Where we work – Page 3

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

#Berish2.0: The Ire of Malaysian Protests

Photo Credit: Saeed Khan/AFP

Social media may have helped fuel the 50,000 demonstrators who gathered in Kuala Lumpur this past Saturday demanding electoral reforms—despite the Malaysian government responding roughly and deeming the peaceful protests illegal.

Police fired tear gas and water cannons at the dissidents demanding change from a electoral system that they claim has unjustly favored the ruling party since the country’s independence from Britain in 1957.

The recent rally puts pressure on Prime Minister Najib Razak in the racially stimulated Southeast Asian nation, as Malaysia’s next general election is planned for 2013.

Peaceful protesters in Malaysia’s capital were met with police violence, and 1,667 arrests over the span of the weekend, according to reports. In lieu of the aggressive response, Amnesty International urged the UK government yesterday to press Najib to honor the freedom of assembly

“As a current member of the UN Human Rights Council, the Malaysian government should be setting an example to other nations and promoting human rights. Instead they appear to be suppressing them, in the worst campaign of repression we’ve seen in the country for years”, Donna Guest, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Asia-Pacific. Amnesty International, states.

Bersih (The Coalition for Fair and Clean Elections) is the oppositional NGO that organized the electoral reform movement called Bersih 2.0.

Bershish 2.0 Poster

The original Berish protests occurred on November 23, 2006 in the Malaysian Parliament, such attendees included political party leaders, civil society groups and NGOs, including People’s Justice Party (PKR) president, Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail

The electoral reform demands of Berish 2.0, also known as 709, can be summarized in the eight following points:

Clean the electoral roll
Reform postal ballot
Use of indelible ink
Minimum 21 days campaign period
Free and fair access to media
Strengthen public institutions
Stop corruption
Stop dirty politics

Social media’s role in the Malaysian movement was to coordinate groups and record demonstrations.

As of today, the Berish 2.0 Facebook page had over 169,000 fans calling for Najib’s resignation, and the official Twitter account had close to 18,000 fans.

Though there are 10 million Facebook users in Malaysia, the preferred social media platform, protesters shared information over Twitter on how to circumvent sealed off roads and closed train stations to get to the protests.

@ask_ivan's Google map of the Malaysian government's roadblocks

While Facebook and Twitter were used for mobilization purposes, videos circulated on Youtube broadcast the movement to the world.

Over the span of the weekend 2,000 Youtube videos were uploaded with 2,774,812 total views based on the single keyword “Bersih 2.0″ on YouTube

As the case with the Arab Spring protests, the truth behind the movement is told by first hand perspectives of civil society, not the political parties. Social media is not a panacea current uprisings, but rather serve as a medium for organization and propagate that truth.

July 12, 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

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

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

Indonesia Aims to Have 30% Broadband Penetration by 2014

The Indonesian Ministry of Economy recently publicly announced its goal to increase “meaningful” broadband penetration by 30% by 2014. The goal is optimistic; Internet penetration was 12.3% in 2010, only 18% of which was broadband, making broadband penetration around 2.2% of the population.

In the Jakarta Declaration for Meaningful Broadband released on April 14, 2011, a collection of government and private industry ICT leaders in the Indonesia agreed on the goal to bring “meaningful” broadband access – affordable, usable, and empowering – from under 3% to a ten-fold increase of 30% within three years. This “big push” for broadband penetration is founded on a US$9.2 billion plan. The plan includes $4.3 billion public-private partnership (PPP) funding allocation, linking PT Telecom’s fibre optic cable to “last mile” initiatives to connect rural, more isolated areas. According to estimates, Elizabeth Aris, expert on National Broadband Networks, states that such a PPP would leave costs at “$3 a month per consumer.”

Photo Credit: Digitaldivide.org

Critics of the fund claim that Indonesia has more pressing needs, that broadband should be left entirely to the private sector, and that Indonesia’s goal is implausible. The Meaningful Broadband Working Group is not deterred, however. Craig Smith, former Harvard Professor and current director of the Investment Group Against the Digital Divide, explains that the Indonesian government has set specific goals to minimize the gap in income inequality, but additional goals to increase GDP.

“The problem with GDP growth is that it only benefits the wealthy. So, the government says let’s use broadband that could create equitable growth… The problem is that they did not understand the critical mass of broadband… is important to require the equitable growth,” Smith said. In other words, broadband penetration is an economic equalizer as well as accelerator, but only when large investments into IT infrastructure are made.

June 7, 2011/by actualize

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

ICT Access: a Human Right in Pakistan

Pakistani Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani held a press conference on Tuesday, declaring that ICT access and use is vital to the development of Pakistan. Given recent modifications in the allocation and use of USF funds in Pakistan, Gilani’s strong support for ICT investment is particularly noteworthy.

At the 24^th Board Meeting for USF Pakistani, presiding Gilani stated that ICTs potential could not be overemphasized in terms of socio-economic development and job opportunities. He went on to explain that the ability to communicate in the information driven era was a basic human right. These are strong words, especially in light of current debates about the Internet as a human right at the UN and amongst practitioners.

Gilani’s support comes just weeks after Pakistan’s USF announced an agreement with national telecommunications consultant Pakistan Telecommunications Company Limited (PTCL) to “promote development of telecom services in underserved areas.” In the partnership, PTCL will help USF to meet its targeted goals, advancing Gilani’s agenda of providing IT access as a human right.

