The winners of the mWomen mobile application awards were announced recently at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The awards, which were launched by Hilary Clinton, Cherie Blair, the GSMA Development Fund and sponsored by Vodafone, challenged app developers to build an original app solution that targeted the specific needs of women in developing countries.

On offer was a prize of $10,000 from Vodafone to assist in the commercialisation of their apps.

In the Feature Phone Category, the winner was NextDrop, which solved the problem of infrequent water availability thanks to an app that partners with water utilities and consumer goods corporations in order to warn consumers who lived in that geographical location when water supplies had become available.

In the Smart Phone Category, the winner was TiendaTek which uses an Android App and a barcode reader in order to enable businesses to track transactions, connect with suppliers, identify areas in which they can improve and receive education about how they can improve.

Lee Epting, director of content services at Vodafone Group, said “At Vodafone, we are very focussed on developing products and services that make a difference to people in emerging markets, and I am delighted that we have been able to encourage developers to do the same via this competition.”

“NextDrop and Tienda Tek have been chosen for their ability to address the real problem of how to serve the 300 million women currently excluded from the social and personal empowerment of mobile,” Lee added.

For more information on the mWomen initiative, visit their website.