Category: ICT4D

Digital Humanitarianism: potentialities and risks

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We indeed live in a globalized and hyper-connected world. The digitalization we are experiencing, fastened by the Covid Pandemic, is endemic, inevitable and is speeding like never before.

It touches us in many ways, some may not be perceptible nor foreseeable at the present moment, but it involves everybody and our common future, as individuals, communities and global reality.

In aid work, digital technologies are fundamental tools: they allow humanitarians to map, predict and respond to humanitarian crises and serve affected people more efficiently. Increased connectivity and digital access empower affected people to connect, to find information and to express their needs more easily.

On the other side of the coin, numerous other problems arise.

Zuboff describes a “surveillance capitalism”, which is “data from humans used to turn into profit, at the expense of the people themselves”. For example, humanitarian organizations collect, store, share, and analyze data that is attractive to parties in an armed conflict. As a result, a growing wave of digital attacks and cyber espionage target humanitarian organizations.

In addition, AI is being used to shoot targets and it’s getting increasingly out of human’s control. We also assist to phenomena of disinformation, misinformation, hate speech and the incapability of accessing digital technologies contributes to increasing the digital divide.

While digital technologies offer unparalleled opportunities for granting humanitarian relief, they must be used ethically and responsibly to minimize the risks.

In this thread, I want to discuss the possible solutions to the dark sides of Digital Humanitarianism, and how we can foster a more participatory approach towards the communities involved. I am also interested in Dignified Storytelling and Digital Rights.
My main areas of research are South America and the Middle East, which also represent a kind of emotional geography for me.

➡️ I hope you will enjoy my contributions! In the meanwhile, what are your thoughts about the possibilities and risks of digital hyperconnection?

Sources:

Zuboff, S. (2019) The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future, PublicAffairs, New York.

Collins A., (2019) Forged Authenticity: Governing Deepfake Risks, EPFL International Risk Governance Center. https://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/273296?ln=en.

Rejali S., Heiniger Y. (2021), The role of digital technologies in humanitarian law, policy and action: Charting a path forward. IRRC No. 913. https://international-review.icrc.org/articles/digital-technologies-humanitarian-law-policy-action-913

Implementing truly participatory development processes: Can we or can’t we?

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Participatory development and local participation are core concepts gaining much ground during the last few years within international development cooperation and its studies. This is, without a doubt, a positive progression and a needed lens on the policies and practices of and within the sector. However, it is easy to theorise about participatory development and decolonial methods and approaches but harder to implement in practice. The layers are many and all in need of close analysis; the power relations, social hierarchies, opportunities for participation; the structures and productions of knowledge we operate within.

ICT4D is often assumed to support this progression, democratising opportunities for participation with equitable access to online spaces, information, and technology. However, while new initiatives emerge from our big multilateral development organisations in line with this thinking, we can argue that the traditional policy of “efficiency and effectiveness” and seeking “measurable indicators imposed by donor demands and international standards” undoubtedly remain (see for example Tufte, 2017). Meera Sabaratnam writes that international actors’ interventions in low- and middle-income countries fail and keep failing “because they are constituted through structural relations of colonial differences that intimately shape their conception, operation and effects.” (Sabaratnam, 2017:4).

In this blog series, I aim to reflect on these concepts, including my own role as a practitioner within the field. Questions I hope to guide me through my writing are:

  • How can we improve participatory development practices given the deep structures of colonial differences of our world, as expressed by Sabaratnam?
  • How can ICT4D be a tool for implementing more participatory development and social change processes in low- and middle-income countries (or rather, can it)?
  • How can a gender perspective help in establishing more participatory development processes (or help us understand the limitations to reach there)?

I hope to develop my thoughts, or maybe keep asking questions, in future blog posts. Do you reflect on your role in the international development cooperation sector in relation to these questions?

 

Sources:

Sabaratnam, Meera (2019) Decolonising Intervention: International Statebuilding in Mozambique. London/New York: Rowman & Littlefield.

Tufte, Thomas (2017) Communication and Social Change: A Citizen Perspective. Cambridge: Polity.

ICT for social development: how equal?

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ICT has been experiencing an even further boost, especially during the last two years for reasons that we all now. The development field, like any other, was affected by it but, again like any other, not always in equal terms. If from one side, apps and websites were allowing many of us to transfer almost all of our professional and private activities online, the availability of devices and connectivity remained scarce for many others.

When looking at training and education for development, I get fascinated by the steps that technologies are undertaking and by their potential exploitation and benefits for both aid workers and respondents. At the same time, I wonder how equally this evolution is advancing. During the COVID-19 era, UN agencies exploring new ways of delivering classes through latest generation AI glasses and avatars coexist with local NGOs trying to reach and then train online those learners in remote areas sometimes equipped with a mobile phone only.

In this blog I would like to look at ICT for social development: to both its numerous benefits (provision of ICTs induces other skills development as well as several types of freedoms); but also to its many necessary improvements (such as closing the gap between ICT training and the realities of the context, focusing more on the power structures of social inequality, considering beneficiaries’ preferences in designing and implementing ICTs). [1]

While waiting for the next post, what are your views on ICT, education and social development? Are there any directions you would like this blog to take? Please feel free to share your thoughts!

 

[1] Heeks, R. 2017: Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) (Chapter 6.3). Abingdon: Routledge

Welcome to the Development Spotlight blog!

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Aid and Development work is important because of the direct impact it has on the lives of so many people all over the world. This blog examines the history, methods, motivations, and current big issues surrounding ICT4D, Aid Work and Communicating Development practices. Our approach is intersectional. And we aim to uplift other Development practitioners as you reflect on your own methods and intentions.

Whether you work for a multilateral agency,  are already a practitioner or simply have an interest in Development, we welcome you and invite you to follow our work.

This blog is brought to you by students in the Communication for Development Master’s Programme at Malmö University (Sweden). We all have different backgrounds and specific interests within the field of Developmen. We hope to provide you with thought provoking entries that will encourage you to reflect on your own work.

And please bring your contributions, experiences, thoughts, and critiques to the table; the comment section is open and waiting for you!

To learn more about each of the writers visit our ABOUT US page.