ICT Lessons: The Power of Radio

Reflecting back on my ICT4D experience I initially did not know what to expect when I came into class. I never would have thought that ICT was such an integral part to our daily livelihoods. Although I knew that ICT could be integrated into development I never thought about its success when applied to the digital divide. Looking back at the class the one concept I will take with me is the power of radio.

In another class I took this semester I had to create a radio program. Before I learned about ICT and radio use I didn’t care for the radio much, however after producing the radio program and learning about the functions of radio abroad, I realized how important radio is. Although its such a simple device to work, its use and functions are endless and beyond innovative for mankind. As I learned in class, the radio is the most widely used form of technology worldwide. Although I hardly use the radio anymore, its use is essential for millions of other individuals. Not only is it cheap, but it has helped bridge the digital divide. It connects rural areas to urban, it’s a form of communication, it provides economic, educational, and women empowerment opportunities through its programs. These programs allow for marginalized as well as privileged populations to further build on a skill or gain knowledge in an area that will further help them maximize their potential to improve their livelihood. It is also beneficial for disaster relief and family reunification.

I am very passionate about education and next year I will be teaching elementary school. After my gained experience with radio, I really want to implement radio use into my class, and create a program that my students will benefit and take from. No matter what country you live in or your socioeconomic status, I think that its very imperative that everyone has a radio and understands its capabilities. It has the power to bridge divides, provide opportunities, and serve as a tool for disaster relief. With the world population growing everyday, radio is among the few technologies that can serve and help these individuals progress equally. For future ICT4D classes, I think it would be great if students had to create a radio program that caters to a specific ICT sector.

2012: The new year of cybersecurity

In this week’s lecture we discussed cyberspace and cyber security strategies.  To begin I will differentiate the two terms. According to the ITU National Cybersecurity Strategy Guide written by Dr. Frederick Wamala in 2011, the term cyberspace is used to “describe systems and services connected either directly to or indirectly to the Internet, telecommunications and computer networks”. Cybersecurity on the other hand is a term used to describe a strategy of defense that is crucial to all governments for it ensures that cyberspace (internet) continues to work efficiently and maintain social order if it is attacked unexpectedly by and external threat. Secondly I will discuss an article that illustrates the true importance of cybersecurity.

In an article 2012: Year of War Against Cyber Crime written by Arthur Coviello published in early 2012 in The Economic Times he discusses the negative side effects of a technological emerging world and how shared private information has the possibility of becoming public. In 2011 there were various attacks on large corporate companies such as Sony, Epsilon and Google in which their software information was hacked and stolen. Thus in 2012, these companies have decided to “focus on key areas of improvement and innovation”. According to the author he believes that both private and public sectors should collaborate and establish a common framework to share information. According to the article “today’s attackers are better at sharing real- time intelligence than their targets”. As ITU suggested in their guide for national strategies and similarly in the article, education and training of our cyber workforce will become the priority. It is not only important to create a government programme dedicated to cyber security but also support cyber security programmes “that graduate more individuals in computer sciences and risk assessment.” ITU suggested this national strategy plan in 2011 and this article claims that the US federal government is enforcing and renewing its cyber security workforce plans and is anticipating to spend nearly 13.5 billion on cyber security initiatives by 2015. Organizations as well will begin to change the way they incorporate security into their systems. While our society has made huge innovations in the field of technology it is vital to our well being of individuals and nations that our cyber information is protected and safe.

Thus as the article claims and ITU suggested and seems to be in the United State’s interest and future strategic plans, cybersecurity needs to be incorporated into a national programme and policy and should work along side private companies such as the one listed above to ensure full capacity security.

Inspiring Science Education for Girls Using Information Communication Technology: an ICT for Education Project

In Plan’s 2010 ICT Enabled Development report they focused on a number of challenges and solutions to the use of ICTs in the developing world by using profiles of numerous countries. One country they focused on was Uganda and since I am focusing on Uganda for my research I was inspired to look more into what Plan was prescribing for Uganda’s ICT development problems. Plan’s work in Uganda has centered around four main elements, including children’s participation and ICTs in education. The role of children in ICT work is something that we have discussed in class briefly under the subject of the One Laptop Per Child project but not much in a positive light. After reading about the need Plan identified in seeking greater access for children I sought to find a project that was implementing ICTs in education and having a positive impact. Plan’s report makes a note of the broad improvements of ICTs in the over all education system fore example: the numbers of trained teachers and desktop computers being introduced, but I wanted to see a project and direct application of ICTs in education.

