Agriculture – Page 10

Agriculture, Mobile, Mobile Money, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Uganda’s Airtel launches mobile money

Uganda’s Airtel officially launched its mobile money scheme on Tuesday with Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi making the first transaction to a local journalist. The new platform should enable Ugandans to access their real money and convert it to e-money in order to pay bills and accounts, top up mobile credit and receive money across the country’s telecom networks.

Uganda’s Airtel officially launched its mobile money scheme on Tuesday (image: Blogspot)

Mbabazi said that telecom operators in the country are now giving users more options and adding value to their operations, which the PM said would have a “positive social impact and economic growth” for the country, singling out rural areas as having the greatest potential.

Airtel’s launch means the country now has four operators serving mobile money, after MTN, Uganda Telecom and Warid Telecom already had launched their services.

Airtel Uganda Managing Director, V.G Somasekhar told guests that the company invested sh300-million ($130 608) to upgrade its network services at 300 sites countrywide.

He said this enabled at least 1.5-million more customers to be accessed, bringing its total customer base to 4-million.

Andrew Matapare

February 2, 2012/by actualize

Agriculture, Mobile, Mobile Money, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Kenya’s Cellulant and Barclays partner for digital services

Kenyan mobile services provider Cellulant has inked a deal with UK’s Barclays Bank in order to provide digital services across the African continent.

The two companies will partner on a new platform aimed at connecting banks (image: stock.xchng)

According to the deal, the two companies will partner on a new platform aimed at connecting banks with third-parties, including mobile network operators to boost the efficacy of mobile money services across the continent.

“Cellulant’s platform will be deployed in stages in Ghana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Egypt, Mauritius, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Seychelles, Botswana and Kenya,” the companies said.

Cellulant’s chief business officer, Paul Ndichu, said in a press release that “we have built a mobile commerce network connected to different platforms across different value chains in Africa such as [mobile] wallets, banks, merchant bill payment gateways and content delivery channels to deliver a transformational experience on mobile.”

According to John Gachora, Barclays Africa’s corporate banking MD, the digital drive is part of Barclay’s One Africa strategy to increase channel access for both retail customers and corporate clients.

“For corporate clients, this offers an efficient and cost-effective channel to bill and receive payments from their customers,” he added.

Janan Yussif

February 2, 2012/by actualize

Agriculture, Food Security, Mobile, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

The Myth of E-Voucher Schemes for Enhanced Fertilizer Use

Photo Credit: Ben Addom

The future use of the information and communication technologies (ICTs) such as e-vouchers in delivering subsidized fertilizer (or other inputs) to farmers in the current information age is blurred due to the very high cost involved in setting up such systems and the anticipated power/energy problems. This was one of the revelations made by experts from the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) and the World Bank during the January 2012 USAID’s Agriculture Sector Council Seminar held in Washington DC.

Ian Gregory, a consultant from IFDC spoke on the subject “Voucher Schemes for Enhanced Fertilizer Use: Lessons Learned and Policy Implications” and David Rohrbach, a Senior Agricultural Economist at the World Bank shared his experiences from eastern and southern Africa remotely from Tanzania on the subject “Opportunities and Risks of Fertilizer Voucher Programs.”

The speakers argued that based on their earlier experiences, using ICT-based systems to facilitate fertilizer delivery through the subsidy programs can be very expensive. This includes the initial cost of establishing such a system as well as maintenance cost due to the absence of ICT infrastructure and low ICT human resource level in their respective areas of operation. Also anticipated is the lack of power or energy (electricity) in the communities that these inputs are distributed.

This revelation came in at the time when the World Bank had just launched an eSourcebook on ICTs in Agriculture with a comprehensive list of innovative practice summaries that demonstrate success and failure in interventions. Among them is the use of an electronic voucher system in Zambia, an initiative that was reported in 2010. The system is currently being piloted by the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), CARE International, and the local Conservation Farming Unit (CFU) with support from Mobile Transactions (a company specializing in low-cost payment and financial transaction services). The e-voucher system empowers smallholders to obtain subsidized inputs from private firms (giving the firms, in turn, an incentive to expand and improve their business).

