Policy, poverty, and technology

Thanks for this interesting article Nora the frustrating and precarious situation faced by residents without access to clean water is complex and impacts on community health, economic development and sustainability. I recently saw a statistics published that in Africa women spend a collective 16million hours a day in the hunt for water. The use of innovative pay-for-water services is increasing in a number of communities and this particular tech approach is interesting but as you point out presents a challenge to residents who now pay for a service that used to be free. Implementing a technological solution such as this should be complimented by some sort of community outreach that provides information on the incentives to clean water that paying creates. In addition, many social projects of this nature fail because they neglect to account for the dynamics of ownership. The question of where the money goes is a valid one and social divisions should not be increased because those perceived as benefiting [the kiosk operator] may be the target of resentment as a result. At the end of the day everyone still needs access to water and finding sustainable and realistic delivery mechanisms is critical, however once the LWB pipes to the area, won't this innovation become obsolete?

Carlin, this article was really interesting and highlighted a unique approach to providing integrated services to individuals living in slum areas. The dynamic factors that affect livelihoods are can to often be overlooked in planning infrastructure and connectivity projects and it is important to see clear examples where these factors are taken into account. It appears due to their continuing scale-up that Seleco Foudnation's Urban Community Lab is able to address a complex challenge faced by slum dwellers while also providing critical services and education opportunities. Great piece

Widya you bring up a really important point in your article that of political will. Through transparency initiatives are widespread many face significant road blocks due to lack of community buy in and lack of political will. Particularly when working to increase the effectiveness of services the willingness of public officials to be open and responsive to feedback can have a positive impact on bringing citizens into the conversation on governance. This undoubtedly also has distinct benefits on service delivery as a more informed and realistic picture of community needs and preferences increases the efficacy of service provisions. It is encouraging to see that in in Surabaya these approaches are proving useful in developing sustainable and inclusive cities.

It is very interesting to read on how communities are able to utilize technology for improving their live and increasing their political participation as can be seen from Indonesia and Mexico case. Those are interest me because there is an action by government and community reacts to those policies. Improving political participation is difficult and took a long time for the process of increasing awareness on how participation can actually transform their live, but of course it has to be supported by strong political will from government. However I am curious about sustainability of several projects such as Water Missions that I think is very promising but apparently they haven’t made a strategic cooperation to support their work, or is it because political situation that prevent water mission goes further?

Jorge is also present an interesting case as it is also similar to Indonesia, but I think my country is a little bit lack of plan in implementing it and forget about the fact that providing tablet should come with the connection and educational program within the tablet, and also they do not involve private in the process. If I can ask Jorge, how long did the plan it and who is reviewing the plan and as much as I am happy that this program tough many schools and children, what is the biggest challenge this program face besides your question about sustainability after the program ends?

Carlin, I like how you've highlighted technology and disability in your piece this month. The massive increase in the number of disabled people in India however seems a bit over the top. Do you think it's possible that it's a result of better data collection techniques or perhaps a sign of more disabled people out in the public (vs e.g. locked up in their homes by family members) as opposed to an actual increase? And if it is an actual increase, why?

Very interesting human development aspects to technology highlighted in Johannesburg and Mumbai.

It is very interesting to see the multifaceted impact of technology. I have to agree with Tariq often the concept of technology and its use is parochial. More often than not, its revolves around innovation that is exclusive in its use (e.g Google glass, apple mosquito killing ac's etc). The rethaka innovation demonstrates technology in an inclusive manner. Also fascinating is how increasing hub spaces are springing up across the developing south for both entrerpenurial and social innovation purposes. The CChub hub for instance have been able to contribute to the upcoming Nigerian election, by creating an online platform making voting polls and registration information easy in support of the electoral body.

Using technology for more than commercial gain holds a lot of promise and as Tariq noted, this lies in expanding the scope and concept of technology.

Hi Olatawura, the CcHUB is a purely private initiative, or is it a public-private partnership? You do mention that it is supported by several private companies, but I wonder if it also gets some public support.

Hi Maria,
Great article. I have a question on Yo Propongo.. Does this initiative cover only the Mexico city- the capital only- or it expanded to other underprivileged villages and towns in the country. Also, are there specific statistics indicate the development and the impact of this initiative in terms of increment of actual participation and gender diversity?
Thanks a lot for the great information.

Olatawura, I enjoyed your article on hack spaces and tech hubs in Nigeria. Kenya and Nigeria are great examples of regional leaders working to promote these collaborative tech environments that have been popping up all over the world. I find the CcHUB example especially inspiring because they explicitly focus on high-impact social technologies. Like Jorge I am interested in their public support and how they leverage the private donations/funding to reinvest in the companies and initiatives they incubate?

Priyanka, this article was great touching on a critical maternal and child health as well as a number of cross-cutting gender issues that affect quality of care, access to information and continuum of care. The eNRICH application is a tool that can be applied across a number of sectors as well and is a good learning example for organizations and communities looking to increase access to traditional and indigenous knowledge, something that has been a a priority in many communities in Kenya especially as the loss of languages continue. Also the Tracking system is really revolutionary for targeting an under-serviced demographic and also increasing the importance of midwives and other health care workers that have been shown to have a direct positive impact on reducing maternal mortality and child/infant mortality. I really enjoyed your article!

Hi Jorge,
It makes total sense and seems very right that the (huge amount of) money moved by cellular/ internet operators is directly invested in digital inclusion, doesn't? Digital inclusion is fundamental to the promotion of social development and to overcome the poverty framework that large part of the population still faces. I was curious: was the donation of the equipment part of the deal with the government, was it in the contract, or came from a parallel initiative?

You pointed out something very important in your article: the role of education, the engagement of the educational community. Digital inclusion is not synonymous with social inclusion. In Brazil, for example, 166 million people already have web access (which means that about 30 million still don't), but the network is significantly underutilized, because people don't know how to do it, because of the lack in guidance and educational improvement. Giving access to the Internet is fundamental, but equally are the programs that inform how people can use it to improve their lives, that show how it can be useful. Technology and education need always to run together, otherwise the results should be innocuous – that's why Tita's programm is indispensable.