Originally posted on the GBI Portal – Page 52

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

State Department Defends Innovative “Internet Suitcases”

Last week a State Department official responded to the NY Times article on the “Internet Suitcases,” defending the main goal of the U.S.’s investment on the innovative technology as upholding the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights.

The Times article cited that the U.S. government is investing in individualized mesh networks, which are networks connected through individual nodes that do not have to rely on a central server to capture and disseminate information.

It was contested that this type of technology is ideal, and being provided by the U.S., for dissidents living in oppressive regimes to subvert censorship and avoid Internet shutdowns.

Acknowledging this, the official maintains, “…to fight against regimes is not the main aim, but rather, leveraging modern communication to uphold the freedom of expression of opinion is.”

Arguably, governments that respect the rights of civil society have nothing to fear in freedom of speech and opinion, further, they have no reason to fear freedom of the Internet.

The official admits that the Internet is not a one-size-fits-all solution and recent grants have been given to developing technology itself along with raining, and have been used on mobile innovation, citing mobile causing a, “pocket phenomenon.”

According to the official, “…the need is not one particular piece of technology or one silver bullet. The need is to be responsive to the ongoing challenges of people who are trying to call out the problems in their societies and give voice to their own future.”

The official referenced a Sudanese blogger writing about a YouTube video of a ballot box being stuffed, commenting that the National Election Commission would not investigate any evidence that was posted on the Internet. Instead, he/she cited, people posting the video were the ones being targeted and investigated.

In cases like these, the official recounted, it is the State Department’s obligation to help aid these freedoms by re-crafting the current model.

“And it hasn’t worked for Mubarak, and it hasn’t worked for Qadhafi, and it’s unlikely to work for Asad, and there are others who eventually will have to deal with either the stark choice of giving people the space to have a role in crafting their own futures or the lack of sustainability of their present model,” the official stated.

However, when asked by reporters which countries or groups this type of technology was being developed for, the official deferred questions about China, only stating that the Great Chinese Firewall and their type of censorship is a “different kind of freedom threat.”

…our goal is to make sure that we are doing what we can to amplify the voices and create the space for free expression and freedom of association and assembly online regardless of who the group is

The State Department’s recent statements are in light of the recent U.N. report declaring Internet access as a basic human right. The mesh networking innovation has the potential to leapfrog connectivity barriers and deliver freedom of expression to the oppressed.

June 23, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Agriculture Markets, Extension Service, Food Security, Mobile, Originally posted on the GBI Portal, Sustainable Agriculture

SMS Productivo: Paraguayan farmers Join the Mobile Frenzy (Video)

Paraguayan farmers, like their counterparts across the developing world, are joining the legion of people at the bottom of the economic pyramid who now have access to mobiles—individually or through social networks.

They are also reaping the benefits of burgeoning agricultural markets, training opportunities and best practices that mobile-based systems help to inform them about and connect them to. The most recent, SMS Productivo, is premised on an SMS platformed, which was introduced by USAID’s Paraguay Productivo, under the management of CARANA Corporation.

This system has also automated data collection and enable agricultural planning to be more up-to-date and efficient, as farmers may now submit observations via text messages.

La Norteña, a cooperative, worked with PyP last fall to introduce SMS Productivo to their members. There are now five participating cooperatives and another 20 are ebbing to join.

Learn more about SMS Productivo and the stories of those using the technology.

June 23, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Business Enabling Environment, Economic Growth & Trade, Education, Originally posted on the GBI Portal, Tech Transfer, Youth Development

Ghana Opens More Rural Technology Facilities…

Ghana, West Africa’s emerging ICT hub, inaugurated two more Rural Technology Facilities (RTFs) last week. RTFs form part of Ghana’s thrust “to enhance and build a strong and vibrant rural economy to reduce unemployment, poverty and ruraL-urban migration.”

The new RTFs at Goaso and Bechem, which cost US$637, 636, brings the complement to 15; and Hanna Tetteh, Ghana’s Minister of Trade and Industry, says seven more are in the pipeline.

Tetteh says Ghana will continue to establish RTFs country-wide to support the transfer of technologies to farmers, agroprocessors, artisans, unemployed youth and micro and small enterprises.