Fertilizer subsidy programs

Giving the background to the fertilizer voucher schemes, Ian stated that while the traditional fertilizer subsidies were an integral policy tool of the Green Revolution in the 1960’s, excessive fiscal costs and risks, late delivery, rent-seeking, political economy and patronage, rationing, lack of equity and efficiency, and displacement of the private sector led to the demise of these subsidies in the 1980s. But the fertilizer subsidy programs have resurfaced in the last ten years as a results of high international fertilizer prices.

David from the World Bank Tanzania also identified some of the risks associated with the program as vouchers (or fertilizer) being distributed late; vouchers redeemed by agents distributing the fertilizer; counterfeiting vouchers (or fertilizer); vouchers redeemed for cash; price inflation: greater demand than fertilizer supply (top-up or subsidy grows); number of target recipients grows faster than population; and over-reporting of production.

Is there a need for e-vouchers?

On the future direction of the fertilizer subsidy programs, David Rohrbach mentioned smart vouchers and ICT based systems as one of the possible reforms. Also possible is the effort to improve fertilizer use efficiency; find alternative strategies for strengthening competitive input markets; test alternative exit strategies; and explore the option of third party monitoring for improved management. These are areas that information and communication technologies could be strategically deployed for an efficient system.

Photo Credit: Mobile Transactions

According to the eSourcebook, the mobile transaction system in Zambia is enabling electronic monitoring of the e-voucher system, documenting which vouchers have been redeemed, where, and for which products, thereby improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the input subsidies. Also because farmers are registered with the system, they can be identified more effectively for specific training programs with input- and productivity-enhancing components. The e-voucher system also supports private agribusinesses by making them the direct source for inputs; as more private input dealers choose to participate, competition may increase.

With the success of the Zambia’s e-voucher pilot case, and the immense benefits that both farmers and the private sector providers can gain from such a system, I wonder why cost should still be an obstacle to its implementation in other countries. It may be true that an e-voucher system may not be easily accessible to these rural poor communities at this time, but the steadily decreasing costs of ICTs and the Internet infrastructure all point to a promising future. I believe this is a great opportunity for the private sector and the young entrepreneurs in these parts of the world to explore.

Cases of fertilizer subsidy programs

The two experts also compared fertilizer subsidy programs like the Sustaining Productive Livelihoods through Inputs for Assets (SPLIFA) of Malawi, Agricultural Inputs Support Program (AISP) also in Malawi, Ghana Fertilizer Support Program (FSP), Zimbabwe Agricultural Input Project (ZAIP), and National Agricultural Input Voucher Scheme (NAIVS) of Tanzania.

Photo Credit: Inform Africa

Some of the lessons learned include the fact that fertilizer subsidy programs do work for poverty reduction if targeted to vulnerable, potentially viable farmers and maintained for 3-5 years; they will also improve food security but at a huge cost and with leakage, crowding out, and mainly crop-specific; based on mixed evidence from 1980s, not sustainable; and they may work as a short-term fix for price spikes but distort markets, and at-source subsidy is a lower cost alternative.

Agrilinks is a new space for agriculture specialists and practitioners to access current information and resources on important agricultural and food security related topics and issues. The space leverages an array of experiences, resources, and expertise to encourage and promote knowledge flow among practitioners, USAID, partners, and other organizations specializing and working on current agricultural development issues. Visit Agrilinks for more information on this and future events.

January 31, 2012/by actualize

Agriculture, Education, Education, Education Partnerships, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Learning, Freedom and the Web: Mozilla’s eBook Explores and Offers How-Tos

Mozilla published a book last month that offers a glimpse at how open-source technology is shaping the field of education. The book entitled Learning, Freedom and the Web written by Anya Kamenetz and some of the 400 participants of the first Mozilla Festival held in Barcelona in 2010, explores possible answers to the questions: How can the ideas of the open source movement help foster learning? What are the most effective ways to bring learning to everyone? How does openness help the spread of knowledge?

The book contains session notes from the festival, quotes and blogs from leading experts, key-findings from current projects, as well as several how-tos including how to create your own ebook. The format of the book itself follows the ethos of the minds which collaborated to create it so that printed copies are available for purchase but it can also be downloaded as a PDF for free or accessed in an easy-to-use web version that includes video clips.

Exploring ideas such as the concept of industrialized education, the future of the physical library, and the quality and sustainability of open content, contributors include promising new ideas and tools that can be used to develop and share educational resources. For people who are unfamiliar with these concepts or are interested in developing their own open educational resources (OER), the book’s easy-to-follow instructions and format make it a great introduction to open-source technologies and their applications.

