Presenting at Tech4Dev in May!
Thanks to TechChange resident conflict analysis and data guru Charles Martin-Shields for cross-posting this from his site Espresso Politics. We’re really excited for this to be presented at Tech4Dev! Hey everybody, I’m pretty excited to have had a paper accepted to the Tech4Dev conference hosted by the UNESCO Chair at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne. I’ll be focusing [...]
After Gaddafi, how can we use ICT4D to support the recovery in Libya?
After 40 years of rule, Colonel Gaddafi is gone. Reports say he was killed today in a military offensive in Sirte, Libya after a protracted insurgency that was backed by NATO forces. While there is room for a conversation about NATO’s actions, whether they’re an example of Responsibility to Protect doctrine, and normative questions of [...]
Power to the People: The Risk and Rewards of Mobile Technology in Governance Development
For the frustrated governance advisor, exasperated force commander, and perpetually under funded election observer the notion that technology can solve our problems is a tempting one. But as Dr. Raul Zambrano of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and Dr. Matthew Levinger from the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) point out, the challenges faced by [...]
Vittana: A Seed for Social Change
Vittana: No, it’s not a posture in yoga. Although, the social change it’s growing may surely prove something on which to meditate.
Technology for Social Change Tidbits This Week
In case you missed any of it, there have been a few very interesting developments recently on how technology is being used, developed and shared for social change purposes. Below are three cases that may tickle your fancy and are definitely worth spreading the word about.
Google Africa has a new Manager of Policy – Ory Okolloh
Google Africa has a new Manager of Policy – Ory Okolloh. Okolloh, co-founder of the very successful crowdsourcing platform, known as Ushahidi, recently announced that she will be stepping down as Executive Director, and stepping into the new position with Google.
Peace and Social Entrepreneurship Through Mobile Phones in Afghanistan
On June 24th, TechChange co-hosted an event with the United States Institute for Peace (USIP) entitled: Can You Help Me Now? Mobile Phones and Peacebuilding in Afghanistan. The event featured panelists who were country experts on Afghanistan, the director for corporate affairs at the Afghan telecommunications company Roshan, policy makers from the U.S. Department of State, [...]
Knowledge Sharing for Effective Development
In international development, as with so many other fields, information is everything. OK, that’s kind of a broad statement, and a bit of a “no duh” to boot. But our ultimate goal is capacity building writ large, and so a failure of information exchange is in some ways a failure of the development industry as a whole. The reality is far too many projects reinvent the wheel with each iteration: Programs don’t scale. people don’t build on one another’s successes. It is to respond to this issue that Tony Barclay, ex-CEO of DAI, started the Development Practitioners Forum, after retiring from DAI as CEO for many years. But this post is less about our organization (the curious can read more at our website), and more about a different way of looking at audiences and the mechanics of knowledge sharing.
New Innovations in Mobiles for Health
We’re going to continue to look at emerging mobile health applications this week. While last time the focus was on promising technologies on the horizon, these projects share an approach that maximizes the impact of what’s already available—in most places that means sending an SMS. The low cost and high penetration of mobiles make them [...]
