Our Posts

Dear reader, As this exercise comes to a close, we would like to thank you for reading and for the great comments you made, which helped us with our own reflections and let us see things through your eyes.   We would also like take a moment for a few final reflections: The blog exercise… Continue reading

By Cara-Marie Findlay A blogcast. Listen and read along as Cara-Marie Findlay reads her third and final individual blog post.  Introduction In my first blog post, I briefly touched on how new media— like social media —is helping to facilitate overdue discussions on racism and decolonisation within Development. As an example of how new digital… Continue reading

In this thread I would like to discuss on a deeper level three topics that particularly caught my interest, in the broader discourse of development decolonization and coherent ICT4D participatory practises, and that I think are of fundamental importance: –         Risks & Solutions of Digital Aid (introduced here) –    … Continue reading

“Technology in general is never either neutral or objective; it is a mirror that reflects societal bias, unfairness, and injustice.”  In May 2021, 7amleh, The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media, worked to document digital rights violations occurred during the 2021 Israeli attacks, and in the document Hashtag Palestine 2020 are listed detailed… Continue reading

By Katharina Hribernigg In my final blog post I wanted to review some of the ICT for development aspects from previous blog posts as well as new ones. In order to do this my post has been divided into four parts. The first part will focus on how development professionals can effectively use ICT in… Continue reading

  In my first blog post in this collective project, I initiated a discussion on de-/postcolonial and participatory development processes and reflected on how this is a part of the development discourse and sector gaining more and more ground. I also reflected on its complexity; the theorisation around it is more straightforward than its actual… Continue reading

In previous blog posts we have looked at what the general barriers to digital learning have been in Africa during the pandemic. With this new post we will try to elaborate further on why these projects didn’t work. However we will see that, even when they don’t work, they are still useful to understand new… Continue reading

By Katharina Hribernigg It is hard to say exactly how many people devote some of their time to volunteering but (pre pandemic) estimates suggest that in Europe alone it could be as many as 100 million people. Which is roughly 22-23% of the population over 15. (Biagioni, 2018)   People volunteer for at all sorts… Continue reading

By Katharina Hribernigg For my second blog post I wanted to interview a development professional on how ICT has impacted their work. I would also be interested to hear how ICT has impacted your work as a development professional, so please take a listen and then leave a comment. Continue reading

In today’s world, in a reality that is more and more hyperconnected, fluid and digitized, digital rights equal human rights. That is why it is important to investigate what they are, why they are crucial and how we can protect them, for ourselves and others, as humans, digital entities and practitioners. The Keynote speech by… Continue reading

By Cara-Marie Findlay Humanitarianism can be described as a “response to distant suffering, whether this distance is actually geographical or geopolitical (historically derived inequalities characterized by an economic disparity) that includes an explicit or implicit claim for the moral and political basis of its engagement” (Richey, p. 627). As practitioners engaged in reflexive work, we… Continue reading

UNICEF just published its report on education in Africa describing a discouraging digital learning context in the Western and Central part of the continent where 48% of students did not have access to distance learning during lockdown. This happened because there was actually no distance learning offered or because if there was, students did not… Continue reading

On October 12, it was announced that Matt Hancock, former UK health secretary, had been appointed UN special envoy to help Covid recovery in Africa. First reading about this in an article accompanied by a photo where Matt Hancock gives his thumbs up with a big smile on his face, my first reaction was that… Continue reading

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,… Continue reading

By: Cara-Marie Findlay One could argue that since the “formal” inception of aid and international development, Eurocentrism has been at the core. Eurocentrism, meaning that the countries associated with the “West” or “Global North,” and their roles, have been the central focus. In fact, many academics credit the beginning of formal aid programs with the… Continue reading

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… Continue reading

By: Katharina Hribernigg Development professionals have an important job with lots of responsibilities. They deal with real people, their lives and futures. While this fact has remained unchanged over the past decades, developments in ICT have added a new dimension to the work of development professionals.   I believe that it is always good to… Continue reading

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… Continue reading

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… Continue reading