Another flame is your husband who you stay with forever

You should serve well don’t make him disappointed

Forgive him in the name of woman; don’t speak in the way that you consider him as equal

No matter what happen we have to wait to listen with the bad word (even if he say something bad you have to listen)”

This is an excerpt from the Chbap (law) Srey (woman), a traditional Cambodian proverb, outlining the codes of conduct women are expected to follow in their society.

Sopheap Chak at Cambodia’s first Blogger Summit at Pannasastra University Photo Credit: David Sasaki

Sopheap Chak’s ambition is to break this social taboo by using social media to educate Cambodia’s women and youth.

The Clogher [defined as a female Clogger = Cambodian Blogger] uses her blog to mentor other young women, urging them to step out of their comfort zone and get educated.

She also advocates and speaks at conferences for Cambodian youth to work together and make social change. The youth civic mobilization taking hold in the Southeast Asian country is increasingly being arranged as a digital movement.

According to Chak, “Over the past few years, civic mobilization in Cambodia has gained momentum with the emerging power of digital and social media. Unlike in rice production where farmers awaited the rains for a good yield of crop, the young generations no longer await the initiatives from the government or civil society organizations to yield results.”

The Cambodian youth are taking the future into their hands, organizing numerous events and initiatives, to encourage their innovative collaboration to make change.

On June 4, Chak spoke at the Khmer Talks to over 200 attendees. The monthly events are hosted by the Khmer Young Entrepreneurs (KYEs), a group of young emerging Cambodian leaders, who on their website state they believe in, “personal empowerment.”

Khmer Talks is an informal online platform where emerging social and business entrepreneurs gather together in forums and public speaking events, they express unique and innovative ideas in their local Khmer language.

A couple weeks ago on June 10, Chak went to another event organized through the group’s Facebook page called the Cambodian Women in Business.

Their page, established on Facebook in November 2009, imparts experiences of women doing business and networking in Cambodia. A number of formal gatherings have been held for the women with the support of the International Finance Cooperation of Cambodia.

Chek writes, “About 40 network participants showed up at the gathering June 3 to discuss the role of Facebook in facilitating their various businesses. The event was participated by bloggers, e-entrepreneurs, business women, and civil society organizations.”

In addition to the events that perpetuate the cycle of ideas and collaboration, InSTEDD’s first iLab in Southeast Asia, is headquartered in Phnom Penh.

The InSTEDD iLab is a participatory development project launched in Cambodia in 2007. Their goal is to build technological capacity through collaborative learning and cross sector partnerships, to address health, safety and developmental issues in the Mekong Basin.

The Cambodian people, communities, and local organizations know what challenges they face, InSTEDD iLabs merely aim to leverage the technological solutions to help address them.

Social media and technology has revived civic mobilization in Cambodia. Collaborative and innovative solutions help are helping to bring a new kind of digital empowerment to a the tattered Southeast Asian country.

It was fourteen years ago that a group of humanitarian NGOs and the Red Cross/Red Crescent movement came together and created the Sphere Project which defined minimum standards for disaster response. The cornerstone of the Sphere Handbook was the Humanitarian Charter which describes the core principles that govern humanitarian action. On top of this there are minimum standards and indicators defined that currently are utilized as a reference all disaster response.

Some of the Sphere core standard do address information sharing, like the following excerpt show:

Core Standard 1 – People Centered Humanitarian Response

People have a right to accurate and updated information about actions taken on their behalf. Information can reduce anxiety and is an essential foundation of community responsibility and ownership. At a minimum, agencies should provide a description of the agency’s mandate and project(s), the population’s entitlements and rights, and when and where to access assistance (see HAP’s ‘sharing information’ benchmark). Common ways of sharing information include noticeboards, public meetings, schools, newspapers and radio broadcasts. The information should demonstrate considered understanding of people’s situations and be conveyed in local language(s), using a variety of adapted media so that it is accessible to all those concerned. For example, use spoken communications or pictures for children and adults who cannot read, use uncomplicated language (i.e. understandable to local 12-year-olds) and employ a large typeface when printing information for people with visual impairments. Manage meetings so that older people or those with hearing difficulties can hear.

