Democracy & Governance – Page 9

“Accountability” has become a buzzword in international development. Development actors appear to delight in announcing their intention to “promote accountability”—but it is often unclear what accountability is and how it can be promoted. This book addresses some questions that are crucial to understanding accountability and for understanding why accountability is important to improve the effectiveness of development aid. We ask: What does it mean to make governments accountable to their citizens? How do you do that? How do you create genuine demand for accountability among citizens, how do you move citizens from inertia to public action?

The main argument of this book is that accountability is a matter of public opinion. Governments will only be accountable if there are incentives for them to do so—and only an active and critical public will change the incentives of government officials to make them responsive to citizens’ demands. Accountability without public opinion is a technocratic, but not an effective solution.

In this book, more than 30 accountability practitioners and thinkers discuss the concept and its structural conditions; the relationship between accountability, information, and the media; the role of deliberation to promote accountability; and mechanisms and tools to mobilize public opinion. A number of case studies from around the world illustrate the main argument of the book: Public opinion matters and an active and critical public is the surest means to achieve accountability that will benefit the citizens in developing countries.

This book is designed for policy-makers and governance specialists working within the international development community, national governments, grassroots organizations, activists, and scholars engaged in understanding the interaction between accountability and public opinion and their role for increasing the impact of international development interventions.

May 16, 2011/by actualize

Civil Society, Democracy & Governance, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Accessing the Public Sphere Through Mobile: Haiti

During the 1970s, missionaries would walk around the towns in Haiti distributing radios to spread the message of the church. Haitians would accept them freely—not for the religious messages, but so they could tune into the Creole news services. Forty years later, a new wireless tool allows them to access news but with one fundamental difference: now they can participate in the conversation through their mobile phone.

Last week during World Press Freedom Day in Washington D.C., the sentiment that mobile phones serve as a catalyst for a two way flow of information between governments and citizens in the developing world was continuously echoed.

For the 77% of the world’s population who own cell phones, it is like a modern printing press in the palm of their hands.

Michèle Montas (Photo Credit: Richard Patterson for NY Times)

Michèle Montas, Senior Advisor to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General to Haiti, United Nations Stabilization Mission, Haiti, observed that the widespread availability of cell phones began with a heavy push from the private sector but has resulted with an increased demand from the people. “We could find them (mobiles) in the countryside, in the slums of Port au Prince, in the hands of a street market woman, in the hands of a small shop owner.” she commented.

This extensive accessibility paves the way for citizens to use mobile phones as a tool to contribute information and express their opinions to the public sphere.

Ms. Montas alluded that although cell phones aided in humanitarian assistance after the earthquakes, mobile phones have also altered the way Haitians can now lend their relevant perspectives, notably by calling into radio talk shows they play an active role in public discourse.

“There has been an explosion of meshing of media, of journalists, and of people that just want to speak out,” she stated, “If you gave them a microphone they would just speak out on the microphone, today they would do it on a cell phone.”

Mobile phones are dramatically changing the landscape of how citizens can actively access and contribute information to the public sphere; they boost the morale of citizens in societies where the voiceless can finally be heard by the majority and inform governments of what their citizens need.

Please view the video of Ms. Montas during the past World Press Freedom Day on the Panel “Accessing the Digit Benefit”:

May 12, 2011/by actualize

Democracy & Governance, Originally posted on the GBI Portal, Rule of Law

Ecuador’s Referendum Could Limit Press Freedoms

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa celebrates after winning the country's referendum.

Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa declared victory this past weekend on a controversial referendum for social and government reforms, clearing the path for what critics claim is an attempt to garner more power and hinder press freedoms.

On May 7, 2011, Ecuadorians voted on ten unrelated issues and the proposed referendum could drastically alter judiciary processes, restrict media ownership, outlaw casino gambling, and prohibit killing animals for entertainment.

Analysts claim that the the win is a huge boost in power for President Correa.

“Today, we made an important step toward peace, democracy and a new motherland,” he said after the first results came out.””They’ve been saying it’s totalitarian… [a word] used for a state in which things are done by force. We’re doing this democratically.”