Upon my research I found a project called, Inspiring Science Education for Girls Using Information Communication Technology. This project, founded in 2006, has three major objectives: encourage more girls into sciences, improve girls’ self-esteem and confidence, and improve performance of girls in sciences. These objectives were designed after research on the number of girls enrolled in science programs and the identification of a need to increase these numbers and the overall benefit it could have on the female and overall population. The project works to give girls access to positive mentors in the science fields through ICT camps and individual, well trained, teacher. It also works to provide an outlet to share information and projects through the organization of science fairs. Lastly it increases access to computers (over 1,000 refurbished computers have been delivered) that have networking capabilities. With these computers comes access to research tools and the formation of an online repository of learning resources . This resource is the most interesting aspect of the project and, in my opinion, a large step forward in connecting the girls in the program to past work as well as, indirectly, connecting them to each other.

-Girls at an ICT camp-

Since its inception Inspiring Science Education for Girls Using Information Communication Technology has seen ten more schools wish to participate in the program and has trained more than 100 teachers. This project can be used as a vest practices example and is inline with Plan’s ICT vision and work in Uganda. There was little evidence that spoke negatively of this project and I feel that, from my research, this project has made strides in increasing the use of ICTs in education through internet and computer access.

Plan’s Checklist and the Education Sector

In this past week’s class discussions and readings we have looked at different sectors in the developing world for which ICTs have been introduced as a tool for development growth. My sector, Education, which I closely explored and analyzed the use of ICTs in that field has left me with some interesting questions about how to correctly use information communication technologies.  Fortunately one of the readings assigned this week gave me a clear outline of how to correctly see if ICTs can be successful in a developing country, for a target population, and a specific sector.

The report ICT Enabled Development: Using ICT strategically to support Plan’s work written by Hannah Beardon is part of an ongoing process directed and supported by Plan Finland and USA to support offices located in a variety of African countries in an effort to promote ways to apply ICTs in a more resourceful and strategic way. While the organization Plan’s work details a variety of priorities in different countries they are however all founded on the principles of rights- based approaches with a focus on capacity building and participation awareness. They attempt to reinforce people’s “access to information and opportunities to participate in decision making” (Beardon    5).  While their projects do involve the learning of children it doesn’t solely focus on the education sector. However in this report they introduce a checklist developed to thoroughly suggest key steps that are involved when enabling and implementing an ICT program in development. I found this checklist very crucial and extremely beneficial to looking at projects in the education sector.

The first point of the checklist looks at the Context Analysis, which really focuses on what is happening with ICT4D in the country or region of choice. Thus if I am looking at Uganda I will have to gather information about existing ICT projects in the education sector as well as current stakeholders and potential collaborators as well as current conditions (policy or market) in the city or country itself. The next point on the checklist focuses on Defining the Need, which emphasizes what problems can ICT help overcome as well as what kind of opportunities ICTs can introduce. When using this point for the education sector I would have to consider all of the underlying causes of poverty and the effects it has on schools and students. I then have to look into the needs of the stakeholders and see how ICTs can help with development opportunities. The next point on Plan’s checklist is Choosing a Strategy and looking at what kind of ICT4D is needed (direct, internal or strategic). In the case of education I will have to look at what kind of technical and training support is needed in the target schools as well as how to give equal opportunities and reduce inequalities between the rural and urban students. The fourth claim involves Undertaking a Participatory Communications Assessment, which further examines who will benefit most from this introduction of the ICT. This point is very important as ICT for development is used as a tool to reduce poverty and inequalities and in education children in rural areas are the hardest to reach. It is important to thoroughly pick a right form of technology that can help build the capacity needs of the target students. The fifth checkpoint on this checklist emphasizes the importance of Choosing the Technology. Technologies can already exist within a sector and a region however when creating an ICT development project you will need to assess which technology tool will be most useful to improve the quality life. In education, computers are by far as of today the most useful technology however there come some problems affiliated with using computers such as illiteracy (language barriers) as well as knowledge of how to use the computer itself. The sixth point again relates to Adjusting the Content, which in term relates again to language barriers. In most developing countries children have yet to see or use computers thus when they are introduced into classrooms they need to be guided into how to use the computer and understand the content. Teachers as well need to be taught the skills and content necessary in a language they comprehend. Number 7 on this list looks at Building and Using Capacity which further emphasizes the skills teachers and students will need to keep a project sustainable. The eighth point on the checklist involves Monitoring the Process. A crucial aspect of all development projects involves a Monitoring and Evaluation plan for which they measure the positive and negative affects of the project or in this case the ICT that is being implemented.  For example in education testing and enrollment rates aren’t the only outcomes that should be measured, they should measure quality of teaching via ICTs. If the introduction of an ICT has no positive effect than it is important to reconsider how the project is being implemented. The final two points of this checklist focus on Keeping the Project Going (Sustainability) and Learning From Each Other and coincide with each other. By learning from each other, previous projects and the community, one can overcome the challenges and risks that may interfere with your ICT project. Thus it is important to continuously learn and adjust factors of the project to keep it sustainable.

