Central Asia and the success of ICT4D initiatives: continued support as vital as initial investment

Whilst looking at ‘ICT4D’ projects in the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, two major themes seem to come to the fore, time and time again. These were the marked disparity between the levels of ICT investment and internet connectivity between the various neighbouring countries in the region, and how the success of the projects and initiatives that had been undertaken seemed to be determined not so much by the level of initial investment, but by the amount of continued, on-going support that was provided, post ‘launch’.

A fairly obvious link between levels of economic and industrial prosperity and levels of access to ICT and the internet can be drawn from most of the information that is available about Central Asia. The region as a whole has much more restricted levels of internet access, both in practical and censorship terms, than is typically enjoyed in Eastern Europe and elsewhere in the West, whilst ICT education is generally limited if not completely unavailable, and there is a lack of freely available information on what is actually provided in this area for people and their communities. Added to this, with several of the countries that occupy the region maintaining severe restrictions on what can viewed online, it is understandable that any drive to substantially increase access to ICT is seen as an up-hill struggle by those with more than a passing interest in the subject. It is also not simply a case that the wealthier and more economically advanced a country is, the greater the access to the internet, both in terms of number of users and the content that is available to them. It seems the situation is more complex, with certain comparatively wealthy nations in the region only allowing highly-restricted web access that is severely censored.

In an article from April this year in the Eurasian.org website, and with reference to the latest Global Information Technology Report, David Trilling casts his eye over the stark contrast in ICT fortunes between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, two former-Soviet states at the heart of Central Asia, but who’s levels of ‘relative’ prosperity – and adoption and deployment of ICT resources – are very different:

‘…They might be neighbors on the map, but Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan couldn’t be further apart in how they utilize information and communications technology (ICT). A model for the former Soviet Union, Kazakhstan is charging ahead, according to a new report measuring how ICT affects competitiveness, leaving much-poorer Kyrgyzstan in its digital dust…’

The article goes on to explain the basis of its findings (the report itself), which uses various indicators as a means of measuring the effectiveness of ICT provision in the region in relation to social development:

‘…In its 12th year, the Global Information Technology Report uses the Networked Readiness Index – computed with 54 indicators – to compare how 144 economies “leverage ICT for growth and well-being.”
This year Kyrgyzstan ranked last among former-Soviet states, at 118, between Suriname and Bolivia. Kazakhstan on the other hand, at 43, beat out all post-Soviet countries, save for the advanced Baltic states…’

The article adds further clarity to these statistics, elaborating on how they are calculated based on various scores, such as ‘strong government vision’ , continued development in ICT infrastructure, and a support for ‘…stronger ICT uptake – as evidenced by the number of Internet users…along with households with a personal computer…and those with Internet access…’

As suggested with greater detail in the article, by contrast Kyrgyzstan struggles in pretty much every criterion. A simplistic view is that this is purely down to being a poorer, less-developed state, which despite having great potential mineral wealth has not been able to harness it to the extent that the oil reserves have provided for Kazakhstan. But there also appears to be a problem of sustainability, which may be down in part to a lack of education and understanding of how to make ICT work, long-term, to the benefit of the nation’s communities.

In a report published by the Asian Development Bank last year, entitled ‘ICT in Education in Central and West Asia’, the key theme that keeps appearing is how those nations under the spot light have far greater success with their community-based, educational ICT initiatives when a sustainable approach is used, prioritising (beyond initial investments) the additional on-going support and maintenance of  IT hardware, adequate ICT training to teachers and practitioners, and maintaining investment to ensure ‘kit’ is kept up-to-date with software updates and an adequate antivirus solution.

Under the heading ‘Budget and Financing’ and with particular reference to issues with on-going support, the report first looks at Kyrgyzstan:

‘…Among its recommendations, the study notes the urgent need for governments to adequately fund school ICT operational costs and avoid under-use, misuse, or even non-use of the hardware provided and the widespread waste of scarce investment resources.
In the Kyrgyz Republic, for example, 25%–30% of computers supplied to schools were non-operational when surveyed in 2008. Participating countries reported high levels of non-operational hardware, also a common finding in developing countries outside the region; in some cases, more than 50% of computers in surveyed schools were reported to be non-operational. This is usually caused by difficulties in affording, or even accessing, reliable maintenance services. Difficulties in accessing maintenance services tend to be greater in rural and remote areas and this also widens the domestic digital divide…’

