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Tag Archive for: UN

Areas of Expertise, Economic Growth, Environment & NRM

Ecotourism vs. Sustainable Tourism

Photo credit: Sustainable Futures

980 million people traveled internationally in 2010, a 4% increase over the previous year, and forecasts expect 1.6 billion tourists by the year 2020. Travel & Tourism as a sector accounts for 258 million jobs globally, and provides crucial opportunities for investment, economic growth, and fostering cultural awareness. Tourism can also be a powerful tool for tackling major challenges such as conservation and poverty alleviation.

But how do environmentally and socially conscious travelers navigate the complex differences between ecotourism, sustainable tourism, socially responsible tourism and the other myriad forms of traveling responsibly?

Ecotourism vs Sustainable Tourism

Industry consensus agrees ecotourism is more focused on ecological conservation and educating travelers on local environments and natural surroundings, whereas sustainable tourism focuses on travel that has minimal impact on the environment and local communities. Ecotourism is a form of tourism, or a category of vacation similar to beach, adventure, health, or cultural, while the concept of sustainability can be applied to all types of tourism.

As established by The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) in 1990, ecotourism is “Responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people.” Another widely cited definition of ecotourism is “purposeful travel to natural areas to understand the culture and natural history of the environment; taking care not to alter the integrity of the ecosystem; producing economic opportunities that make the conservation of natural resources beneficial to local people.”

The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) is a global initiative dedicated to promoting sustainable tourism practices around the world. GSTC and its global members of UN agencies, global travel companies, hotels, tourism boards and tour operators follow the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria. The 23 criteria focus on best practices to sustain natural and cultural resources, maximize social and economic benefits for the local community, and minimize negative impacts to the environment.

Currently there is no internationally accredited body charged with overseeing the standards, monitoring and assessment, or certification for the ecotourism or sustainable tourism industries. Without an established standard it is easy to be confused by organizations that greenwash services and offerings as “environmentally friendly.” Others argue that ecotourism is an oxymoron, as travel implicitly entails activities that are detrimental to the environment. Planes, trains and automobiles use harmful fossil fuels that emit CO2, and forestland is often cleared for roads and railways.

Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism in Action

Photo Credit: Visit Costa Rica

Costa Rica was a pioneer in ecotourism and exemplifies how tourism can be a key pillar of economic development policy. Costa Rica is now the premiere destination for ecotourism, and in 2010 tourism contributed 5.5% of the country’s GDP. Jordan serves as another model of successfully integrating conservation and socio-economic development. Ecotourism generated $2.1 million in 2010, and Jordan’s Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature has received several global awards for its success in alleviating poverty and creating employment for local communities, in combination with integrating nature conservation.

Myriad sites offer options for tours and hotels that cater to a more environmentally friendly and sustainable type of traveling experience. The New York Times travel section allows viewers to search potential destinations using ecotourism as a criteria, and Condé Nast Traveler highlights Ecotourism and Sustainable Travel under Expert Travel Tips.

The Earthwatch Institute, organizes trips where travelers work alongside scientists and explorers on field expeditions and Sierra Club’s travel arm Sierra Club Outing allows environmentalist to learn something on vacation and inflict minimal harm on the surrounding environment.

At the industry level, hotels and resorts are taking on sustainability commitments that focus on recycling, decreasing water and energy usage, reducing greenhouse gas emissions,and environmentally friendly design. Many in the industry show a commitment to a holistic approach to sustainability which includes the construction of Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) certified buildings, providing eco-friendly and organic food and wine selections, and rewarding guests who make “green choices.” Marriott, which boasts 2,800 hotels worldwide, offers guests hotel points or vouchers for the hotel restaurant should they choose to not having linens and towels washed daily.

Understanding the difference between sustainable tourism and ecotourism educates travelers on the significant impact their travel decisions have on the environment, economy and local communities they visit. Participating in sustainable tourism, or more specifically ecotourism vacations, means travelers can contribute to development and conservation efforts, while enjoying themselves on vacation.

August 13, 2012/by actualize

Economic Growth & Trade, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

5 Gender-Integrated ICT Strategies for Trade!

Photo Credit: E-Cards

A 2007 publication by USAID on Gender Integration Strategies for Trade (GIST) argues that donors have developed an array of innovative programs for removing or mitigating gender-specific barriers to economic growth. Yet, moving from theory to action still remains a challenge for many program managers.

