Originally posted on the GBI Portal – Page 49

How Mobiles Could Revolutionize Data Collection

Collecting baseline data in developing countries can be expensive and require many costs. Also, many have called into question the reliability of the data. To streamline the data collection process, the World Bank and South Sudan are experimenting with a new alternative—data collection by mobile phones, which World Bank director of Economic Policy Marcelo Giugale recently claimed is the “fast track” to actually listening to the poor, and subsequently meeting their needs.

Photo: GoSS

To conduct South Sudan’s national survey for 2011, the year of their independence, World Bank researcher Gabriel Demombynes worked with the Southern Sudan Centre for Census, Statistics and Evaluation and utilized mobile phones as a means to collect the data (a photo essay explaining the survey design can be seen here). In the Southern Sudan Experimental Phone Survey (SSEPS), 100 households in each of the capital cities in South Sudan’s ten states were identified, making for a total sample size of 1000 households. Each household received a free mobile phone. Researchers gave half of the households traditional Nokia phones and the other half solar-powered phones. For four months, the researchers contacted the households by phone and conducted the same survey, while adding a few additional questions each month. Those who answered the phone and participated in the survey were compensated with additional phone time each month; half received five Sudanese pounds of phone credit while the other half received ten pounds.

Photo: World Bank

This innovative survey design allowed researchers to accomplish two purposes: document the current state of South Sudan and experiment with many methods of mobile phone survey data collection. The results of the survey, and of the data collection experiment, will be available as a World Bank “Poverty Assessment” document in the coming months. For now, however, a quick summary of the survey data that has been processed thus far can be downloaded as a “Poverty Profile” of South Sudan. The results demonstrate stark differences between North and South Sudan.

In addition to collecting important data regarding the state of poverty in South Sudan, the study also provides interesting insights about the efficiency and potential of mobile data collection. Dr. Demombynes describes a few insights from preliminary analysis of the data (though these results may be different once all of the data is analyzed in the coming months):

There was approximately a 50% response rate for the entire four months among all participants.
Households who had a mobile phone before the survey were much more likely to respond each month to the survey.
- This indicates that other respondents had trouble knowing how to work the phone, lacked service coverage, or were less likely to remember to answer and use the phone without prior exposure.
- More efforts to train respondents on using the mobile phone are necessary and could potentially improve response rates significantly.
There was no difference in response rates between those who were compensated with five pounds and those who were given ten.
- There was no control group who received no compensation, so it is difficult to say what impact compensation of any form has on response rates.
There was no significant difference in response rates between those who received a Nokia phone and those who received a solar-powered phone.
- The solar-powered phones perhaps had to be in the sun for too long and could potentially be stolen. Also, although electricity is inconsistent, generators are common and local people know where to go to recharge their phones at affordable prices.

The potential for mobile phones as a means of data collection appears to be valid, as demonstrated by this experiment. However, additional research should be conducted such as a cost-benefit analysis of mobile collection versus traditional survey methods. If successful, then more data can be collected about the developing world, informing policy and leading to projects that better meet the actual needs of the poor as opposed to their perceived needs.

June 29, 2011/by actualize

Business Enabling Environment, Economic Growth & Trade, Enterprise Development, Originally posted on the GBI Portal, Workforce Development

Planting CEEDs of Growth in Moldova with ICTs

The ICT sector is one of the most dynamic in Moldova’s economy. Recording a vibrant growth over the past years, today it represents nearly 10% of the national GDP, on par with agriculture production.

There are about 40,000 people employed directly and indirectly in ICT, making the ICT sector one of the major employers in Moldova. It is also one of the highest paying industries, as jobs in ICT pay on par with those in the financial sector, historically the best paying jobs in the country. Most importantly, the ICT industry employs the young generation, offering an exciting, fast-growing and rewarding career for the next generation.

Moldova has already chosen the pathway of ICT. All players – the Government, the business community, the citizens and the ICT industry itself – have acknowledged the importance of information technology as a catalyst for growth, and as a tool of growth enhancement in all other economic sectors.