Elsewhere, the report echoes the findings illustrated in the Eurasian.org article, particularly in relation to ICT education, both in terms of student assessment and of the education of teachers themselves to be better equipped to teach via ICT resources:

‘…Kazakhstan has a significant training requirement because of the high level of subject-based activity in e-course materials development and the sophisticated hardware profiles of some schools specified by the Ministry of Education. Kazakhstan recognizes that its advanced ICT activity means that its training requirements are more complex and need to be upgraded, intensified, and widened as rapidly as possible.
This means that teachers need to be trained in ICT use on a subject basis using basic teaching and learning methodologies…’

In contrast, with reference to student assessments:

‘…Neither the Kyrgyz Republic nor Tajikistan has yet developed an approach to the assessment of ICT on student performance across subjects and has no effective monitoring of ICT use in schools.
Kazakhstan is confident of the beneficial impact of ICT, both in informatics and across curriculum subjects, and has produced case studies of innovative approaches after intensive research into ICT use and impact in the classroom…’

The report goes on to mention a fundamental factor that seems to appear throughout the region, particularly in more rural areas, and that is the lack of a reliable power supply, especially in school environments. A town or community may be hooked up to the national power grid, but this doesn’t guarantee that the schools there have continuous power available to them, uninterrupted, throughout the school day and beyond, which presents serious challenges when trying to maintain ICT infrastructure at a local level. In what little research material there is available, the power issue keeps coming up and is clearly a major hurdle to sustainable improvement and development of ICT in these areas.  

Another factor that appears to be resonating throughout the region and in particular with the least developed states is the dependence on NGO investment, rather than local government or commercial, in maintaining any real longevity for ICT community projects. This appears to be even more of an issue when extra staffing is required to fulfil ICT training and education requirements, which may not have been allowed for when planning the budgets at educational establishments in the region. It is fair to say that dependence on NGO’s for financial assistance is inevitable in developing nations throughout the world and particularly when maintaining ICT projects and initiatives, which may not be initially prioritised at a local level. But when those states are not as open to international assistance and support as other parts of the developing world, as appears to be the case in some of the more complex environments in Central Asia, NGO assistance may not be as abundant or as easy to access than with the more public and well-documented initiatives in many African and Latin American countries.

What is clear is that whilst the initial ideas and enthusiasm to provide communities with ICT training, education and the required resources is admirable and has been taken up with great zeal in many developing countries, if it isn’t backed up with the necessary on-going support, continued training and essential maintenance, the dream of closing the ‘digital divide’ soon fades. The net result is not only a low uptake in digital connectivity for the communities involved, but a huge waste of resources when the original investment in hardware and training comes to nothing. If the real goals and aims are to improve people’s lives and opportunities through embracing the digital age, then the support has to be there from day one and to stick around until it’s no longer needed.

Further Information on Source Material

EurasiaNet.org

EurasiaNet.org is a New York based website, providing information and analysis about political, economic, environmental and social developments in the countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus, as well as in Russia, Turkey, and Southwest Asia.
For more information, visit http://www.eurasianet.org/

Asian Development Bank
Some background information (from their website – www.adb.org)

‘Since its founding in 1966, ADB has been driven by an inspiration and dedication to improving people’s lives in Asia and the Pacific. By targeting our investments wisely, in partnership with our developing member countries and other stakeholders, we can alleviate poverty and help create a world in which everyone can share in the benefits of sustained and inclusive growth.’
For further information, visit: http://www.adb.org/

ICT for education in Iraq: In search of good news

In a recent announcement from the regional industry news website arabianindustry.com (and also featured on a number of other similar sites), we were told that a deal had been signed to bring the first LTE TDD (Long-Term Evolution Time-Division Duplex) network to Iraq, thus paving the way for 4G capability further down the line. The deal, signed between Tishknet, an Iraqi internet service provider, and the mobile communication giant Ericsson, breaks new ground in the region, bringing high speed mobile connections to Iraqi customers fortunate enough to have the necessary technology to utilise them.

Somewhat inevitably, the services are planned for launch in the Kurdistan region of north east Iraq, which has been a well-documented and celebrated success story compared to much of the country over the last ten years, in terms of its rapid progress in social and economic development. As a BBC article put it back in March of this year:

‘…In the troubled security and political landscape of Iraq, the autonomous northern province of Kurdistan has emerged in the past 10 years as an inspiring success story…’

As most people with an interest beyond general global news stories are aware, let alone those with a specific interest in the region, ‘…troubled security and political landscape…’ is putting it mildly in Iraq, and the success of the Kurdistan region, with its autonomy being initially gained in 1991 and a proud and determined history of self-determination and identity, is the exception to the rule.