On this years International Women’s Day celebration, I would like to pick out five of these gender issues from the document for reflection.

1) Socio-Cultural Biases

Gender Issues: Are there socio-cultural biases that discourage women from entering the ICT sector?

Design and Implementation Approaches: Launch an educational campaign on the benefits of computer education and how women and girls could use the skills for a variety of careers: develop curricula on an experiential application of ICT, which studies show appeals more to girls.

Indicators: Number of people in target group trained in and adopting ICT before and after campaign, disaggregated by sex.

Photo Credit: Forbes

2) Level of Access to Market

Gender Issues: Do women and men have the same level of access to market and pricing information?

Design and Implementation Approaches: Business development service (BDS) training in ICT and other avenues for women to gain greater access to market and pricing information.

Indicators: Marketing practices adopted by enterprises as evidenced by a change in business plans, reorganization, product design, pricing, and strategic linkages with other firms or sub-sectors, disaggregated by size of enterprise and sex of owner.

3) Access to Training

Photo Credit: GCEP

Gender Issues: Do women and girls have equitable access to training at all levels, such as system design, networking, software development, content creation, web design, information management, maintenance, and system management?

Design and Implementation Approaches: Develop special ICT initiatives to train women, including those displaced from other sectors; include complementary interventions with training, such as job placement assistance, workforce development skills (hard and soft), and other ancillary services (banking for the poor, small “bridge” loan program, etc.).

Indicators: Number of displaced workers trained, disaggregated by sex; number of trained displaced workers hired for new ICT jobs, disaggregated by sex; levels of participant satisfaction with training, disaggregated by sex.

Photo Credit: Multimedia Learning

4) Affordability of Technologies

Gender Issues: Are technology choices affordable for women and men?; will technology be affordable? will prices be passed onto the consumer?; will rates be higher in rural areas where women predominate?; is there access in rural areas?

Design and Implementation Approaches: Address issues of access and affordability of ICT (e.g., fixed wireless rather than fiber optic cables, availability of mobile phones to promote connectivity in rural and poor areas, satellite or solar- and battery-powered connectivity, multiple-use computers) in project design and/or implementation; conduct gender analysis of telecommunications development fund activities to promote greater access and use of ICT for urban and rural women; conduct regulatory reform work to ensure continued affordability and accessibility of service.

Indicators: Number of users disaggregated by sex and geographical location.
Number of policy measures passed that deal with increasing affordable access to the rural poor.

5) Women’s Mobility

Tamil rural woman with a mobile phone facility

Gender Issues: How might women’s mobility affect their ability to access ICT?

Design and Implementation Approaches: Establish ICT access centers in rural areas and in locations in urban areas frequented by women, such as women’s bookstores, clothing stores, community centers, hair salons, or health clinics; consider establishing micro-telcos (telephone and Internet shops) as small businesses for women entrepreneurs located near health clinics, women’s stores, etc.; consider adding Internet service to existing telecenters; address women’s mobility constraints with mobile computer buses that travel to communities, or other mobile telecommunication projects, as a means of increasing women’s access to ICT.

Indicators: Number of centers established by geographical location; number and percentage of customers at telecenter, disaggregated by sex and telecenter location; change in user satisfaction of telecenters, disaggregated by sex.

The big question is how much of these do you have in your projects? Visit here for the detailed issues, design and implementation approaches and indicators.

March 8, 2012/by actualize

Agriculture, Mobile, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

AMIS-Cameroon for UN’s MDGs 1, 3, 7, and 8

Photo Credit: AMIS-Cameroon

AMIS-Cameroon is bridging information gap in the African country of Cameroon by connecting farmers with vital information through SMS thereby boosting sustainable agricultural activities that promote the UN’s Millennium Development Goals 1 (Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger), 3 (Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women), 7 (Ensure environmental Sustainability), and 8 (Develop a Global Partnership for Development).

AMIS-Cameroon uses information and communication technologies (ICTs) to create connections between farmers and agricultural technicians to encourage them to support each other through mutual advice and knowledge sharing. Through information hubs that are located in the rural farming communities, AMIS-Cameroon gathers product information and send via SMS to consumer groups who buy at farmers’ prices.