According to government estimates, the existing RTFs have enabled the establishment of over 21, 000 businesses and 52, 000 jobs across Ghana’s 10 geopolitical regions.

The RTF drive, which is funded by Ghana, in collaboration with, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the African Development Bank (ADB), house technical workshops with modern equipment and trained technical personnel. RTFs are capable of providing technical training, promotion and dissemination of technology to boost the capacity of micro and small-scale enterprises.

To find out more about Ghana’s efforts to cement its position as a West African hub for ICTs, go here.

June 22, 2011/by actualize

Connectivity, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

What if your Internet bill was more than your mortgage?

Photo: ITU

A recent report by the ITU states that the price of high-speed Internet connections dropped by over 50% globally last year, with entry-level ICTs dropping 18%. The drop was less extreme in developed countries at 35%, but very pronounced in developing nations at 52%, and particularly in Africa at 55%.

The positive headlines of the ITU’s report quickly fade away, however, as the reality of Broadband prices in developing countries sinks in. “In 32 countries, the monthly price of an entry-level fixed broadband subscription corresponds to more than half average monthly income. …And in a handful of developing countries the monthly price of a fast Internet connection is still more than ten times monthly average income.”

Though this report from the ITU demonstrates that the digital divide is narrowing, the stark differences in Broadband prices between the developed and less developed world appear still widely extreme. The ITU’s report on the price drop ultimately highlights the expansive measure of the digital divide.

If governments are lining up to invest millions in constructing fiber optic cables, should they also set aside some money to subsidize bandwidth usage? Are governments’ efforts to make broadband accessible futile without subsidies to reduce prices? Arguably, a small investment in bandwidth subsidies is necessary in order to make the investments in Broadband infrastructure ultimately meaningful.

Kenya is the first African nation to provide bandwidth subsidies to business processing operators (BPO), allowing a 20 cent saving on all operational costs. ICT board leader, Paul Kukubo, explained, “Increasing Kenya’s competitiveness in the global BPO sphere is vital for our country’s economic growth…and to put Kenya on the global outsourcing map.” Though the effectiveness of the subsidies have been called into question, this is a step in the right direction. Maximizing the benefits of Broadband connectivity may often require bandwidth subsidies as African nations struggle to breech the digital divide.

June 21, 2011/by actualize

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

#Women2Drive Hashtag Fuels Saudi Women’s Campaign

Today on Twitter @ZiaGe, or “Patricia G”, posted a picture of herself behind the wheel of a Lexus dressed in her hijab in act of defiance. Saudi Arabia is a country where women are banned from driving.

She is one of the hundreds of Saudi women using the hash tag #women2drive to mobilize a campaign in an attempt to get a green light on paving the way to this new freedom.

Saudi Arabia is the only Muslim country that does not allow women to drive, and although it is not an official law, it is culturally unacceptable. Religious rulings typically enforced by police have the same effect as a ban, and women must rely on chauffeurs or male relatives for transportation.

Al Jazeera English Stream explains the situation:

Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world in which women cannot drive. Additional prohibitions against taking buses, riding bikes, and appearing in public alone essentially rule out independent travel for women

In 1990, 47 women took to the streets to challenge this ban by taking their families’ cars out for a drive. They were placed in jail for a day and their passports were taken.

32-year-old Manal al-Sherif, a key figure in Women2Drive movement, faced a similar fate last month.

Ms. Sharif was arrested for nine days after she drove two times and they were highly publicized on Youtube; she also highlighted them on the Facebook and Twitter campaigns she helped organize.

In the video featured at the end of this article, Al Sharif says women need to learn how to drive in order to protect themselves and their families. Additionally, not all women can afford to hire private drivers, she says.

This all comes in light of the recent Arab Spring uprisings, where social media is a popular tool to help mobilize campaigns and movements.

The Women2Drive campaign encourages Saudi women all across Saudi Arabia to participate in a collective protest scheduled for June 17.

Arab Studies Institute Jadaliyya has some more information regarding campaign plans, which included:

Encouraging women with international driver’s licenses (or those from other countries) to drive their cars on June 17.
Taking photographs and videos to be posted on Facebook in support of the cause.
Adhering to the dress code (hijab) while driving.▪ We will obey the traffic laws and will not challenge the authorities if we are stopped for questioning.
If we are pulled over we will firmly demand to be informed of which laws have been violated. Until now there is not one traffic law that prohibits a woman from driving her own vehicle herself.

