Originally posted on the GBI Portal – Page 53

Agriculture, Democracy & Governance, Governances, Humanitarian Assistance, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Activists Use New Tools to Challenge Repression

Woman holding sign that says "Egyptians creating their future"

Throughout Africa human rights violations are being conducted all over the continent, but technology is shifting the power of information into the hands of the repressed.

Leveraging mobile phones and FM radio have been the channels to achieve this objective, according to the 2011 Amnesty International Annual Report.

Political activists and citizens have used other new communications forms, such as Facebook and Twitter, now easily available on mobile phones, to bring people to the streets to demand accountability.

Salil Shetty Photo Credit: Amnesty International

“In many countries in Africa,” says Secretary General, Salil Shetty, “there is now a vibrant civil society, which, although often still repressed, can no longer be ignored by those in power.”

The report states that 2010 may be known as the year where technology aligned both activists and journalists to bring truth to the world of power.

The Secretary General also mentioned that innovative crowdsourcing technologies, such as forerunner Ushahidi.com of Kenya, have opened up a whole new set of possibilities for conflict prevention by tracking and recording abuses.

He acknowledges that they have been tools that have aided the struggle for human rights, despite the adversary from governments, in particular those in the Middle East and Northern Africa, to restrict the flow of information and censor communication.

In this sense, Shetty cautions, that the use of technologies are not a magic bullet solution that can completely determine and end human rights violations: “Technology will serve the purposes of those who control it – whether their goal is the promotion of rights or the undermining of rights,” he advised.

“We must be mindful that in a world of asymmetric power, the ability of governments and other institutional actors to abuse and exploit technology will always be superior to the grassroots activists, the beleaguered human rights advocate, the intrepid whistleblower and the individual…”

Even so, Shetty digressed that these are amazing times for human rights activists who recognize the potential of technology, which provides the context to evade censorship and reveal truth. They also holds the promise, he continued, that we will be, “living in a truly flat world,” where we are all connected by an accessible information that flows across borders and all can provide a voice to help determine major decisions in our lives.

“Fifty years on the world has changed dramatically, but the imperative for individuals to stand together to fight injustice and protect the rights of human beings, wherever they may be, has not,” the Secretary General emphasized.

Assessments of the state of human rights in countries across Africa, Amnesty concluded:

Uganda—law enforcement officers “committed human rights violations, including unlawful killings and torture, and perpetrators were not held to account” and “a number of new and proposed laws threatened the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly”.

Zimbabwe—“police continued to arbitrarily arrest and detain human rights defenders and journalists undertaking legitimate human rights work”. However, there was “some loosening of restrictions on the media and parliament debated a bill to reform the repressive Public Order and Security Act”.

Swaziland—“human rights defenders and political activists were subjected to arbitrary detention, ill-treatment and harassment … Torture and incidents of unjustified use of lethal force were reported. The prime minister appeared to publicly condone the use of torture.”

Sudan—“human rights violations, mainly by the National Intelligence and Security Service, continued to be committed with impunity. Perceived critics of the government were arrested, tortured or ill-treated and prosecuted for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly. Death sentences were handed down, including against juveniles. Women, young girls and men were arrested and flogged in the north because of their ‘dress’ or ‘behaviour’ in public places.”

These summaries were provided on a post on AllAfrica.com

June 16, 2011/by actualize

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

Participatory Mapping for Government Accountability

map of roads either complete or incomplete

Photo Credit: Rising Voices

In India, fishermen living in the city of Olcott, Chennai have relied on the beach for hundreds of years to earn livelihoods. After the British acquired this three-mile strip of land, members of this fishing community were deemed trespassers in their own homes.

Now, participatory mapping drawn up by Olcott citizens helps to create a visualization of the relationship between the fishermen and the coastline to make the government more responsible and accountable.

This is the objective of Transparent Chennai, a hands-on platform created by The Center for Development Finance, working under a Rising Voices Microgrant.

Aggregating, collecting, and displaying data for public interest use, on Usur and Olcott fishing communities in South Chennai, provides a visual to the gaps where legislation needs to be created. This ensures that fisherman have access to the water and can claim rights to their land.

