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South African Govt partners with Nokia

The Department of Science and Technology (DST) in South Africa and Nokia Corporation have announced an ambitious new partnership aimed at implementing a number of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) projects, targeted at providing a thrust for innovation and growth across the country.

Naledi Pandor, Minister of Science and Technology in South Africa (image source: World Economic Forum)

This follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) by the DST and Nokia, establishing a framework on which potential areas of collaboration can be developed, funded and implemented.

Addressing the media on this partnership last week, the Minister of Science and Technology, Naledi Pandor, acknowledged the role of ICT in stimulating economic growth.

“This is why the DST is leading the implementation of the national ICT research, development and innovation strategy. In this regard, we view public-private partnerships to be of importance for us in achieving this objective,” said Pandor.

One of the key expected outcomes of this plan is an innovative indigenous ICT industry that addresses South Africa’s ICT needs in the public and private sectors, and attracts investment by multinationals involved in innovation and manufacturing.

Vice President for Government Relations for Nokia Middle East and Africa, Jussi Hinkkanen, said South Africa has a thriving telecommunication industry with a lot of potential for disruptive innovation.

“Our objective is to support local talent in developing their skills, and then integrate them into both regional and global markets,” said Hinkkanen.

“As South Africa’s leading mobile company, it is our responsibility to identify areas where our technical skills can facilitate the development of society. We hope the educational focus under this collaboration will motivate thousands of South African learners to explore careers in technology,” said, Gerard Brandjes Nokia South Africa GM.

“Nokia Siemens Networks is using its global expertise in telecommunications and in-depth knowledge of the local South African market to advise the SKA bid teams, from both a technical and business perspective, about the best options to transport the huge volumes of generated data to the high-performance computer center of the SKA.

We have been involved in the project from the start, supporting and advising the project team on all technical requirements, capacity planning, provisioning and skills,” said Rufus Andrew, Nokia Siemens Networks South Africa MD.

The DST and Nokia believe that opportunities exist for bold interventions that will enable South Africa to secure a greater share of global markets, and help bridge digital divide.

Staff Writer

August 15, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Food Security & Rural Development, Areas of Expertise, Economic Growth & Trade, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

How to get from economic malaise to food security?

Credit: Google

Food security in the Horn of Africa hinges on greater investment in ICT infrastructure and capacity building. In large part, this will depend on the transfer of technology. But experts note that even a modest increase in technology transfer and information, through the agriculture value chain, could improve yields, distribution and ultimately strengthen food security.

The World Food Program (WFP) backed an initiative in March this year that is a step in the right direction. WFP provided US$45, 000 worth of ICTs for a Food Security Graduate Program at Addis Ababa University. The ICTs provided the institution with the tools and facility needed to boost efforts to develop a local hub for knowledge generation and dissemination for food security. A weak policy and financial environment has led to inadequate research, a lack of appropriate technologies and weak dissemination of existing smart tools. So, lowering food insecurity in the region requires greater effort.

Improving food security is a key development challenge for the Horn of Africa, the world’s most food insecure region according to the FAO. Over 45% of the 160 million strong population remain food insecure, higher than the average even for Saharan Africa. The World Bank says the region must attain a 4% expansion in GDP and similar growth in agricultural expansion, along with lower population growth rates, to become food secure in the medium-term. This all seems like a catch-22 situation for an already difficult political and economic landscape. Where do we start?

According to USAID’s analysis, The Magnitude and Causes of Food Insecurity and Prospects for Change, improving the economic policy environment—and a host of other structural problems such as security— is key. So, while ICTs can help to improve the region’s precarious food security situation, much more must be done to create an ICT enabling environment— further evidence that ICTs are merely tools.

One structural challenge is the cumbersome nature of intra-regional trade. ICTs, particularly logistics technology and applications used to speed up cross border movement, could help to better move food surplus from country to country (and region to region). At various points in recent time countries in the lower part of the Horn of Africa, including Kenya and Tanzania, have been in a position to shift their surplus to neighboring Ethiopia, and other northern states that are perennially food insecure.

However, the food security and ICT discussion in this region, as I have contended, is very complex. One must consider all the systemic domains and even broad issues of income distribution, which slants the distribution of food in Kenya and Tanzania, even in times of food excess on a national scale, in the favor of a few.

