Category: Development

Joining the dots the Kiva way

An old expression, maybe, but “that idea is so simple I don’t know why I never thought of it” applies almost on a weekly or monthly basis when you’re tapped into the Silicon Valley technology/academic environment. Take YouTube. The idea seems like a no-brainer, but to take it from nothing to a $1.6 billion venture in less than two years really gets you thinking… What will be next? Can I get a slice of the action? Will Google spot me?

For a few years now I’ve been racking my brains trying to come up with ways technology can be used to connect donors and recipients, and build social networks to support and sustain it. I’m convinced that people would take more of an interest in what their money does if they can give it, or in the case of Kiva lend it, directly to the person that needs it. Traditional donations are relatively untargeted and given with an almost blind faith. How many people know what happened to the $10 they gave to the Asian tsunami appeal? Has it bought someone a fishing net, or helped them repair their boat, or their home? Or is it still sitting in a bank account waiting to be spent?

Kiva is, dare I say it, such an amazingly simple yet brilliant idea it’s pretty amazing that no-one (me included!) never thought of it earlier. Kiva lets you lend to a specific entrepreneur, or small business-person, in the developing world – empowering them to lift themselves from poverty. Not only does it provide a platform to make that virtual connection, it also creates an emotional one. Furthermore, it’s a loan, not a donation, so your $50 or whatever can be used over and over again. And you get to see it working.

Kiva is relatively new – it will celebrate its second birthday around Easter – yet it continues to expand both geographically (it recently launched in France) and in reach (new microfinance institutions are coming on board the whole time). It’s a perfect example of how technology can be used in a positive, constructive way. And it’s sustainable.

Who knows what’s next. Maybe I’ll think of something. But Kiva certainly raises the bar, and long may it continue to do so.

Motorola (RED) – the new ‘wristband’?

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The Independent is one of my favourite newspapers. Often a little different, always daring, up front and in your face, and not afraid to tell it how it is.

Tuesday, May 16th’s edition is no different.

Dedicated to Africa (not entirely, but pretty close) – and in particular the continent’s battle with HIV/AIDS – even the adverts have a philanthropic, humanitarian feel. Ads for credit cards which donate money ‘as-you-spend’ to HIV/AIDS research, and a mobile phone (I’ll leave you guess the colour) from Motorola which pledges a percentage of its sale price. ‘Pay-as-you-go’ becomes ‘give-as-you-go’ with UK operators donating 5% of your call spend to the cause (but only if you use one of these Africa-friendly mobiles). Getting that bunch to agree to that is an achievement in itself, let’s not be mistaken.

Even the story about Prince Harry’s girlfriend has a nice African touch – she’s from Zimbabwe, apparently (and very nice, too).

Helped along by Bono of U2 fame (who stars as the Editor for the day) and his Product RED charity, Africa is back on the agenda big time. Let’s hope today’s Independent sticks around in bars, cafe’s, doctors surgeries and hairdressers long enough for people to take notice. The very fact that it’s there, and it’s high profile (and it’s in red) is good enough for me.

Now, where did I leave that white wristband?

Battle at the bottom of the pyramid

You can imagine the headlines.

“Western giants battle over the hearts, minds (and ultimately the wallets?) of Africa’s rural poor”

I’m talking about the battle going on right under our noses between MIT and Microsoft, or Nicholas Negroponte and Bill Gates, or the $100 laptop and a Windows/mobile device (as yet unnamed since it’s not even in existence). Or all three if you like.

For those of you who might not know, the $100 laptop is a product of One Laptop per Child (OLPC), a non-profit association dedicated to researching and developing a laptop to revolutionise ICT access for the ‘rural poor’ in developing countries. The idea was announced by Nicholas Negroponte at the World Economic Forum in January 2005.

The laptop itself is a rather bright little green thing, its most striking feature being a crank handle which gives it the power it needs to run. As is traditional in such cases, the idea has caused jubilation and alarm in equal measure, not least from Bill Gates himself who, not surprisingly perhaps, is a little miffed that the laptop designers have opted to use open source software, shunning his beloved Windows operating system. Maybe for this reason alone Mr. Gates has gone on the warpath, slamming the $100 laptop and claiming that some Windows-powered mobile device plugged into a keyboard and TV is the answer. All very interesting stuff, even if it doesn’t exist yet (or does it?!).

All of this strikes me as yet another example of top-down interventionism. Are these projects (or visions in Bill’s case) needs-driven, or big business agenda-driven? And whose needs? If it’s the ‘rural poor’ then are their needs real or perceived? Who’s representing the ‘rural poor’ in all of this? What do they think (not that they can all collectively respond, naturally)? I imagine it’s like being in a hospital bed with two doctors standing over you arguing about how you’re feeling and what’s best for you. As the patient, surely you have some say? In a similar way, the ‘rural poor’ should not be treated as passive recipients of whichever ICT becomes dominant, based on battles of ideas, money and ideologies far, far away. Is it really for us to say what they really need?

“African women who do most of the work in the countryside don’t have time to sit with their children and research what crops they should be planting. What is needed is clean water and real schools”. How many would agree with that?

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not particularly for or against initiatives like the $100 laptop. It’s just the process that I’m having a little difficulty with.

The return of the Dark Continent

For centuries Africa was known as the Dark Continent. It was place of mystery, exotic animals, vast wilderness, all manner of beasts, evil spirits, disease, cannibals and pretty much anything else you’d care to imagine. You just have to take a look at this 1838 map to see how little was known of the interior. Although of course it wasn’t that bad (not in every case, anyway) it’s something of a shame that so few places hold such mystery any more. The world has been pretty much explored and explained (and in some cases exploited) and that’s the end of that. Shame the wonderfully named Mountains of the Moon never existed.

Today the words Dark Continent mean something quite different. Over 150 years may have passed since the map was drawn – it’s now been pretty-much filled in – but once the sun sets it’s time to turn back the clock.

Africa at night. Use a little imagination, and the mystery returns…