Helpful how-tos include difficulty level, amount of time to develop, who they involve and benefit, as well as steps. Topics include:

Creating an open education resource
Contract grading
Adopting an open textbook
Creating your own how-to
Creating your own ebook
Creating your own festival
Teaching and learning with Wikipedia

Learning, Freedom and the Web, both the book and the festival, might well serve as a barometer for the level of involvement and development of this new open source movement. When faced with the question of the movement’s future, authors leave the reader with a need to contribute and collaborate. “What really keeps a community going? Shared work, shared goals, shared fun, shared vocabulary, and shared rituals. There doesn’t have to be one ultimate unified vision. The idea of what learning will mostly look like in ten years, 50 years, or 100 years remains fuzzy, and that’s by design, because one definition of an improved future is one that has a greater diversity of choices than in the past.”

January 31, 2012/by actualize

Agriculture, Health, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

mHealth Alliance to provide technical support for 8 innovative mHealth projects in 2012

Map with location of mHealth projects pinned

Last month at the third annual mHealth Summit held in Washington, D.C., the Innovation Working Group, part of the UN Secretary-General’s Every Woman Every Child effort, and the mHealth Alliance announced the recipients of eight catalytic grants for mHealth programs. The grants, funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), are designed to identify and foster innovative uses of mobile technology to advance maternal and newborn health, with a particular focus on supporting programs with sustainable financing models and early indications of health impact.

The eight mHealth projects receiving grants span from Africa to Southern Asia. They address such diverse issues as malnutrition on the small Tanzanian island of Zanzibar to childhood immunization drop-outs in Karachi, Pakistan. Each project has already demonstrated initial pilot level efficacy, and the grants will be used to take the programs to regional or national scale and make progress towards Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5. A link to each of the 2011 Competition Winners’ websites can be found below.

The mHealth Alliance will work to provide the necessary resources and skills to support national scale-up processes and enable expanded reach to communities in need. Throughout the two-year grant period, the mHealth Alliance will provide technical support and establish opportunities for collaborative learning among the grantees, as well as facilitate the formation of public-private partnerships to further support long term impact and sustainability. “Each of the eight recipient initiatives has demonstrated innovative mobile technology solutions to obstacles in health and healthcare practices,” said Patty Mechael, Executive Director of the mHealth Alliance. “From providing maternal and newborn health information via mobile phones to building technology that supports clinical decision-making, these initiatives all focus [on] helping the world’s most vulnerable populations lead a healthier life.”

The next round of catalytic funding will be announced early this year. mHealth projects that have already demonstrated efficacy at pilot level and that have a viable plan for sustainability and scale are encouraged to submit applications. Check back with the HUB for application instructions and for monthly blog posts from the eight catalytic mHealth projects as they share their experiences going to scale.

2011 Competition Winners include:

Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI)

Dimagi, Inc

D-tree International

Grameen Foundation

Interactive Research and Development (IRD)-Pakistan

Novartis Foundation

Rwanda Ministry of Health

Cell-Life

Initiative:

Maternal Newborn mHealth

January 31, 2012/by actualize

Agriculture, Education, Mobile, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

UNESCO Mobile Learning Week Report: 3 Projects for Policy Development

UNESCO released a report last week introducing three exciting new projects that promise to shape how policies are developed for mobile learning programs. Within the year, UNESCO will develop and release a set of policy guidelines, commission and publish ten working papers, and introduce four pilot projects in teacher development in Mexico, Pakistan, Nigeria and Senegal.

The report was a summary of project goals as well as an overview of discussions and ideas organized by participants at UNESCO’s first Mobile Learning Week (MLW). The event which was held at UNESCO’s headquarters in Paris last month drew approximately 30 experts in mobile learning and 100 participants from the fields of mobile technology and education to discuss the use of mobile technologies in the classroom.

Policy Guidelines:

The most challenging but promising of the three UNESCO initiatives is the development of a set of policy guidelines due to be released by the end of 2012. There are currently many examples of the use of mobile technologies in the classroom but few are supported by – or the result of – effective and sustainable policy-making initiatives. Through discussions between UNESCO, MLW participants, and a growing global community of mobile learning educators and leaders, these new guidelines will be broad enough to encompass different cultural contexts, stakeholders, and technologies so that they can be used by national governments and educators and evolve with new developments in mobile technologies.

