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ICT4D

ICT for Development

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20 Apr 2012

“The example of Wikipedia gives us a taste of how we will likely generate our knowledge in the future: Radically different from the last 500 years, with an entirely new form of global networking and cooperation in areas such as culture, education, technology and business. The Internet plays a central role in this new form of knowledge generation. Anyone with access to the Internet, and who has language skills, can join the discussion on specific issues, plan, swap ideas and get together with like-minded people. Such “open models” of global knowledge co-operation and open innovation hold tremendous opportunities for development cooperation. ”

For more on how ICTs and the Internet can be drivers of open knowledge co-operation and a global knowledge commons , please check the following compilation of articles by GIZ Global Connect, which provides concrete examples and models such as energypedia and ict@innovation. The  reporting was just released in three languages:

- English: Global Knowledge Sharing – “The Wisdom of Crowds”
- Spanish:  La cooperación global en conocimientos como “la sabiduría de muchos”
- German:  Globale Wissenskooperationen als „Die Weisheit der Vielen”

One word on ‘GIZ global connect’. This service addresses participants,  alumni and partners of GIZ  capacity development programmes. The website provides the GIZ community with information on alumni events, follow-up seminars, news, expert chats, network features, and a large community function enabling peer-to-peer networking though social networking tools. To join the community, check the registration info.

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Posted by Balthas Seibold

12 Apr 2012

An Inter-American Development Bank Working Paper (if you encounter difficulties in opening the document after clicking on the link, please simply copy the link address into a new browser window and hit enter)  reports results of an evaluation of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative in Peru.

“Although many countries are aggressively implementing the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) program, there is a lack of empirical evidence on its effects. This paper presents the impact of the first large-scale randomized evaluation of the OLPC program, using data collected after 15 months of implementation in 319 primary schools in rural Peru. The results indicate that the program increased the ratio of computers per student from 0.12 to 1.18 in treatment schools. This expansion in access translated into substantial increases in use both at school and at home. No evidence is found of effects on enrollment and test scores in Math and Language. Some positive effects are found, however, in general cognitive skills as measured by Raven’s Progressive Matrices, a verbal fluency test and a Coding test.”

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Posted by Anja Kiefer

13 Mar 2012

Last week, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)  announced a new LPI certification and training project throughout the 22 countries in the League of Arab States.

This is certainly good news for ICT capacity building in general and even more interesting for the community of ict@innovation, which has been building training capacities around Linux Administration in Africa since 4 years. It looks like there is a lot to share between the pan-African community of 200+ Linux Admin trainers of ict@innovation and the new Linux training partnership in the Arab world. According to the Linux Professional Institute (LPI), which is partnering with ITU in the Arab region, the new programme aims at establishing 132 Linux “Train the trainer” centers on all three levels of Linux professional Institute Certification.

More information on ict@innovations’ African Linux training community: http://www.ict-innovation.fossfa.net/blp

More information on the initiative of ITU and LPI in the Arab world:
http://academy.itu.int/news/item/679/

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Posted by Balthas Seibold

08 Mar 2012

The German Government via its Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) released a call to fund research partnerships between German Research institutions and partners in Subsaharan Africa. One of the main goals is to build  African ICT study courses and to fund exploratory measures / pilot measures in  “Applied information and communication technologies (ICT)”  via German-African research partnerships.

If you are a German institution and looking for educational partners in Africa for the call, please check the network “ict@innovation – Creating Business and Learning Opportunities with Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in Africa”. Through this African expert network, you will have access to over 500 ICT multiplier all over Africa, which work at universities, training institutions and other educational institutions as well as the business community.

[Read more →]

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Posted by Balthas Seibold

07 Mar 2012

In December, Digital Development Debates published its 6th issue, this time focusing on innovation. Among others, one article talks about the benefits of mobile phones in India: “The Value of Information: Mobile Technology Helps Micro-entrepreneurs”.  You can read or comment on it by going to the Digital Development Debates website.

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Posted by Anja Kiefer

06 Mar 2012

GIZ contributes by its programme ict@innovation to the 5th African Conference on FOSS and the Digital Commons (Idlelo 5) as an integral part of the cooperation with FOSSFA and a contribution to the development of ICT in Africa. As such we will be hosting several sessions including workshops on community empowerment, African FOSS business models, a bootcamp on Linux system administration (together with Linux Professional Institute of Nigeria) as well as an award for “The Best FOSS Business Innovation in Africa”.

[Read more →]

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Posted by Petra Hagemann

13 Feb 2012

Interesting news from Vietnam:  Mr Vu The Binh, a long-standing GIZ partner and Alumnus is co-founder of a new non-profit, non-govermental organization for the Vietnamese FOSS community, called VFOSSA (Vietnam FOSS Asscociation, http://vfossa.vn/). VFOSSA is engaged in international cooperation programmes and work in Vietnam. For more information on some of GIZ’s capacity building action in Southeast Asia in the past years, see http://www.it-foss.org

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Posted by Balthas Seibold

08 Dec 2011

Special Session of the 32nd International Geographical Congress IGC2012: Information and communication technologies for development and human well-being: perspectives from six continents.