According to a Cedatos Gallup poll only 16 percent of the respondents knew about the substance and effects of the proposals, but all ten were approved.

The restriction of media ownership is one of the most contentious issues and has drawn a large amount of criticism from Ecuadorian and international human rights activists alike.

If approved, one measure would prohibit media companies from making investments outside of their industry, preventing the formation of large private media/ entertainment conglomerates like Time-Warner or News Corporation in the United States.

The second measure would establish a council to regulate content that was deemed discriminatory, sexual, or violent. “The language of the provision appears to allow the council to unilaterally set potential penalties,” writes the Committee to Protect Journalists. “We believe that vague provision would open the door to government censorship”.

President Correa has always had a controversial relationship with the media (Photo Credit: Dolores Ochoa)

Correa’s relationship with the media had already drawn international attention. He publicly vilifies those who question his policies of bias and inaccuracy on a regular basis:

Correa told Reuters last week:

Our greatest rival in this plebiscite is not the opposition. Our biggest rivals are the media, who come up with a fresh scandal on a daily basis

Last month, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) issued a statement condemning Correa for suing the newspaper El Universaro for slander. Correa sued the directors of the newspaper and its opinion editor Emilio Palacio in March over a column entitled “NO to the Lies,” which referred to Correa several times as a “dictator.”

He demanded a $50 million fine for El Universo executives Carlos, Cesar and Nicolas Perez and by Palacio. Correa also wants these four men to spend three years in prison as punishment.

Censorship and restrictions on media are frequent in Latin American countries, where the move from historically based dictatorships to democratic rule has resulted in a rise of media related oppression.

Venezuela's Hugo Chavez Photo Credit: The Economist

Consider Venezuela, where Hugo Chavez told cable companies last year to abandon RCTV International because it refused to air his speeches. Chavez has also refused licenses to two small TV channels and 38 radio stations — four of them the same week in March that Argentina’s University of La Plata honored him for journalistic excellence. He also prohibits Venezuelans from publishing the Bolívar-dollar exchange rate.

The effects of the hemispheric government restrictions on media was explored by Frank La Rue last week in Washington D.C. during UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Day.

Mr. La Rue, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression, discussed how the plurality of media sources permits citizens to accurately draw conclusions on their government.

Frank La Rue, Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression

Frank La Rue, U.N. Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression

“The press is accountable to society and to the readers on what they choose they should believe in and (also) what they analyze,” he stated.

By controlling and censoring new information and communication technologies (ICTs) governments contend the Declaration of Principles of Freedom of Expression, Mr. La Rue argued. The Internet is an amazing tool for citizens to express legitimate grievances and to demand reforms, democracy and transparency.

He compared the use of ICTs and the vast reach of the Internet to public squares found in most Latin American communities known as ”la Plaza Pública”. ICT’s power and broadness can serve as a public space to encourage the facilitation of open conversation about governments—alternatively, it can be used by politicians to heighten censorship and defamation.

Mr. La Rue asserted:

I would like to remind all States that the strongest governments are those that allow democratic participation of citizens, and diverse views to be expressed openly.

President Correa’s recently approved referendum to restrict media ownership could violate the constitutional and international guarantees for press freedoms discussed by Mr. La Rue and others, disadvantaging the democratic values inherent in Ecuadorian citizens.

May 9, 2011/by actualize

Anti-corruption, Democracy & Governance, Elections, Governances, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Using Mobiles to Monitor the 2011 Nigerian Elections

woman placing paper ballot for Nigerian elections

Photo Credit: DailyMail

For many of the 73 million registered voters in Nigeria, the decision they were faced with on election day was not just who to vote for, but how to cast their ballot safely.

This year’s election, only the 3rd national election held in Nigeria since military rule ended in 1999 was fraught with difficulties and confusion, including two postponements of the election after what officials call “logistical problems.” Previous votes- in 2003 and 2007 – were marred by allegations of widespread ballot stuffing, voter intimidation, and violence.