August 9, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

E-agriculture…Let’s look at projects in the Caribbean

Credit: Radio Toco

E-agriculture typifies the shift from struggling industrial economies to a knowledge-based entrepreneurial economic landscape driven by rapid technological innovation.

ICTs, which are increasingly viewed as tools that can enable farmers to work smarter and boost their returns, have functioned as a source of empowerment, boosting and building capacities, through highly efficient knowledge sharing processes.

Here are two ways in which e-agriculture is helping to transform the Caribbean’s agricultural sector.

AgriTalk: An initiative of the Caribbean Farmers Network (CaFAN)

Objective: To facilitate a community of knowledge network of practice for Small Farm Holders and Farm associations and stakeholders across 16 Caribbean Islands by probiding cheap network communications using innovative digital technologies (VOIP) to facilitate timely agriculture related information (market prices, information about fertilizers, crop varieties etc.)

Approach: Partner with Mobile Telecom & VOIP Providers to create a closed user group service at a low cost to members of the network.

Regional-CaFAN- VOIP (ATA Adapters)-Peer Network & Gateway-Pilot

Internet Access- Low cost Edge Service -(Data Cards) Modem and Router – US$20/month

Local Level- CUG with Local Mobile Network -(Digital or C&W) -US$5/month (Free SMS)

VOIP Gateway – At each Network Contact Point (using SMS or code)

Beneficiaries: Nearly 1 million farmers

Benefits to community: Better prices, reliable information, Ease in selling their products etc…

Driving Agency: CaFAN, Farmer Associations

Rural Radio-Radio Toco 106.7FM, in Trinidad and Tobago, South-Eastern Caribbean

Objective: Aimed at serving the community and broadcasting community programs to alleviate poverty through information and ICTs.

Radio Toco came on stream in November 1997, with UNESCO/UNDP assistance within the framework of UNESCO’s special program “Women Speaking to Women”, and has gone from strength to strength since then.

Approach: A radio station and multimedia center, offering training

Beneficiaries: Rural Community

Driving Agency: Toco Foundation with the help of volunteers

Key lessons from these two initiatives

Technology is secondary to preparing and aligning people and processes
Effective community participation is vital
Strong leadership from village up is essential for success of any ICT4D project (e.g Agri-Talk)
Leveraging ICTs is not necessarily about changing lifestyles in rural communities. In many instances, they will introduce new methods of doing the same old activities.
Agricultural information is a complex process (information infrastructure—access and costs)
Knowledge sharing and strategic content development will be vital

Find out more about e-agriculture projects around the globe here.

August 3, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Mobile, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

ICT Training for Guyanese Sugar Workers…

Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud addressing an audience

Credit:Guyana's Ministry of Agriculture

Sugar has been the mainstay of Guyana’s economy for over two centuries. But the sector has been contracting since the abolition of the 1975 Lomé Convention, a special arrangement under which the South American country’s famed Demarara sugar was allowed duty-free access into the lucrative European market.

The changing global trade environment forced many neighboring Caribbean countries, including Trinidad and Barbados, to shutter their sugar industry. Guyana, on the other hand, is holding firm. The government increased investments in the ailing sector, safeguarding the economy and livelihoods. Sugar is the largest single employer and contributor to the economy. So important is the sector to the country that the largest sugar producer, Guyana Sugar Corporation Inc. (Guysuco), puts more people to work than any other entity. Guysuco is also the country’s main source of foreign exchange, bringing in revenue that accounts for as much as 13% of GDP.

An economy so dependent on an industry prone to speculation, with a productive capacity outranked by other producers and alternatives, begs the question: How can this highly indebted poor country, with a per capita GDP hovering below US$1, 500 revitalize this crucial economic activity?

The Caribbean Farmers Network (CAFAN) points to Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) as a crucial set of tools in a mix of solutions. A view I share, as ICT is crucial for economic development. According to the World Bank, an increase of 10% in mobile phone penetration results in a 0.8% expansion in economic growth. The potential benefits of ICT expansion, especially to rural areas where farming is a mainstay, is wide-ranging. Farmers, irrespective of their crop specialty, are exposed to vital new information services that improves/enables a culture of enterprise.