The IGC is the global conference for geographers worldwide, and Germany is host country in 2012. We, the UNESCO Chair/Centre in ICT4D at Royal Holloway, University of London and Mark Wilson from Michigan State University are organising an ICT4D session and would welcome abstracts/papers from colleagues (academics and practitioners from all different disciplines) working on ICTs, development and well-being, in the global South and/or the global North. The deadline for abstracts is Jan 8, so please send them in soon.    

The full Call for Papers has been posted here:

http://www.e-agriculture.org/events/32nd-international-geographical-congress-igc2012

If you want to submit a paper please submit an abstract of up to 250 words to Dorothea Kleine (dorothea.kleine@rhul.ac.uk) and Mark Wilson (wilsonmm@msu.edu) and/or the online registration form at www.igc2012.org by 8th January 2012.

1 comment

Posted by Dorothea Kleine

16 Nov 2011

The Sector Project ICT4D on behalf of BMZ and with the support of GIZ’s ict@innovation team has just released it’s IT Sector Promotion Toolbox. The Toolbox, together with its explanatory Manual, introduces a methodology and a set of practical tools to promote the IT industry in developing and emerging countries. Relying on German Development Cooperation’s instruments and project experience, the Manual and the Toolbox provide a strategic “roadmap” for IT sector promotion which can be flexibly adapted to accommodate future changes in resources, global markets and technologies. They have primarily been designed for the staff of ministries and agencies involved in economic development, for managers and staff members of IT clusters, associations, networks, communities of practice and chambers of commerce. They should serve as orientation for staff of donor organisations involved in private sector development, economic development, and employment promotion as well as in information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D)/development informatics. 

The Manual and the Toolbox could be found on the “IT Sector Promotion Tools” page of this blog.

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Posted by Pierre Lucante

07 Oct 2011

The programme ict@innovation of GIZ and FOSSFA  is proud to announce the first regional Training of Trainers on “Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) Business Models” in Western Africa to be held in Abuja, Nigeria, from October 24 to November 4, 2011. This Training of Trainers is designed to enable interested people, institutions and businesses to act as trainers on the subject of building a business with Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). It follows-up on a series of training programmes in Southern and East Africa, which have formed the “African FOSS Business Models (FBT) community” of http://www.ict-innovation.fossfa.net/.

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Posted by Balthas Seibold

21 Sep 2011

From 25 September to 6 October 2011 Katalyst and e-Agriculture will organize a new online forum to discuss the challenges of linking impact with the use of ICTs in agriculture. This forum will discuss the present practices and critical issues (regarding both implementation and monitoring) of ICT initiatives in agriculture.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is an emerging area focusing on the enhancement of the agricultural and rural development. Many farmers and rural entrepreneurs generally lack access to accurate and timely information on markets, production processes, crops and livestock disease; as well as access to services such as land registrations, permits, government regulation forms, and internet.

In the past few years, ICT initiatives in agriculture have proliferated and the resources devoted to ICT in development portfolios have expanded in the hope that ICT can help developing countries reach the Millennium Development Goals. Yet, rigorous field-tested knowledge about “what works and why” have been relatively scarce, as well as a deeper understanding of the enabling conditions and success factors in ICT for development initiatives.

[Read more →]

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Posted by Anja Kiefer

14 Sep 2011

Deutsche Welle Akademie and the “Forum Medien und Entwicklung” (FoME) sincerely invite you to the 6th FoME-Symposium October 25th – 26th 2011 Deutsche Welle, Bonn, Germany

The role of Internet communication for social and political change has taken on a new dimension. Never before has the
impact of digital and social media been discussed so widely as in the context of current social movements like the Arab
Spring, where Internet based communication provided an outlet for voices unheard by the state controlled media systems. The FoME 2011 Symposium will address the question, how the “digital” is changing the production, distribution and consumption of media and it’s potential to contribute to the development of free and independent media in developing countries.

[Read more →]

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Posted by Geraldine de Bastion

02 Sep 2011

It is time to take the debate on aid transparency and open data in Germany a step further – from the 28th – 29th of September IT and development experts will gather at the Heinrich Böll Stiftung in Berlin to discuss how open data can promote transparent and effective aid – and you are invited to join!

Aid Transparency will be topping the agenda at the High Level Meeting on Aid Effectiveness in Busan and most donors, NGOs and partner countries agree that transparency is important. But what exactly do we mean by transparency? Currently there are very diverse opinions as to the extent and the form of information bilateral donors and NGOs should publish. While major donors like the Worldbank, the EC, Sweden and the British Department for International Development call for the publication of standardised and open data through the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) others are questioning how more data will lead to a substantial improvement of aid effectiveness or how the IATI standard applies to NGOs.

[Read more →]

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Posted by Geraldine de Bastion

28 Jul 2011

Today, we have published this summer issue of the ict4d Newsletter, including:

Take a look!