The statement on the website clarifies their end goal:

Our goal is to enable residents, especially the poor, to have a greater voice in planning and city governance

Residents of Usur and Olcott engage in participatory workshops where they contribute to the map, mark the boundaries of their village, and land use patterns. They can show varying livelihoods within the community, and how space outside of their homes is used, particularly along the water.

The maps identify local resources, points of historical and ritual importance, and gaps in local infrastructure and government services. By providing easy-to-understand information, the maps can better highlight citizen needs, shed light on government performance, and improve their lives in the city, one issue at a time.

Transparent Chennai believes that lack of data has sometimes allowed for the government to evade its responsibilities and to provide basic entitlements to all city residents.

They collaborate with citizen to integrate accurate, first hand information. “We work closely with individuals and citizens’ groups to create data that can help them counter inaccurate or incomplete government data, and make better claims on the government for their rights and entitlements,”

Creating the maps is not limited to just the perspective of adult citizens, though.

Recently, eighth grade students at Olcott Memorial School in Besant Nagar participated in a four-week mapping workshop run by Transparent Chennai. Using Google Earth and Google Maps, along with paper maps, they marked their own important landmarks of the city.

Students use paper to figure out how their symbols should look. Red writing with things like bathroom posted on it [Photo Credit: Siddharth Hande

Students use paper to figure out how their symbols should look Photo Credit: Siddharth Hande

Anjney Midhall, who facilitated the mapping workshop describes the scene at the school: “…around me, children of the eighth grade at the Olcott Memorial School in Besant Nagar are busy mapping out their school’s campus in groups, developing their own unique symbols and keys, color schemes and layouts…By the end of the session, maps emerge, each diagram telling a story of its own.”

Through locally generated maps, Transparent Chennai aims to do their part in rectifying a lack of data and the lack of government accountability to meet the basic needs of its citizens. ‘Participatory mapping’, is one of the best ways to do this.

June 15, 2011/by actualize

GBI Highlights, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Asian USF Leaders Meet in Jakarta

Conference participants listen as David Townsed presents at the Asia Leaders USF Forum

Photo credit: Eric White

Last week in Jakarta GBI co-sponsored and participated in the “Universal Service Fund Asia Leaders Forum,” a two-day workshop that brought together administrators of Universal Service Funds (USFs) throughout the Asia/Pacific and Middle East regions. Attendees had the opportunity to interact with other USF administrators and learn about how other countries had found unique solutions to common problems. The workshop consisted of presentations by advanced USF as well as panel discussions by USF administrators that were moderated by GBI’s USF expert, Mr. David Townsend. Great interest was sparked by Turkey’s presentation of the “Fatih” school computing program, as well as Malaysia’s “Wireless Village” project. The CEO of Pakistan’s USF, Mr. Parvez Iftikhar, described his country’s policy of subsidizing service, rather that infrastructure, and detailed how he enforces this requirement through a unique scheme that employs government liens on infrastructure. A number of countries expressed interest in trying to copy the model.

David Townsend presents to the Asia Leaders USF Forum in Jakarta, Indonesia

Photo Credit: Eric White

The workshop was officially opened by Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, H.E. Hatta Rajasa, who declared Indonesia to have a strong interest in the expansion of broadband access while committing his government to a target of 30% broadband penetration by 2014. It closed with a discussion of the tools that countries needed to achieve such aggressive broadband penetration targets. In the interim discussions ranged from how to create strategic and operational plans for USFs to the particular benefits of providing broadband access as opposed to other forms of communication.

In the end all participants left satisfied that they had contributed to a worthwhile discussion, and many left with ideas for how to improve broadband operations in their own country. Mr. P. Choesin, of Indonesia’s Chamber of Commerce (KADIN) was so impressed with the conference that he suggested expanding it to include a worldwide audience and conducting it at a ministerial level.

The forum was the second in a worldwide series that is being sponsored by GBI in association with Intel Corporation.