Discussions surrounding this topic generated general considerations and challenges including:

Consideration must be given to the perspectives of the stakeholders (mobile network operators, teachers, students, etc.) and their interaction with each other
Guidelines should be flexible and be able to adapt to new technologies and their applications
Costs of internet access and personal-ownership of devices remains a challenge
Efforts should be made to dispel negative views of mobile technologies within the classroom
Lessons should be learned from past examples of successful and unsuccessful projects
Mobile technology should support a well developed curriculum and pedagogy and not become the focus of the content

10 Mobile Learning Working Papers:

To provide research information for the policy guidelines and teacher development projects, UNESCO has commissioned ten working papers: five that will investigate mobile learning policies in the five major world regions (Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Europe, Latin America, and North America) and five that will investigate mobile technologies for teacher development and support. Drafts of the papers were presented and discussed at the MLW.

Photo credit: http://www.redorbit.com

The five papers on mobile learning policies won’t provide an in-depth analysis of each region but should give a general overview and provide examples of policy development. The papers will explore the pervasive lack of mobile learning policies around the world, observing the misconception by some policy makers that mobile technologies are distracting from learning and should be banned in schools. They will also include lessons learned from success stories of initiatives supported by governments and tech-savvy model teachers.

The additional five papers will examine professional development for teachers using mobile technologies in the classroom as well as how professional development can be delivered through mobile technology to teachers across the five regions. These papers will observe how mobile technologies are being used already, how they can be used in the future, and explore the use of mobile technologies with other educational tools and resources.

4 Teacher Development Pilot Projects:

Finally, UNESCO will launch four pilot projects to explore how mobile technologies can be used to provide support and professional development for teachers in Mexico, Pakistan, Nigeria and Senegal. Though the projects are still in the planning stages, MLW participants were able to provide input to important questions such as “What guidelines and understandings should steer the projects? What does the organization need to do, address, and keep in mind to best ensure the projects it launches are successful?”

To learn more about the MLW participant’s comments and ideas about these new projects and mobile learning policy development, see the full report here.

January 27, 2012/by actualize

Agriculture, Environment, Environment, Originally posted on the GBI Portal, Water

Mobile Apps, Texting for Water Access

mw4d launches new site

mw4d, a research initiative that uses mobile technology for water management in Africa launched a new website in January. mw4d is based within the Oxford Water Futures Program at the University of Oxford. The site highlights projects and resources for innovative mobile applications that “help achieve water security and reduce poverty” in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zambia.

Currently mw4d has three main projects:

Smart Handpumps

Smart Rivers

Mobile Water Payments

These projects allow for the monitoring of water use patterns, proper allocation of resources, and sustainability of water supply services. Please check out their resources for exciting projects worldwide.

January 27, 2012/by actualize

Agriculture, Energy, Environment, Environment, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Biofuels: Off-grid answer for ICT access?

Biofuels… Good or Bad Idea? They’ve received positive hype from non-profits, corporations, and individuals only to be scorned by some environmentalists, economists, and other groups.

Photo Credit: GSMA

A common barrier facing rural regions is a lack of access to a reliable power supply. Being off the grid limits the ability to take advantage of information and communication technologies (ICTs) that could provide economic gain and increase quality of life. What’s the use of a mobile phone with innovative software applications if it can’t be recharged?

One popular answer for off-grid communities is building biofuel-based facilities that are run off of renewable resources. Biofuel is simply energy released directly or indirectly from living or recently living organisms. Wind and solar power are included, but fossil fuels are not because they are embedded in geological formations and nonrenewable.

Biofuels have been used for over a millennia, such as the simple method of burning wood for fuel. Other traditional methods used throughout the developing world include using conventional feed such as maize, wheat, sunflowers, and switchgrass for combustion that are then used for cooking, heating, and lighting.

Modern bioenergy used for fuel can be more complex, taking advantage of residue, bacteria, and other organic components of waste that produce a higher value energy carrier, meaning they are more efficient and versatile than traditional methods. The most common method for converting biomass into fuel is by combustion that generates heat. Other known methods include gasification, extraction, and fermentation (used for converting starch or sugar crops into ethanol). In recent decades ethanol and other forms of biofuels have increased in popularity due to the fluctuation of oil prices, carbon emission, and as an option for rural development.