Technical assistance from USAID Moldova through the Competitiveness Enhancement and Enterprise Development (CEED) project over the past five and a half years has enhanced the competitiveness of the ICT sector through initiatives meant to consolidate the quality of companies, to strengthen ICT education so that it meets the needs of business, and to align the industry towards common goals.

Just last month, USAID Moldova sponsored the Moldova ICT Summit 2011, featuring the Association of Private ICT Companies in Moldova, as well as the recently launched national E- Government Center. The event focused on the e-transformation of the Moldovan economy, and the importance of e-transparency, among other topics.

Since the initiation of the first phase of the CEED project, USAID Moldova has been involved in numerous efforts. They facilitated the formation of the Association of Private ICT Companies in Moldova, established relationships between the national government and the private companies in the ICT sector, helped private firms to become IT-Mark certified ICT companies under CMMI methodology (encouraging foreign investment and trade), and set up talks respecting the formation of a “Cloud-Moldova” e-government system.

Additionally, a need for more trained and educated IT professionals in Moldova has arisen. To meet this need, USAID Moldova connected the Moldovan Minister of Education with large ICT firms. The ministry signed memorandums with Microsoft, Cisco, and i-Carnegie (Carnegie Mellon University). New IT focused courses and degrees are being offered in the Moldovan education system, providing the ICT industry with the professional staff it requires.

A man and a woman watch as a man repairs a computer.

Photo: Sergiu Botezatu

Despite these advancements, a few large boulders block continued development of the ICT sector in Moldova. The national government’s telecommunications company, Moldtelecom, still controls the majority of the market. Additionally, Moldova is unknown in the region as a destination of IT, this holding back investment. Thankfully, however, steps are in place to remove these barriers. The national government is beginning to investigate selling Moldtelecom and a strategy for ICT sector positioning and promotion is underway, which is intended to put Moldova on the regional and global ICT map.

June 29, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Cross Cutting, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

ICT Africa Summit 2011 in Pretoria, South Africa

The second staging of the ICT Africa Summit will be held at the CSIR Conference Centre in Pretoria, South Africa on October 24-26.

Project Manager Rocky Kabeya says the focus will be on regional integration in ICT. He says “There has to be one platform on the continent that is strongly committed to connecting the Public and Private sectors to synchronize policy and regulatory frameworks with business opportunities sort after by the private sector and the ICT Africa Summit is the best place for that.”

The summit, which will be sponsored by MTN, Kaspersky, IBM, Meraka, CSIR and the Africa e-programme, is expected to host more ICT delegates than it did last year.

The 2010 staging of the submit in Cape Town attracted 200 delegates from 12 countries. The expected growth in delegates from across the continent will establish the submit as the Africa’s leading ICT expo.

Given the growing significance of ICTs to African economies, this submit is highly likely to become a mainstay. The ICT sector accounts for nearly five percent of Kenya’s GDP, and a growing portion of Ghana’s and Tanzania’s. Over the last decade, some African governments have shown firm political will to tackle the digital divide.

To learn more about the ICT Africa Summit 2011, please go here.

June 29, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Business Enabling Environment, Economic Growth & Trade, Enterprise Development, MicroEnterprise Development, Mobile, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Can Mobiles Increase Farmers’ Profits? Evidence from Malawi

USAID’s Mission in Malawi has evidence that mobile phones can and do have an impact on local farmers’ profits, according to Vince Langdon-Morris, an agricultural specialist with the Agency. Langdon-Morris explained that USAID Malawi’s is helping small-medium agricultural enterprises monitor and sell their products using an innovative mobile phone platform, similar to Esoko from Ghana.

In very simple terms, the commodity chain of agricultural production in Malawi is being modified in the following way by this project:

Farmers harvest grains and communicate with buyers via phone.
Small-medium business owners purchase farmers’ grains and monitor their product inventory and sales at their aggregation centers by phone.
The owners sell the grains in bulk to larger agri-businesses, checking market prices on their phones to ensure a quality sales price.

The phone helps the farmer to know where he should sell his grains at the best price and when the owner is willing to buy. The phone helps the small-medium enterprise owner because he can monitor the collections at the 20-30 aggregation centers that he usually operates, allowing him to sell in bulk at the right times and limiting his travel costs, among other benefits.