So what of the progress in the rest of Iraq, not just in terms of the expansion of telecommunications, but in relation to greater access to ICT-related education, and the increase in opportunities that it can bring? Access to 4G is a ‘nice-to-have’, but is it really what people need, in a country that only five years ago had an unemployment rate of nearly 30% among young people up to the age of 24, and where the fear of violence and death is still an everyday concern for much of the population?  The number of those out of work has ‘improved’ since then, but many argue the improvement is as much down to people giving up looking for work and thus taking themselves out of the equation, because the lack of security and stability continues to make regular work an unsafe and unsustainable option. So, whilst personal security and the safety of their communities is still the primary concern for many Iraqis, it is understandable that specific concerns about education, both at school age and college level, and in terms of the focus of this blog (that is, the expansion of ICT through education and the opportunities and benefits that can bring), are not perhaps their top priority.

That is not to say that people don’t want them to be. Up to 1991, Iraq’s rich cultural history and oil wealth had provided for very high levels of literacy and educational attainment, and had it not been for several periods of civil war, unrest and oppressive crack downs by incumbent regimes (Saddam Hussein, for instance, banned internet access when it started to become widely available), many argue that the country would at least be on a par in terms of education and technological development with the other states in the region.

As it stands, after 2003 there was little infrastructure to support widespread internet access in the country, and those few individuals who had the knowledge and resources to gain access were having to rely on dial-up networks for some time until limited broadband services were put into place, largely through partnerships between government and foreign third-party providers. Added to this, the ruination of the education system resulted in a drought in the ICT educational skillset; first through years of repression which led to much of the academic community leaving the country due to security fears, or in the worse cases facing death or detention, and the subsequent wholesale destruction of educational buildings and infrastructure. As a result of the invasion in 2003 and the aftermath of violence that followed, many schools and educational establishments were destroyed, and with particular resonance here, thanks to the looting and lawlessness that followed the invasion, the vast majority of public-owned ICT resources were also lost.

In his speech to the Geneva International Centre for Justice earlier this year, Dirk Adriaensens summarised this bleak situation, which goes some way to explain why it is taking such a long time for Iraq to recover in this area:

‘…Iraq’s education system, once vaunted as the most advantaged in the region, has suffered a patterned process of degradation and dismantling. Iraqi schools and universities were bombed and destroyed. Under the occupation, according to a report by the United Nations University International Leadership Institute in Jordan, some 84% of Iraq’s institutions of higher education have been burned, looted, or destroyed. Some 2.000 laboratories need to be re-equipped and 30.000 computers need to be procured and installed nationwide….’

Progress and Initiatives

As suggested in the title of this post, good news stories about education, particularly in relation to ICT, are hard to come by when researching on Iraq, but some efforts have clearly been made in order to create an environment in which people can once again flourish and gain the skills they need to take advantage of the new opportunities that ICT can bring, in a safe and hopefully stable environment; and not just in the relatively prosperous region of Kurdistan.

UNESCO recognised the importance of ICT as being central to any modern educational curriculum, and a driver for social prosperity towards improving the lives of Iraqis and their communities. This understanding led to the setting up of the ICT in Education for Iraq project, which began in 2007 and was the first major initiative to try to tackle the problems the country faced in this area. Their awareness of these problems is expressed clearly on their website:

‘…The education system in Iraq, prior to 1991, was one of the best in the region. However, following Iraq’s wars and years of international sanctions, the education sector has suffered greatly. Moreover, the country’s ICT facilities and applications are very weak; most teachers have either very little or no ICT literacy at all, and thus are ill-suited to play their role to help create a new generation of ICT literate students. Delivering ICT in education system in Iraq will help overcome this problem by fostering greater ICT literacy among students, teachers, school principals, and Ministry of Education (MoE) staff. This renewal of Iraq’s educational system is vital because Iraqi youth will determine their country’s future…’

The site goes on to list the progress that has been made in achieving the goals that the project set out. In summary, these mainly consist of a considerable amount of training and development for Iraqi Ministry of Education staff and practitioners, as well as providing more trained teachers and the restructuring and remodelling of areas of the curriculum, so as to take advantage and gain experience from e-learning facilities and similar resources.