Amidst this backdrop, Nigerian voters turned to social media and mobile apps to help them make their voices heard.

Mobile phone applications and SMS were utilized to monitor and evaluate official election results and processes. Looping this information back to Nigerian citizens empowered their action and created an effective and transparent means for free and fair electoral processes.

One application called ReVoDa, is part of the EnoughisEnough (EIE) Nigeria’s RSVP campaign, and connected voters to monitor and evaluate the entire election processes. This is a medium where citizens could report incidents such as ballot box thefts, violence, the late arrival of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials, police behaviors, and ultimately, the election results. INEC officials are responsible for running the elections, thus they represented the voice of the people to the authorities.

With ReVoDa, EiE Nigeria had the potential to turns the 87,297,789 Nigerians with mobile phones, 43,982,200 with Internet access and 2,985,680 on Facebook into informal election reporters.

ReVoDa allowed voters to report as independent citizen their observations from their respective

polling units across Nigeria, having registered to map their mobile number, name and polling unit number to specific locations. This allowed EiE Nigeria to send relevant information about the electoral process to registered users; and users can view and share reports of electoral processes with one another.

Subsequent to their connectivity, users could choose from the ReVoDa Mobile App or connect via regular SMS, the latter seems to a more popular alternative. Users would create a profile, enter their Polling Unit Code and Name and are then registered on the EiE Nigeria network.

A week prior to the polls opening, ReVoDa, was downloaded by over 7,700 people. Building on the reports received on April 9 for the National Assembly elections, they saw 466 new incident reports from ReVoDa users across 35 of 37 states – compared with 27 states the week before.

Report map of final election results

A similar program called ReclaimNaija has corresponding aims, but provides deliverable reports directly to the

corresponding electoral bodies.

ReclaimNaija uses FrontlineSMS to receive and send text messages reports, and Ushahidi to visually map the election reports. Alike to ReVoDa, ReclaimNaija makes it possible for citizens to monitor the electoral process and report incidents of electoral fraud.

Unlike ReVoDa though, ReclaimNaija has a direct line of communication with electoral officials. Instead of having a database that merely aggregates information and contains reports, they send the reports directly to INEC. By providing evidence of detrimental electoral processes, it can be combated and corrected.

Femi Taiwo, a member of INITS Limited, a Nigerian company that helped set up the technical side of ReclaimNaija’s monitoring system, says:

On election days, citizens have been frustrated by a number of things; missing names, seeing ballot boxes stuffed or even stolen and other electoral fraud and yet being unable to do anything about this. This time however, is the time to speak out”

ReclaimNaija's map of the final election numbers

ReclaimNaija uses FrontlinSMS or calling dedicated numbers in four major languages (Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba and Pidgin) as the gateway platforms to placing reports to promote electoral transparency.

Another difference between these two programs is that ReclaimNaija achieved a large amount of participation through voter education forums for community leaders, spread across Nigeria’s 36 states, and the capital Abuja. By engaging community based social networks, they ensured the information got across to large segments of society and has been crucial to RecalimNaija’s monitoring and evaluation.

Public launch of the reclaimnaija.net citizens reporting platform on the 2011 elections

Public launch of the reclaimnaija.net citizens on the 2011 elections

During the January 2011 Voters Registration Exercise, ReclaimNaija received 15,000 reports from the public over two weeks, highlighting the importance to have a election monitoring service to offset problems and expose fraud.

The election registration process proved this; on receiving messages about problems such as lack of registration cards, ReclaimNaija was often able to communicate with the INEC, thus helping improve the efficiency of the registration process.

One message received through ReclaimNaija during the first attempt at the National Assembly election said:

more than half of registered voters here [in my voting station] couldn’t find their names… Is this an attempt to reduce the number of voters in Lagos?

These type of citizen based reports and monitoring systems have become a valuable source of information for the INEC to create an environment for fair and balanced elections. ReclaimNaija collate reports and send directly on to the INEC in real time.