This checklist created by Plan if followed correctly has the potential to help any organization or individual create and implement an ICT4D project correctly and sustainability. This checklist does not solely apply to the education sector as it is a guideline to overall programs and I believe should be used when trying to implement a project.

infoDev and Wayan Vota

This week, we will be having a very important guest speaker leading our class discussion, Wayan Vota. As one of the prominent experts in the field of information and communication technologies for development, Vota is currently the Communications Manager at Development Gateway. However, he has also worked as the senior director of Inveneo, and as a consultant for infoDev, which will be the focus of this post.

infoDev, which is short for Information for Development Program, is “a global partnership program within the World Bank Group which works at the intersection of innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship to create opportunities for inclusive growth, job creation, and poverty reduction” (http://goo.gl/gRVQZ). Since its founding in 1996, infoDev has been infiltrating various markets in over 50 developing nations around the world by providing them with the technological innovations and support needed to solve their toughest problems. Partnering with governments, non-profits, other World Bank programs, and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), infoDev works as coordinator between donors and local stakeholders in order to ensure effective creation and implementation of ICT4D programs. In 2004, infoDev transformed to become more of a “think tank” on ICT4D issues, utilizing their sponsorship of research and analysis in order to advise best practices. The program operates on three main themes: innovate, connect, and transform.

Innovate:

By supporting ICT-focused innovation by investors and social entrepreneurs, infoDev seeks to amplify the impact of those looking to do make one. The program accomplishes this tier through their network of incubators in developing countries, where partners can brainstorm innovative solutions and models.

Connect:

infoDev acts a resource for both developing nations, and the agencies looking to work with them. The program also serves as support system to connect these two entities, and ensure that any progress that is made will be sustainable. infoDev places a huge emphasis on enabling access to “information infrastructure, applications, and services” for all in a way that can be maintained in the long run.

Transform:

This partnership program conducts work in all sectors associated with ICT4D, be it health, education, business, or agriculture. infoDev acts as a consultant to stakeholders, guiding them through the best practices associated with deploying ICTs effectively. The program gains this knowledge through extensive field-based experimentation, evaluation, and research.

While I’m sure Vota will mention, even if only briefly, his work with infoDev, I would like to open up discussion about the context of a comment made about him on the infoDev website:

“Wayan is critical of the historical impact of technology on education for two reasons: First, the expense of piloting a new technology, and second, the major emphasis on the technology.”

Sound familiar? For some reason, the case study on One Laptop Per Child came to mind when I read this, what do you guys think about Vota’s supposed critiques on ICT for education?

S. African govt awards radio station for empowering women

S. African govt awards radio station for empowering womenIn 2002, Cape Town, south Africa’s Radio 786 got awarded with a certificate of excellence for incorporating practices in women’s empowerment, which is helping the city in developing mechanisms to further advance it understanding of gender equity. The initiatives of Radio 178 to promote gender equality was decided at the gender conference in . Women’s rights are slowly being recognized globally and are especially being incorporate in the daily livelihoods of women and men in developing countries. One of the biggest issues for women is the feminism of poverty and how that is impacting there equality. South Africa’s Western Cape Department of Social Services awarded Cape Town’s Radio 786 with a Certificate of Excellence for “developing a best practice intervention for women’s empowerment and gender equality” in its programmers (panapress.com, 2002). According to the article ” The latest award adds to a number of accolades this thriving radio station, with a listenership of 134,000, has already received (panapress.com, 2002).

It is very impressive to have a radio station that is invested in women’s empowerment. Radio use for developing countries is a very impertinent topic in class because it further empowers women to access resources inside and outside their community. Additionally, it allows them to have a voice, and articulate their interests in topics that they may not have been allowed to converse about. Radio use for women also allows them to be better equipped with the use of radio technology, enhancing their education and technology.

