In partnership with Amplio, a US based nonprofit social enterprise, the pilot project has adopted these easy-to-use gadgets to engage around 8,000 people, sharing stories and ideas on women's land rights and their benefits for households and communities.

The Talking Books were developed by Amplio to reach remote, under-served rural populations that are often bypassed by conventional development initiatives. Designed for people with limited access to the internet or electricity, the Talking Books can play several hours of carefully tailored audio content, work offline, and function with either rechargeable or conventional batteries.

Digital solutions for learning and engagement

"This initiative will shed light on how inclusive digital solutions can be powerful tools to promote social inclusion and empowerment in rural contexts, as well as innovative vehicles to drive social change and foster gender equality," highlighted Martha Osorio, FAO Gender and Rural Development Officer, who leads the initiative. "The Talking Books will motivate people to reflect on the gender dimension of land issues and discuss them, inducing through debates within households and whole communities."

The audio messages challenge discriminatory social norms and encourage new ways of thinking. For instance, one dialogue highlights the benefits that registering the land in the name of both the wife and the husband can bring to the family's well-being, because after joint registration both will be more inclined to invest in their land. Likewise, a testimony of a widow described how the community elders help her to mediate with her deceased husband’s brothers to convince them that she had the right to continue to live on, use and control the land on which she and her family have depended over the last ten years.