“If the INEC hadn’t seen these reports they would not have known about the level of problems being experienced by Nigerians; there would not have been this kind of proof” says Linda Kamau, an Ushahidi developer was in Nigeria to see the launch of ReclaimNaija system.

Kayode R. Idowu, Chief Press Secretary for the INEC Chairman, responded positively to ReclaimNaija and citizens actively reporting incidents to the Commission, “…through SMS and voice calls on phones, or by emailing. Such reports should reflect useful details such as location, time and action involved in the incident, to enable the Commission respond appropriately”.

Clearly, there is a great power in leveraging the use of ICTs to ensure that Nigerian voices were heard in this past election and streamline the efficiency and safety of the electoral process.

April 21, 2011/by actualize

Asia, Connectivity, Democracy & Governance, Originally posted on the GBI Portal, Where we work

Connectivity and Governance: World Bank ICT Days 2011

What role should governments play in leading their citizens down the path to become actively engaged in the knowledge society? It varies greatly on the availability, motivations, and agenda behind the corresponding country’s use of ICTs.

Last week, the World Bank held the highly anticipated four ICT Days, which explored the multifaceted functions of ICTs and how governments can use them to, “Innovate, Connect and Transform” civil society in developing nations.

During the “Connectivity Infrastructure Day”, two speakers from different regions discussed their country’s distinctive agendas and how their government’s involvement of ICTs is enveloped within their economic development reforms.

While Korea Telecom’s (KT) Vice President, Dr. Hansuk Kim, discussed the prospects of nation wide interconnectivity in Rwanda; India’s Ministry of Communication and IT Secretary, Shankar Aggarwal, unveiled his country’s e-government initiatives.

In 2008, KT made a US$40 million deal to collaborate with Rwanda’s government to construct a national backbone project expected to connect the country on a fiber-optic network. The contract obliges KT to provide the government with technology, equipment, relevant application materials and training and to manage the cable installation process. KT will also install a wireless broadband network that will be accessible to 10,000 people in Kigali.

Dr. Kim discussed how Rwanda’s proximity to other African countries, such as Burundi, Tanzania, and the Congo, can serve as a potential customer base. In the future, these countries could use Rwanda’s backbone infrastructure to serve as interconnect points.

Kim also argued that a top-down approach is necessary for large-scale investments in developing economies. He states that the supplier should be on location, and relying solely on private investment can result in fragmented connectivity, so “the government had to initiate the development cycle by giving it a jumpstart. It (the connectivity) has to start somewhere.” Please view the video below to see his argument against the common notion that a government subsidized infrastructure, would inadvertently produce a government owned monopoly:

Once completed, Rwanda’s national backbone will possess the capability to enable online activities requiring high speed, broadband Internet. This includes initiating e-government services, to integrate citizens in the governing processes, similar to the e-government proposal that India has been working on for some time.

Shankar Aggarwal, secretary of the Ministry of Communications and IT in India, spoke at the World Bank event about this new e-governance initiative by the government to make public services, and governance regulations, more inclusive and transparent.

India is a country that has experienced monumental economic growth in the last 5 years—but the distribution of wealth to its 1.2 billion residents remains extremely imbalanced. 70% of the total population lives in rural areas and survive off less than a dollar a day.

India is at a crossroads in their development, as aspirations and hopes increase, those left behind are no longer content to live out the remainder of their lives in poverty. E-governance presents the opportunity to include these individuals in the governance process.

Aggarwal noted that India’s growth will be harnessed without involving the rural poor in governing their country, “if we want to have a sustainable growth, if we want to have happy societies, we have to go in to an inclusive growth…where each and every resident of that country feels that they are part of the governance process”. He began his speech by arguing that the catalyst for the current protests in the Middle East were societies are not being inclusive of citizens in their governing processes.

Please view the following video where he discusses the future of India’s e-governance initiatives for citizen’s inclusion.

The role of these governments to actively expand their connectivity and infrastructure is one that has a common goal: to include their citizens in the knowledge society. Whether it is using public funds for a start up backbone infrastructure, or creating an e-government initiative to make government processes more inclusive, governments from around the world are channeling into the benefits of being interconnected.