Mobile phones are tools to promote economic growth and other forms of development. Certainly, mobile phones are not the cure to all problems, but they can facilitate programs that do directly reduce poverty, such as this agricultural project by USAID Malawi. Other missions would do well to mimic their efforts and incorporate technology into their current projects in order to enhance effectiveness.

Given the success of M-PESA and other revolutionary applications like MXit and Ushahidi, mobiles4development (hastag #m4d on twitter) is gaining political clout within many development spheres, seemingly replacing microfinance as the solution to end poverty. Champions of m4d do not fail to mention World Bank studies that describe the connections between mobile phone usage and economic growth, improved healthcare, better agriculture, etc.

Unfortunately, such claims are overstated, as mobile phones cannot solve poverty. They can, however, be tools for improving development projects, as seen in Malawi. The test for USAID missions, then, will be to utilize mobiles phones as tools for development projects, but maintain a critical eye about their effectiveness.

June 29, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Humanitarian Assistance, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Addressing the lack of humanitarian information standards

It was fourteen years ago that a group of humanitarian NGOs and the Red Cross/Red Crescent movement came together and created the Sphere Project which defined minimum standards for disaster response. The cornerstone of the Sphere Handbook was the Humanitarian Charter which describes the core principles that govern humanitarian action. On top of this there are minimum standards and indicators defined that currently are utilized as a reference all disaster response.

Some of the Sphere core standard do address information sharing, like the following excerpt show:

Core Standard 1 – People Centered Humanitarian Response

People have a right to accurate and updated information about actions taken on their behalf. Information can reduce anxiety and is an essential foundation of community responsibility and ownership. At a minimum, agencies should provide a description of the agency’s mandate and project(s), the population’s entitlements and rights, and when and where to access assistance (see HAP’s ‘sharing information’ benchmark). Common ways of sharing information include noticeboards, public meetings, schools, newspapers and radio broadcasts. The information should demonstrate considered understanding of people’s situations and be conveyed in local language(s), using a variety of adapted media so that it is accessible to all those concerned. For example, use spoken communications or pictures for children and adults who cannot read, use uncomplicated language (i.e. understandable to local 12-year-olds) and employ a large typeface when printing information for people with visual impairments. Manage meetings so that older people or those with hearing difficulties can hear.

Core Standard 2 – Coordination and Collaboration

Be informed of the responsibilities, objectives and coordination role of the state and other coordination groups where present.
Provide coordination groups with information about the agency’s mandate, objectives and programme.
Share assessment information with the relevant coordination groups in a timely manner and in a format that can be readily used by other humanitarian agencies
Use programme information from other humanitarian agencies to inform analysis, selection of geographical area and response plans.
Regularly update coordination groups on progress, reporting any major delays, agency shortages or spare capacity.

Efficient data-sharing will be enhanced if the information is easy to use (clear, relevant, brief) and follows global humanitarian protocols which are technically compatible with other agencies’ data. The exact frequency of data-sharing is agency- and context-specific but should be prompt to remain relevant. Sensitive information should remain confidential

Core Standard 3 – Assessment

Pre-disaster information: A collaborative pooling of existing information is invaluable for initial and rapid assessments. A considerable amount of information is almost always available about the context (e.g. political, social, economic, security, conflict and natural environment) and the people (such as their sex, age, health, culture, spirituality and education). Sources of this information include the relevant state ministries (e.g. health and census data), academic or research institutions, community-based organisations and local and international humanitarian agencies present before the disaster. Disaster preparedness and early warning initiatives, new developments in shared web-based mapping, crowd-sourcing and mobile phone platforms (such as Ushahidi) have also generated databases of relevant information.

Initial assessments, typically carried out in the first hours following a disaster, may be based almost entirely on second-hand information and pre-existing data. They are essential to inform immediate relief needs and should be carried out and shared immediately.

Data disaggregation: Detailed disaggregation is rarely possible initially but is of critical importance to identify the different needs and rights of children and adults of all ages. At the earliest opportunity, further disaggregate by sex and age for children 0–5 male/female, 6–12 male/female and 13–17 male/female, and then in 10-year age brackets, e.g. 50–59, male/female; 60–69, male/female; 70–79, male/female; 80+, male/female.

