Category: Technology

Technology-aided aid

I’m always interested in innovative ways of getting aid directly to those who need it in the most timely and efficient manner possible. Kiva deals beautifully with one aspect of this – linking lenders in the ‘developed’ world with borrowers in ‘developing’ countries. But when it comes to financial aid to many of the rural poor – the man or woman on the street, so-to-speak – no mechanism exists (I don’t count giving to charity as being a direct donation, by the way). Not only is it a technical challenge to facilitate a direct donation (although mobile payments will soon unlock that particular door) there are other trickier issues, such as what we know about these individuals, or their needs and particular circumstances.

In times of famine or hardship, the typical Western response is to send over plane-loads of food aid. Although this might seem like the most logical thing to do, often it overlooks the chief cause of the famine. Lack of food generally comes below politics, political instability, access to resources and markets, and civil conflict in the famine equation. In other words, it’s rarely about a ‘simple’ lack of food. And flooding a country with food aid creates its own problems, from feeding the militia in conflict situations to destroying what’s left of the local and national agricultural market systems.

So, is there an alternative? Well, the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) seems to think so, and they’ve just started a $3 million pilot project to prove it. They’ll be providing cash payments instead of food to tens of thousands of hungry people in northern Malawi. You can’t get more direct than that. Although the full impact – and effectiveness – of the program won’t be known for some time, the signs look good. As with many microfinance projects in developing countries, women are the main recipients of the cash, and many take their money and head straight to local markets to buy food. This keeps the local economy moving and the agriculture sector bouyant. That’s one problem solved, and two avoided, on my count.

(Incidentally, direct payments are nothing new in the conservation world. They’ve been tried for some years with varying degrees of success. The process is pretty much the same – give the conservation dollars directly to the people living in the conservation area, and encourage them to help preserve their environment through their pockets. I’ve always quite liked the concept, but appreciate how controversial it is. A PDF paper on conservation direct payments is available here).

Meanwhile, back in Malawi, you may be wondering what this project has to do with technology. Well, administering a system where piles of cash are handed out to tens of thousands of naturally very willing recipients needs to be effectively managed and controlled. So, each of the villagers in the scheme are fingerprinted, and their details held on a smart card which they present at pay-out.

The whole idea of making direct payments is appealing to both the donor and the recipient. If it works it could take hold as an entirely new model for delivering aid, providing it is scalable. The fact that a simple and tested technology has proved to be a key enabler makes it all the more interesting, to me at least.

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.

Craigslist: The capitalist conundrum

As a Visiting Fellow in the Reuters Digital Vision Program at Stanford University, I often find myself sitting in on some pretty amazing talks and lectures from some of the most amazing people. Love ’em or hate ’em, I even had the chance to hear from the likes of Bill Gates and Arnold Schwartzeneger recently. (Bill described the iPod as nothing more than “a hard drive with music on”, and Arnie wanted to see more cranes (that’s the building-type, not the bird) in California. Eye- and ear-opening stuff, but one for another blog entry, I feel).

Last month, Jim Buckmaster, CEO of Craigslist, came in to talk with us. It was a small, intimate affair. More like a Q&A around the camp fire than a Stanford seminar. But this is how Jim seems to work, and it suited us all down to the ground. Not even a plush Powerpoint presentation to talk of. Just Jim.


For about an hour-and-a-half, Jim described the Craigslist phenomenon and answered a whole bunch of questions. The seventh most visited site on the web, volumes of traffic that I could only dream of (for now!) and a web ‘presence’ in most major cities around the world. Yet all managed with a staff of less than forty. Just compare that to the hundreds, if not thousands, who work with other dotcom ‘giants’. What struck everyone was the work ethic – a desire to keep things simple, give the users what they want and turn a blind eye to “maximising revenue”. Craigslist, you see, doesn’t have any ads, other than the ones posted up by users, and certainly no big money-making schemes.

“There are forums on Craigslist, and users have the chance to tell us what they want from the site, like if they want ads. And, so far, they haven’t asked for them. So we don’t”

It was very much an “anything for a simple, quiet life” ethic, even if this meant turning down tens of millions in potential revenue. So, when Jim met with a bunch of New York bankers several weeks later, imagine the mayhem and confusion. Described in a New York Times article as a “culture clash of near-epic proportions”, some in the audience really struggled with the concept of “non-revenue maximisation” and “serving customers first and worrying about revenues later”. In a world where money talks – as it certainly does in Silicon Valley – it is so refreshing to meet someone bucking the trend. And many people seem to agree, judging by the comments left on the New York Times website.

“Craigslist is the best example of businesses that are refusing to make money the only goal, or even the main goal.

This type of customer-driven business, running as a partner to society instead of an aggressor, is the form of the future – truly green companies. They are hybrids of sorts, combining the best of for-profit and non-profit characteristics”

The fact that a bunch of bankers struggled so deeply with the concept makes it even more entertaining, for me at least.

Until you wake up, keep scratching, guys…

Playing and learning in the global village

I admit that I’m not too much of a gaming freak these days, although I did go through a spell a ‘few’ years back when I was the proud owner of a 16-bit Sega Megadrive. There are enough challenges and puzzles in real life to be getting on with – I don’t need a bunch of virtual ones to add to the list.


So when a game manages to grab my attention for more than just a few brief moments, it’s worth taking a look. The game is called Village, and it’s a multiplayer online strategy game (in the style of Warcraft, Second Life and so on) which immerses the player into the role of an entrepreneur. The overall objective is to build companies to bring prosperity to the villages of the third world.

“Fly over a remote village watching people walking about, farmers tending to their crops, people buying and selling goods in the town markets. Browse anybody in the village and see what income, jobs, education they have. View the stores in the town centre to find out what is selling well, and what’s missing entirely. Set up your own store fronts to offer microcredit, kickstart pumps, solar cell rentals, all the self-sustaining businesses that will have the greatest impact on the villagers. Watch as farms flourish, villagers build new homes, and schools grow larger with more healthy children”

The Village is certainly a grand vision, and an incredibly innovative one at that. There’s even hope that some day the virtual villages – or components of them – may become a reality. Imagine… Some organisations have also been quick off the mark and picked up on the fundraising and awareness raising potential of the game. According to Darian Hickman, the Village ‘leader’, “Organisations such as Ashoka, Technoserve, Acumen Fund and Habitat for Humanity have a vested interest in seeing this game reach a wide audience as it will bring awareness and donations to their causes”.

People are already beginning to make quite tidy sums buying and selling in the virtual world. Adding philanthropy to the mix is a very neat, and a very nice, idea.

Keep an eye out for the Alpha version of the game, due in the new year, on the Village website.