April 7, 2011/by actualize

Civil Society, Democracy & Governance, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Time-Lapsed Map of Global Protests and Uprisings

Two weeks ago, John Caelan of Swamppost.com created a one-and-a-half minute, time-lapse video of the major uprising and protests around the world between December 18 to March 7, 2011.

By analyzing a wide field of news sources, he argues that the map is adequately scaled, and reflects the density of reported demonstrations across a wide field of news sources. However, he does acknowledge that the video does not represent all the events of protests or uprising in the world.

The colors for the icons represent:

Red: resulting in death
Orange: major injuries, damage, arrests
Yellow: minor injuries
Green: Peaceful

The number of pickets is the size:

1: Under 100
2: 100-1000
3: 1000-10000
4. 10K – 100K
5. Over 100K.

By utilizing open media research of worldwide news sources, Caelan compiled 80 maps for each day with the events added as they are discovered, so the apparent “blossoming” of events is simply a reflection of data that is available early on. His general methodology was to filter through the first thousand results of a news search on any given day, record the event, and archive them on an Excel sheet. The information in Excel was organized by day, and then further categorized by the location of where the events occurred, which he extracted from the articles manually. The flag icons were chosen by the average of reporting, as 100% accuracy in reporting the actual count of people at any gathering is intrinsically difficult, regardless of slant that the involved media parties tend to apply. Each day’s sheet was turned into a .csv file, and imported into the mapper supplied by Zee Maps. Caelan said that each day would be copied into the Excel sheet, with new events added–events older than 5 days are deleted, and those events older than 2 days turn to gray. Each event remains in color for two days, to account for the crossover of time zones. As he built most of these in retrospect, the December and early January time frame has less of the more obscure demonstrations because they were more difficult to research.

In addition, the video below compliments the original Global Protests & Uprisings video, however, this is the time-lapse series of maps focused in on North Africa and the Middle East for the period of December 18, 2010 to March 7, 2011.

Caelan, however, is aware of the unreliability of these results in showing worldwide trends. Due to the mainstream media now actively providing coverage and following the protests, he says, this map shows how the reporting on uprisings or protests have dramatically increased. Although he does not that this does not necessarily accurately reflect the quantity of protests themselves. He comments on the website:

Before ‘protest’ came to the forefront of international lexicon, there was much less density of reporting on demonstrations, and this was the primary reason for the perceived ‘viral’ pattern of the global uprisings. Suddenly, it’s pages upon pages of search results; however, as you point out, thousands of actions go unnoticed, even more so eclipsed by the weighty mass of popular revolt than before.

To find out more information about the uprisings shown in the video where you can click on the different icons and read information on the protest that was recorded at that point in his interactive map.

March 24, 2011/by actualize

Civil Society, Democracy & Governance, Governances, Originally posted on the GBI Portal, Rule of Law

“This Was Not a Facebook Revolution”

Not organized using Facebook

“This was not a Facebook revolution,” intoned Amira Maaty flatly, as she sat on a panel last night at Johns Hopkins University entitled “Social Media’s Role in Recent Events in the Middle East.” Ms. Maaty, a program officer focusing on Egypt and Libya at the National Endowment for Democracy, was specifically referring to the recent revolution in Egypt, and her surprising remarks proved remarkably uncontroversial.

It seems that those who study North Africa haven’t been caught up in the rush to credit social media with catalyzing revolution. Instead, they take a more nuanced view.

The panel, which also included veteran journalist Jeffrey Ghannam and Jessica Dheere of the Social Media Exchange in Beirut, advocated the role of networks more broadly in bringing about the massive social change we have seen unfold over the last month. Facebook and social media certainly played some role in helping to energize those networks, notably through the “we are Khaled Said” group, but it’s role in actually creating them is debatable. Further, the daily coordination of demonstrators was more likely to be done via SMS, Google chat, or email. It is easy to forget that, despite all the hype in the western media, the vast majority of Egyptians do not use Facebook.