Sharing assessments: Assessment reports provide invaluable information to other humanitarian agencies, create baseline data and increase the transparency of response decisions. Regardless of variations in individual agency design, assessment reports should be clear and concise, enable users to identify priorities for action and describe their methodology to demonstrate the reliability of data and enable a comparative analysis if required.

One of the key issues that is hindering effective humanitarian coordination is that information is not being shared effectively between the various response organizations. Many of them don’t see value in sharing information and often feel that sharing information with others will hurt their own ability to gather funds and drive their own programs forward.

What we need is a Humanitarian Information Charter that describes the core principles that govern humanitarian information sharing and management. These should define why organizations should share and as organizations endorse this charter they commit to sharing information with each other.

It is however not enough to tell organizations to share. Information needs to be shared in such a manner that it can also be compared to other information and analyzed for trends. However during almost every recent emergency data being shared has not been compatible with data coming from other organizations. Lot of effort has been needed to convert the data into compatible formats and often the analysis is delayed so long that the data becomes irrelevant by the time it becomes available. This in return leads to organizations not seeing any value in sharing information.

It is amazing that we have had organizations like UNGIWG active for over 10 years and we have had the global clusters for over 5 years now and the IASC Task Force on Information Management active for over two years now and yet none of these have managed to agree upon standards for representing the information required to effectively coordinate disasters.

Those of us sitting in some of these bodies and having representatives in them must take the blame for not putting focus on the right things in our efforts there. If we want information sharing then we must ensure information interoperability. We ensure information interoperability by defining the data standards for how to share each type of information.

We have 20-30 types of spreadsheets and databases for each dataset that we want to capture. Now that we have finally agreed upon what the common and fundamental datasets are, then we must agree upon the format for sharing them. Once we have defined that standard, then we must actually agree to use it and nothing else.

We must then go through each cluster and ensure we define the core standards for each dataset that needs to be captured and shared to ensure effective coordination in the cluster.

Once we have the standards defined, we can actually start sharing templates and databases for collecting this data. Then we can even move forward and start sharing data capture applications and analysis modules. Then we can actually start comparing data from different organizations.

It is important for all of us to stop arguing about politics for a while and start addressing this core issue. We must understand that no data standard will be perfect and we must move towards minimum data standards and not perfect data standards.

I hereby challenge all the global cluster members as well as all the workgroup and task force members to give themselves 6 months to agree upon these standards. What we have at the end of six months will what we will use as the version 1 of the Humanitarian Information Standards. Aim for simplicity and interoperability instead of perfection and silos of data.

I am ready to work on a Humanitarian Information Charter and put together the minimum standards for humanitarian information sharing – are you?

June 27, 2011/by actualize

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

Cambodian Civil Mobilization

Another flame is your husband who you stay with forever

You should serve well don’t make him disappointed

Forgive him in the name of woman; don’t speak in the way that you consider him as equal

No matter what happen we have to wait to listen with the bad word (even if he say something bad you have to listen)”

This is an excerpt from the Chbap (law) Srey (woman), a traditional Cambodian proverb, outlining the codes of conduct women are expected to follow in their society.

Sopheap Chak, with the computer notebook on her lap, at Cambodia's first Blogger Summit at Pannasastra University

Sopheap Chak at Cambodia's first Blogger Summit at Pannasastra University Photo Credit: David Sasaki

Sopheap Chak’s ambition is to break this social taboo by using social media to educate Cambodia’s women and youth.

The Clogher [defined as a female Clogger = Cambodian Blogger] uses her blog to mentor other young women, urging them to step out of their comfort zone and get educated.

She also advocates and speaks at conferences for Cambodian youth to work together and make social change. The youth civic mobilization taking hold in the Southeast Asian country is increasingly being arranged as a digital movement.

According to Chak, “Over the past few years, civic mobilization in Cambodia has gained momentum with the emerging power of digital and social media. Unlike in rice production where farmers awaited the rains for a good yield of crop, the young generations no longer await the initiatives from the government or civil society organizations to yield results.”

