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What have we learned from all this ICT4D chatter?

I have been blogging about ICT4D consistently for two months. This seems an opportune time to highlight my main thoughts on ICT4D, many of which are shared by others in the ICT4D space.

Here’s a list, feel free to add to it.

  • Countries with clear ICT policies tend to do better
  • ICT policies must be integrated within a broader national development plan
  • Good infrastructure and an enabling regulatory framework are needed
  • ICTs are merely tools, the potency of which is largely dependent on context and systemic domains
  • ICTS are not within and of themselves an end
  • There’s immense potential for economic growth, social cohesion, security, political stability, provision of education, healthcare, agricultural services etc
  • Look elsewhere for development’s silver bullet—if it exists, you’re looking in the wrong direction
  • Like development, technologies also have “side-effects” no matter the dosage.
  • We know very little about the impact of ICTs on economic expansion
  • Building and boosting capacity of a critical mass of people is integral (access and use are not synonymous!)
  • Public-private partnerships will be crucial for the sustainability of most initiatives
  • As most successful projects do, start small, take M&E seriously and scale up
  • The slickest tech isn’t always the best option

The latter is perhaps the point that I have examined the least, over the last few weeks. But, I have consistently made the point that traditional ICTs, including radio, television sets and so on, should not be abandoned in favor of the latest tech. Context is everything! Connectivity woes, illiteracy and minimal access to the newest gadgets, among other things, demand that we think in terms of complementarity, cultural appropriateness and the financial constraints of proliferating some tools.

Finding ways to make better use of traditional ICTs like radio is important on two fronts. First, radio is the most potent tool to use for the dissemination of information globally—it’s ubiquitous, even in the most far-off and undeveloped parts of the world, due to its portability, reach and affordability. Second, this era of low cost mobile phones, MP3 players and so on offers new and exciting opportunities to use ‘radio’ and radio techniques innovative to improve livelihoods and enterprise.

Next week, I will review the findings of the African Farm Radio Research Initiative (AFRRI), an action research project—funded by the Gates Foundation—that assessed how radio can improve food security in Africa…

 

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Did you make the Tandaa Grant shortlist?

The Tandaa grant logo (in green), Kenya open data written below (in black)

Kenya openData

Nearly 150 company and individual submissions made the shortlist for Kenya’s Tandaa Digital Content Grants. The Tandaa Digital Content Grant competition, a campaign to unearth and finance web and mobile-phone apps developers, was unveiled last year by the Ministry of Information and Communication, through the Kenya ICT Board.

At its inception 15 grantees benefited—companies, individuals and groups of varying sizes. But this year the Kenyan government will double direct funding through grants.

The renewal of this successful initiative will see 30 awards being doled out to shortlisted candidates in varied categories. The Ministry of Information and Communication says the highly attractive Tandaa Digital Content Grant is worth up to US$50, 000 for companies, US$10, 000 for individuals and teams, plus a matching grant of US$150, 000 for established companies.

The grant is further evidence of Kenya’s bold and thoughtful ICT policy framework, which is increasingly backed by solid initiatives. It will further stimulate ICT innovation and could spur greater economic growth. ICT already account for five cents in every dollar of Kenya’s annual income. The policy is solid to the extent that it tackles the key hindrance to the expansion of Kenya’s ICT sector: financing. Companies, particularly start-ups, that specialize in web and mobile solutions face major hurdles in their quest to access funding. The risky nature of their ventures, getting innovation to market successfully, also heightens the perception of risk in financial circles.

However, the challenge of financing mobile-innovation must be tackled in a more meaningful way: a sustainable solution, not simply grants. A mixture of subsidized loans, and targeted finance for micro and medium size technology firms is necessary for a potent long-term strategy to find a toehold. Grants have a place in the overall strategy, but they are not central to the long-term financing challenge.

For further information, please go here.

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iWeek South Africa

The 2011 10th Anniversary iWeek conference, a South African Internet and telecoms industry’s annual gathering, will feature international speakers from six continents.

The 10th staging of the iWeek Conference kicks off on September 21 to 23 this year at the Royal Elephand, Eldoraigne, Centurion, South Africa. The annual event is a gathering of internet and telecoms players, but it is open to others. This year’s staging will focus on how the internet has changed societies.

