We Must Build a Better Future for (Digital) Development
February 29, 2016
Over the past year I’ve served as rapporteur for a series of community discussions on the Principles for Digital Development. In case you missed it, these are nine guiding Principles that are meant to help institutionalize lessons learned from both failure and success in the use of digital technologies to advance international development programs and outcomes.
Consider yourself on notice: If you don’t follow the Principles, you’re not doing digital development right.
Yet implementing the Principles is harder than it looks. The Principles were written using high-level language that is easy to understand at a conceptual level. When implementing the Principles, what looks straightforward conceptually quickly becomes 
more complex.
International development projects typically take place in challenging and non-linear environments that are characterized by a lack of supporting infrastructure, underlying civil or political tensions, and patchy regulatory environments. It is also true that technology, and the way it is used, is constantly and rapidly evolving.
But one of the largest barriers to implementation of the Principles is that the international development architecture as it currently structured isn’t entirely conducive to implementing the Principles.
Structural challenges to Principles implementation
- Sector-specific silos, which fragment strategy, implementation, and learning.
- Counter incentives to implementation, such as in competition among donors and implementers that reduces coordination.
- Short funding timelines, which mean limited time to enable information gathering and sharing, or the patience to see long-term results.
- Challenges to adaptive programming, making it difficult for implementing organizations to use real-time data for evidence-driven course corrections.
- Biases toward international partners that may not have the mandate to invest in local capacity building.
What can you do now?
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Getting Back in the Game!
September 28, 2014
This spring my husband and I welcomed our first child into the world. It was at once exhilarating and exhausting. After four (part grueling, part glorious) months of spending every moment with the baby it’s time to get back in the game.
Transitioning back to work has created space for reflection on the opportunities I’ve had to consult with some amazing organizations using technology to make development more participatory, accountable and effective. The mash-up of tech in international development makes for a non-stop learning curve, and it has been a privilege to be among those seeking to advance and institutionalize these learnings.
Before ramping back up, I want to thank the teams I’ve worked with over the past 2+ years, including: Patty Mechael and the mHealth Alliance; Kirsten Gagnaire and the Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action (MAMA); Lesley-Anne Long and mPowering Frontline Health Workers; Sandhya Rao at USAID; Cecilia Nilsson Kleffner with the International Criminal Law Society Foundation; Neelley Hicks at United Methodist Communications; and the ICT, WASH and Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) teams at the World Bank, to name a few.
I’m also grateful to the Amsterdam-based Text to Change team that brought me in on a long-term project spanning across my maternity leave, making the transition to the new role of consulting “working mom” a smooth one.
Finally this list of gratitude wouldn’t be complete without including UN Foundation CEO Kathy Calvin, who gave me the foothold to get started in the mobiles for development space by supporting and eventually leading the UNF-Vodafone partnership, and Claire Thwaites, the prior partnership head.
Onward! I look forward to continuing to share this journey with many of you, and to the continual learning that enables us to do all we can to make this world a better place–especially for the new lives that grace it.
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Rest in Peace, Madiba.
December 6, 2013
Photo credit: The Guardian
Yesterday we parted ways with Nelson Mandela, one of history’s great world leaders and an inspiration for the ages. As the sun rose on the 2nd year of Mandela’s presidency, I had the tremendous and life-changing opportunity to spend a half-year in the “new” South Africa. I lived and studied at University of the Western Cape, one of the nation’s historically non-white universities. I learned a tremendous amount about that tender time in South Africa’s transition to democracy from my fellow students, all of whom were active members of one of the campus’ many political organizations. I followed the development of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission, the mechanism that enabled South Africans to trade truth for amnesty, securing the foundations of the new nation. And I developed what has become a lifelong passion for human and civil rights, justice, and the imperative of sustainable economic opportunity for all. Thank you, Mandela, for shining your light in this world and for teaching us all how to be free.
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Using SMS to Strengthen Community Communications in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
June 28, 2013
Reblogging one of my favorite interviews from a blog series I curated on best practice in the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for development for my client, United Methodist Communications. In her interview, Betty Musau, who works with the United Methodist Church in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, talks about how the use of text messaging is transforming her community. How? By increasing “bottom up” communications, and leading to health behavior change. Her vision for the future? Give every woman a cellphone and it will save lives. She is an inspiration!
You can watch the video over on the ICT4D Best Practices blog series here.