More detailed information can be found here: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/iraq-office/education/primary-and-secondary-education/ict-in-education/

The USA International Development Agency (USAID), perhaps for obvious reasons bearing in mind the country’s continued involvement in the country since the invasion in 2003, has also been heavily involved in various developmental and humanitarian efforts, and these have focussed in part on the improvement and rebuilding of the educational infrastructure. Under the banner ‘Ensuring Iraqi Communities Benefit from Local Oil Wealth’ USAID’s Yana Spasojevic documents the efforts made towards rebuilding through their assistance of local community action groups, in her blog post from April last year:

‘…USAID’s Community Action Program has fostered partnerships between Iraqi communities, local governments, and other stakeholders that have empowered over 160 community action groups to implement more than 630 projects focused at restoration of essential services in southern Iraq since 2008. Iraqi community groups have rebuilt schools, bridges, and roads, and have promoted entrepreneurship, the use of information technology, and sports. These efforts have benefitted and improved lives of over two million people in southern Iraq…’

The rest of the blog post can found here: http://blog.usaid.gov/2012/04/ensuring-iraqi-communities-benefit-from-local-oil-wealth/

There have been other initiatives, mainly by similar organisations (The British Council, for instance, have provided significant assistance to support existing initiatives in teacher training and school standards), but perhaps because of the complex and continuing high-risk security situation in the country, there is little to speak of in terms of positive, personal accounts at a local level of improvements in access to ICT education, or improved connectivity and digital infrastructure making a difference to people’s lives, the like of which I have focussed on elsewhere. This is a great pity, considering the once proud nation in terms of its cultural and educational sophistication that Iraq was.

What I hope is that like many of other locations I have ‘visited’ through this blog, I can look again at Iraq in the not too distance future, and refer to some real ‘good news’ stories, written by people on the ground who’s accounts show a country that has moved on enough from its civil strife to provide its people with freely available education in new and emerging technologies, that can help to improve their lives and those of their communities. Practical education, that can equip them with the ICT skills needed to open doors, develop home-grown solutions to the challenges the country faces, and take advantage of the opportunities that the world has to offer, in a safer, more secure environment.

Content is key: in developing countries, what is in the digital world is as important as having access to it

In the main, my previous posts have focussed on technological innovations and initiatives that have helped to promote greater communication and access to technology in the developing world, through the use of video, mobile devices and donated computer hardware and increased access to the web. I have also touched on some of the organisations who have worked tirelessly to teach, support and encourage the communities involved to embrace new technologies, whether it be internet-based or otherwise, in order to improve their lives, increase their opportunities and gain greater access to the world beyond their immediate environment.

What is clear is that whilst these themes – of providing those communities with the ‘kit’ and the ‘connections’ – in other words, the means of access – continue to be a major priority in improving the lives of many people, what is just as important is the content those initiatives are able to deliver, not just in terms of enriching, highly-relevant online experiences but above all, in providing access to essential, sometimes live-saving, information.

At last year’s B20 summit in Los Cabos, a platform with various social and commercial aims and objectives, the ‘ICT and Innovation Task Force’ came to some interesting conclusions and recommendations, going beyond the ‘Internet access for all’ mantra which has been heard with increased volume in relation to international development in recent times.

Under the banner of their second concluding recommendation – ‘Develop content and applications for the public good: social inclusion through ICT’ – they went on to elaborate with great precision on the importance of focussing on content as much as the means of access:

‘…Having access to government services, education, banking, and real-time information…improves and enables society as a whole. For the benefits to be fully realized it is important to provide access to the technologies and information necessary to develop local content and applications; provide access to traditional services for previously underserved population segments through ICT content and applications; and leverage ICT to create new economic opportunities for businesses and entrepreneurs…’
Carlos Slim Domit, Chairman Grupo Carso SA de CV, Mexico / Dan Reed. Corporate Vice President of Technology Police, Microsoft USA

What is interesting here is the focus not just on the content itself, but on enabling those in the communities concerned to develop the content themselves, through education and the provision of the required technology, thereby creating a potential win-win situation of local content ownership, greater content relevancy and ultimately greater opportunities for all those involved.

Digital content in Africa: From government information to mobile banking

Various agencies in South Africa, from NGOs to media news groups and the SA government themselves, have clearly seen the importance for some time of embracing the internet as a means of providing greater access to relevant content and information that serves to help the community. Channel Africa, part of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (who, in the spirit of appearing to focus on enriching the lives of people in SA, work under the slogan ‘Broadcasting for Total Citizen Empowerment’) are a radio station/provider with a broad selection of content ranging from information programmes to entertainment. It’s mission statement views it as the ‘voice of Africa’s Renaissance’ and that it ‘will endeavour in its programming ‘to reinforce Africa’s dignity, pride and sense of self-worth’. From a practical perspective, Channel Africa is available via shortwave radio, satellite broadcast and over the internet, thus embracing every means of current and new technology to ensure the widest access and availability possible.