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Posted by Benjamin Barutzki

12 Jul 2011

In Turin there were be invited by GIZ and ITC/ILO 17 people coming from Latin America, Asia, Africa and Europe. They came together to learn more about Open ECBCheck certification procedure which includes the self assessment and later the peer reviewing. At the end of the year they want to review at least 5 courses or programmes.

Open ECBCheck is a global initiative consisting of UN agencies (e.g. FAO, UNITAR, ITC/ILO) and other international capacity building initiatives (e.g. IICD, EFQUEL) and has been started 3 years ago by GIZ and EFQUEL. An international community has been created during that time, which agrees nowadays on a quality standard and criteria. The common interest is to “harmonize efforts of standards” and to “be divers” as well to be “inclusive” through a shared framework. For more and more leaders in educational organizations, professionals and developers of learning materials, authors or curriculum designers quality of ICT enhanced learning is an issue. Open ECBCheck is providing a toolset for developing and checking quality of programs and courses.

For further Information download the PDF version or contact Monika Soddemann (GIZ Senior Project Manager at the E-Learning Center).

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Posted by Benjamin Barutzki

01 Jun 2011

The annual “Trends in Telecommunication Reform” publications are key part of ITU’s effort to explore and amplify the wisdom of policy-makers and regulators in the ICT sector.
The 11th edition examines the challenges for regulators to stimulate nationwide broadband deployments through adaptive and targeted regulations and out-of-the-box tools, leading to a new ladder of regulation. With this regard, it is very important for regulators to understand the impact of broadband on and beyond the ICT sector as well as the driving forces of today’s and tomorrow’s ICT markets, notably the migration from analogue to digital terrestrial broadcasting and the allocation of the digital dividend. For markets to truly thrive, regulators need to prove successful in keeping up with the pace of convergence and integration of ubiquitous networks, in particular through adapting their institutional structure and mandate, adopting cutting-edge best practices and embracing new tools such as innovative dispute resolution techniques.

Further information and downloads can be found here.

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Posted by Thorsten Scherf

17 May 2011

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) is showcasing a number of its capacity building products at the upcoming „eLearning Africa – 6th international conference on ICT for development, education and training”. The three-day gathering of African e-learning and ICT4D experts will take place in Dar Es Salaam on May 25 to 27.

With GIZ, ICT experts and decision makers can a) learn how to join the GIZ E-Academy b) learn how to free an IT-Business in Africa through Open Source c) learn how to do an OpenECBcheck evaluating the quality of an e-learning programme, or d) learn how to become a proctor of Linux Administration Certification. In addition, the GIZ stand at the main exhibition of eLearning Africa will provide a platform for networking with programmes of German development cooperation in the area of health, statistics, decentralization, e-learning and ICT for business development. Overall, GIZ’s presence and action at e-learning Africa is geared towards leveraging the power of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and e-learning for sustainable development through human capacity building.

For details and detailed information on the GIZ programme at eLearning Africa 2011 see here:

http://www.ict-innovation.fossfa.net/files/overview_GIZ_actions_at_eLearning_Africa_2011.pdf

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Posted by Petra Hagemann

29 Apr 2011

We have recently published the new issue of the ict4d-Newsletter, including:

Enjoy!

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Posted by Benjamin Barutzki

29 Apr 2011

Digital technology is changing the ways in which we relate to ourselves, each other and to the world. The forum series hosted by Ethiopia’s brand new technology innovation hub – iceAddis – is centered around the topics of modern, web-based and mobile technologies for communication and collaboration. Social technologies are gaining momentum in the private sector, education, disaster-management, etc and are increasingly becoming drivers of innovation all over Africa, with immense economic potential also for Ethiopia.
This Digital Identities Forum is a monthly event connecting developers and technology enthusiasts in Ethiopia in order to create synergies and accelearate the speed of technology development.
The second Digital Identities event took place on April 2nd and have been focusing on the use of Wikis for Grassroots eLearning (presented by Michael Markert, Bauhaus University/Germany & Seble Lemma EiABC, Ethiopia) and the use of cell phones for epidemiological data collection in Ethiopia (presented by Araya A Medhanyie, Mekele University/Ethiopia.
The iceAddis innovation hub is a platform created by EiABC, AAiT, the Digital Opportunity Trust, the Center for Creative Leadership and the engineering capacity building program of GiZ.
For more information visit: ice-ethiopia.org
or mail to Jörn Schultz <joern.schultz@gmx.de>, Marton Kocsev <marton.kocsev@giz.de>

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Posted by Marton Kocsev

30 Mar 2011

Is there any place where we can collect basic information about the available programs related to ICT4D?

I think this would be a very helpful tool, especially while we talk to industry trying to convince them to start getting active…

Most aspects of ICT4D, may be with the only exception of pure infrastructure projects, are highly innovative and thus tools that are widely used in the R&D area might be very helpful to identify programs, search for partners etc.

This would also be a nice extension for this site.

cheers

dirk

3 comments

Posted by Dirk Elias