The event, which is sponsored by MTN Business Solutions, Ad Dynamo and Vox Telecom, will feature leading speakings, including Juan Du Toit from MXiT, Peter Coroneos, chief executive of the Internet Industry Association (IIA), Dr. Roger Leslie Cottrell from the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford University, Jack Unger, president of Ask-Wi.Com and Ramy Raoof, online media officer at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights.

Go here to register.

 

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ICT Africa Summit 2011 in Pretoria, South Africa

The second staging of the ICT Africa Summit will be held at the CSIR Conference Centre in Pretoria, South Africa on October 24-26.

Project Manager Rocky Kabeya says the focus will be on regional integration in ICT. He says “There has to be one platform on the continent that is strongly committed to connecting the Public and Private sectors to synchronize policy and regulatory frameworks with business opportunities sort after by the private sector and the ICT Africa Summit is the best place for that.”

The summit, which will be sponsored by MTN, Kaspersky, IBM, Meraka, CSIR and the Africa e-programme, is expected to host more ICT delegates than it did last year.

The 2010 staging of the submit in Cape Town attracted 200 delegates from 12 countries. The expected growth in delegates from across the continent will establish the submit as the Africa’s leading ICT expo.

Given the growing significance of ICTs to African economies, this submit is highly likely to become a mainstay. The ICT sector accounts for nearly five percent of Kenya’s GDP, and a growing portion of Ghana’s and Tanzania’s. Over the last decade, some African governments have shown firm political will to tackle the digital divide.

To learn more about the ICT Africa Summit 2011, please go here.

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Africa Gathering London – Is social media revolutionizing Africa?

Youth learning to use GPS in Pitoa, Cameroon (photo: Ernest Kunbega) 

Last Monday I attended Africa Gathering London. The topic was ’Social Media Revolutionizing Africa: How is new media changing Africa, giving voices to the voiceless, improving governance and transparency, and changing narratives?’

The event stimulated thinking and brought up some hot discussions around technology, traditional and social media, aid and development, participation and governance. (Big congratulations to Marieme Jamme for curating a great line up that brought in an interesting and engaged group of participants and to William Perrin of Indigo Trust for keeping things on track and generating good debate!) See the program, the speaker bios and some short video interviews.

Some quotes, thoughts and debates from the day:

  • If your purpose is to bring more people into discussions, remember that radio, Facebook, and Twitter audiences are distinct and be sure you are thinking differently about how to engage them all. Remember that many people in Africa prefer to talk not write.  (from BBC’s Africa Have Your Say – @bbcafricahys‘s presentation)
  • You can’t resolve all of Africa’s issues with one approach. The countries are very different and local context really matters. But you also can’t design something for every tiny demographic. Where is the sweet spot between localized and scale? (discussion after the morning workshop)
  • People should not sit in the UK deciding and develop things for Africans. Develop things with Africans, or support Africans to develop things themselves. This idea got retweeted a lot, with lots of agreement. But H Taylor – @HFTaylor88 also commented via Twitter that this rhetoric has been around for ages within NGOs…. (discussion after morning workshop)
  • It’s great that the market has been able to bring mobile phones to so many people in Africa, but the market can’t do it on its own as many are still left out. There needs to be more incentive to reach remote areas. There needs to be education, cash transfers, government regulation if we want to really realize the potential of mobiles. Mika Valitalo – @vatamik commented that in many African countries, mobiles are still taxed as luxury items, making them more expensive than they should be. (Clare Melamed -ODI – @claremelamed‘s “Is the Mobile Phone Revolution Really for Everyone”.)
  • Any big story today on CNN has a social media component, yet there is still the idea that social media only breaks news and ‘it won’t make the history books until CNN or BBC report on it’. If CNN is not planning to do a story but sees everyone is talking about it on Facebook and Twitter, they will cover may rethink covering it. CNN finds good opinions and stories on social media, but their primary news source will continue to be their correspondents. Emrys Schoemaker – @emrys_s however questioned whether mass media use of citizen journalism is a broadening of voices or if it’s cheap content for big media – or both. (Faith Karimi/CNN/@faithCNN’s presentation and resulting discussions.)
  • Social media gives African youth an uncensored worldwide platform, letting them feel included in shaping Africa’s image, but the youth using social media in Africa are still the middle class and the rich. We need to find ways to include other youth. (Faith Karimi – @faithCNN’s presentation and resulting discussions.)
  • The Guardian’s Global Development Site and Poverty Matters blog are trying to get away from the vision of ‘poor Africa’ and have only been accused of ‘poverty porn’ once in 9 months (which Liz said irritated her to no end as they really try to avoid it). (I remember the case…) They stay away from the typical ‘flies in the eyes’ photos, but sometimes there really is starvation in Africa, and in those cases, a photo of a starving child might actually represent reality. (Someone countered that African newspapers should use photos of drunk, vomiting Brits to illustrate stories about parliament).  (Liz Ford/deputy editor/@lizford‘s talk and discussion)
  • Is the Guardian’s Global Development site one-sided, taking the view that aid is good rather than other ideas on how to best achieve development? Development is much larger than ‘aid’ and when talking about development we need to remember the bigger picture and the alternative views that maybe aid is not the best (or only) way to ‘do development’. The Guardian is quite open to new thoughts and ideas and invites anyone with ideas for blogs or stories to be in touch with them. They consider their site a ‘work in progress’. (Note: I like the Guardian’s site very much as it is one of the few media sources that discusses and seems to really promote and engage in the ‘#smartaid / @smart_aid‘ discussion). (Liz Ford’s talk and discussion)
  • Many African leaders, not to mention the public and the media, will listen when high level people call their attention to something, but problems can’t be solved by the same people who created them, especially if those people are considered morally bankrupt. Karen Attiah – @karennattiah commented in from Twitter that a big part of development work should focus on rebuilding the broken social contract between governments and citizens in Africa. So how can we connect policy makers with ordinary Africans? How to bridge the gap between policy makers and grassroots approaches and implementation. (Panel with Alex Reid/@alreidy and Carolina Rodriguez /@caro_silborn – media heads at Gates Foundation and at Africa Progress Panel)
  • Not all sources are created equal – this is true for traditional and for social media. Social media is not about the technology, it’s about the human need to communicate. You can make traditional media more social also. Even those without access to social media will get around harsh barriers to tell their stories because of the urge to communicate. So the best thing is to create a social experience, not to worry so much about getting ‘jiggy’ with the technology. (from Kevin Anderson/@KevGlobal‘s presentation. See Putting the social in media.)
  • New technologies can impact on public debate, people’s political capabilities, citizen-state relations, relationships with other government actors. Frontline SMS Radio, for example, could be a very useful tool for this because radio is still the main way to communicate with the majority of Africa. Using Frontline SMS Radio, stations can sort through messages they get, understand them better, and use the information to orient their radio programs as well as other things. Radio can play a very strong and useful role in governance. (from Sharath Srinivasan/ @sharath_sri‘s presentation. See FrontlineSMS at Africa Gathering.)
  • Youth can have a big impact on community development if given space to influence. There is money (eg., in Cameroon, at local government level) but it needs to be better spent. Informed and involved youth can hold government accountable for spending it better. Local level advocacy has a greater impact on youths’ lives than global level initiatives because you can make as many laws as you like, but unless people are putting them into place and practice at a local level they don’t matter. Organizations should listen to young people but not make them dependent on NGOs because the real duty-bearers are family, community, government. NGOs need to be models of their own methodologies; eg., if an NGO is encouraging people to criticize the government, the NGO should be ready to receive the same scrutiny around its own work and behaviors. Social media can play a role in this process by showing what is happening at the local level to a global audience. (from my presentation and the resulting discussions. See Youth Empowerment through Technology, Arts and Media)
Julia Chandler (@juliac2) did a great round-up of the day’s presentations and discussions on her blog: Part 1 and Part 2. The Guardian continues the discussion here and of course the Africa Gathering website is a great place for more information.
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Update – more posts about Africa Gathering:
Great perspective from Tony Burkson – @tonyballu – who I really enjoyed talking with at the post-event drinks: A Day at Africa Gathering.
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Rwandan’s Tech Savvy President Talks ICT4D (Video)

Few world leaders are as savvy users of new media tools as Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who actively maintains a Twitter account and a YouTube channel. Because of how technologically engaged he is, Kagame was invited to answer a range of user-submitted questions as part of the Youtube Worldview Interview.