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New Blog Series on ICT4D Launched by @UMCommunication
June 12, 2013
My friends over at @UMCommunication have just launched a blog series highlighting best practice in ICT for Development (ICT4D). The series kicks off with a post from FrontlineSMS founder Ken Banks, who I interviewed about his 10 tips for successful ICT interventions at the frontlines.
Check it out & leave your thoughts in the comments section here: 10 Tips for Successful ICT4D Interventions: An Interview with ICT4D Pioneer Ken Banks.
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Human-Centered Design Approaches to ICT for Social Accountability
May 11, 2013
Last month I traveled to Dhaka, Bangladesh, for a project exploring the use of the mobile phones to amplify citizen feedback on the delivery of public services.
There’s an old mantra in the ICT4D community: technology is only a fraction of any solution to any development challenge. What percentage? That depends on the project, but one estimate puts it at just 10%.
Like any other tool, the success and impact of a technology-based development intervention will largely depend on adjacent factors like effective project planning and management, or the suitability of selected tools given the local context.
Design thinking emphasizes the importance of building solutions with the users’ needs in mind. The excellent Internews and Reboot report report, Design Research for Media Development, breaks down the core principles of human-centered design and shows how they can be applied in development projects.
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Hacking for Good: The Sanitation Hackathon
March 15, 2013
I recently began consulting to the World Bank on an exciting open development project that is tapping innovation for the sanitation sector. The Sanitation Hackathon is a 21st century approach to sourcing entrepreneurial, citizen-centered and technology-enabled solutions to the sanitation challenges that affect some 2.5 billion people worldwide.
Sanitation challenges not only lead to the spread of disease, they can also deepen gender, economic and social disparities. The number one cause of school absenteeism for girls in developing countries, for example, is menstruation, largely because of unsuitable school sanitation facilities. With widespread challenges like limited access to toilets, weak supply chains for sanitary products, poorly managed wastewater, and limited citizen complaint mechanisms, it’s clear we could do with some clever fixes.
Enter the Sanitation Hackathon App Challenge, a competition that is sourcing some of the best ideas that address these and other sanitation problems through tech tools that enable data collection, SMS broadcast, gamification, behavior change communications, and more.
What is a hack? The folks who organized Open Data Day here in Washington a few weeks back gave this definition: A hack is any creative solution to a real-world problem. (That napkin you fold up to put under the leg of a wobbly table? That’s a hack.)
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Can You Hear Me Now? Strengthening Citizen Voices Through Technology
February 11, 2013
I have the pleasure and honor of joining the board of Technology Salon, which many in the ICT4D community know as a regular in-person convening of professionals interested in the use of technology and to strengthen global development.
The Salons, which started in Washington, D.C. and were first hosted by the United Nations Foundation through its Vodafone partnership that I managed, now meet in a growing number of cities across the United States and around the world. For example, last week, within a 24-hour period, Salons met in Nairobi, D.C., and New York City.
I joined the conversation in D.C., which looked at how technology can strengthen citizens’ voices to inform and improve governance processes. The discussion covered a broad range of topics, from participatory budgeting projects led by governments and multilateral organizations, to participatory mapping projects led by start-ups and civil society groups.
Here are ten takeaways from the discussion*:
- Check your assumptions. Participatory processes presume that citizens want their voices heard, but it’s important to verify this assumption. Do citizens trust their government to use the information provided in an appropriate way? Is the government able to respond in a constructive and meaningful way?
- Be mindful of labels. Terms often used to describe participants vary include citizen, beneficiary, customer, and client. Each carries its own connotation and suggests its own assumptions.
[continue reading]
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Making the Case: 10 Tips for Building an Effective Pitch Deck
January 20, 2013
A non-profit client focused on international development recently asked me for tips on creating an effective pitch deck from which to fundraise and recruit partners.
My first instinct was to turn to Google, thinking surely dozens of blogs and websites would offer ‘Top 10’ tips on the topic. To my surprise, with one or two notable exceptions, most of the links various search queries returned focused narrowly on tips for start-ups seeking to recruit investors.
While there are a number of things non-profits can learn from the corporate world (and vice versa), there are significant differences between a pitch deck for a business and one for NGO. So, based on my experience, I put together the following ten tips for building an effective pitch deck for development groups:
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Jordan’s Entrepreneurship Revolution
December 3, 2012
In Jordan a revolution is brewing, but unlike in neighboring countries being reshaped by the Arab Spring, this revolution has the support of the King.