June 15, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Irrigation and Water, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Tanzania’s Bold ICT for Irrigation Strategy

Consistent with the view that the crafting and implementation of bold and strategic ICT policies is key for sustained agricultural development in the developing world, I have pointed out the need for improved policy frameworks in a range of countries. However, it is also important to commend those developing states that continue to make progress in this regard. Tanzania’s national e-government policy is one such example. This policy framework has enabled the Ministry of Water and Irrigation (MoWI) to develop a long-term ICT strategy, which includes using GIS, radio and cell phones, to deliver irrigation and water services.

Picture showing an irrigation system- green plants being watered.

A Guide To Irrigation Methods — Irrigation Systems

The nascent strategy aims to achieve two pivotal things by 2014. First, it intends to help managers and engineers identify areas suitable for and in need of irrigation. The lack of reliable information and poor data collection processes has been a key challenge. To combat this, MoWI’s ICT strategy paves the way for the use of remote sensing and GIS technology to gather information on soil quality and available water resources. According to Daily News Online, Joash Nytambehead, head of the ICT unit at MoWI, says a system has been developed to capture data on all water points in the country. It involves visits to water points where GPS receivers are used to record and later collate coordinates. This is being complemented by efforts to map cellphone and internet connectivity, and access to traditional ICTs such as radio, across the east-African country.

Cellphones are currently being used by field officers to collect and instantaneously relay data on the condition of pumps and the types of crops being grown, which promises to strengthen the planning process. Managers will be better able to make use of GIS and field information to efficiently determine priority sites and the nature of irrigation systems that are needed. This is a major positive development because integrated water management is lacking in Sub-Saharan Africa, the region with the greatest dependence on rainfall, yet home to poor water management procedures and irrigation services.

The second and equally essential aim of Tanzania’s ICT strategy is that it should enable the state to efficiently inform the population about efforts to improve irrigation services. This is crucial because too often great projects flop when intended beneficiaries are left in the dark. The efforts to map mobile and internet connectivity, as well as, access to radio and other traditional ICTs, will allow the state to plot who may be target via the web, text massaging versus radio/TV programs and PSAs. This strategy is also expected to pave the way for streamlining services across offices and departments involved in the project.

While not a panacea, this policy position is a bold step in the right direction. The mix of ICTs that are being used to improve Tanzanian’s access to irrigation services is relevant and culturally appropriate.

June 15, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Cross Cutting, Humanitarian Assistance, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Providing Connectivity During Humanitarian Crises: An Approach from Luxembourg

Photo Credit: UN WFP

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

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

Photo Credit: emergency.lu

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

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

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

June 14, 2011/by actualize

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

Innovative “Internet Suitcases” to Bypass Government Censorship

boy with binoculars and man with mac computer in afghanistan

Photo Credit: NYTimes

The State Department is financing the creation of external wireless networks that would enable dissidents to undermine repressive authoritarian governments trying to censor or disable telecommunication networks, according to a New York Times report.

According to the Times story released on Sunday, Internet and mobile phone networks are being created so they can be deployed in an area independent of government control.

The State Department-led project involves the building of a $2-million prototype “Internet in a suitcase”, and independent “shadow” phone networks by a group operating out of a building on L Street in Washington, D.C.

This comes to light after the U.N. and the U.S. proclaimed Internet access and Internet freedoms as central to free speech and human rights.

“We see more and more people around the globe using the Internet, mobile phones and other technologies to make their voices heard as they protest against injustice and seek to realize their aspirations,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote to the Times.

The new technologies made to circumvent oppressive regimes are currently in development by the New America Foundation under their nonpartisan think tank, Open Technology Initiative (OTI). The D.C. entrepreneurial engineers are cultivating both new technologies, and finding ways to utilize the tools from the previous uprisings.

The State Department, for example, is financing projects to create stealth wireless networks, including a $2 million grant to develop the “Internet in a suitcase.” The networking access points are designed to look like regular suitcases that communicate with each other to create mesh networks connected to the global Internet.

Diagram of a stealth network and wireless mesh network

Photo Credit: NYTimes

These suitcases, which contain all the necessary hardware, could be smuggled into a country and deployed over an area to create a service independent of government control in countries like Iran, Syria and Libya, according to participants in the projects.