President Kagame fielded questions that touched on genocide, foreign aid, democratic elections, education, and job creation. But the main purpose of the interview was to explain to the world how a nation can restore political and economic stability and prevent genocide.

Kagame says technology stimulates economic activity and touts social media as a viable tool for governments to remain engaged with citizens. A fifth of the questions asked related to technology, and Kagame noted that had the infamous genocide occurred in an age where ICT were as ubiquitious as they are today, more positive voices would have been heard.


Transcriptions for three responses given by President Kagame (Transcription Credit: oAfrica)

What advantage do developing countries have when it comes to new technology? What potential do you see for mobile technology in improving the lives of Rwandans? (31:35-35:21)

Developing countries have an advantage because they can leapfrog. They don’t have to go through re-inventing the wheel, it has already been invented. We just go to the best – to the latest – that there is already. This is a very huge advantage. Again this is an advantages to those that see the opportunity. The fact that it is there is not enough. New technologies provide new opportunities. They support entrepreneurship, they support innovation, they support creativity. They constitute a business themselves. They present economic activities that people can benefit from. They serve as drives and tools that we can use to develop economic activities. For Rwanda, we are using not only these technologies but we can make them accessible to our people and make sure people are able to use them. And affordable. We build from there. Information technology is very critical. It informs our people. It gives them an enormous amount of information and ways, and therefore means, And they can also communicate. Once that exchange takes place it tells society to accelerate their development whether it is government or development or different aspirations for the country.

You personally use social networking websites like Twitter. Do you think modern day leaders & government officials should use these platforms as a means to reach young people or as a means to broadcast vital information? (40:55-43:20)

My experience with the use of the social media is that yes, it gives an opportunity to communicate with a very wide audience, even abroad. So it comes with a wealth of information and ideas. The whole value of connecting with the people and doing so it provides a platform to air your views, hear from other people’s views. It’s very instructive, indeed. I try and subscribe to making use of social media. I benefit, maybe other people will benefit too. It creates a healthy link with a wide, even global audience, not just a domestic area.

Considering today’s technology and access to it that everyone has, do you think had we had this kind of technology 17 years ago that what happened could have been prevented? (43:20-45:08)

I think, yes, this institution would have been much better if we had this 17 years ago. It would bring more awareness. It would be a process of liberalization for a good cause. It would be more positive than negative. Negative people abuse it, but I believe there would be more use for the better cause than for such negative ones. Some of the activities that took place were hidden from the eyes of the general public. Voices would have come out to say it is something else. There would have been more people challenging things that were happening. Certainly the matter would have been different.



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Providing Connectivity During Humanitarian Crises: An Approach from Luxembourg

Photo Credit: UN WFP

Following actual natural disasters, humanitarian crises often escalate in gravity due to a lack of communication and connectivity between stakeholders that are on the ground.  In an effort to eliminate these problems, the government of Luxembourg, in collaboration with the ICT Humanitarian Emergency Platform at the UN World Food Program (WFP), recently designed and created EPIC: Emergency Preparation Integration Centre.

The purpose of EPIC is to provide voice and data communications, via rugged mobile phones and digital radios with Internet-based phone service and GPS capabilities, to disaster zones within 14-20 hours of occurrence.  The communication platform allows international agencies to communicate with each other, consolidating efforts and increasing response efficiency.  Additionally, EPIC allows on-the-ground response teams to maintain communications with their agencies’ home bases, allowing for the transfer of swift and accurate news feeds in order to stimulate donor response as well.

Photo Credit: emergency.lu

The EPIC system is all contained in a single toolkit, stored at the UN’s five response posts, located around the globe in strategic locations.  When a disaster hits, the toolkits are quickly flown to the scene, reestablishing communications as quickly as possible to help coordinate an organized response effort.  The entire toolkit has yet to be used, but will be pilot tested in a mock trial in Cape Verde this July, according to WFP ICT regional director of Latin America Alf Ellefsen.  If the trial run goes smoothly, the toolkits will be fully operational by September or October of this year.