Further, the panel explained, the lack of large and strong networks may play a role in explaining why upstart revolutions have been less successful elsewhere, even though indicators such as mobile penetration rates and facebook usage are similar. In Bahrain, for example, it is likely that the state security apparatus can much more easily monitor the population because it is so small. In Lebanon, fractures in the societal structure between Christians and Muslims prevent large networks from forming. It could be that these social structures are more critical in allowing for successful revolution than any media, even if that media can play a complimentary role

March 22, 2011/by actualize

Democracy & Governance, Eastern Europe, Governances, Originally posted on the GBI Portal, Where we work

e-Government Guidelines Emerging in UAE, EU, and LAC

UAE workshop in Palace Hotel in Old Town Dubai

Earlier this month at the Palace Hotel in Old Town Dubai, the UAE held a workshop attended by General Managers, Executive Managers, IT Executives, Government Communication Executives and Webmasters from the Federal Government bodies to discuss how government departments can best use, organize and implement e-government and social media.

Screenshot of highlights of social media usage in Arab states in 2010

Screenshot of study: Highlights of social media usage in Arab states in 2010

According to the Dubai School of Government on their Arab Social Media report, the UAE is ranked first among Arab countries with close to 50 percent its population owning Facebook accounts, which represents 10 per cent of the total number of users in the entire Arab world. In addition, UAE is now among the top 10 countries in the world in terms of Facebook penetration, raising their government’s awareness on a need to streamline their online presence.

During the workshop, H. E. Salem Khamis Al Shair Al Suwaidi, Director General, General Information Authority discussed a primary evaluation made by the UAE website by their eGovernment team.

Referencing how eGovernment evolved and the guidelines were conceived, Suwaidi added:

Our work on this field comes in line with our decision to apply the concepts of the second generation of eGovernment Gov. 2.0. In this we have been inspired by H. H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai; who long ago established accounts on both Facebook and Twitter and has been using them to communicate and interact with people

The documents presented guidelines on Multimedia, Web content, Social Media Networking, eParticipation and Open Data policies and also included an updated Web standards document.

Official E-Government Site of Dubai

The Updated Web Standards declared at the workshop spelt out the internationally accepted uniform practices and procedures that government bodies should follow for their website layout and design to be compliant with the recommendations laid out by World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

In addition, the announced guidelines comply with the requirements identified by the 2010 United Nations eGovernment Survey, which are used by the United Nations to assess the readiness of eGovernment programs around the world.

The UAE evaluation team also launched guidelines for the appropriate use of social media by various government employees. This document was prepared in partnership with Dubai School of Government with contribution from Gartner Inc. and United Nations eGovernment Survey team.

The aim of this document is to leverage social media tools by employees of government entities in a responsible, effective manner to collaborate with civil society and engage them in designing/distributing government programs and service.

Due to the various applications of social media sites, the guidelines recommend: “Access to social media sites shouldn’t be banned. Employees should be held accountable for any improper use of any social media site.” However, it cautions that:

Because of the dynamic nature of social media, a list of recommended websites should be developed and updated by the Social Media Unit periodically in a collaborative, rather than top-down manner

The workshop divulged that by abiding to these guidelines, the participation in eGovernment and eServices will increasingly become more convenient, competent, and content for civil society. This holds great precedence for the UAE, who wants to raise their position in the U.N. E-Readiness Index.

Governments from all around the world are recognizing the power of social media in effectively communicating with their citizens. They are also developing initiatives to create similar guidelines for the web content on government portals so interoperability can enhance their online capabilities.

In Europe, the European Commission Information Society aims to support with its eGovernment Action Plan 2011-2015. The Action Plan identifies provisions for a new generation of eGovernment services for businesses and citizens, where four political priorities are based on the Malmö Declaration agreed on in 2009 in Sweden. The four priorities are to empower citizens and businesses; reinforce mobility in the single market; enable efficiency and effectiveness; and create the key enablers and pre-conditions to make things happen.