The Cambodian youth are taking the future into their hands, organizing numerous events and initiatives, to encourage their innovative collaboration to make change.

On June 4, Chak spoke at the Khmer Talks to over 200 attendees. The monthly events are hosted by the Khmer Young Entrepreneurs (KYEs), a group of young emerging Cambodian leaders, who on their website state they believe in, “personal empowerment.”

Khmer Talks is an informal online platform where emerging social and business entrepreneurs gather together in forums and public speaking events, they express unique and innovative ideas in their local Khmer language.

A couple weeks ago on June 10, Chak went to another event organized through the group’s Facebook page called the Cambodian Women in Business.

Their page, established on Facebook in November 2009, imparts experiences of women doing business and networking in Cambodia. A number of formal gatherings have been held for the women with the support of the International Finance Cooperation of Cambodia.

Chek writes, “About 40 network participants showed up at the gathering June 3 to discuss the role of Facebook in facilitating their various businesses. The event was participated by bloggers, e-entrepreneurs, business women, and civil society organizations.”

In addition to the events that perpetuate the cycle of ideas and collaboration, InSTEDD’s first iLab in Southeast Asia, is headquartered in Phnom Penh.

The InSTEDD iLab is a participatory development project launched in Cambodia in 2007. Their goal is to build technological capacity through collaborative learning and cross sector partnerships, to address health, safety and developmental issues in the Mekong Basin.

The Cambodian people, communities, and local organizations know what challenges they face, InSTEDD iLabs merely aim to leverage the technological solutions to help address them.

Social media and technology has revived civic mobilization in Cambodia. Collaborative and innovative solutions help are helping to bring a new kind of digital empowerment to a the tattered Southeast Asian country.

June 27, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Health, Health, Health Systems, HIV/AIDS, Infectious Diseases, Maternal & Child Health, Mobile, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Mobile health quizzes get a 2.7 million Euro boost

Text to Change (TTC), an mHealth non-profit organization based in the Netherlands, announced earlier this month that they will receive a €2.7 million grant to expand its services. TTC provides an SMS-based educational service to improve the health of citizens in eight countries in Africa and one in South America.

Already a big contributor in mHealth development, TTC hopes to become a leader in the field with the reception of its multi-million Euro grant from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs via Connect4Change (C4C), a consortium funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs that develops mobile based solutions on issues of poverty in Africa and Latin America. TTC will partner with C4C to expand its services to 11 more countries in Africa and South America by the end of this year.

Implementing ICT in the 11 countries is a top priority for both TTC and C4C. They are hoping the mutual partnership will make establishing ICT services an easier task as the expansion continues. According to TTC, the game plan calls for TTC to provide “low” technologies like SMS and mobile voice services while C4C provides “high” technologies such as mobile internet and video transfer. Therefore, TTC and C4C will play different roles.

C4C will also invest its time reaching out to local entities on the ground to strengthen ICT networks. TTC will focus on improving health outcomes through their established mobile phone initiatives.

TTC sets up their mobile platform through the recipient country’s mobile service infrastructure already in place. They then subscribe mobile phone users to their programs which use SMS communication to inform people of HIV testing, treatment clinics, and other health related services at no cost to the recipients.

TTC SMS system Photo Credit: TTC

TTC programs offer the information through a free educational quizzing service where participants are quizzed about a specific health topic. As participants answer the questions correctly, they are sent more rounds of questions, again at no cost. If the participant can answer enough questions correctly, he/she receives incentives such as phone credit, t-shirts and health products.

Thus far, TTC has reached thousands of individuals with their programs on HIV/AIDS, malaria, and reproductive health. Furthermore, to assess the impact of ICT in the countries they are currently working in, TTC will even conduct large scale ICT evaluations over the next few years in those countries.

TTC is poised to make an impact in ICT through their mobile services. Their work is just another example of how mobile phones are being used as a medium to educate, inform and save lives. The tag-team partnership with C4C will be expanded to all 11 target countries by the end of this year. However, we will have to wait some time before confirming the outcome of this joint strategic approach.

