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More Technologies, Same Social Inequalities

Photo Credit: CharlesFred on flickr

Since the Arab Spring uprisings, human rights activists worldwide have championed the power of technology, mainly the Internet and mobile phones, as tools for democracy and change. Evidence shows that they are right, social media played a role in bringing down dictatorships in the Middle East and North Africa. But other evidence shows that technology actually often reinforces social inequalities in other instances, giving more voice to the powerful, further drowning out the meek cries of the politically weak.

Social media has been successful when all social classes unite to take down the big bad evil dictators. The Arab Spring is the contemporary poster boy for this movement. The proletariat united, rose up, and took down the bourgeois in Tunisia and Egypt, and is still fighting in Syria, Libya, and other nations. Twitter hashtags and facebook groups were large players in mobilizing protestors, who came from all backgrounds—rich, middle-class, and poor—and simply communicated with their mobile phones to organize mass movements.

It seems logical, then, to assume that social media and technology penetration will lead to more democracy and social justice. The more blackberries in a country, the less the economic disparity. The more rural telecenters, the less political corruption. Or at least so goes the thinking.

Studies show otherwise. To the extent that inequalities between social classes are affected at all by the increase in ICT usage, they often became stronger and disparity increases. In a DFID study in 2005 on telephone use in India (Gujarat), Mozambique, and Tanzania, researchers found the most wealthy and educated people used phones more and with greater frequency, in both urban and rural areas. Other studies show that not only do more educated and wealthier people have greater access to ICTs, they also value them more, and use their for more development related activities as opposed to entertainment than poorer populations. Furthermore, the rich and smart are far more likely to produce digital content, solidifying the stronghold of the elite in societal knowledge production.

The relationship between ICT penetration and social inequalities, then, is more complex than the Arab Spring would suggest. The difference with the Arab Spring is that the people united to take down one leader, whereas daily life features far more social classes and political opinions, halting social change, or at least considerably slowing it down. While technology helped bring social justice to entire nations, it did not eliminate social classes within the nations.

In order to decrease social inequalities in ICT usage, then, ICT designers and national policymakers should consider stipulations to favor usage of their technology by marginalized social classes. Whether it be reducing costs to allow poorer classes to buy the product or developing voice recognition technology to engage the illiterate, extra effort will be needed to reduce the social inequality of ICT usage. Preliminary efforts by USAID’s Women in Development initiative show promise; other agencies should mimic their efforts to increase ICT usage among digital minority populations. Without these extra efforts to assist marginalized populations, ICTs will only further embed developing nations with social and economic inequalities, leading to future instability and lower quality of life.

July 19, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Health, Health, Health Systems, Mobile, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

MIT researchers link camera technology to healthcare

MIT researchers recently created a smartphone device designed to detect cataracts. Called Catra, the device uses “off -the-shelf components” as opposed to the highly expensive and highly space consuming technologies normally used to detect cataracts.

Using Catra device on smartphone. Photo Credit: EyeCatra

The research group is part of the MIT media lab that won the MIT Global Challenge competition back in May. Taking advantage of mobility through mobile phones and an inexpensive design, Catra was designed for use in the developing world.

The device, which attaches to the screen of a smartphone, costs about $2, whereas a slit lamp examination conventionally used to examine cataracts cost up to $5,000. And unlike conventional slit lamp examinations, Catra does not need a skilled human operator to administer the test and read the results, Catra does everything for the patient.

Catra utilizes a technique, which allows the user to respond to what they visually experience. It scans the lens of the eye section by section. The user then sees projected patterns and presses a few buttons to map the light attenuation in each section of the eye. This information is collected by the device creating an attenuation map of the entire lens. This allows individuals to monitor the progression of the severity of the cataract on their phones.

Catra vs. Slit Lamp technology. Photo Credit: MIT

This is not the MIT media lab’s first project to improve the health of the eye. They are working on a series of projects involving eye care. They developed and released Netra, an application and smartphone attachment for eye exams via mobile phone, last year.

Cataract is a condition where clouding builds up in the lens of the eye. It is the leading cause of avoidable blindness worldwide. Furthermore, ophthalmologists, doctors that specialize on the eye, are scarce in the developing world with one ophthalmologist per million people in some areas. When cataract leads to vision loss, it prevents people from being productive citizens in their community. It leads to high levels of illiteracy and poverty, and can impair a society’s economic and health sectors.