Although Guyana is a slow starter in the ICT space, the government’s commitment to develop and promote ICT countrywide is strong. Earlier this year, Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud commissioned the second of eight ICT centers for the benefit of sugar workers and their families. Far too often states consider ICT expansion solely a matter for schools, ignoring the wider society and key aspects of the economy. Improving the ICT skill base among Guyanese sugar workers will better prepare them for planned improvements in sugar facilities, such as the new Skeldon Factory.

August 1, 2011/by actualize

Economic Growth & Trade, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Africa’s first apps lab

Kenya recently launched m-lab, Africa’s first apps lab. The World Bank , Nokia and Government of Findland backed project seeks to encourage innovation in the East African country, a major ICT hub on the continent.

The Nairobi-based facility will house six startups . It will also benefit from linkages with the well established iHub Consortium that includes Nairobi’s iHub, eMobils, the World Wide Web Foundation and the University of Nairobi School of Computing and Informatics. The iHub is a fast-growing incubator space for Kenyan start-ups, investors and technologists, and the m-lab will bring similar benefits. The m-lab will tackle two missing features that are crucial for a true ICT business-enabled environment to flourish: access to market and finance for embryonic enterprises.

The nature of the m-lab project and the iHub initiative underscores the reasons for the rapid expansion of Kenya’s ICT sector, which now constitutes about 5% of GDP: co-location, cohesive ICT policies, sustained expansion of service to rural areas and investment in infrastructure.

The launch of m-lab follows the staging of the Nairobi-based Pivot25 mobile app developer contest, which was created to give start-ups a platform on which to share their innovations, access funding and penetrate new markets.

The World Bank also plans to roll-out m-lab projects in South Africa, Armenia, Pakistan and Vietnam.

A three color ven-diagram pink (business), blue (technology) and yellow (users).

Credit: The World Wide Web Foundation

Business, technology and users: three areas to focus on…

July 13, 2011/by actualize

Economic Growth & Trade, Economic Policy and Governance, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

IDB’s ICT Report: Improve Access, Policies and Capacity

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the largest source of development assistance in the Americas, dedicated its flagship annual analysis of challenges in the region—Development in the Americas— to the role of ICTs in economic development.

The report “Development Connections: Unveiling the Impact of New Information Technologies” critically looks at how ICTs contributed to the success of 46 development projects in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) across multiple sectors: finance, health, institutions, education, poverty, and the environment.

The IDB hails the report as a landmark as it is “the first in the region to systematically apply strict statistical methods to measure how technologies affected project outcomes”. The report reinforced the view that ICTs are merely tools for economic development and social change. The IDB says there ought to be greater effort to boost capacity at the country level to effectively leverage ICTs. The Bank adds that physical infrastructure, institutions and regulations must be strengthened to realize the full economic and social benefits of ICTs.

This position reflects a theme that I have captured in a series of blog posts about bold policies in Kenya and Tanzania—and the need for a similar approach in Haiti. A clear ICT strategy with cross-sectoral backing will enable a vibrant ICT climate and foster economic expansion, plus unearth social benefits.

The report also echoed the need to focus on local realities, and adds that focusing on the latest technologies will not necessarily solve highly contextual problems. Another argument that I have proffered in previous blogs. The best solutions to many of the developing world’s intractable problems have and will continue to stem from the ingenious use of LOW END technologies. As leaders across LAC strive to bridge the digital divide, this report should serve as a reminder that although access is a vital part of the ICT frenzy, it will not be enough to boost economic growth. The development of human capital and setting clear policy goals that match the unique needs of countries and regions is vital.

The IDB’s report shows that the reality in LAC isn’t in tune with that fact. Less than 40 percent of the projects reviewed by the IDB showed strong benefit from the adoption of ICTs, while 61 percent benefited partially. If nothing else, this study should prompt greater interest in more robust monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of projects with an ICT component. It is time for a uniquely designed M&E approach for ICT projects!

June 30, 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

Agriculture, Environment, Mobile, Originally posted on the GBI Portal, Sustainable Agriculture

Mobiles for Agriculture at the InfoDev Global Forum

Esoko application billboard in Accra, Ghana

The global movement to improve agriculture and natural resources management through ICT takes center stage this week at the fourth InfoDev Global Forum in Helsinki.

Though in its nascent stage, the forum attracts a wide cross-section of attendees (business incubator managers, policy-makers, SMEs, financiers and development agencies) from around the globe “for a unique South-South and North-South networking and knowledge-sharing experience”.