June 27, 2011/by actualize

Environment, Health, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

e-Development in Kenya: Electrifying Villages & the Benefits of ‘Virtual Kenya’

A metal solar panel (Credit: Capital Business)

Previously, I dubbed east-Africa’s ICT hub, Kenya, the Land of the Apps, but Kenya’s wider e-development prospects and challenges are more nuanced than that. We ought to consider a range of intersecting questions.

Last week, I chronicled the Kenyan government’s plans to channel US$10 million into its much vaunted digital village project and plans to provide computers and reliable connectivity to schools across the country.

These bold policy positions are indicative of why Kenya’s success is no fluke. In fact, its concerted focus on and sensitivity to the information poverty of its legion of unconnected people, amid a rapidly transforming and pioneering telecoms sector, is a game-changer. The range of policy positions adopted recently gives credence to this view, particularly the move to rectify the country’s ailing electricity sector and the launch of ‘Virtual Kenya’ last week.

The East-African country will spend US$62 million to electrify 460 trading centers and 110 secondary schools, among other public facilities under the rural electrification program. The ICT sector will also benefit from the $730 million allocated to the Ministry of Energy for the next fiscal year. As I have noted before, this will further bridge the digital divide because none of Kenya’s—or the wider African continent’s— ambitious ICT expansion plans will be achieved without improved electricity infrastructure. According to the World Bank, 70% of Africans are not connected to a power grid.

Resolving the energy sector crisis is pivotal, as it will not only boost the expansion of the ICT sector, but also improve livelihoods. The successful ‘Songa mbele na solar‘ (Move ahead with solar) campaign of 2010 offers lessons, too. It shows that any effort to electrify Kenya’s more rustic regions will require a diversified energy mix—and given the state’s economic constraints, solar—readily accessible and easily tapped—ought to be an integral part of that mix. The ‘Songa mbele na solar” reached over nine million Kenyans, improving productivity by extending business hours, and buttressing lives through reduced air pollution.

It is clear to me that there is a growing, albeit very slow, trend towards merging the questions of sustainable development, particularly clean energy and natural resources conservation, with the ICT4D push. I am inclined to think that the link between the two ought to be further cemented. I consider the launch of ‘Virtual Kenya’, an interactive web platform for charting human environmental health, to be a step in that direction. ‘Virtual Kenya’, which was developed by the Nairobi-based web mapping technology firm Upande Ltd, in collaboration with the US-based World Resources Institute, caters to the needs of Kenya’s unconnected as it comes with “related materials for those with no access to the internet”. So, I think this is important on two fronts: first, it tackles the information divide; second, it broadens the pool of people who have ready access to environmental and health information.

It is easy to imagine the impact this will have on an educational landscape where schools and universities are constrained by outmoded data sets and other resources. Ready access to high quality, spatial data and cutting edge mapping technology on an interactive platform is golden.

For more details on ‘Virtual Kenya’, please go here.

June 27, 2011/by actualize

Environment, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Virtual Kenya: A Path to Improved Development Planning

Effective development and program management is crucial for sustained economic growth and positive social change to be achieved. But limited high quality spatial data and cutting edge mapping technology (coupled with widespread connectivity issues) impede proper planning in much of the developing world.

Last week’s launch of Virtual Kenya, an online interactive web platform for charting human environmental health with related material for those with no access to the internet, offers a guide on how to improve this paucity of high quality and reliable spatial data. The innovation will enable Kenyans to use and interact with spatial data in their educational and professional pursuits, which will undoubtedly improve the relevance of their education and work for improved livelihoods, society and nation building.

The newly launched platform will provide online access to publicly available spatial data sets, as well as, interactive tools and learning resources to utilize the vast array of data. This unprecedented opportunity to download, publish, share and comment on a myriad of map-based products will promote data sharing and spatial analysis.

As I suggested earlier, this is a game-changer in the development space because it will enable sound decision-making and development planning in Kenya. This is possible because Virtual Kenya will be of use to a wide cross-section of people, including high school and university teachers and students, government planners, GIS professionals and local government officials.