The project is using a fully coded, fully automated 24/7 information feedback loop which farmers and consumers can consult for their different needs. The concept has undergone a thorough field investigation sponsored by SPIDER.ORG and currently seeking financial support to carry out a massive outreach that would enable scaling to serve the over 12 million Cameroonian farmers. The model is simple and is replicable.

GBI followed up with AMIS-Cameroon to understand how such a simple SMS innovation can help address the United Nations Millennium Development Goals 1, 3, 7 and 8. Below is the response from Tambe Harry Agbor, the Executive Director of Amis-Cameroon.

Photo Credit: UN MDGs

AMIS-Cameroon and MDG 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
The problem of Cameroonian farmers is a small reflection of what African farmers in general suffer from – acute lack of information. This lack of information means that from planting, to harvesting through location of markets to sell their products, farmers are not expose to information that predisposes them to carry out informed investment decisions to create wealth for them and their families. Given that the shelf-life of most of these agricultural products is very short, any unsold products end up as waste within the immediate vicinity of the farming population, since they do not have information about far flung markets where their products are in demand for a better price. Thus both farmers and consumers remain confined to a vicious cycle of poverty (for the farmers-since they cannot sell their products to create wealth) and hunger (for the consumers-who do not get these products which the farmers dump or give to animals)

At AMIS-Cameroon, we use SMS technology to target these alienated groups with information that brings them together in a mutually beneficial relationship where farmers can sell their products profitably and use the money to take care of life’s basic necessities such as the health and education of their children on the one hand, and on the other hand the consumers get information about where to locate nutritive products which can keep starvation and hunger at bay.

AMIS-Cameroon and MDG 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

AMIS-Cameroon democratizes the process of information dissemination. Most of our cultural values in Africa relegate women to the role of passive observer even if it is “she” who has the ideas that would take her family out of the stigma of poverty. Thus when we send the same information to both men and women, informing them how to plant crops formerly reserved for males, we are in effect giving both groups the impartial possibility to make use of the information at their disposal to best advantage. Some women farmers have till date not been able to carry out the production of certain food crops which are considered crops for men.

Furthermore, the possibility to earn stable incomes from agriculture has caused some parents to rethink their position on girl child education. When the family is poor, everything is done to make sure that the girl child stays at home and work so that her brother can get an education. But when we send out information which has the ability to connect farmers to markets, and increase the revenue streams of the family, parents then tend to feel more comfortable to invest also in the education of their girl child. Hence educated women can also vie for public office based on the possibility of their families to crawl out of the $2 per day curse to earning higher income returns that prioritizes girls’ education on the same level with boys’ education.

AMIS-Cameroon and MDG 7: Ensure environmental Sustainability

For the past decades, farmers have essentially been farming in the dark. Through ignorance, they have continued to deplete irreplaceable ecosystems and damaging the essential web of life so central to our very existence. It is not uncommon in most Cameroonian villages today for families to walk for very long distances before getting wood to cook their food, or even fauna to spice their delicacies. The fast encroaching desertification in most of our Sub-Saharan countries is a testimony of the extensive damage done to the environment through irresponsible farming practices where whole forests are destroyed, soil-enriching microorganisms killed, and loosed sub soils washed away by erosion.

In collaboration with sustainability experts and agronomists, we deliver timely advice via SMS to new entrants into the farming profession so that they can carry out responsible practices that preserve the fragile ecosystems which have been stretched to their limits by centuries of uncontrolled practices that harm none other than the farmers themselves.

AMIS-Cameroon and MDG 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development

When we started the AMIS-Cameroon Project, one of the most recurrent complaints we encountered in the field was that experienced farmers have always refused to share their know-how with younger inexperienced farmers. We instituted an information exchange forum for farmers whereby farmers in region A tell us what must be done for a particular crop in order to enhance its productivity. When we visit Region B we shared this information with them, and those in Region B in turn become more willing to share their own experiences which we take back to farmers in region A. Through this practice we got farmers to understand that they are winners when they share agricultural technologies with one another, and that they stand to lose everything if they hide their knowledge. By encouraging them to ‘Think Development locally’ we let them see just how possible it is for them to ‘Develop Globally’.

Through our portal at www.amis-cameroon.org, we receive product requests for farmers in Cameroon from consumers from abroad. We then blast such SMS locally and farmers are rallied at short notice to supply their nearest product depot where our chain of organized transporters pick them up and deliver for onward delivery to clients.