The four day forum, which ends on June 3, zeros in on mobile applications for agri-businesses and clean technologies. Yesterday, a high level panel discussion featuring experts from the World Bank, FAO, AgriCord, Uganda and Kenya examined the varied use of mobile technology in agriculture and the management of natural resources, namely forestry. The discussion was a prelude to the launch of a new virtual resource that the experts believe will function as a “living updatable document”.

The e-Sourcebook “Information and Communication Technologies for Agriculture” will be released in October. The resource will feature a plethora of ICT innovations and examine their potential to improve agricultural development.

This year marks the fourth staging of the bi-annual event, which is functioning within the framework of a joint program with the Government of Finland and Nokia to create sustainable businesses for a knowledge economy. The $17 million program seeks to enhance the competitiveness of the information and communication technologies (ICT) and agribusiness sectors in small and medium sized emerging markets.

A key feature of the two year initiative is the use of mobile technologies to provide content, services and applications for developing countries. This development comes less than a year after global mobile subscriptions topped five billion, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

Despite improvement in mobile subscriptions, access to fixed phone lines and internet usage, the ITU says one billion people worldwide still lack connection to any kind of ICT. This is particularly problematic for the drive to improve agriculture as most people without access to any form of ICT depend on agriculture to some extent for their livelihoods.

The Global Forum was last held by Brazil in 2009.

June 1, 2011/by actualize

Humanitarian Assistance, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Women as Agents of Change in the Aftermath of Humanitarian Emergencies

Woman interviewing another for the Lifeline project

Photo credit: Matt Abud, Internews

Suffering does not end with the cessation of hostilities or the phase-out of large-scale humanitarian aid. Sri Lankan women endured many unspoken hardships throughout the 30-year conflict, and continue to struggle as former IDPS with no home to speak of; with painful memories of the loss of family members; as victims of domestic violence; rape and alcoholism among men; supporting households as war-widows; or just having watched the opportunity for their lives to improve fade away. Despite these experiences, women remain significant, untapped agents of change, both within their local communities and across ethnic divides. Internews, with local partners such as the Association for War Affected Women (AWAW), will train women to use media tools to a) document their experiences, b) access essential information to enhance their economic empowerment, c) collaborate and reconcile with women from other local communities, other ethnic communities and across the diaspora and d) participate in policy decisions that affect them. Beyond the immediate impact of the radio, social media and newsletter products, Internews and partners will develop a toolkit for gender-based recovery and reconciliation in other conflicts. This project will build upon Internews’ successful Lifeline humanitarian information project that end in September 2010, and will help bridge the gap between humanitarian and development aid.

This was taken from Internews’ statement of commitment from the Innovative Use of Technology for Humanitarian Media Aid – Clinton Global Initiative Commitment to Action. Contact Jeri Curry at Internews for more information.

March 8, 2011/by actualize

Areas of Expertise, Information and Communication Technology for Development, Integra News

INTEGRA Presents at USAID Infrastructure Training

INTEGRA Managing Associate Eric White yesterday gave a presentation to a gathering of USAID infrastructure specialists from missions around the world about the importance of investing in ICT infrastructure. He specifically highlighted the importance of wireless voice and broadband connectivity in meeting the US Government’s goals under the new “Feed the Future” program.

Food Security, Mr. White explained, can come either through improving domestic agricultural output and distribution or through improved cross-border trade facilitation. He highlighted ways that ICT infrastructure improves both. After pointing out that agricultural development is the flip side of rural economic growth Mr. White explained how numerous studies, at both the macro and micro level, have found a 10-1 relationship between expanding ICT coverage and GDP growth. A 10% increase in ICT penetration is generally associated with a 1% increase in GDP growth rates.

Mr. White then explained how it is possible to work with private sector firms to expand ICT access to rural people in developing countries. He pointed out the remarkable willingness-to-pay of even the very poor when it comes to communication. Even people living on only a few dollars a day are willing to pay up to 10% of their income for access to communication. Given that relatively large willingness-to-pay and a relatively low cost of capital it is in fact possible to reach every developing country resident with wireless technology through the smart use of targeted subsidies and investment in emerging low-cost technologies.

Eric White ftf presentation

View more presentations from IntegraLLC.

December 16, 2010/by actualize