Using mHealth to tackle cataract is a crucial development. However, smartphones are not ubiquitous in the developing world. And it’s for a reason. Even though the Catra device may be cheap, the phones on which they operate are much more expensive. This needs to be considered when implementing Catra on a wide scale in the field. However, with the potential of this kind of technology, it is likely that MIT media lab will find a way.

July 14, 2011/by actualize

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

Mobile Khabar to Bring News & Empower via Mobile

Manin turban next to a bus stop featuring a mobile advertisement

Photo Credit: Jan Chipchase

On August 11, Afghans will be able to receive free access to radio news broadcasts, cricket scores, and other informational audio content through their mobile phones.

The USAID project—named Mobile Khabar, roughly translated to “News” in Dari and Pashtu”—is made to improve Afghans’ access to information and empower local journalists.

With 28 percent illiteracy, and an estimated 60 percent of Afghans using mobiles, cellular phones are a widely used technology more accessible than radio and have a much wider reach.

Troy Etulain, the project’s architect and a senior advisor for media development in USAID’s Office of Democracy and Governance, says that when the system is up and running in a month, users will be subscribe to local radio reports by dialing a four-digit code on their cellphones.

Troy Etulain in Afghanistan wearing army fatigues with soldier on right

Troy Etulain in Afghanistan Photo Credit: World Learning

The information will include everything from national cricket scores to English lessons offered through the Afghan foreign ministry. Additionally, audio bloggers will contribute to commentaries through a system similar to voicemail.

The system uses interactive voice response, or IVR and provides free, customizable menus of news and public information via mobile, making a variety of topics for the caller to choose from.

For example, a user could listen to a requested cricket update then hear a story about HIV/AIDS in her hometown, followed by the option to leave a message. The system can also be programmed to tell the user the number of AIDS patients nearby, letting her know that she’s not alone and creating a virtual community similar to other social media sites.

“If the technology connects, empowers or protects them or helps make other people who are not part of the community aware of them and their potential, then it’s doing profoundly new things,” Etulain declares.

USAID funding for the project runs on a $7 million grant that may increase to $16 million if option years on the main contract are fulfilled.

Mobile Khabar is just one part of USAID’s media development program in Afghanistan—the largest the agency has ever funded using new technologies, and regional journalism training centers, to seek and fill information not covered in newsrooms.

Within the centers, professional Afghan journalists and citizen bloggers are being trained in everything from Internet media skills and business management, to the reporting basics, such as ethical objectivity and story selection, Etulain says.

One of the common ways USAID utilizes these journalistic skills on the ground, is supporting community radio stations with the goal of making their operations solvent and the programming relevant to their audience, which encourages civil society participation.

For example, a call-in show that allows citizens to question their elected officials or covers topics that might not otherwise get airplay, like domestic violence or school dropout rates.

Mobile Khabar is a platform that allows local radio stations to become available on mobile phones, an innovative approach that extends the reach of information while encouraging sustainable economic development.

“From a media development perspective, this says to a local radio station in Mazari Sharif: ‘OK, now you have a national audience,” Etulain explains, “Wherever people have access to mobile phones, they can listen to you. And you get paid more the more people that listen to you.”

USAID funding for the project’s programs and bloggers are distributed based on their popularity: the more listeners they attract, the more money those programs and bloggers will earn, he says.

The Mobile Khabar project is a complement between old journalism and new technologies, providing an accessible avenue to inform Afghan civil society on relevant content. All while empowering local journalists to speak up and contribute information on what they see to their people.

July 11, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Humanitarian Assistance, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Last Mile Mobile Solutions: An Efficient Aid Distribution Tool

Photo Credit: Last Mile Mobile Solutions

Last month, food assistance from the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) reached more 26,500 people fleeing fighting in Sudan’s South Kordofan state. Not even close to a tenth of the 400,000 Southern Sudanese they fed before the latest outbreak of violence.

In humanitarian assistance missions, delivering aid to displaced people, at the right time, in sufficient quantities is extremely challenging, especially in inaccessible rural areas.