Impacts of AMIS-Cameroon

In conclusion, AMIS-Cameroon has developed 10 business models which if sponsored shall generate direct employment and create sure revenue streams for all actors involved along the value chain. Some of the significant achievements of the project so far include increased in subscriber base from an initial 200 farmers in 2009 to well over 1500 by 2010 by providing 4 SMS per week to these users. In 2011, bee farmers in Kumbo village in Cameroon were connected to new markets enabling them to increase their sales by over 50% in markets that knew nothing about their natural honey. The project has also created a very important partnership with KIP Solutions, a firm based in the USA that is helping to define better strategies to further the vision of the project.

For more information and to support this vision of bridging information gap for African farmers, visit AMIS-Cameroon.

February 29, 2012/by actualize

Humanitarian Assistance, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Where is the Sahel crisis in social media?

Photo Credit: Fathom.com

United Nations aid chiefs meeting in Rome on Wednesday said the situation at the drought-stricken Sahel region of West Africa is “URGENT” and needed $725 million (552 million euros) this year for action.

“Around 725 million dollars is what is assessed to be needed this year,” Helen Clark, head of the aid agency UNDP, said after the meeting, which also included the EU’s Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid Kristalina Georgieva.

In a joint statement, the UN and EU aid chiefs said there should be “an urgent scale-up” in relief efforts because of the combined effect of drought, high food prices, displacement and conflict in the region. “The time for humanitarian action in the Sahel is now,” he said.

Photo Credit: Altcomputersrepair

With the announcement of the European Commission that it was donating 30 million euros to support feeding programs for one million children under the age of two and half a million pregnant women and breast-feeding mothers, I think it is the right time to engage the social media folks.

We have seen the impact of social media on “urgent issues” in recent years such as the FWD campaign of the USAID; the use of twitter and facebook for Haiti earthquake; social media for the Horn of Africa, among others. So far, little has been done for the drought in West Africa apart from the efforts by Africans Act 4 Africa where African artists and activists are calling for social media action to end the continent’s famines.

Let’s use the social media to create the awareness of the looming famine and to raise support for the drought victims.

Read the full news update from Rome here.

February 15, 2012/by actualize

Agriculture, Climate Change, Environment, Environment, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

ICTs and Climate Change Gain Importance During COP17 Conference in Durban

As the United Nations COP17 Climate Change Conference wraps up today after two weeks of intense meetings and negotiations among world leaders, ICTs have frequently surfaced as significant in helping solve the global climate change problem.

While the task of positioning the role of ICTs within climate change negotiations is challenging, groups like the newly formed Coalition on ICTs and Climate Change have been actively working to raise awareness, mobilize political will, and encourage governments to include ICTs within their climate change policies. The result has been for COP17 to give more visibility to the role of ICTs in climate change action.

Techies at the Durban climate change conference

Photo credit: Notes on ICTs, Climate Change and Development (NICCD)

During the conference, there were side meetings focused on ICTs, an “ICT Day,” and a Digital Media Lounge that provided a platform for experts and practitioners to have a tele-presence. In addition, tech companies Techamerica and Digital Europe launched an online crowdsourcing app called “Poliwiki.” The tool is the first digital channel of its kind in the world, and serves as an “online platform to help policy-makers and innovators combat climate change in a smart and transparent way.”

ICT buffs have been blogging and tweeting throughout the conference on ICTs and climate change. Sunil Bharti Mittal of the Times of India wrote an article about the enormous opportunity that ICTs hold to “usher in transformational changes in the carbon intensity of growth.” He believes that investment in the ICT sector can deliver “exponential returns in terms of emissions reduction.” His article provides instances of this, such as smart grids whereby electric companies utilize ICTs to reduce losses, prevent outages and provide customers with information on how to manage their own carbon footprints, potentially leading to a 5-9% reduction in greenhouse gases in the United States.

The 2011 Apps4Africa competition, which searches for the most innovative solutions to global challenges, made its theme “Climate Challenge” in order to center around the strategic themes that coincide with policy decisions made during COP17. The winners of the West Africa Climate Challenge were announced on Wednesday, December 7 during the conference, with the first prize of $15,000 going to a web-based app called HospitalManager that helps hospitals and health organizations prepare for natural disasters.

Poliwiki: www.transformative-step.net

While no follow-up to the Kyoto Protocol was secured, and many felt that the conference ended in “political fudge,” tech enthusiasts seem to have made progress in demonstrating the critical role ICTs have to play in solving the climate change crisis.