The other project is even more ambitious, the article states, where the State Department and Pentagon have spent $50 million to create an independent cellphone network in Afghanistan to offset the Taliban’s ability to shut down the official Afghan services.

This all comes after the “Arab Spring” uprisings over the past several months, which have drawn attention to network shutdowns and censorship conducted by regimes under threat like the Syrian and Egyptian governments. They attempt to stifle citizens’ ability to communicate with each other and to inform the outside world of what’s going on in the protest zones.

“The implication is that this disempowers central authorities from infringing on people’s fundamental human right to communicate,” recounted Sascha Meinrath, project director of the OTI, who is leading the “Internet in a suitcase” project.

However, Meinrath cautions that the cultivation of these independent networks also have can have a negative aspect:

Repressive governments could use surveillance to locate and arrest activists who use the technology, or persecute them for simply bringing hardware across the border.

Others believe that the risks are outweighed by the potential impact. “We’re going to build a separate infrastructure where the technology is nearly impossible to shut down, to control, to surveil,” says Meinrath.

The Times specifically discusses the foreign policy implications of these U.S. financed projects. After a decade long struggle in fostering media to evade hostile regimes like Voice of America, these ambitions are grandiose in scale. Alternatively, the creation of these new tools could be the next step helping to empower civil society.

June 14, 2011/by actualize

Health, Health Systems, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

New telemedicine center in Nigeria aims to keep patients at home

A new telemedicine center opened last month in Lagos, Nigeria with the purpose of providing healthcare to local Nigerians. Designated as the Glo-Telemedicine Center, located on Victoria Island in Lagos, this center is a product of the collaboration between Nigeria’s Global Resources and Projects and healthcare providers in India, U.S., Egypt and other countries.

Photo Credit: Onche Odeh

The center is designed to minimize transportation concerns for Nigerians, especially those in isolated areas, to bring them expert healthcare from abroad. According to the executive officer of Global Resources Dr. Wale Alabi, “the Glo-Telemedicine Centre would bridge the gap between the poor and good health services by creating a simless [sic: seamless] communication between them and those with the expertise and facilities to help them.”

Dr. Alabi cited the high prevalence of Nigerians using life savings, and even taking out crippling loans to travel to foreign countries seeking expert healthcare. Dr. Alabi also claimed that over 60% of those who go abroad for services can get those same services in Nigeria, but often go abroad due to incorrect diagnoses.

The center will be used as a medical tool to reduce medical costs and substantially increase range of access to patients. The center is designed to offer specialty treatments to Nigerians at a low cost. It will also offer Continuing Medical Education to health professionals as a means to keep them informed of latest trends in health services.

The center’s capabilities are dependent on broadband fiber optics supplied by a Nigerian Telecommunication firm called Globacom. Their services take advantage of advances in ICT to transmit text, sound, video, image and other information from one location to another location.

Telemedicine is an application of medicine that takes advantage of electronic communications to transfer information from one location to another, often between health provider and patient, or between two health providers. Dr. Alabi noted that the success of telemedicine in African countries such as Kenya and Ghana is “transforming those countries.”

Similarly, Dr Alabi hopes the center will ultimately transform the way Nigerians think about accessing healthcare. However, this is not the first telemedicine project in Nigeria. Several years ago, the Nigerian government through the ministries of science and technology and health, commissioned a pilot telemedicine project that used satellite-based technologies. That project, called the NigComSat-1 Telemedicine pilot, was labeled impractical due to high costs and inapplicability. The Glo-Telemedicine center however, took note and addressed those issues, which is why it is now fully operational to Nigerians.

June 14, 2011/by actualize

Connectivity, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Fiber Optic Cables To Extend to 3 More East African Nations

In today’s headlines, African Telecoms giant Seacom announced that it will be laying fiber optic broadband cables in the coming year in three African nations: Burundi, Somalia, and Southern Sudan. Fiber cables will first be laid in Burundi with the assistance of a $10.1 million dollar grant from the World Bank, and later in Southern Sudan and Somalia.