Lack of infrastructure prevents transportation, erupting violence hinders efforts, and overall allocation is inefficient and ineffective.

The Last Mile Mobile Solutions (LMMS) is a mobile technology aiming to change the aid distribution process.

LMMS bypasses the challenges that remote data collection typically faces in the last mile. With the swipe of a photo ID card, families receive the right amount of food, without waiting in line or conducting paper work

The beneficiaries of aid are directly registered in the field, and then immediately integrated into a humanitarian assistance project database, strengthening inventory control during aid distribution.

Ben Tshin of World Vision explains how the digitalization and automation of the aid distribution makes, “digital records of what we serve and how we serve them.” While the time to collect, stock, allocate, and report a humanitarian aid necessities is cut in half.

This is an illustration of how the LMMS system works:

Screen shot of the Last Mile Mobile Solutions steps on how their tool is used

Photo Credit: Last Mile Mobile Solutions

Initially working with World Vision, a partner of the UN’s World Food Program, LMMS was piloted in Kenya and Lesotho in 2008 to assist with general food aid distributions.

Success of the pilot led to an extension of LMMS being used in all of World Vision’s feeding programs. In 2009, LMMS was adapted for feeding programs targeted for vulnerable populations to improve World Vision’s distribution and reach.

LMMS was designed for food allocation, but “is not specific to World Vision,” Tshin states, its framework is flexible enough to be used by other organizations working in humanitarian assistance.

LMMS streamlines the distribution process, but digitalization also makes the donor money more transparent—allowing donors to see who, what, and where their funds are going. Information on aid delivery activities is stored, aggregated and can be sent to donor organizations in a PDF format.

This new communication tool makes organizations on the ground more accountable to their donors, encouraging fair distribution and preventing redundancy between projects.

The LMMS also has a long-term goal in mind for how organizations can use this resource in its full capacity.

Potentially, the mobile technology could be a, “cloud online solution,” where donors in Washington will be able to view what is happening in humanitarian assistance missions abroad, in real time.

LMMS can conceivably be a central and secure point for data collection to improve efficiency in program planning and effectiveness, a very useful tool in the newly emerging, conflict prone regions of South Sudan.

This mobile technology can also help the current humanitarian assistance in South Sudan identify those in need of emergency food assistance and reduce food allocation time, which provides more people with food in less time—before more violence erupts.

July 8, 2011/by actualize

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

Syria Protests: Making Amends Through the Lens

Photo Credit: © Sham News Network

Muhammad, 27, fled his home in the port city of Latakia last March, and deserted his job as cameraman for the Syrian state television network.

He now opts to use his acquired skills for media activism.

Similarly, Osama, 22, is a soldier for the state army who refuses to shoot at his fellow Syrians in protests.

He now arms himself with a brand-new-video-equipped smartphone, instead of a gun.

These two cases exemplify a recent transformation from Syria’s previous state media and soldiers, to activists who are “bearing witness,” to the atrocities being committed by the Syrian government.

Caption: Supporters of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad shout slogans in Syria's northern city of Aleppo, March 27, 2011. REUTERS/George Ourfalian

"Supporters" of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad shout slogans in Syria's northern city of Aleppo, March 27, 2011. Photo Credit: Reuters/George Ourfalian

The Syrian government uses their state television network as a medium to propagate images of citizens attacking soldiers during protests, when the opposite is reality; and airs images of peaceful demonstrators at pro-Assad rallies, instead of showcasing dissidents.

Civil society wants to achieve social change by recording what their eyes and ears see and hear.

Muhammad is rectifying his work on the state channel, arguing that the station “threatens people’s lives,” by refusing to film the violence against protesters, or blaming them for soldiers deaths.

He is making amends through his work exposing the true stories of Syria’s pro-democracy uprising, with a great combination of technical skill and secrecy.

The true stories of Syria’s revolution are unreported, he says, because the intelligence community, called the Mukhabarat, control everything projected outwards. “The world does not know what is happening here,” he says, “The Mukhabarat are killing people without any media attention.”

“Syrian media lies, lies, lies,” Muhammad states. “I had to leave my job to protect the Syrian people, here in the valley and everywhere else.”

