Back in 2003, Fauna & Flora International (FFI) received a grant from the Vodafone Group Foundation to explore the potential for mobile technologies in global conservation. This one-year project had two key objectives. Phase One investigated ways in which mobile technology could be used in 'developed' markets to help promote, and raise funds for, global conservation. This resulted in the launch of wildlive! several months later.

Phase Two was field-based research carried out to examine the potential for mobile phones and other ICTs to help conservation and development on the ground in developing countries. In 2004 this project received funding in its own right and became t4cd - "Technologies for Conservation and Development".

kiwanja.net acted as Technical Advisor during Phase One of the project, providing a range of technical services and support before, during and after launch. Additional input was provided in Phase Two, including support during numerous field visits and in negotiations with a range of corporate partners.

t4cd is a joint initiative between FFI and South African-based ResourceAfrica.

Background

It has long been recognised that technology has a very clear role to play in global conservation and development, but many fieldworkers and practitioners lack either the time, knowledge or expertise to identify, trial and implement them alone. At the same time a wide range of ICT companies develop products which, with a little lateral thinking, could be prime tools in conservation and community development work. However, the non-profit 'market' is rarely on their radar. One key objective of t4cd is to join the dots - create a forum where need can meet opportunity.

For example, in February 2005 a conference was held in Johannesburg, South Africa which brought together a range of conservation and development projects with a common ICT theme. The 't4cd ICT Conservation Resource' (pictured) was showcased at the conference.

Several months in the making, this CD brought together - for the first time - information on a wide range of ICT-related projects, grant making bodies, training programmes and actual technologies along with contact details, encyclopaedia-style explanations and suppliers. Technical work is continuing and the Resource will be more widely available via the t4cd website sometime in 2006.

t4cd has considerable access to conservation practitioners with a host of technological needs, and field sites for trialling technologies. It also has ties with multinational companies such as Microsoft, Vodafone and BP, and aims to provide a portal through which small-scale innovators and inventors might connect to the wider market, and to field-trial sites around the world.

The t4cd team has technical specialists, project managers and a network of advisors and collaborators that are there to assist in forging these links and enabling technologists to innovate and provide solutions to the challenges faced by conservationists and development practitioners. kiwanja.net continues to provide strategic and technical assistance to t4cd, and made a presentation (pictured) on the use of text messaging in global conservation and development work at the 2006 t4cd Conference, held at the Microsoft Research Centre in Cambridge, UK.

For further details on t4cd check out the project website: http://www.t4cd.org