Looking at the perhaps more mundane but essential side of content provision and from a governmental and social perspective, developers and content authors for the South Africa Government Services website have gone to great lengths to ensure that they provide the population with as much useful and relevant content as possible, through a well-organised, clearly defined web portal from which information on a huge range of subjects can be quickly obtained or downloaded. It is a good example of a well thought out website that has been planned with the user in mind.

Online banking services, the like of which are taken for granted in many parts of the world, are an emerging concept in many African countries, but are an important area in terms of online services provision, and ensuring that African communities are able to benefit from e-commerce facilities, not just in terms of online purchasing but also by providing a more secure means of transferring funds than some traditional methods. As has been discussed on this blog and elsewhere, many African nations lack a wired infrastructure capable of maintaining fast and efficient broadband services, depending instead on mobile connectivity in order to gain access to limited internet services. To get around this in the provision of ‘e-banking’, some of those countries affected have turned to SIM-based technology provided by mobile telecommunications suppliers, who have in turn created partnerships with banking service providers to provide and end-to-end service to consumers.

A good example of this has been supplied with the help Gemalto, the global digital security provider, to MTN Mobile in Uganda. The article on the Gemalto website provides more detailed information on their solution, but in essence they assisted the MTN in offering users a nationwide mobile payment facility that makes mobile payment ‘…accessible to the great majority of people, even if they do not have a banking relationship…’.

The article goes on to describe the kinds of services that the facility can assist with:

‘…The Gemalto-supplied solution provides a secure, convenient and affordable means for MTN Uganda subscribers to carry out peer-to-peer fund transfer using their mobile phone. An easy-to-navigate menu enables consumers to send and receive money, buy airtime, withdraw cash from a local retailer, with the security provided by the SIM card. Since the SIM card is the only application platform working with 100% of handsets, subscribers can perform m-payment transactions using any type of mobile phone, which means the service is immediately available to all….’

Like many other aspects of the emergence of digital technology in the developing world, and not just in Africa, content clearly is key. Whilst it is easy to get excited by the various online shopping sites – some have suggested mere clones of Amazon – Kalahari in SA, Jumia in Nigeria, to name but two) that are becoming more widespread, it is important that there remains a focus on providing more of the basic but essential services – whether its banking, access to local and governmental information, news media, communication – that are part of everyday ‘digital’ life in other parts of the world, but in some cases are far more important and essential to those in the more disparate and marginalised communities of the developing world.

Looking back on a previous post, The service provided by FrontlineSMS, in providing the means to communities to deliver vital, life-saving content by way of public health information messages – simple SMS messages, but content none the less – is an example to us all who are fortunate enough to work in digital technology that it is how connectivity is applied – in other words, what it is that is actually being communicated or provided – that is what makes that connectivity, whether its mobile, internet, or broadcast – have real value to it’s audience.

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Center for Digital Inclusion (CDI): Improving lives in marginalised communities through greater knowledge of ICT

Founded in 1995 by Rodrigo Baggio, the Center for Digital Inclusion or CDI has helped thousands of people improve their lives and shape their communities through greater access to computers and increased knowledge of IT, and the improvements in education, communication and social development that these resources can bring.

Describing themselves as pioneers of the ‘digital inclusion movement’, CDI are now a major global NGO, with a network of ‘Digital Inclusion Site’s’ throughout Latin America, and with several other sites in Europe and elsewhere. These sites take the form of schools of IT and related skills, and are situated both in low-income areas and within indigenous communities, as well as in clinics, hospitals and youth and adult detention facilities.

From its headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, CDI maintains its global operations with the support of other major benevolent organisations and plans to expand its reach towards the Middle East, North Africa and India in the future.

 The concept of Digital Inclusion

As information technology and communication (ICT) becomes increasingly an integral part of modern day life, the familiarity that people have with computers and their understanding of the internet and communicating online will inevitably have a greater bearing on the opportunities that are made available to them. For the majority of the worlds marginalised communities, particularly in the developing world, readily available access to the essentials of survival and life itself – a safe water supply, enough to eat, shelter from persecution, are the first priority. However, as these countries develop and find greater stability, and increasingly technology plays a greater part in their economic growth, an understanding and appreciation of ICT will become increasingly important; in other words, their level of digital inclusion. Inevitably people’s knowledge of ICT will have a bearing on social mobility and inclusion for all but the most isolated communities, providing greater employment opportunities, and enhancing the ability for individuals and the communities in which they live to communicate with the world beyond their boundaries and make themselves heard.