This development shows that web-based spatial planning tools have the potential to structure and strengthen the development space. In discussing the strengths of Virtual Kenya with my colleagues, we pondered about the sustainability of this initiative because of the difficulty with gathering and sorting spatial data. But, Virtual Kenya is likely to outlive these concerns because of its democratic, community-based nature, and the range of organizations involved in this project: Wildlife Clubs of Kenya, International Livestock Research Institute, World Resources Institute, Upend (the Kenyan-based developer), and technical support from Danida and SIDA.

Upend, the technical lead on the collaborative Virtual Kenya project, provided the following list (and notes) of interactive tools that will be utilized:

Virtual Kenya Tours using Google Earth with 2D and 3D maps, images, and graphs to explain data from the Atlas with voice overs in an interactive and entertaining format.
Interactive Map Viewer that allows users to view, create, and download maps of Kenya
Social networking community to share GIS and mapping experiences among Virtual Kenya users;
Baseline data on Kenya’s environment and geography in multiple file formats that are freely available and comprehensive;
Learning resources, including a teachers guide and student activity booklets, to help educators use maps and information from the Atlas in their classrooms even without access to the Internet or computers;
Tutorials to help users take advantage of all that Virtual Kenya has to offer

This mix of tools shows that even those with limited/no with GIS technology will find Virtual Kenya user-friendly. The visual nature of the innovation will also limit the constraints posed by issues of illiteracy, functional and otherwise.

The Honorable Dr. Ottichilo, a Member of Parliament for the Emuhaya Constituency, shares his thoughts on Virtual Kenya and its potential for improved development planning. Dr. Ottichilo earned a PhD in natural resources planning, assessment and management.

For more details on Virtual Kenya, please go here

June 27, 2011/by actualize

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

Africa Gathering London – Is social media revolutionizing Africa?

Youth learning to use GPS in Pitoa, Cameroon (photo: Ernest Kunbega)

Last Monday I attended Africa Gathering London. The topic was ’Social Media Revolutionizing Africa: How is new media changing Africa, giving voices to the voiceless, improving governance and transparency, and changing narratives?’

The event stimulated thinking and brought up some hot discussions around technology, traditional and social media, aid and development, participation and governance. (Big congratulations to Marieme Jamme for curating a great line up that brought in an interesting and engaged group of participants and to William Perrin of Indigo Trust for keeping things on track and generating good debate!) See the program, the speaker bios and some short video interviews.

Some quotes, thoughts and debates from the day:

If your purpose is to bring more people into discussions, remember that radio, Facebook, and Twitter audiences are distinct and be sure you are thinking differently about how to engage them all. Remember that many people in Africa prefer to talk not write. (from BBC’s Africa Have Your Say – @bbcafricahys‘s presentation)

You can’t resolve all of Africa’s issues with one approach. The countries are very different and local context really matters. But you also can’t design something for every tiny demographic. Where is the sweet spot between localized and scale? (discussion after the morning workshop)

People should not sit in the UK deciding and develop things for Africans. Develop things with Africans, or support Africans to develop things themselves. This idea got retweeted a lot, with lots of agreement. But H Taylor – @HFTaylor88 also commented via Twitter that this rhetoric has been around for ages within NGOs…. (discussion after morning workshop)

It’s great that the market has been able to bring mobile phones to so many people in Africa, but the market can’t do it on its own as many are still left out. There needs to be more incentive to reach remote areas. There needs to be education, cash transfers, government regulation if we want to really realize the potential of mobiles. Mika Valitalo – @vatamik commented that in many African countries, mobiles are still taxed as luxury items, making them more expensive than they should be. (Clare Melamed -ODI – @claremelamed‘s “Is the Mobile Phone Revolution Really for Everyone”.)

Any big story today on CNN has a social media component, yet there is still the idea that social media only breaks news and ‘it won’t make the history books until CNN or BBC report on it’. If CNN is not planning to do a story but sees everyone is talking about it on Facebook and Twitter, they ~~will cover~~ may rethink covering it. CNN finds good opinions and stories on social media, but their primary news source will continue to be their correspondents. Emrys Schoemaker – @emrys_s however questioned whether mass media use of citizen journalism is a broadening of voices or if it’s cheap content for big media – or both. (Faith Karimi/CNN/@faithCNN’s presentation and resulting discussions.)