Photo Credit: Prof. Thomson Sinkala, Chairman, Biofuels Association of Zambia

So are biofuels the answer for connecting rural communities with the greater world? Let’s weigh some notable advantages and disadvantages:

PROS

+ Biofuels are locally harvested, decreasing transportation costs.

+ The harvesting and processing of biofuels creates local jobs.

+ Biofuels are renewable.

+ Plants used for making biofuels can be grown on marginal lands.

+ The cost of renewable energy technology is falling, making energy projects more affordable and easier to maintain.

CONS

– Not all biofuels are sustainable.

– Traditional forms of bioenergy can cause unpleasant consequences such as deforestation.

– Traditional biofuels are highly inefficient when compared to fossil fuels and nuclear energy.

– Biofuels derived from vegetation require a lot of water, adding pressure to an already limited and fragile source.

– Instead of using limited arable land for food production, it’s used for growing biomass that can be improperly fertilized, further harming water systems.

– It can negatively impact life-cycles, species health, and biodiversity.

So are biofuels a good or bad solution for rural areas? The decision must be made at the local level; weighing costs, benefits, and sustainability. Below are examples of successful projects where biofuels are used to supply power.

Indonesia– Instead of depositing livestock waste in waterways, it is processed in a biodigester, creating biogas used by the local population.

China – Rice ‘straw’, the stem and leaves left behind after harvesting to be burnt can be mixed with an alkaline solution to create biogas.

Mali– Jatropha, a poisonous weed used to keep away grazing animals thrives in marginal soil is used to power generators.

Kenya– Solar and hydro energy is used for a power center that provides access to Internet and mobile phones for local farmers.

January 25, 2012/by actualize

Agriculture, Health, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Guide to Scale and Sustainability in mHealth: Moving Past Pilot Projects

A white paper release by the Advanced Development for Africa (ADA) last month laid out the necessary steps to scale mHealth projects in the developing world. Its goal was to provide governments, donors, and the private sector with the essential knowledge to push mHealth from pilot projects to scalable and sustainable solutions.

The report, entitled “Scaling Up Mobile Health: Elements Necessary for the Successful Scale Up of mHealth in Developing Countries” and authored by Jeannine Lemaire, preformed an extensive review of the sector. It focused on multiple case studies and pulled best practices and recommendations from organizations and thought leaders in the sector. With the current mHealth in a transition stage from proof of concept to widespread scale and adoption, there is a need to show key stakeholders that scale and sustainability is possible and necessary to improve health outcomes in the developing world. The ability to be sustainable and scale will push the sector forward and make the case for greater investment by governments, donors, and the private sector.

The author provided nine case studies including TulaSalud, TXTAlert, mPedigree, and ChildCount+. She also included the insights from thought learners in mHealth (David Aylward – Ashoka, Patricia Mechael – mHealth Alliance, Brooke Partridge – Vital Wave Consulting, Anne Roos-Weil – Pesinet, and Getachew Sahlu – WHO).

Photo Credit: IICD

Through the interviews and case studies, multiple best practices were established in order to properly implement a pilot with the ability to scale and be sustainable in the future. These best practices included the idea that sustainability and scale must be planed from the program’s inception, the necessity to perform a needs assessment for the local region, facilitating collaboration in order to avoid duplication, the inclusion of targeted users and beneficiaries during the development phase, getting buy-in from multiple stakeholders (governments, communities and local healthcare providers), collaborating with local implementation partners, creating partnerships with a focus on scale up, and including M&E to assess the impact off the interventions.

The research also provided recommendations at multiple levels of mHealth policy and development – programmatic, operational, policy, and global strategy. The recommendations were:

Programmatic:

Integrate the program within existing healthcare structures.
Employ an integrated solution and/or holistic approach rather than a silo single-solution approach. Identify innovative ways to incorporate other mobile services using cross-sectoral approaches.
Identify a sustainable and scalable business model that is applicable for large-scale implementations and can bring in valuable strategic partnerships to support scale up.
Build partnerships with the private sector after a successful pilot phase.

Operational:

Seek out and invest in building local capacity to minimize costs and support local ownership of the project.
The software and mHealth application should be geared towards the objectives of the program, suitable for local conditions and designed with the end-user in mind.
Identify what motivates the end-users, not just what the objectives of the program are. Use incentives to promote the consistent and effective use of the mHealth tool.
Perform social marketing.
Empower users through the mobile phone technology, particularly women.
If an area of the project is failing, fail quickly and publicly; adjust the program accordingly.