 CDI: their projects 

Largely based in Latin America, the schools and centres that CDI have set are up are based in the most vulnerable regions and communities, from the slums of Brazil’s cities to disparate indigenous communities in Columbia. Their ethos is to provide people not only with the equipment, but the know-how and appreciation to exploit the skills they develop and improve their lives in the modern world. They explain this with great clarity in their website:

‘…But technology, in itself, is just a tool. The true challenge is making technology relevant and useful in the context of marginalized populations. For 18 years CDI has empowered disadvantaged groups to use Information & Communication Technologies (ICTs) as tools to exercise their full capacities as citizens and tackle the issues that affect their communities…’

One of the organisation’s flagship projects that has been running for over ten years is based in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. Classrooms and computer labs have been set up, providing the local communities with invaluable training and experience not readily available to them from other sources, in an environment that is better known for the severe poverty and drug violence that was endemic in favela communities in the past. The centres aim to provide assistance and education of a sustainable nature, opening up greater opportunities for employment and self-sufficiency to the communities involved.

Sarah Lacy’s article from 2010 in the Tech Crunch website provides a vivid and interesting account of the project: http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/12/coming-up-from-the-favelas-brazils-slumdog-entrepreneurs/

For more information on the work of CDI, visit their website at: http://cdiglobal.org/

Participatory Video: communities tell their stories with a bit of help and a camera

When I began writing this blog, the intention was to focus on computing, be it mobile or static, and how, with the addition of some training and support, and (with a bit of luck) a readily available connection to the internet, it could change the lives of people and their communities in the developing world, in a sustainable, educational way.

Previous posts have looked at a range of different initiatives and innovations: The work of Computer Aid International, who supply computing hardware and expertise directly to schools, hospitals and NGO’s in the field; the power of e-Readers being harnessed for good in education thanks to the efforts of Worldreader, and the work of Frontline SMS in providing the means to organisations to be able to reach out and inform their communities through SMS text messages, accessible to anyone with a standard mobile phone.

In each of these instances, I’ve tried to approach the subject in hand in an ‘introductory’ manner, presenting the project or initiative in question as if to newcomers, and celebrating the efforts of the organisations concerned in such a way that is hopefully accessible not just to the ICT4Dev community, but to a much wider audience.

To this end, this post changes tack slightly, moving away from devices with keyboards and keypads and data, but still focussing on a tool that recent developments in technology have made more accessible and usable by just about anyone, than ever before: the (not so humble) video camera. In particular, I’m going to look at participatory video (PV), which whilst having been around as a concept for some time, has really began to emerge as a powerful tool for developing communities to use to engage and inform the outside world of the problems and issues they face, and therefore, hopefully, a tool for change.

For the uninitiated, and in basic ‘starter-kit’ terms, the concept of participatory video in action is when a group of people or community are given the means and training to produce their own video, the idea being that video as a medium is very accessible and gives rapid results that can be used to deliver and present the message a community are trying to convey.

Participatory video enables the groups involved to engage with the outside world; to present their story – their ‘version of events’ – that can be easily distributed globally and cheaply via the internet, thus empowering them to be able to communicate directly as ‘themselves’ to organisations and individuals beyond their community, in a positive and constructive way. By its nature, the process itself of producing the videos can have a powerfully collaborative effect on the people involved, bringing them together as they learn to use the equipment, apply the skills they’ve learnt through training, and produce their film, that can document, record and ultimately address the challenges they confront in everyday life.

There are many different practitioners and organisations that are utilising this simple yet powerful tool, to assist in bringing the stories of disparate and marginalised communities out into the open. InsightShare stand out as leaders in this field, and from the research I have carried out, appear to have taken it to a different level in terms of the variety of projects they have assisted with and the global reach of their expertise. Taking a consultative as well as hands-on approach and in many different countries and environments, they have advised a range of international development agencies, NGO’s and research institutions on PV methodology.