Muhammad is part of a group of cyberactivists who clamor to obtain footage of military forces as they roll into towns. There are also Syrians within the military itself engaging in the cyberactivist movement, despite personal costs.

Military service is compulsory in Syria, unless they are the only male child or pay a heavy wage, and lasts almost two years. In 2010, army regulars were estimated at 220,000 troops, with an additional 300,000 in reserve.

22-year-old Osama is a Syrian soldier who obtains footage while serving since he bought a brand-new video-equipped smartphone in the Syrian tech capital of Bahtha.

“They told me that Israel had occupied Daraa, and some people there were siding with Zionism against our president, so we had to go and liberate the city,” he says. But “there was no Israeli occupation there. We were actually occupying the city, there was nobody else”.

In a still frame from video posted online by Syrian activists, a soldier appeared to plant ammunition among the bodies of protesters who had been shot and killed. Photo Credit: NYTimes

According to an article in Wired.com, Osama frequently takes days off to visit a friend’s house with a satellite link. The individual coordinates these teams of so-called video soldiers, taking their full flash cards and gives them back empty ones. He has recently been uploading and distributing the mobile camera footage on Youtube and Facebook.

One clip, posted online in the beginning of June and shared on a Syrian activist Facebook page, was supposedly produced by one of the shabiha, the militia loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

This featured activist’s video shows heroic music over images of heavily armed men in uniforms smiling and laughing as they chat near the bloody corpses of two men in civilian clothes.

“I decided to start filming and documenting the truth when I realized the amount of lies we are forced to believe at the army,” says Rami, who is another Syrian soldier interviewed by Wired.com.

“This will be my weapon,” Osama asserts, and wonders: “Maybe one day, when this is over, I will throw my gun away and become a video reporter. Inshallah.”

While the outside world has been watching video clips of barbarism, Syria’s state-controlled media has repeatedly published and broadcasted violent images that the government maintains stems from protesters. It seems, however, both state media and shabiha are taking initiatives to show the reality of the situation, one video at a time.

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July 5, 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

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

Agriculture, Anti-corruption, Democracy & Governance, Governances, Mobile, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Apps4Africa Finalist Uses Mobile to Fight Corruption

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Announced last week, an application won second place in the Apps4Africa competition allowing citizens to record and report real time information on government corruption.

Launched last July in Nairobi, the Apps4Africa competition funded by the U.S. State Department, united the brightest African developers with social problems that could benefit from innovative mobile technology.

The competition attracted 20 entrants – each offering a unique approach to improving life in the region.

The second place winners, Kleptocracy Fighters Inc., developed a mobile application empowering citizens for fighting kleptocratic government officials using mobile technology. They received $3,000 USD and a Nokia N900 for the innovation.

Kleptocracy is a term applied to government authorities taking advantage of power positions to extend their personal wealth by appropriating public funds and goods through corruption, impunity, and political power.

Government corruption runs rampant in Kenya amongst other Sub-Saharan African countries. According to the 2010 Corruption Perception Index, Kenya received a score of 2.1—on a scale from 10 being very clean, to 0 being highly corrupt.

Kleptocracy Fighters (K Fighters) seeks to offset this by lending the crowd souring potential of SMS service, mobile phone applications, and web-enabled applications to report and record real time incidences of corruption.

The citizen’s reports include audio, video, as well as text recordings, and are meant to report both positive and negative issues of public governance. The aggregated data reports are forwarded to legal and media partners to help publicize the cases of corruption, and lead to possible persecution.

This mobile application aims to help build trust, accountability, and transparency for those in developing nations lacking a trustworthy outlet.

K Fighters is an international organization headquartered in Delaware. The four founding members are from East Africa, the U.S., and Latin America, all choosing to remain anonymous for their personal integrity until the platform is finalized.

They have started pilot projects in Latin America and Africa to see if the platform is a scalable and sustainable model that can bring corrupt governments to justice.

June 10, 2011/by actualize

Connectivity, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Administrator Shah Emphasizes the Role of Mobile Banking

At an OECD Meeting on May 27^th, 2011, Administrator Shah outlined three areas of reform for USAID, one of which was “leveraging the role of science and technology,” particularly through mobile phone banking systems. The announcement should not come as a surprise, given the growing movement among the leaders of the agency to support mobile phone programs.