Core Standard 2 – Coordination and Collaboration

• Be informed of the responsibilities, objectives and coordination role of the  state and other coordination groups where present.
• Provide coordination groups with information about the agency’s mandate,  objectives and programme.
• Share assessment information with the relevant coordination groups in a  timely manner and in a format that can be readily used by other humanitarian agencies
• Use programme information from other humanitarian agencies to inform  analysis, selection of geographical area and response plans.
• Regularly update coordination groups on progress, reporting any major delays, agency shortages or spare capacity.

Efficient data-sharing will be enhanced if the information is easy to use (clear, relevant, brief) and follows global humanitarian protocols which are technically compatible with other agencies’ data. The exact frequency of data-sharing is agency- and context-specific but should be prompt to remain relevant. Sensitive information should remain confidential

Core Standard 3 – Assessment

Pre-disaster information: A collaborative pooling of existing information is invaluable for initial and rapid assessments. A considerable amount of information is almost always available about the context (e.g. political, social, economic, security, conflict and natural environment) and the people (such as their sex, age, health, culture, spirituality and education). Sources of this information include the relevant state ministries (e.g. health and census data), academic or research institutions, community-based organisations and local and international humanitarian agencies present before the disaster. Disaster preparedness and early warning initiatives, new developments in shared web-based mapping, crowd-sourcing and mobile phone platforms (such as Ushahidi) have also generated databases of relevant information.

Initial assessments, typically carried out in the first hours following a disaster, may be based almost entirely on second-hand information and pre-existing data. They are essential to inform immediate relief needs and should be carried out and shared immediately.

Data disaggregation: Detailed disaggregation is rarely possible initially but is of critical importance to identify the different needs and rights of children and adults of all ages. At the earliest opportunity, further disaggregate by sex and age for children 0–5 male/female, 6–12 male/female and 13–17 male/female, and then in 10-year age brackets, e.g. 50–59, male/female; 60–69, male/female; 70–79, male/female; 80+, male/female.

Sharing assessments: Assessment reports provide invaluable information to other humanitarian agencies, create baseline data and increase the transparency of response decisions. Regardless of variations in individual agency design, assessment reports should be clear and concise, enable users to identify priorities for action and describe their methodology to demonstrate the reliability of data and enable a comparative analysis if required.

One of the key issues that is hindering effective humanitarian coordination is that information is not being shared effectively between the various response organizations. Many of them don’t see value in sharing information and often feel that sharing information with others will hurt their own ability to gather funds and drive their own programs forward.

What we need is a Humanitarian Information Charter that describes the core principles that govern humanitarian information sharing and management. These should define why organizations should share and as organizations endorse this charter they commit to sharing information with each other.

It is however not enough to tell organizations to share. Information needs to be shared in such a manner that it can also be compared to other information and analyzed for trends. However during almost every recent emergency data being shared has not been compatible with data coming from other organizations. Lot of effort has been needed to convert the data into compatible formats and often the analysis is delayed so long that the data becomes irrelevant by the time it becomes available. This in return leads to organizations not seeing any value in sharing information.

It is amazing that we have had organizations like UNGIWG active for over 10 years and we have had the global clusters for over 5 years now and the IASC Task Force on Information Management active for over two years now  and yet none of these have managed to agree upon standards for representing the information required to effectively coordinate disasters.

Those of us sitting in some of these bodies and having representatives in them must take the blame for not putting focus on the right things in our efforts there. If we want information sharing then we must ensure information interoperability. We ensure information interoperability by defining the data standards for how to share each type of information.

We have 20-30 types of spreadsheets and databases for each dataset that we want to capture. Now that we have finally agreed upon what the common and fundamental datasets are, then we must agree upon the format for sharing them. Once we have defined that standard, then we must actually agree to use it and nothing else.

We must then go through each cluster and ensure we define the core standards for each dataset that needs to be captured and shared to ensure effective coordination in the cluster.

Once we have the standards defined, we can actually start sharing templates and databases for collecting this data. Then we can even move forward and start sharing data capture applications and analysis modules. Then we can actually start comparing data from different organizations.

It is important for all of us to stop arguing about politics for a while and start addressing this core issue. We must understand that no data standard will be perfect and we must move towards minimum data standards and not perfect data standards.