Additionally, in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Plan of Action for the Information and Knowledge Society in Latin America published in November 2010 outlines the region’s objectives for e-governance. These include treating e-government as an obligation of all countries for its citizens and to achieve transactional and participatory e-government.

You can research other countries principles and procedures on e-governance by viewing the U.N. E-Government Survey for 2010 here in our document library.

March 21, 2011/by actualize

Democracy & Governance, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Freedom of Information and Women’s Rights

Group of people gathered for the book launch

Photo credit: FEMNET

The African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) with support from United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has launched a book titled: Freedom of Information and Women’s Rights in Africa. The book is compilation of five case studies from five African countries namely; Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Zambia, will help women’s organisations as they organise around freedom of information in their respective countries.

African Union Special Rapporteuer on the rights of women in Africa, Her Excellency Commissioner Soyata Maiga officially launched the book and commended FEMNET and UNESCO for the great initiative of linking freedom of information to women’s rights. She appealed to women’s civil society organizations and progressive governments in the continent to make Freedom of Information as part of the discourse in consolidation of democracy and promotion of socio-economic justice.

“African women have for sometime now been lobbying for women’s rights to be recognized and upheld. Without freedom of information, it has been difficult to do so. Having freedom of information legislation and policies is very important for any democratic state as it is fundamentally related to good governance and sustainable development.” Commissioner Soyata Maiga.

UNESCO Director for Addis Ababa Office Mr. Luc Rukingama said UNESCO is proud to be associated with the launch of the Freedom of information and women’s rights in Africa book and pleased to support gender equality issues and hoped that the book will be used to mainstream through use of ICTs.

FEMNET Chairperson Mama Koite Doumbia said the launch of the book could not have come at better time than now when the Africa Union Summit theme is “Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Africa: Challenges and Prospects for Development” “ The book relates well with this years’ theme however ICTs can only enhance development if African government enact and implement Freedom of Information laws and urgently repeal restrictive media and other laws on freedom of expression” said Mrs. Doumbia.

“This years’ theme carries a lot of weight in determining the future of the African woman and the continent with regards to use of ICTs in advancing gender equality. African governments need to promote use of ICTs to increase awareness among women on their rights and facilitate informed decision-making. This could include initiatives that enable citizens to use SMS helplines to report human rights violations and also support the use of ICTs in education (formal and informal) and literacy programmes so as to build ICT skills among young and adult women” added Mrs. Doumbia.

March 8, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Agriculture, Food Security & Rural Development, Areas of Expertise, Biodiversity, Democracy & Governance, Environment, Environment, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Next Task Order: Flying Robots

Or more precisely, swarming micro air vehicles, to create a communications cloud where infrastructure is destroyed during an emergency like an earthquake. SciDev reports on a Swiss innovation that hovers at the extreme end of ICT4D – at least for now. Flying robots could help in disaster rescue – SciDev.Net.

But the same team also produced the awesome SenseFly drone, which costs around 9K and fits in a briefcase. The possibilities for monitoring and mapping for biodiversity and agriculture appear to be endless. Check out the video.

Lest you think I’m a shill for the Lausanne techies, let me take the opportunity to draw your attention to some homebrew options. These won’t create the swarming communications cloud suitable for a major disaster, but a lot can happen.

Grassroots Mapping is a network of technology hackers that use balloon and kite mounted digital cameras in mapping, to serve as “community satellites” – a low cost remote sensing alternative to satellite imagery that can get surprisingly good results. Significantly, the technology is affordable and can be put in the hands of communities for participatory planning, independent monitoring, and access to information – key aspects of our quest for good governance. The Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science is a sister initiative working to develop new technologies for grassroots mappers.

I’ve mentioned Participatory GIS – the use of GIS in community mapping – in earlier posts. PPGIS is a virtual network online consisting of resources and a very active email list to support a peer-to-peer learning network spanning the globe.

So there you have it – we started with a drone swarm and ended up with a kite. The needs of tomorrow (and today) will be well served by one or the other.

As the wise one said, knowledge is knowing that the tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.

March 2, 2011/by actualize