa Access Labs is an African development-delivery organisation. Essential services are moving online; we help governments and development partners reach the people apps and portals leave behind, on the phones they already own.

Partner with us See a service journey

Built in Botswana. Designed for African service-delivery realities.

A smiling woman in an orange dress and a cream headscarf stands at a wooden market stall holding a mobile phone, with fruit on the counter in front of her.

Who we are

We bridge the last mile between essential-service systems and the people those systems are intended to serve.

The question we ask

Who is currently unable to reach this service, and what stands in their way?

The principle we hold

Services should meet people through channels they can already use.

The result we work towards

More people able to understand, start and complete essential service journeys.

A service can be digital and still be out of reach.

Registrations, applications, health information, payments, advisory services and assistance programmes are moving onto portals, apps, digital forms and messaging channels. The gains are real. But digital transformation does not automatically mean digital inclusion.

Each design choice quietly sets a threshold for participation. Each threshold is modest. Together they decide who gets through. This is an access-design problem, not a deficit in communities.

  1. DeviceNo smartphone, or one phone shared across a household.
  2. CostMobile data that is unaffordable or rationed.
  3. ConnectivityUnreliable internet and low-bandwidth environments.
  4. LanguageServices offered in only one or two languages.
  5. Digital confidenceLimited experience or confidence using online services.
  6. Complex formsLong portals and forms that are hard to complete.
  7. Fragmented systemsInformation and services spread across disconnected systems.
  8. DistanceLong journeys to a service point to ask a simple question.
  9. CommunicationNo reliable last-mile channel for updates and follow-up.
  10. AccessibilityInterfaces that do not work for people with disabilities.

People should not have to become sophisticated digital users before they can access essential services.

From communication to service delivery.

Communication is only the beginning. Select a stage to see what changes for the person and for the institution.

Stages 1 to 3 are where a messaging service usually stops. Stages 4 to 9 are where the service journey continues, through to a measured outcome.

  1. Reach

    For the person

    Is contacted through a channel they already use.

    For the institution

    Reach extends beyond app and web users.

  2. Inform

    For the person

    Receives trusted, plain-language information.

    For the institution

    Consistent messaging from approved content.

  3. Engage

    For the person

    Asks questions in their own words and language.

    For the institution

    Real questions and needs become visible.

  4. Understand need

    For the person

    Is understood, not pushed through a script.

    For the institution

    Each person is matched to the right service.

  5. Capture information

    For the person

    Shares only the details the service needs, with consent.

    For the institution

    Complete, usable data enters programme systems.

  6. Qualify or route

    For the person

    Is directed to the service or person who can help.

    For the institution

    Partner rules are applied consistently.

  7. Serve, refer or escalate

    For the person

    Completes the service, or reaches a qualified person.

    For the institution

    Staff time goes to cases that need judgement.

  8. Follow up

    For the person

    Receives reminders, updates and support until the journey ends.

    For the institution

    Completion improves, and drop-off points are known.

  9. Measure outcome

    For the person

    Can say what happened and give feedback.

    For the institution

    Evidence for learning, reporting and scale.

We do not measure success by messages sent. We design for completed service journeys and measurable outcomes.

A simple text message can become the start of a complete service journey.

A journey on a basic phone: a question, a clear answer, a few eligibility questions, a reference number and follow-up.

From a question to a registered interest, by SMS

A farmer asks about drought support by SMS, checks likely eligibility, registers and receives follow-up.

Silent, with on-screen captions and a transcript.

Read the conversation
  1. PersonHi, is there any help for small farmers after the drought?
  2. ServiceYes. A drought-recovery programme supports registered smallholder farmers. I can check if you may qualify in 2 short questions. Reply YES to start.
  3. PersonYES
  4. Service1 of 2: Which district is your farm in?
  5. PersonKweneng
  6. Service2 of 2: Did you lose crops, livestock or both last season? Reply 1 Crops, 2 Livestock, 3 Both
  7. Person1
  8. ServiceYou appear to meet the first criteria. Reply 1 to register your interest, or 2 to speak to an extension officer.
  9. Person1
  10. ServiceRegistered. Your reference is KW-0417. An officer will confirm within 5 working days.
  11. ServiceReminder: your field visit is on Thursday morning. Reply 1 to confirm or 2 to change the day.
  12. Person1
Demonstrated capability

Built on demonstrated low-bandwidth capability.

Two services built by Aga Intelligence on Moozy.ai shaped our model: a live Smart SMS service delivered with a Botswana mobile network operator, and an intent-aware SMS insurance journey developed for a Botswana insurance provider. Both work over SMS, on basic phones as well as smartphones.

See capability in practice

Six programme areas on one access infrastructure.

Each area applies the same access model to a different essential service, with content, rules and escalation paths owned by the sector partner.

Built to work inside programmes led by others.

We bring inclusive digital-delivery capability into programmes led by institutions with the mandate, expertise and trust to deliver development outcomes. We never replace sector experts or accountable institutions.

How partnerships work
Development partners and funders
A delivery partner that keeps demonstrated and proposed capability visibly apart, agrees indicators at design stage and reports contribution, not attribution.
Governments and public institutions
Keeping public services accessible as they become increasingly digital.
Implementing organisations
Engagement, onboarding, data capture, referral and follow-up for programmes already in delivery.
NGOs and civil society
Communicating with, understanding and serving communities more effectively.
Consortiums
The digital-access, engagement and data component of larger funded programmes.
Research and evaluation partners
Structured data on who is reached, what happens in the journey and where people drop out.
Sector specialists
Working alongside clinicians, agronomists, financial institutions, humanitarian professionals and social workers.

Validate locally. Adapt with local partners. Scale responsibly.

Access for people can be free or subsidised while the infrastructure stays financially sustainable through institutional and programme funding.

  1. Co-designAgree the excluded group, the service journey and the indicators with partners.
  2. PilotTest the journey with real users, under a defined learning agenda.
  3. EvidenceMeasure reach, completion and outcomes against a baseline.
  4. Institutional adoptionHand the validated service to the institution that owns it.
  5. ReplicationAdapt what works, with local partners, in new settings.

If we cannot show what changed, we have not finished the job.

We keep reach, output, outcome and impact clearly separate, agree indicators with partners at design stage, and distinguish our contribution from the wider programme’s results.

Our measurement approach

  1. Reach

    Who did we contact?

  2. Output

    What did the service deliver?

  3. Outcome

    What changed for people or the programme?

  4. Impact

    What longer-term change did the wider programme contribute to?

Developed and proven in Botswana, for settings across the continent.

Botswana is our home base, where our capability is developed, and a useful proving ground for inclusive service delivery. The barriers we design around are shared across much of the continent: basic phones, rationed data, long distances, many languages, uneven connectivity and fragmented service systems.

About Africa Access Labs

What stands between people and the service you need them to reach?

We work with governments, development partners and implementing organisations to identify that gap, design an accessible service journey and test what works.

Start a partnership conversation Explore how we work

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