The campaigns, which had attracted thousands of supporters — more than 12,000 on the Facebook page —have been blocked in the kingdom. In spite this, a few Youtube videos that have been posted, along with gaining national and international support.

Screen shot of Facebook campaign

There has been an online petition addressed to King Abdullah, asking him to grant women the right to drive, which gathered signatures from more than 600 men and women; and today, Princess Ameerah al stated in an interview that she herself wants to drive and promises a women’s revolution.

Alternatively, the Saudi Women for Driving, the coalition of Saudi women’s rights activists, bloggers and academics campaigning for the right to drive, sent a letter to Clinton and to her European Union counterpart, Catherine Ashton.

“Where are you when we need you most?” they asked  in the letter which the State Department told reporters Monday it had just received, it continues: “In the context of the Arab Spring and U.S. commitments to support women’s rights, is this not something the United States’ top diplomat would want to publicly support?”

One reporter questioned that the Secretary is more concerned about not estranging relations with Saudi Arabia when the U.S. needs help on Yemen and Bahrain, more than about defending women’s rights. State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland defended Clinton, saying the Secretary “has been engaged in quiet diplomacy.”

More importantly, Saudi women are taking this movement, and their empowerment, into their own hands by coordinating their grassroots campaign using online tools.

June 21, 2011/by actualize

Economic Growth & Trade, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

US$10 Million for Kenyan Digital Villages and Computers in 2012

Kenya’s ICT sector accounts for three percent of GDP, and it is poised to expand next year. According to estimates for the fiscal year 2012, the government will pump millions into efforts to boost the sector. The state will spend nearly US$10 million dollars to boost exposure to ICTs in schools and far-flung villages.

Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta says the state will pump more than US$2.3 million into its much vaunted digital villages project or Pasha Centers. The Minister says the other US$7.5 million will be used to purchase computers for schools across the country. Commentators say this will provide early initiation into the digital world for a broader cross-section of Kenyan youth.

But none of these grand plans will work without major improvement of Kenya’s electricity infrastructure. “Electricity is very essential in the roll-out and running of ICT infrastructure,” says Telecommunications Engineer Esmond Shahonya. The Kenyan government agrees. The East-African ICT hub will spend US$62 million to electrify 460 trading centres and 110 secondary schools, among other public facilities under the rural electrification program. This will further bridge the digital divide.

The ICT sector will also benefit from the $730 million allocated to the Ministry of Energy.

June 21, 2011/by actualize

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

Mobile Data Makes Projects & Policies More Efficient

Photo Credit: MobileActive

Aggregating and collecting data from cell phones is one of the best ways to ensure resources used to help fight poverty are efficiently being allocated, while gaining insight on what policies work the best.

According to Marcelo Giugale, the World Bank’s Director of Economic Policy and Poverty Reductions Programs for Africa, digital data collection is entirely transforming international development and bringing on, “revenge of the statistician”.

This transformation, he cites, have created two separate but interrelated effects in evaluating development projects.

Primarily, digital data collection allows funding from multilateral institutions, like the World Bank, to be more effective.

Goals set for monitoring and evaluation (M&E) are quantified to see if the results are reached. Such as: how many children were treated for malaria, or what proportion of women use contraceptives?

This increased accuracy in household surveys can precisely identify who benefits from each dollar the government spends, also known as “benefit incidence analysis,” then structural adjustments can then be made to funnel funds to the appropriate recipient. Giugale elucidates by providing an example:

Most developing countries spend more bankrolling free public universities than building primary schools. But the main beneficiaries of that subsidized college education are the rich (who could pay tuition) not the poor (who could not)…Statistics lets you quantify these aberrations—and argue that the money should be redirected to those who really need it

Secondarily, he observed that surveys conducted on cell phones provide data to assess human capabilities so future policies and projects can be altered to fit the needs of those living in poverty and make outcomes more useful.

By assessing non-cognitive skills—such as reaction time and social interaction—educational programs can be designed to teach behaviors that will increase people’s productivity.