I hereby challenge all the global cluster members as well as all the workgroup and task force members to give themselves 6 months to agree upon these standards. What we have at the end of six months will what we will use as the version 1 of the Humanitarian Information Standards. Aim for simplicity and interoperability instead of perfection and silos of data.

I am ready to work on a Humanitarian Information Charter and put together the minimum standards for humanitarian information sharing – are you?

Effective development and program management is crucial for sustained economic growth and positive social change to be achieved. But limited high quality spatial data and cutting edge mapping technology (coupled with widespread connectivity issues) impede proper planning in much of the developing world.

Last week’s launch of Virtual Kenya, an online interactive web  platform for charting human environmental health with related material for those with no access to the internet, offers a guide on how to improve this paucity of high quality and reliable spatial data. The innovation will enable Kenyans to use and interact with spatial data in their educational and professional pursuits, which will undoubtedly improve the relevance of their education and work for improved livelihoods, society and nation building.

The newly launched platform will provide online access to publicly available spatial data sets, as well as, interactive tools and learning resources to utilize the vast array of data. This unprecedented opportunity to download, publish, share and comment on a myriad of map-based products will promote data sharing and spatial analysis.

As I suggested earlier, this is a game-changer in the development space because it will enable sound decision-making and development planning in Kenya. This is possible because Virtual Kenya will be of use to a wide cross-section of people, including high school and university teachers and students, government planners, GIS professionals and local government officials.

This development shows that web-based spatial planning tools have the potential to structure and strengthen the development space. In discussing the strengths of Virtual Kenya with my colleagues, we pondered about the sustainability of this initiative because of the difficulty with gathering and sorting spatial data. But, Virtual Kenya is likely to outlive these concerns because of its democratic, community-based nature, and the range of organizations involved in this project: Wildlife Clubs of Kenya, International Livestock Research Institute, World Resources Institute, Upend (the Kenyan-based developer), and technical support from Danida and SIDA.

Upend, the technical lead on the collaborative Virtual Kenya project, provided the following list (and notes) of interactive tools that will be utilized:

1. Virtual Kenya Tours using Google Earth with 2D and 3D maps, images, and graphs to explain data from the Atlas with voice overs in an interactive and entertaining format.
2. Interactive Map Viewer that allows users to view, create, and download maps of Kenya
3. Social networking community to share GIS and mapping experiences among Virtual Kenya users;
4. Baseline data on Kenya’s environment and geography in multiple file formats that are freely available and comprehensive;
5. Learning resources, including a teachers guide and student activity booklets, to help educators use maps and information from the Atlas in their classrooms even without access to the Internet or computers;
6. Tutorials to help users take advantage of all that Virtual Kenya has to offer

This mix of tools shows that even those with limited/no with  GIS technology will find Virtual Kenya user-friendly.  The visual nature of the innovation will also limit the constraints posed by issues of illiteracy, functional and otherwise.

The Honorable Dr. Ottichilo, a Member of Parliament for the Emuhaya Constituency, shares his thoughts on Virtual Kenya and its potential for improved development planning. Dr. Ottichilo earned a PhD in natural resources planning, assessment and management.

For more details on Virtual Kenya, please go here

Photo credit: Governify

Amidst the Middle Eastern revolutions and wake of the Arab Spring, the U.N. released a report last month announcing that Internet access is a basic human right, but some people are unconvinced.

The report, which was released May 16, is in conjunction with the ongoing response to the disconnection of Internet access and filtering of content by authoritarian governments around the world.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, Frank La Rue, presented his report on freedom of expression and the Internet to the U.N. Human Rights Council (OHCHR) in Geneva last Friday.

The report states that the Internet has become an important medium upon which human expression occurs.

Photo Credit: © U.N.- Jean Marc Ferré

Mr. La Rue made similar assertions on World Press Freedom Day, stating the Internet is a public space that encourages the facilitation of dialogue in civil society. Alternatively, he contended, politicians can use the same channel to repress dissent.

The special Rapporteur warned in the report that fearful governments are increasingly restricting the flow of information on the Internet due to its potential to mobilize people.

“In recent months, we have seen a growing movement of people around the world who are advocating for change – for justice, equality, accountability of the powerful and better respect for human rights,” Mr. La Rue asserted in his speech to the OHCHR in Geneva.