December 9, 2011/by actualize

Health, Humanitarian Assistance, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Using ICTs to Address HIV/AIDS in Humanitarian Emergencies

Responding to humanitarian emergencies poses a complex set of challenges that is exacerbated in areas where high rates of HIV/AIDS exist. The number of people living with HIV/AIDS hovers around 33 million and the vast majority live in sub-Saharan Africa, bringing to the forefront the complex interactions between HIV/AIDS, food security, livelihoods, and humanitarian action. This unique set of issues leads to the question of whether ICTs can be leveraged to address HIV/AIDS challenges in humanitarian crises, and if so, which groups are already doing so.

ICTs have been a used as a means for addressing HIV/AIDS issues in humanitarian situations by global aid agencies. The United Nations (UN) has recognized the impacts on HIV/AIDS on food security and is responding by integrating HIV into humanitarian responses. A priority for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has been to “ensure a sustained flow of information and analysis on AIDS and [HIV] needs of populations in humanitarian situations” by producing reports, web specials, audio reports, fact files, etc. on the Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) website. For example, IRIN radio produced a weekly 10-episode radio drama on HIV and AIDS for Somalis to listen to in the crisis country. The drama started on October 15^th and can be heard on the IRIN website.

FilmAid screening film at Kenyan refugee camp

Photo credit: FilmAid

Nongovernmental organizations are also using ICTs to address HIV/AIDS in humanitarian situations. FilmAid provides knowledge and empowerment to people suffering the effects of war, poverty, displacement or disaster through informational films. The organization works with communities to create films that are appropriate to the local context and relevant to community issues. One of the issue areas that FilmAid focuses on is Health & Safety, including HIV/AIDS. The organization has created various films relating to HIV/AIDS issues, such as a series of PEPFAR films that were shown in a Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya. The PEPFAR films were developed with the communities in Dadaab and promoted the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission, the uptake of voluntary counseling and testing (VCT), and abstinence.

The human rights organization WITNESS has created a video that tells the story of people living with HIV/AIDS in the war-torn Eastern region of the DRC, shown below. The film advocates for the provision of free testing, increased access to medical care, and prevention outreach in an area that desperately needs it.

These cases show that ICTs can be leveraged to address HIV/AIDS issues in humanitarian emergencies on many different levels, such as information flow, education, and advocacy. There is vast potential for increased ICT to more effectively and quickly address HIV/AIDS issues in humanitarian crises.

December 1, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Health, Health, HIV/AIDS, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

CrowdOutAIDS: Engaging Youth to Develop AIDS Policy

CrowdOutAIDS, the online crowdsourcing project that engages young people in developing a UNAIDS strategy on youth and HIV, has wrapped up its fifth week. The project launched in October 2011 and will run for two months, with the final crowdsourced strategy to be produced in January.

Crowdsourcing is a technique used to quickly engage large numbers of people to generate ideas and solve complex problems. CrowdOutAIDS’ target “crowd” is young people, 3,000 of whom become infected with HIV every day and 5 million of whom currently live with the virus.

The project’s approach is to follow a four-step model:

Connect young people online
Share knowledge and prioritize issues
Find solutions
Develop collective actions on HIV

Once the fourth step is completed, the UNAIDS Secretariat will put the youth strategy into action, and the strategy could become an advocacy platform in future UNAIDS work.

Currently the project is in the second stage of sharing knowledge. Youth from all over the world have been connected through eight regional Open Forums that are in Arabic, English, Spanish, French, Russian and Chinese. The moderator of each forum starts each day with a question (such as “What is your description of a healthy relationship?”) and participants respond and interact with one another.

The first week of the project revealed some of the major problems, in the eyes of youth participants, with UN agencies’ current approaches to working with youth. Participants expressed concerns that UN initiatives of working with youth in HIV response lack strategic vision and have no clear plan, and hinder young people from participating in decision-making.

It will be interesting to see what solutions are developed after the knowledge sharing step is completed, as well as what direction the UN youth and HIV strategy takes over the next six weeks. Be sure to check out the CrowdOutAIDS website and Twitter @CrowdOutAIDS for continuous updates.

November 28, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Climate Change, Environment, Environment, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Apps4Africa 2011: Climate Challenge

The US Department of State-funded Apps4Africa competition that began in 2009 has announced its theme for this year: Climate Challenge. Nine winners in sub-Saharan Africa will receive prize money for the applications with the most innovative solutions for solving climate problems.