Marcelo Giugale Photo Credit: World Bank

Giugale argues that digital data collection can also measure how personal circumstances affect human opportunity. “We all know that children have no control or responsibility over their gender, skin color, birthplace, or parents’ income,” he contends.

“And yet, those kind of circumstances are sure-shot predictors of a child’s access to vaccination, potable water, kindergarten, the internet and many other platforms without which her probability of success is close to nil.” Giugale cites the Human Opportunity Index as being a large proponent of this initiative in shaping policy.

The use of cell phones to collect data has broken the once unconventional method of researching people in their communities. These randomized trials are useful in gauging what policies and projects work best, and which are seemingly wasteful.

“As the use of cellular telephony expands among the poor — at flash speed in places like Kenya –the possibility of turning them into data sources becomes real…” he concludes, “How ironic that, in the end, the war against poverty may be won when those who try to help the poor get to literally listen to them.”

In this video, Guigale explains the Human Development Opportunity Index and how it helps reduce poverty:

June 20, 2011/by actualize

Anti-corruption, Asia, Civil Society, Democracy & Governance, Governances, Originally posted on the GBI Portal, Where we work

Kashmir & Facebook: Citizens and Journalist Against the State

Crowd up people will cell phones held up

In Kashmir Photo Credit: BBC

A year after the government imposed a ban on Short Message Services (SMS) in the Kashmir Valley for “security purposes,” the numbers of cell phones has decreased, but the demand for Internet enabled phones to access Facebook continues to rise.

Kashmiris avidly use the social media site, and last Friday it was the catalyst for the arrest of London-based BBC Urdu Services senior journalist Naeema Ahmed Mehjoor by the state.

Compared to June last year when the SMS ban began, the number of cell phone users in Jammu and Kashmir has gone down from 5,155,363 to 4,974,400 in April this year—a decline of 3.5 per cent.

Those Kashmiris who do own cell phones, however, want to use them to exchange messages and access social media sites like Facebook.

“After the ban on SMS services, every customer wants to purchase Internet enabled mobiles so that they can exchange messages on the move. Therefore the demand for the same is on a rise in the Valley as the Internet enabled mobiles are available at very cheap rates now,” says Ajaz Ahmed, an executive at a mobile shop there.

According to a study on social media usage by The Nielsen Company, nearly 30 million Indians are online where two-thirds spend time on social networking sites daily, more time than they do on personal email. 42 per cent of mobile users in India use their phones to go onto Facebook, according to the report.

A local, Jameel Bhat, says using Facebook on mobiles is a cheaper option. “I used to be in touch with my friend in Dubai through SMS but after the ban, I found making calls very expensive. Now, I chat through mobile as I cannot afford a computer and other Internet services,” he says.

Jasmine Kour, another avid Kashmiri Facebook user, also finds the social networking site a ‘good source of acquiring knowledge’ because it is easily accessible on her cell phone.

Access to Facebook on mobile phones has not always been easy though, as the state continually denies citizens access.

The cellular communication in Kashmir has been witnessing sharp ups and down since 2008. The most recent ban being in June 2010 when the government shut down the SMS service for the five month long agitation against killing of teenagers.

Incidentally, the BBC journalist, Naeema Ahmed Mehjoor kept the high response from the Kashmir people towards Facebook in view, using the social media platform as source for primary information.

This was until she was arrested by J-K police for “inciting violence and spreading disinformation,” on June 10th.

Mehjoor was booked under Section 66 of the Information Technology Act; using the IT for spreading dissatisfaction against the state.

She was taken in for her comment on Facebook, ‘Why did police kill this man in Lalchowk? Any reason?’ on June 6th. The comment was made the same day a man was killed in Srinagar’s Lal Chowk area by an unidentified gunman.

The man, police claim, was killed in a criminal conspiracy by three armed men and not police.

“As a journalist, I am working for peace,” she claimed.

Well-known broadcaster Mehjoor has been writing articles for local dailies about the 2010 unrest, where she would gain insight on Facebook to reflect the daily happenings. She also went public on her rejection to three-member Kashmir interlocutors’ invitation for a peace conference on the Kashmir problem.

This is another case where the combination of mobile and social media have helped to both push and pull information in civil society. Yet another example of how the oppressive states have attempted to circumvent citizens from accessing new technologies to control their freedom of expression and right to information.