A culture of entrepreneurship, fueled by a boom in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector, is quietly transforming the country by creating new businesses and jobs.
Since 2007, the ICT sector in Jordan has grown a yearly average of 25%, and currently makes up 14% of the country’s overall GDP, according to INT@J, a research and advocacy organization.
This, in turn, is opening growth opportunities across sectors, from manufacturing to health and financial services—a potential boom for the national economy, and for people with irregular access to information and services.
Youth Movement
As with other revolutions that have swept through countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, this movement is being fueled in large part by Jordan’s youth.
Nearly one in five people in the Arab world is between the ages of 15 to 24. In Jordan, over half of the population are under the age of 25. This demographic bulge contributes to Jordan’s high youth unemployment rate, which is nearly 30%.
For many of the young people throughout the region, the hope is that rising access to technology will lead not just to increased democracy, but to economic opportunity as well.
“The reality today is different not only from 50 years ago, but from two years ago—because of social media, youth who were called the ‘silent majority,’ aren’t silent now,” says Soraya Salti, regional director of INJAZ al Arab, a youth empowerment organization active in 15 countries in the MENA region.
“Young people want to turn entrepreneurship into pop culture and contribute to economic development,” Salti says.
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Strengthening Citizen-Centered Disaster Preparedness & Response: Developing Standards in the Use of ICTs
October 11, 2012
With the number of natural disasters on the rise, designing effective and efficient disaster preparedness and relief programs is more important than ever.
October 12th is International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction; a day designated by the United Nations “to celebrate how people and communities are reducing their risk to disasters.” This year, the event calls for leadership by women in girls in disaster management.
Traditionally program design for disaster preparedness and relief has followed a top-down approach: one that moves from planning and interventions at the level of specialized international agencies and governments, to civil society and corporations, and, lastly, to citizens themselves.
But a new paradigm that seeks to engage citizens throughout the process of disaster preparedness and relief is flipping this model on its head. *
While emphasis on citizen participation in global development and humanitarian aid dates back decades, it is only in recent years that the rise of communications technologies has made possible broad engagement with diverse groups of citizens in near real-time.
These technologies—including social networks, geospatial imaging technologies, and mobile phone communications—are spurring the conversation about the importance of citizen-centered disaster response.
A number of recent reports investigate two-way communications with local populations during disaster response, including:
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Ageing in the 21st Century: A Role for ICTs?
October 1, 2012
By 2015 people over the age of 65 will for the first time outnumber children under 5, and the WHO predicts that by 2050 the 65 and over crowd will double to nearly 1.5 billion.
The coming “silver tsunami” already has gathered the attention of policy makers the world over who are concerned about the social, economic, and health implications of greater longevity compounded with the rise of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes.
A report released today by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the non-profit HelpAge International looks at trends in Ageing in the 21st Century. While the report does not explore new technologies in depth, it does make several relevant observations, including:
- Age-sensitive technology, including tele-commuting, can support longer working lives;
- Poor design, as well as low literacy constraints, pose two of the biggest barriers to accessing technology;
- Other barriers include lack of confidence or interest among elderly populations; and
- In a global survey of the elderly highlighted in the report, 61% of respondents reported access to a mobile phone.
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Global development and communications technologies:
A perspective from the crossroads of convergence
September 10, 2012
Recently we passed a remarkable threshold: There are now more mobile communications devices in use than there are people on the planet. Broadband internet and mobile networks have connected people and communities around the world with astonishing speed, and created a collision course between traditional and hierarchical systems, and newer and flatter networks of individuals.
We’ve seen the ripple effects this collision can create in the music and entertainment industries, where traditional actors have been radically transformed or entirely replaced by people using new, disruptive technologies.
A similar disruption is underway in the domains of humanitarian assistance and global development, where networked individuals increasingly are taking on many of the roles and responsibilities traditionally held by institutions increasingly.
I’m fascinated by this mash-up of people, society and new technologies; by the velocity of technological innovation juxtaposed against the slow and deliberate processes of institutional change; and by the need for new systems, skills and processes to manage and maximize the opportunity that growing access to ICTs presents for a more equitable, stable and prosperous world.
This blog seeks to contribute to the vibrant and dynamic conversation flourishing at the crossroads of convergence between communications technologies, citizen engagement, and global development work. I’ll share a perspective from my window on these crossroads, what I’m learning, and what I’d like to learn as our society and institutions adapt to an increasingly networked reality.
Thanks for reading!