He referred to China’s filtering systems which prevent access to sites containing key terms such as “democracy” and “human rights”; and the “just- in-time” blocking, which denies users access to key information during times of social unrest, such as in the Middle East, as events that are deeply concerning to him.

While noting that the Internet is a relatively new communication medium, Mr. La Rue stressed the applicability of the international human rights framework when assessing whether governments are unduly restricting the flow of information online.

“Legitimate expression continues to be criminalized in many States, illustrated by the fact that in 2010, more than 100 bloggers were imprisoned,” the Special Rapporteur warned. “Governments are using increasingly sophisticated technologies to block content, and to monitor and identify activists and critics.”

In the report, he explores key trends and challenges to the right of all individuals to exercise their right to freedom of expression, as guaranteed in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

The vast potential and benefits of the Internet are rooted in its unique characteristics, such as its speed, worldwide reach and relative anonymity. At the same time, these distinctive features of the Internet that enable individuals to disseminate information in “real time” and to mobilize people has also created fear amongst Governments and the powerful. This has led to increased restrictions on the Internet through the use of increasingly sophisticated technologies to block content, monitor and identify activists and critics, criminalization of legitimate expression, and adoption of restrictive legislation to justify such measures.

Mr. La Rue’s reference echoed Hilary Clinton sentiment on Internet freedoms and the U.S. continued interest in upholding the values of Article 19 when she spoke last January.

“The internet is a network that magnifies the power and potential of all others. And that’s why we believe it’s critical that its users are assured certain basic freedoms. Freedom of expression is first among them.” Clinton stated in her address.

“This freedom is no longer defined solely by whether citizens can go into the town square and criticize their government without fear of retribution. Blogs, emails, social networks, and text messages have opened up new forums for exchanging ideas, and created new targets for censorship.” she proclaimed.

The U.S. has made no comment on the most recent U.N. report.

One new idea featured in the report stresses that a person’s Internet access should remain connected even if an individual violates intellectual property law. This would typically apply to copyright infringers who knowingly download music and videos without paying.

This is one of the more controversial points in the report, as there is clearly a still a divide between how to balance the legal system with an individuals freedom of expression—without crossing the line of using the Internet for criminal purposes.

The Special Rapporteur went on to highlight in the report the need for better protections on intermediaries, which includes Internet access providers, and a person’s right to privacy with the inclusion of data protection

Mr. La Rue emphasized that states should include Internet literacy skills in school curricula, and provide training on how users can protect themselves from harmful content.

While this report provides good insight on how the Internet has increasingly become a vehicle for the freedom of expression and governments who deny access counter that liberty, public opinion has vacillated that the U.N. should deem it as a “universal human right,” but it has its critics.

The influential and outspoken critic, Kentaro Toyama, is one such opponent. “The question is whether the Internet must be actively made available to everyone, which is the implication of something being a human right. There are many things that are desirable, but which cannot practically be provided for all, and are not absolutely critical to dignified human life.”

Gordon Kelly of Trusted Review, starts his article on the report by stating, “Air, water, free speech… there are many things over the years we have come to see as basic human rights. According to the United Nations this week we should all start getting used to another, perhaps more surprising one, Internet access.”

Their points are important and risks becoming redundant in the public’s common notion of what the La Rue is trying to achieve in this report, however, that is not the U.N.’s objective.

By definition, universal human rights are international standards that are set to help guard people around the world from severe political, legal, and social abuses. Examples of human rights are the right to a fair trial when charged with a crime, the right not to be tortured, and the right to engage in political activity.

It this sense, it should be noted that La Rue was not discussing Internet access as a new right, rather as an addition to the underlying importance of the right to freedom of expression. This should also imply access to information and the right to express ideas and opinions.

The human right to the freedom of expression and opinion encourages civil societies participation, associated with other democratic freedoms like freedom of press that creates a safeguard for other freedoms that are critical to leading a dignified human life. A voice to demand basic human rights that are not “guaranteed” by governments can ensure other rights, like minimal nutrition standards and clean water.

Internet access is not a guaranteed human right, rather it is a channel and tool used to fuel further civil liberties that encourage social and economical development in oppressed communities. Citizens’ ability to have their voices be heard is critical to enhancing their livelihoods and quality of life, as they can hold their governments accountable to addressing and meeting their needs.