Policy:

Mainstream mHealth in the MOH and relevant government bodies.
Establish an e/mHealth structure to support the multi-sectoral mainstreaming of mHealth and advise the decision-makers on creating an enabling policy and regulatory environment for mHealth scale up.
Create an inter-ministerial working group and collective agreement involving stakeholders from the various ministries to support the scale up of mHealth programs.
Identify and promote the use of specific data, technology and interoperability standards.
Advocate for the integration of mHealth within local public and private healthcare initiatives; prioritize mHealth training for healthcare workers.

Global Strategy:

Establish a global network of key institutional players to inform an overall global approach to support the scale up of mHealth in developing countries.
Establish a global repository of mHealth applications, tools, best practices, recommendations and evaluation data. Institutional players must be willing to share and connect their existing repositories.
Create frameworks for success targeted towards informing policymakers, project designers and implementers, and donors.
Advocacy by institutional players to both internal and external stakeholders, particularly to donors, to utilize and integrate mHealth into programs in developing countries.
Donors and institutional players need to support the evaluation of initiatives in developing countries and the creation of common metrics, indicators and methodologies to evaluate impact on health outcomes.

The ADA is African-based nonprofit which focuses on scaling development in Africa through innovative solutions. This includes building capacity, transferring technology, hosting forums, and establishing cross sector partnerships. Jeannine Lemaire is the Director of eHealth and New Media at Actevis Consulting Group.

January 25, 2012/by actualize

Agriculture, Humanitarian Assistance, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Tapping into Local Knowledge in Times of Disaster

Photo Credit: iRevolution

The World Bank and Google have announced a collaborative agreement to use a free, web-based mapping tool called Google Map Maker that enables citizens to directly participate in the creation of maps by contributing their local knowledge.

The agreement is aimed at improving disaster preparedness and development efforts in countries around the world. Under the agreement, the World Bank will act as a conduit to make Google Map Maker source data, more widely and easily available to government organizations in the event of major disasters, and also for improved planning, management, and monitoring of public services provision.

The Importance of Local Knowledge

The most innovative component of this agreement, I believe, is the effort to blend scientific and local knowledge to solve local solutions. The need for integrating modern technology and indigenous knowledge into disaster management and prevention has long been overdue. While the technical capability of the new ICTs is huge, it also requires the mobilization of human resources, especially locally available human resources in tackling such disasters.

Just as the expertise of local citizens are being utilized to project their views in urban centers/cities through data-mapping, local knowledge, which is context specific, could be used to interpret the natural landscape of past natural disasters and using these indicators to help in forecasting future disasters. Studies have shown that local knowledge practices are cost effective, and incorporating them into scientific projects could help build local trust of the people. The use of local knowledge such as weather predictions, smells, sounds, cloud color, direction and types of wind, appearance and movements of insects, etc. could be tapped into, in disaster prone communities to help develop sustainable measures in interpreting early warning signals of natural disasters.

Google Map Maker

The Google Map Maker data includes detailed maps of more than 150 countries and regions, and identifies locations like schools, hospitals, roads, settlements and water points that are critical for relief workers to know about in times of crisis. The data will also be useful for planning purposes, as governments and their development partners can use the information to monitor public services, infrastructure and development projects; make them more transparent for NGOs, researchers, and individual citizens; and more effectively identify areas that might be in need of assistance before a disaster strikes.

The World Bank Institute (WBI) and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) will manage the World Bank’s involvement in the collaboration, building on previous joint mapping efforts. For example in April 2011, members of the Southern Sudanese Diaspora participated in a series of community mapping events organized by World Bank and Google to create comprehensive maps of schools, hospitals and other social infrastructure in this new country via Map Maker technology.

Google has enjoyed a strong relationship with World Bank for many years. As indicated by the World Bank Vice President for the Africa Region Obiageli Ezekwesili, “Today’s technology can empower civil society, including the diaspora, to collaborate and support the development process. This collaboration is about shifting the emphasis from organizations to people, and empowering them to solve their own problems and develop their own solutions using maps.”

Read more on the agreement and possible partnership and collaborations with the World Bank offices.

January 23, 2012/by actualize