The About Us page of their website, under the heading ‘Our Work’, puts it very succinctly, explaining what their work demonstrates and what their core aims are:

“Our work…

–       Aims to go beyond developing local participation to achieve full local ownership;

–       Has a strong focus on the Participatory Video process going on behind the technology & its ability to strengthen and support other participatory development processes;

–       Shows a unique combination of technical and facilitation skills, combines media and technology with participatory approaches and community engagement;

–       Develops and improves PV tools constantly to enhance the design, set up and implementation of projects;

–       Builds power for local users, involves people, give NGOs the tools to do this…”

Two of the recent projects involving InsightShare’s practitioners and expertise are the Women’s Access to Justice workshop in Chiang Mai, Thailand in August 2013, and a scoping and partnership building visit to the Isiolo and Marsabit counties of northern Kenya, with a view to further training and support to assist the local communities in PV.

Whilst these projects differ greatly in their nature or the environment in which they’re based, it would seem that the core aims of PV, in giving those involved a voice and a chance to be heard beyond the boundaries of their own communities, are strongly present in both.

For more information on the work of InsightShare, visit their website at: www.insightshare.org

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Mobile tech making a difference: learning to read and public health awareness

My last post looked at the importance of prioritising basic IT hardware provision, as much as focussing on the grander, long-term schemes being proposed to provide internet connectivity ‘to all’, such as internet.org and Loon. It goes without saying that the provision of computers and the necessary training and expertise in the schools, colleges and hospitals of developing nations is vital, if those institutions are to fully embrace the digital revolution that the global visionaries mentioned above hope to achieve.

This time around it’s all about mobile technology in developing countries, where the advances and developments that have been made over a relatively short period have been very impressive. Again, referencing my last post, the provision of hardware with these mobile solutions is just as important, and in the two examples I’ve featured here, either the hardware is provided, or the technology involved harnesses the power of the device that’s already in many people’s pockets – the standard mobile phone.

I’ve deliberately picked two very different examples in terms of their aims and approach, and there have been many other varied initiatives in this area, all with their own merits, successes and inevitable issues and challenges in terms of what they hoped to achieve, and how they’ve faired over time.

The two initiatives I’ve focussed on have had a huge impact on the communities they’ve helped and in very different ways, but there is a common theme of connecting disparate, hard-to-reach communities that without the resources these initiatives provide, would be less connected and less able to tackle the basic challenges of life, through greater access to healthcare information, and real, practical educational resources.

Worldreader – ‘Books for all’

Worldreader, a US-based global non-profit organisation, aim to provide widespread access to digital books to children, their families and communities with the aim of improving the lives of potentially millions of people. According to their website, (http://www.worldreader.org/what-we-do/) as of June 2013 they have:

‘…put over 662,008 e-books – and the life-changing, power-creating ideas contained within them – into the hands of 4,300 children in sub-Saharan Africa. Those children now read more, read better, and are improving their communities…’.

There are numerous stories and articles on the web about the successes of Worldreaders’ projects, and how they have had a major, positive impact on education and improved literacy for many people through the provision of reading material via e-readers. What made them stand out for me was in a reference to their Africa programs, where it was noted that Worldreader have made a point of ensuring that many of the books they provide are from African publishers and authors. This clearly has obvious benefits, in that students can engage more easily with content that is familiar to them, and schools are able to use local textbooks that are more relevant and accessible to students and teachers alike. It also seems to be a sensible, ethical approach, to be promoting the work of local authors and publishers, as well as providing access to international books when needed.

For an interesting local insight into one of WorldReader’s recent projects, see a recent blog post from Worldreader’s own blog, on their work at the Dwankhozi Primary School in Zambia: http://www.worldreader.org/blog/new-country-new-project-empowering-zambian-children-with-books/

For more general information on Worldreader, visit their main website at: http://www.worldreader.org/

Frontline SMS

Frontline SMS has been around for a while now, with its first prototype product being launched in 2005, but it’s still worth highlighting as one of the great innovations in truly global mobile communications that has been used so effectively in the developing world, to make a positive difference to people’s lives and the communities in which they live.

The Frontline SMS software is freely available and was developed to give communities and organisations the ability to have two-way connectivity and group text-messaging services in locations without reliable internet access, via standard mobile phone networks. Whilst the service has developed over the years to harness further developments, such as web portals and most recently cloud technology, the principles behind the initiative remain the same.