Social media gives African youth an uncensored worldwide platform, letting them feel included in shaping Africa’s image, but the youth using social media in Africa are still the middle class and the rich. We need to find ways to include other youth. (Faith Karimi – @faithCNN’s presentation and resulting discussions.)

The Guardian’s Global Development Site and Poverty Matters blog are trying to get away from the vision of ‘poor Africa’ and have only been accused of ‘poverty porn’ once in 9 months (which Liz said irritated her to no end as they really try to avoid it). (I remember the case…) They stay away from the typical ‘flies in the eyes’ photos, but sometimes there really is starvation in Africa, and in those cases, a photo of a starving child might actually represent reality. (Someone countered that African newspapers should use photos of drunk, vomiting Brits to illustrate stories about parliament). (Liz Ford/deputy editor/@lizford‘s talk and discussion)

Is the Guardian’s Global Development site one-sided, taking the view that aid is good rather than other ideas on how to best achieve development? Development is much larger than ‘aid’ and when talking about development we need to remember the bigger picture and the alternative views that maybe aid is not the best (or only) way to ‘do development’. The Guardian is quite open to new thoughts and ideas and invites anyone with ideas for blogs or stories to be in touch with them. They consider their site a ‘work in progress’. (Note: I like the Guardian’s site very much as it is one of the few media sources that discusses and seems to really promote and engage in the ‘#smartaid / @smart_aid‘ discussion). (Liz Ford’s talk and discussion)

Many African leaders, not to mention the public and the media, will listen when high level people call their attention to something, but problems can’t be solved by the same people who created them, especially if those people are considered morally bankrupt. Karen Attiah – @karennattiah commented in from Twitter that a big part of development work should focus on rebuilding the broken social contract between governments and citizens in Africa. So how can we connect policy makers with ordinary Africans? How to bridge the gap between policy makers and grassroots approaches and implementation. (Panel with Alex Reid/@alreidy and Carolina Rodriguez /@caro_silborn – media heads at Gates Foundation and at Africa Progress Panel)

Not all sources are created equal – this is true for traditional and for social media. Social media is not about the technology, it’s about the human need to communicate. You can make traditional media more social also. Even those without access to social media will get around harsh barriers to tell their stories because of the urge to communicate. So the best thing is to create a social experience, not to worry so much about getting ‘jiggy’ with the technology. (from Kevin Anderson/@KevGlobal‘s presentation. See Putting the social in media.)

New technologies can impact on public debate, people’s political capabilities, citizen-state relations, relationships with other government actors. Frontline SMS Radio, for example, could be a very useful tool for this because radio is still the main way to communicate with the majority of Africa. Using Frontline SMS Radio, stations can sort through messages they get, understand them better, and use the information to orient their radio programs as well as other things. Radio can play a very strong and useful role in governance. (from Sharath Srinivasan/ @sharath_sri‘s presentation. See FrontlineSMS at Africa Gathering.)

Youth can have a big impact on community development if given space to influence. There is money (eg., in Cameroon, at local government level) but it needs to be better spent. Informed and involved youth can hold government accountable for spending it better. Local level advocacy has a greater impact on youths’ lives than global level initiatives because you can make as many laws as you like, but unless people are putting them into place and practice at a local level they don’t matter. Organizations should listen to young people but not make them dependent on NGOs because the real duty-bearers are family, community, government. NGOs need to be models of their own methodologies; eg., if an NGO is encouraging people to criticize the government, the NGO should be ready to receive the same scrutiny around its own work and behaviors. Social media can play a role in this process by showing what is happening at the local level to a global audience. (from my presentation and the resulting discussions. See Youth Empowerment through Technology, Arts and Media)

Julia Chandler (@juliac2) did a great round-up of the day’s presentations and discussions on her blog: Part 1 and Part 2. The Guardian continues the discussion here and of course the Africa Gathering website is a great place for more information.

Update – more posts about Africa Gathering:

Great perspective from Tony Burkson – @tonyballu – who I really enjoyed talking with at the post-event drinks: A Day at Africa Gathering.

June 26, 2011/by actualize