Photo credit: Apps4Africa

The 2011 competition that brings NGOs, civil society, universities, and the private sector together with African technology gurus began on October 1st in West/Central Africa; it will later head to Eastern Africa and end in Southern Africa on March 30, 2012. It builds on the successes of last year’s Civic Challenge, which produced innovative apps such as the iCow that helps farmers manage livestock breeding. The Climate Challenge is meant to “center around several strategic themes that coincide with policy decisions that will be debated…by world leaders” during the COP17 conference in Durban, South Africa.

The COP17 conference, or the 17^th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), will take place from November 28- December 9. It is designed to assess progress in dealing with climate change and work toward the UNFCCC’s objective to “stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system.”

The categories for the Climate Challenge applicants are as follows:

Entry Categories
Agriculture (Distribution)
Early Warning and/or Disaster Preparedness
Resource Management
Forestry/Deforestation
Transportation/Traffic/Emissions
Food Security
Livestock
Health and Sanitation

Innovators in Africa developing apps for Apps4Africa competition

Photo credit: Apps4Afric

Application Types
Mobile
Mobile (smart phones)
Web
Desktop

Data
Open Data Source
Crowdsourcing/Public Participation
News Aggregation
Proprietary
Other

Interested in being involved with Apps4Africa but don’t live in Africa? Consider becoming a mentor and lending your expertise to applicants.

The winners of Climate Challenge will also receive a special congratulatory message from US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

October 5, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Health, Health, HIV/AIDS, Maternal & Child Health, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Scalable and Replicable: ICT4Health is Chosen Theme for UN South-South Awards

Digital Health 4 Digital Development was the theme of choice for the 2011 South-South awards that took place earlier this week. The United Nations-supported awards ceremony, held September 19th, honors governments, organizations and individuals accelerating progress toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and this year awards were given for utilizing ICTs for the advancement of the MDG health goals.

Prime Minister of Bangladesh receives South South award from

Photo Credit: thefinancialexpress-bd.com

The awards were organized by South South News, a digital media platform launched by the United Nations General Assembly High-level Committee in 2010. The platform disseminates development news and allows countries in the global South to share best practices in advancing implementation of the MDGs. As health remains a high priority within the international development field, with three of the eight MDGs calling for health improvements by 2015, this year South South chose the “catalytic and unifying force of ‘digital health’” as its focus.

Awardees were recognized for policies, programs and projects that address global health using ICTs as a mechanism for “scalability and replicability of the broad development agenda.” Awards were given on health categories such as Women and Children’s Health and HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria with special consideration given to achievements in the fields of mobile, broadband, Internet, medical, and pharmaceutical applications.

Among the winners was Bangladesh’s prime minister Sheikh Hasina who received recognition for the use of ICTs in addressing women and children’s healthcare. The government of Bangladesh has made increasing the use and availability of ICTs a priority over the past decade, declaring IT a “thrust” sector and implementing a national ICT policy in 2002. The prime minister has been a catalyst for ICT development in Bangladesh, launching the Digital Bangladesh 2021 program, reducing taxes to make computers and other electronics more affordable, and giving free internet services to schools. This is not the first time she has been recognized for her ICT work in the country. The PM noted during the ceremony that most of Bangladesh’s 11,000 community health clinics have been digitized, allowing for free treatment of diseases like malaria and AIDS and reducing maternal and infant mortality rates.

Use of PDA by the nurses at ICDDRB hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Photo credit: Bytesforall "ICT4Health" Network

Other development agencies and UN-affiliated organizations are also choosing to give awards to those using ICTs to advance public health initiatives. The Elena Pinchuk ANTIAIDS Foundation, rising from the work of UNAIDS High Level Commission on HIV Prevention, has launched a competition to find innovative start up projects that use social media and mobile phones for HIV prevention. The competition is taking applications until October 1^st and the winners will receive up to $10,000 to implement one-year projects.

As global health becomes a pressing priority, it is essential to utilize, innovate, and increase access to ICTs within the healthcare sector. The South South awards have set a precedent by recognizing the success of ICT4Health in accelerating the Millennium Development Goals and could encourage Global South countries to follow in the footsteps of nations like Bangladesh.

September 22, 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

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