One example of Frontline SMS in action is with a current project in Kenya, where a combined effort between local communities and Kenyan journalists through the International Media Support organisation (www.i-m-s.dk) is aiming to utilise Frontline SMS services to raise awareness and build up a knowledge base on diabetes in Kenya. In an article on the initiative, Laura Walker Hudson, CEO of Social Impact Lab Foundation who developed Frontline SMS, puts it simply:

“…New technology makes life saving information available for patients and next of kin with limited access to media. Social media and crowd-sourced media are moving the standards and Frontline SMS has been instrumental in using their 2.0 platform to bring a voice to thousands of diabetes affected Kenyans…”

The whole article can be viewed here:
http://www.frontlinesms.com/2013/09/19/a-mobile-phone-text-messaging-service-and-a-new-webportal-are-bridging-the-information-gap-on-diabetes-in-kenya-where-the-disease-annually-kills-more-people-than-hivaids/

The Frontline SMS software is free to download and use. The text messages themselves are the only cost, so the system provides an extremely affordable way of reaching a wider audience when other means of digital connectivity are not readily available. The service has proved invaluable, particularly in communicating messages on public health issues and gathering information from patients and their communities, as can be seen above.

For more information on Frontline SMS, visit their website at: http://www.frontlinesms.com/

Internet.org, balloons and practical solutions

Whilst conducting a bit of casual research on the recent announcements regarding internet.org, and the trend towards promoting – in this case led by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg – an increase in cheap (or free), easily available internet access in the developing world, I came across a story concerning Computer Aid International and their recent work in Liberia.
According to the article, (http://www.computeraid.org/news-detail.asp?ID=254) although young people account for 65% of Liberia’s 3.5 million, research shows that this section of the population ‘…are mostly unskilled and uneducated therefore reducing their chances of employment.’ The article continues, explaining how ‘…those who graduate from high school or university are disadvantaged on the job market or in further studies due to a lack of access, use of or knowledge of information and communication technologies…’.

Now there’s been a degree of scepticism in response to the internet.org initiative, and others like it, some of which is arguably understandable. Some view the scheme as a self-serving project dressed up as global altruism, when the ultimate end game is to extend the reach of Facebook and its partner’s products into new, emerging and yet to emerge markets. Judging by the tone of a white paper published to coincide with the initiative’s launch – Is Connectivity a Human Right? – even Mark Zuckenberg appears to realise that however outwardly well-meaning the initiative is, it will be met with suspicion by many observers. The paper goes some way towards expanding the ideas and motivations behind internet.org, yet at times appears overly simplistic and almost naïve on the fundamental issues and challenges in the developing world:

‘…Today, only 2.7 billion people — a little more than one third of the world’s population — have internet access. Even more surprising, internet adoption is growing by less than 9% each year, which is slow considering how early we are in its development and that it is expected to slow further…’

Is it really that surprising? For the majority of people in the poorest nations of the world, the basic human requirements for survival of having enough food, a safe water supply and proper healthcare are still bound to appear higher up their list of priorities than whether or not they have internet access. Bill Gates was very straight forward on this, when asked in an interview with Business Week (http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-08-08/bill-gates-on-his-foundations-health-and-education-campaigns#p1 ) for his opinion on Google’s ideas to provide internet access to less developed nations via a series of balloons with transmitters (Project Loon):

‘…When you’re dying of malaria, I suppose you’ll look up and see that balloon, and I’m not sure how it’ll help you. When a kid gets diarrhoea, no, there’s no website that relieves that. Certainly I’m a huge believer in the digital revolution. And connecting up primary-health-care centers, connecting up schools, those are good things. But no, those are not, for the really low-income countries, unless you directly say we’re going to do something about malaria…’

Whether or not Internet.org, Project Loon or whatever other well-meaning initiatives that come to the fore are successful, it seems that to start with a simple, practical approach towards increasing access to IT in the developing world, as demonstrated by the likes of Computer Aid International, not only achieves immediate tangible benefits (particularly in healthcare) but also goes much further than merely providing a means of connectivity. Computer Aid distribute donated IT equipment to hospitals, universities, schools and not-for-profit organisations in over 100 developing countries. In the project based in Liberia, for example – one of many – they provided 200 refurbished computers to the YMCA Computer Training Centre in Monrovia, providing invaluable IT training so that those students who are lucky enough to get a basic education are then able to move forward with the advantages of having had training in information technology.

Surely this kind of direct approach, tackling a lack of IT resources at a local level (which as well as the more immediate benefits, ultimately promotes digital connectivity) needs to be applauded and encouraged, and one which will inevitably promote the causes of the likes internet.org where it’s needed most, in providing real benefits to the communities involved.

Note:
Computer Aid International is a UK-registered ICT for development charity which aims to reduce poverty through practical ICT solutions. For more information visit http://www.computeraid.org