I had the opportunity to interview Mr. Ellefsen at the WFP about the program following his presentation at the Aid & International Development Forum 2011 last week.  He explained that this effort “fulfills our mandate from the UN as the lead of the Emergency Telecommunications Sector to provide telecommunications services during humanitarian crises.”  As seen in Haiti and Pakistan, recently, the lack of collaboration between responders created new problems and slowed some efforts.  The EPIC system would allow responders, such as the WFP, to collectively work with other public, private, and non-governmental organizations to efficiently distribute food to victims, locate resources, and communicate crucial messages.

Though initially a project by the government of Luxembourg, EPIC now includes deployment and funding partners at the UN WFP and Ericsson.  The potential of EPIC is large; if functional, it could drastically reduce the systemic problems that result in the months following natural disasters, and save thousands of dollars in relief efforts that end up being duplicated.

 

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A West African ICT Hub? Ghana’s $10 Billion Legacy Plan…

The Ghanian government will spend $10 billion to realize its potential as a major ICT hub in West Africa.

Last week, Ghana said it “initiated the establishment of an innovation center that will promote export-oriented ICT products and services and generate employment opportunities.” The center will form part of an ICT Park to be built in Tema.

The West African nation notes that these plans are part of its drive to build a knowledge-based economy. The “Communications Minister, Mr Haruna Idrissu, said ICT parks worldwide played a critical role as intermediaries that supported knowledge-based economies.” The minister cited the Smart Village in Egypt, Innovation hub in South Africa, Software Technology in India and Technology Park in Malaysia as models for Ghana.

The establishment of ICT Parks may also strengthen the link between Ghanian research institutions and industry. This may engender a culture of commercial research funding, instead of the state-based framework currently used.

Mr. Idrissu says the project is a collaboration between Ghanian businesses, and the Ministries of Trade and Industry and Communication, which will stimulate private sector-led investment in ICT infrastructure. The proposed park is expected to promote technology development and diffusion, and stimulate the formation of new technology-based firms, which will boost wealth creation and provide jobs.

He says efforts are underway to build consensus for the project. Stakeholders were invited to a meeting to view the proposed design of the ICT Park. Ghana has instituted a range of measures to boost its position as a leading player in Africa’s emerging technology sector. Its eGhana project is slated to create over 7, 000 high-end jobs.

 

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It’s HUGE… It’s World IPv6 Day!

The internet boasts a 40 year history, but today marks one of its most historic days. Today is World IPv6 Day, a celebration of the largest experiment in the history of the Internet. IPv6, or Internet Protocol Version 6, will be tested before it replace IPv4 as the Internet’s main pillar/communications protocol.

IPv6 is designed to solve the problems of the existing Internet Protocol by providing 4 billion times the number of IP addresses now available. Less than two months ago, the Asia Pacific region ran out of IPv4 addresses, and North America will run out of IP addresses by Fall 2011. So, today’s glitch free test-run of IPv6 is both timely and important.

If you use Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Verizon, Facebook or the services of any of the other 200 companies participating in the test run today, you will be part of a game-changing experiment.

However, IPv6 is not backward compatible with IPv4, which means website operators must upgrade their network equipment and software to support IPv6 traffic. But it is worth it!  IPv6 allows an unlimited number of devices to be connected, and its addresses use four times the bit power of IPv4’s 32-bit addresses.

 

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NetHope Academy Haiti Internship Program

The NetHope Academy‘s ICT Skills Capacity Building Intern Program will give Haitian university students and recent graduates the opportunity to gain significant IT skills that will allow them to directly participate in the reconstruction of their communities and increase their economic opportunities.

During the course of this internship, candidates will work in the IT departments for participating humanitarian organizations and private sector companies. Program highlights include:

  • Six month internship program for Haitian computer science and engineering students/graduates that provides real world “on the job” training along with focused classroom and self-study learning opportunities
  • Internships will be geared towards desktop support, network administration, and telecommunications jobs
  • Participating organizations will increase capacity of their IT departments and contribute to the development of IT labor pool in Haiti
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