Attempting to connect all of East Africa together, Seacom has successfully completed fiber construction in Uganda, Djibouti, Rwanda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Kenya, which is the headquarters of the region. East African governments have been key partners with Seacom and other private telecommunications companies, including Korea Telecom in Rwanda. In fact, the East African Community (EAC), a group of five nations, will invest a combined total of $400 million in laying broadband cables in the coming years. With the undersea and terrestrial fiber cables laid, the groundwork will be in place for all of East Africa to be connected directly.

African Undersea Cables — A History

View more presentations from Steve Song

In Burundi, the reported plans include laying 1,300 kilometers of fiber optic cable, partially funded by the World Bank. The funding for Southern Sudan and Somalia, however, is less concrete at this point, as governments and private sector players are only at the formation stage, with Seacom leading the way.

Seacom’s announcement came despite the spread of land fighting on the border of North and South Sudan this past week, where reportedly more than 53,000 Southern Sudanese citizens fled their homes. Despite the fighting, Seacom spokesman Julius Opio remained optimistic.

However, Mr. Opio has expressed other concerns, including the low portion of the Internet community that is owned and produced by Africans. Establishing broadband infrastructure in Africa, Mr. Opio argues, will increase African ownership and power in the Internet sphere.

“Today, the majority of internet content consumed in Africa is non-African, flowing from Europe and North America into Africa. …We believe that the growth of the African ICT market, including mobile penetration and the eager adoption of social networking, coupled with the development of cloud services will result in a rapid increase in content on African soil.”

Slideshow from Steve Song, and video from Seacom and CreamerMedia.

June 14, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Cross Cutting, Economic Growth & Trade, Economic Policy and Governance, Enterprise Development, Originally posted on the GBI Portal, Tech Transfer, Trade & Investment

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

June 14, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Agriculture Markets, Environment, Extension Service, Farmer to Farmer, Health, Originally posted on the GBI Portal, Sustainable Agriculture

Tackling Poor Access to Farm Extension Services with ICTs

Poor access to farm extension services is still a major impediment to agricultural productivity and the improvement of rural livelihoods. But, increasingly, ICTs are playing a central role in enabling and facilitating the provision of demand-driven extension services. This marks a shift from highly inefficient public sector extension delivery models, under which farmers and rural communities had little/no opportunity to articulate their own needs.

Despite the ICT-enabled shift towards more democratic/pluralistic, demand driven and efficient extension services in some places, there is still a far way to go before game changing impacts are made.

A silver laptop with a blank screen and black buttons on bright green grass

CTA/ARDYIS Facebook Photo

Although the use of conventional technologies such as radio and television, and even new ICTs, is commendable, many “model projects” reach too few people and are unsustainable.

But the emergence of multiple players in the evolving extension services landscape—NGOs/CBOs, private sector actors, and farmers as extension service users and sharpers, among others—presents broad opportunities. The main opportunity I foresee is that of a firmer platform for articulating the need for better telecommunications policies, which will benefit extension services and the broader range of development objectives that hinge on access to ICTs.

Consequently, agricultural planners and policy-makers ought not to be particularly concerned with specifically enabling the integration of ICTs into pro-poor extension service delivery. While that is a desirable objective, it ignores the broader picture—poverty reduction.

Strategic agricultural planning recognize that ICT-based solutions for agricultural problems are not all sector specific. In much the same way that the major agricultural challenges operate on a macro-level, by cutting-across sectors, the solutions must stem from holistic observations and responses.

Indeed, any ICT intervention that improves the livelihoods of the rural poor is likely to have positive (direct and indirect) impacts on agricultural value chain management—planning, productivity, and marketing. This is true to the extent that rural economies are largely agrarian. So, any challenge to improving the general livelihood of the rural poor will adversely affect agricultural productivity— be that challenge inadequate health services, poor resource management, natural disasters, anthropogenic shocks, minimal access to education, financial services and poor infrastructure, etc.

So, strengthening extension services will require tackling more systemic problems… seeing the forest and not just the trees.

June 13, 2011/by actualize