Photo Credit: USAID

Shah’s announcement is coupled with his recent talk with MIT economist Esther Duflo at the USAID Development Forum on May 23^rd. During the question and answer session, Shah referred to the power of mobile banking, citing the financial security it provides to rural farmers.

In addition to voicing support for mobile banking, USAID has supported specific initiatives, coming to an agreement last year with the Gates Foundation to provide a $10 million incentive fund to companies in Haiti who provide mobile financial services. Speaking about the fund, Shah said, “Before the earthquake, fewer than 10 percent of Haitians had ever used a commercial bank. A mobile money system can restore and remake banking in Haiti and serve as an engine of inclusive growth.”

Eric Postel, assistant administrator at EGAT, has led USAID’s mobile money programs in Haiti, including one project that allows Haitians to purchase emergency relief food supplies via mobile money payments. Postel praises Haitian shop owners who accept mobile payments, which, he claims, are “broaden their client base” and lower their risk by not carrying cash payments to the bank.

Photo Credit: USAID

Other leaders in USAID have shown support for mobile banking as well. Maura O’Neill, Chief Innovation Officer at the USAID Development Innovation Ventures in the Office of the Administrator, recently co-hosted the Mobile Money Summit in Afghanistan. At the summit, the USAID Mobile Money Innovation Grant Fund was announced, which aims to create unique public-private partnerships to encourage mobile banking. Currently, “only 4% of Afghans have bank accounts,” and given the success of M-PESA in Kenya and similar services worldwide, mobile banking is a legitimate solution to this problem. O’Neill attended the summit with Senior Advisor to the Administrator Priya Jaisinghani, another notable expert in mobile banking.

USAID’s interest in mobile projects is not new. In 2008, USAID commissioned a report on the use of phones in citizen media. As well, numerous projects targeting women in development, have utilized mobile phones. Mobile banking, however, appears to be a high priority for USAID currently.

June 2, 2011/by actualize

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

Schedule for 2011 IGF Finalized in Geneva

Panel of the 2007 Internet governance forum in Brazil listening

2007 IGF in Brazil

Stakeholders from around the world met in Geneva last week to finalize the program for the sixth annual 2011 Internet Governance Forum (IGF) which will be held in Nairobi in September. The focus of this year’s event will be on how to govern mobile Internet.

The consultations this past week garnered consensus for the final program and agenda for September.

Participants from around the world met in Geneva with the aim of maximizing the opportunity for the IGF to enable open, inclusive dialogue and draw on their experience.

Alice Munyua, Project Director for Catalyzing Access to ICTS for the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), chaired the second preparatory consultations of the IGF.

The finalized program is developed through and open process that began earlier this year and is overseen by a “Multi-stakeholder Advisory Group” of experts appointed by the UN Secretary General.

This year’s theme for the 2011 IGF is, “The Internet as a Catalyst for Change: Access, Development, Freedoms and Innovation”.

The stakeholders had an extensive discussion about what workshops would be important to include on the role of mobile, Internet, technology and their contribution to development.

A question to be highlighted in the forum was posed by a representative of the International Code Council (ICC): how will governance for the mobile Internet be differentiated from the wired world?

She divulged that governing this divide must be addressed as mobile has become a crucial part of how developing regions can tap into the marketplace:

On the area of mobile services and in particular for the region, it’s really an entry point to the Internet for many points of the world. There’s a leapfrogging, in essence, into this space. And I think examples of the mobile banking have been really exemplary in that.

With more than 4 million Kenyans accessing Internet through their mobile phones, this year’s IGF will prove to be an important forum for discussing and considering these issues, how they affect people in developing regions, and how it should be governed.

“…As you know, the lack of experts in capacity in relevant Internet governance issues is hampering participation of developing countries, especially Africa, on the policies, standards and also critical issues,” a representative for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) stated in the consultations.

During the four days of the IGF in Nairobi, the main workshops will focus on issues such as broadband and mobile access; the resources critical to the stabilization and secure operation of the Internet; cybersecurity, privacy and Internet rights; along with innovative entrepreneurship and digitalizing local content.

Additionally, the multi-stakeholder team of experts have organized over 90 workshops to cover a broad range of Internet policy and technology issues.