June 17, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Biodiversity, Environment, Environment, Land Management, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Today is World Day to Combat Desertification

A drawing of a desert with a green tree in the middle

Photo Credit: The Express Tribune

The annual observation of World Day to Combat Desertification is underway amid daunting projections, if immediate mitigation measures are ignored.

Desertification, which is caused by ‘land degradation in dry lands’ (not necessarily the creation of deserts), affects one in three people in some way, and costs the world economy US$42 billion annually. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimates that almost two billion hectares of land in over 110 countries have been seriously degraded.

Land degradation is heightened by population pressure, intensification of agriculture, water-logging and salinity, among other things. Both water-logging and salinity are caused by poor irrigation and drainage, deforestation, overgrazing, soil erosion and poverty.

But the matter of poverty is two fold, as land degradation pose serious implications for efforts to reduce it and hunger worldwide. The developing world, namely Africa, Asia and Latin America, is home to 90% of those most affected— mostly subsistence farmers. This trend will expand the scarcity of arable lands and water resources, which will increase food insecurity for the most vulnerable. This will also raise political tensions over unequal land distribution across the developing world. A few large landholders own disproportionate hectares of land in predominantly arid countries such as Pakistan.

UNCCD logo for World Day to Combat Dessertification

Despite these impending challenges, too few governments have been proactive in informing their citizens. ICTs may be leveraged to improve basic farm extension services to reduce poor soil management, and other agricultural related causes of land degradation. Also, more states should embark on water resources development, water harvesting, well rehabilitation, wildlife restoration and biodiversity maintenance projects to mitigate land desertification and better prepare farmers and others to sustain their livelihoods. The success of any such effort will rest on the degree to which citizens are engaged –the range of ICTs available should certainly be leveraged.

Visit the UNCCD website to learn more about about the day of events.

June 17, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Health, Health Systems, Infectious Diseases, Mobile, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

How mobile banking and financial incentives can fight TB

Photo Credit: Stop TB Partnership

Earlier this month, the Indus Hospital in Karachi, Pakistan reported a substantial increase in Tuberculosis (TB) detection rates after the start of a program that uses mobile technology and financial incentives to get people to test for the disease.

Since the implementation of the program in January 2011, reported TB cases more than doubled at the hospital. Doctors reported a total of 420 cases in the first quarter of 2011, up from 200 in the last quarter of 2010, before the program was in place.

The program is anchored by a financial incentive scheme and use of mobile technology. In the program, doctors and community health workers who screen for TB are rewarded with a financial incentive through their mobile banking account. Health professionals are rewarded based on both the number of sputum samples that they collect and the number of patients that test positive for active TB following sputum test results.

Mobile banking centers that have emerged in Karachi make this program possible. Health professionals use SMS to send their TB data to the Indus Hospital TB Reach mobile data collection system and in return receive a text message which tells them how many cases they have helped to detect. The incentives are then tabulated and distributed at the mobile banking centers on a monthly basis by the data collection system, called OpenMRS Mobile.

Tackling TB is a big deal in Pakistan and the South Asian region as a whole. According to estimates by the World Health Organization, Pakistan developed nearly 300,000 new cases of TB in 2009, making them 8^th on the list of countries most burdened by TB. Case detection is imperative in treating TB because according to TB Reach, for every 10 additional cases detected, an estimated 5 lives are saved and 100 infections are prevented.

The Indus Hospital received a grant from the Stop TB partnership’s TB Reach program. The TB Reach program focuses on promoting increased case detection of TB cases, ensuring their timely treatment, all while maintaining high cure rates within the national TB programs. Working in two “waves,” the first wave targeted 19 countries with $18.4 million worth of funding. The project at the Indus Hospital in Karachi is a product of the first wave. Under its Wave-2 funding, TB Reach has approved US$ 31 million for 45 projects in 29 countries.

The Indus Hospital program’s success has caught local attention as the Indus Hospital health workers are now training local private general practitioners on TB screening and detection. Furthermore Indus Hospital has launched a communications campaign complete with billboards, posters and local cable television ads that encourage people to get tested for TB. The Indus Hospital, also Pakistan’s first hospital to go paperless, hopes to expand the program nationally and even beyond.

June 16, 2011/by actualize

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