There are other tools that have been previously used to further citizen’s rights to lead a better life. Take, for example, national government and U.N.’s initiatives in water sanitation centers.

Photo Credit: Pulitzer Center

Water sanitation centers were not declared human right, but they still serve as instruments in creating a clean source of drinking water for citizens to survive on. The centers are not a silver bullet solution for access to water, just like Internet is not an all-encompassing solution to development, but these tools help in its aim.

Internet access should not be thought of as the only tool to be used to enhance these democratic liberties—mobile and radio—are also devices that improve the ability to freely express opinion as a human right.

In addition, when La Rue argued that universal Internet access reducing authoritarian regimes stronghold in oppressing online dissidents, this was also highly criticized.

Toyama writes in response, “…the reality is that any dictator willing to shut down or censor the Internet is already engaged in violating other more important human rights, such as the right not to be shot in the head or tortured by secret police.

Though he is correct that any dictator censoring information is usually engaged in other fundamental human rights violations, extending beyond information control, this is not a valid argument against free speech.

However, there is a core meaning beyond censorship and shutting down Internet access by dictators and authoritarian regimes. As evidenced, in Iran’s proposed internal Internet, and China’s Great Firewall, these leaders recognize the power of communication in fueling the change desired by their citizens.

It also shows that they the Internet is a communicative tool that can be used to channel that change, and dictators are immediately threatened by it.

Although information may not appear at the base of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the freedom of expression and opinion are still protected human rights under Article 19. Public opinion seems to side with the United Nations, or on the BBC World Service survey finding that almost four in five people around the world believe that access to the Internet is a fundamental right.

Camel without refrigerator attached. Photo Credit: Art Center College of Design

The PATH initiative, which advances malaria vaccines, recently predicted that over ten times more vaccine storage will be needed in the developing world over the next 15 years. However, transporting and managing vaccines in developing countries faces many obstacles, including inhospitable climates, poor infrastructure, lack of electricity and disparate communities.

As a result, over 1 million people die every year in developing nations due to vaccine-preventable diseases. In some cases, vaccines may be reaching these populations, but when they do, they are no longer functional because they were not adequately cooled. Most vaccines must be stored within a certain temperature range in order to remain functional. Health organizations are increasingly turning to technology to help them do just that.

Fridge about to be loaded onto camel. Photo Credit: Art Center College of Design

Many NGOs and ministries of health make use of mobile vaccine refrigerators that harness solar energy to power the internal chamber that holds the vaccines. A particularly innovative and resourceful vaccine refrigerator came on the backs of camels. Naps’ Camel Fridge was designed back in 2005 and operates off of solar power. The fridge uses solar panels to harness energy, and sits on the backs of camels that transport the fridges to rural destinations. Over 1,500 of these camel fridges have been sold to WHO and UNICEF programs.

But if a shipment of vaccines arrives spoiled, it is important to know where in the logistics chain the temperature was breached so that changes can be made to prevent a recurrence.

However, some issues with these mobile refrigerators are temperature maintenance and vaccine spoilage. A practical gadget that has made cold chain storage more efficient is a technology that involves vaccine monitoring. SmartConnect, a technology developed by Inveneo that uses existing cell phone networks for data communication, can monitor vaccines by sending information about the arrival time and temperatures of vaccines in transit. That way, officials will know not only if a vaccine has spoiled, but when and where the problem may have occurred.

Sure Chill Vaccine Refrigerator Photo Credit: True Energy

SmartConnect is not the only project making use of SMS technology. True Energy’s Sure Chill Vaccine Refrigerators, which are WHO pre-certified, can store vaccines at a constant optimal temperature, without power, for up to ten days while using a vaccine vial monitoring system that records temperature changes and can send an SMS to indicate those changes.

True Energy has already shipped multiple units to Senegal and Vietnam under project Optimize, a WHO/PATH collaboration, and aims to ship many more units to countries like South Sudan, Kenya, Nigeria, Yemen, India and many more.

Incorporating mobile monitoring technologies and improving the efficiency of the fridges could make a tremendous impact on the success of many vaccination programs.  And if PATH’s prediction rings true, they will be greatly needed.