Photo Credit: The Express Tribune News Network

The USF-PTCL partnership to focus on the underserved is important to the success of Pakistan’s efforts to provide ICT access to all its citizens. According to other reports, however, previous USF funds in Pakistan were not utilized due to the Prime Minister’s failure to attend meetings with the board and approve spending for the entire last year.

The ICT industry in Pakistan has major changes as of late. USF Pakistan terminated a contract with telecommunications giant Telenor, citing security concerns that limited project completion. Another project, to provide fiber optic cables to the Balochistan region, was approved this week. And Telenor and Boston Consulting Group also completed a study finding that mobile financial services could increase the GDP by 3%.

USF funds disbursement is not a problem unique to Pakistan. In fact, just last month, reports circulated about the U.S. FCC’s failure to disburse USF funds. Despite this, however, public-private partnerships (PPP) offer hope for more effective USF fund usage.

June 3, 2011/by actualize

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

TechCamps Converge Civil Society With Silicon Valley

Picture of a man with computer open with group of Indonesians listening

Photo Credit: U.S. Department of State

The US State Department hosted the second of its TechCamp workshops in Jakarta last month, in an effort to strengthen civil society organizations in disaster prone areas.

The idea is to take the knowledge of non-governmental (NGO) and civil society organizations (CSO) familiar with the humanitarian problems and unite them with the technology gurus who might have ground breaking ideas to solve them.

When the recent tsunami annihilated Japan, the world was able to band together on the Internet because innovative systems were created to help locate lost victims and donate funds. The State Department wants to leverage these inventive minds to help grassroots organizations around the world fight humanitarian crises.

“We saw the ability of digital natives and the networked world, using lightweight and easily iterated tools, to do something rapidly that a big organization or government would find difficult, if not impossible, to do,” Richard Boly, the State Department’s director of eDiplomacy, stated. “The question is: Can we get that same magic to happen when people aren’t dying?”

Secretary of State Clinton’s vision of Civil Society 2.0 is embodied in the Techcamps, to empower civil society groups with the digital tools and hands-on training needed to better execute their missions in the 21st century.

TechCamps focus on the challenges and needs of civil groups and then provides the technology consultations and digital literacy training to help solve them. The goal is to improve the resilience of NGOs and CSOs by increasing their literacy and connecting them with local, regional and international technology communities.

Last November, the TechCamp program piloted in Santiago, Chile as part of Secretary Hilton’s Civil Society 2.0 goal. In that gathering, NGOs and technologists from around Latin America discussed new tools to promote democracy and economic development.

Woman in discussion with group with TechCamp image in the background

Photo Credit: U.S. Department of State

TechCamp Jakarta, however, focused on disaster response and climate change.

Indonesia has a large social media presence, with the second largest number of Facebook members (after the U.S.), and like Haiti and Japan, is more susceptible to future disasters.

In addition to the change in topic, during the Techcamp in Jakarta, the State Department invited additional stakeholders—including the World Bank, USAID, and large technology corporations—so that emerging ideas would have the capital needed for a sustainable lifespan. Boly explained, “It’s a way to identify the next Ushahidi or FrontlineSMS and help them scale quickly”.

Several corporate partners signed on for the second session including Alcatel-Lucent, Novartis, Intel, Google, Microsoft, and Cisco. Leading technologists, including Josh Nesbit of MedicMobile and Kate Chapman of OpenStreetMap facilitated the discussions with Indonesian civil society leaders.

USAID is open to the new, collaborative approach. “TechCamp is all about digital development,” USAID Chief Innovation Officer Maura O’Neill asserted to Fast Company. “We are mashing up local insights and tech tools to save lives, create stable and open governments, and greater prosperity for all.”

The next TechCamp will take place in Lithuania this month to coincide with the biennial convening of the Community of Democracies. Following will be Moldova in July with a focus on open government. Another six or seven gatherings are in the works, the State Department says, to possibly take place in India, sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America.

June 2, 2011/by actualize

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

Connectivity and Governance: World Bank ICT Days 2011

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

April 7, 2011/by actualize

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

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

UAE workshop in Palace Hotel in Old Town Dubai

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Official E-Government Site of Dubai

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

March 21, 2011/by actualize

Africa, Areas of Expertise, GBI Updates, Information and Communication Technology for Development, Integra News, USAF Updates, Where we work

INTEGRA Participates in Intel Africa USF Leaders Forum

The Intel Corporationsponsored a two-day workshop in Nairobi, Kenya aimed at facilitating dialogue among managers of African Universal Service Funds (USFs). Representatives from 10 African countries were present, as well as leaders of the Funds in Malaysia and India.

The workshop was very interactive. It consisted of a series of panel discussions facilitated by Mr. David Townsend, a world expert in Universal Service, where managers of more advanced funds could discuss how they had tackled various issues in the past. The discussion was lively and broad, and afterwards all participants acknowledged the usefulness of the exercise.

Mr. Baskir Kamara, of the Sierra Leone Universal Access Development Fund, said “I now have more confidence to implement an effective USF.”

Eric White of INTEGRA made a presentation about GBI and its mandate of providing technical assistance to USFs. Afterwards he was approached by a number of country representatives inquiring about how to establish USAID assistance programs.

The workshop was the first in a series that Intel and USAID will hold over the next year.

December 1, 2010/by actualize

Case Studies

Contact Details

Quick Links

About

Expertise

Impact

Join

Sign up for Updates