The Digital StudyHall Project: mediated virtual education

This week our class read a efficacy study of The Digital Study Hall (DSH), a program of facilitated video instruction for government primary schools in North India (“Facilitated Video Instruction in Low Resource Schools”, Anderson et al). The project is an interesting conglomeration of video ICT technology, teacher training, administrative support and foreign aid.

The Digital StudyHall website describes the project like this:

“We digitally record live classes by the best grassroots teachers, transmit them on the “Postmanet” (effected by DVDs sent in the postal system), collect them in a large distributed database, and distribute them on DVDs to poor rural and slum schools.“

The program emphasizes teacher training to improve quality of education. The videos are meant provide teachers with inspiration for teachers. The other purpose of the videos is for “mediation-based pedagogy” in which a mediator facilitates in-class student interaction with the videos (role-playing activities, working on the board, etc.)

Digital StudyHall utilizes “light-tech” equipment such as TV’s, DVD players, camcorders, the postal system and cell phones as well as “higher-tech” operations like databases and DVD burning robots.

The Digital StudyHall is funded by a mix of individuals, NGO organizations, foreign and domestic government bodies and for-profit companies including: Intel Labs, Ashoka, Microsoft, National Science Foundation, University of Washington, Google, and others.

In Anderson et al.’s analysis of the Digital StudyHall program, administrative and teacher support as well as theft of equipment proved to impede successful continuation of the  program. In all, I think this program is a great model for the incorporation of easily available and easy-to-use ICT equipment to address educational development.

Bamyan Media: Reality TV for Social Change

In light of the readings about how simple technologies can go a long way in development, I found this project I stumbled across very interesting. Since radio was pointed out as being able to access the most rural/illiterate segments of a country’s population, I was curious as to what TV could do. This organization, Bamyan Media, has as their mission: Through producing locally relevant popular television programs, Bamyan Media inspires marginalized people in the developing world to lead change and create prosperity in their communities by building social enterprises.

Founded by Anna Elliot in 2009, the project’s pilot series in Afghanistan proved a success. The program has been working in Egypt since 2011 when it was awarded a contract with USAID and is also working to support the development of productions in the Middle East, South America, East and South Africa.

The project focuses on two formats: one focuses on celebrating social entrepreneurship and promoting green, socially-impactful organizations, environmental responsibility and leadership; the other targets youth unemployment by showcasing entrepreneurs and their business models to drive mass small and medium enterprise creation at the base of the economic pyramid. They work with local broadcasters and businesses to develop each series.

 

For more info, visit their website.

An Overview of why Radio is so Important in the Developing World

In this week’s assigned readings we focused on why Radio is such a crucial ICT to the field of development. One of this week’s reading “Why Radio Matters Making: the case for radio as a medium for development” written by Dr. Mary Myers and commissioned by Developing Radio Partners, emphasize the importance of radio for many different aspects of life and development. According to Myers, Radio is by far the most prevalent mass- medium throughout the developing world. Myers discusses the impact of radio in times of emergencies, education, and empowerment. According to her in emergency and disaster situations “radio is an invaluable tool” (Myers   2).  With the help of the radio survivors can sometimes be informed of their loved ones whereabouts as well as different locations to access food, shelter and medical aid. Radio’s can also help evacuate certain areas that may be affected by a natural disaster. Certain radio shows, even one’s that are fiction based, can have a strong impact on helping reduce trauma caused by disasters. According to the author UNDP supported a radio program after the tsunami in Indonesia. “The trauma radio show had 30 counselors who worked closely with the community and had one of the highest audience ratings in the region” (Myers   3).  Topics would vary but would mainly direct mental trauma such as how to control your emotions.

Although in the developing world radio is considered a device for entertainment it can also very easily educate. In this paper, Mary Myers describes various ways radio is used to educate throughout the world. One example she uses to support her claim is an example of a radio program used as a strategy to teach farmers in rural areas new farming methods. Certain studies showed that there a lot of farmers listening to the broadcast listened to the advice that was given on the show and indeed did improve the agricultural fields in the country discussed.  Radio shows can also educate individuals especially women about certain health risks and factors.  A fiction radio soap opera has the power to educate women listening to their show about several issues regarding sexual and reproductive health as well as child and parent relationships. According to a study 85% of respondents who listened to such a program have implemented changes in their lives as a result of the knowledge they learned by the radio show (Myers   7).  Myers does indeed justify her statement that radio really does matter.

In response to Dr. Mary Myers paper I further researched radios and development. I found an organization that focuses on using radio technologies as a mode to help improve education in the developing world. This grass- root humanitarian organization Ears To Our World (ETOW) specializes in the distribution of radios primarily to children and teachers. In their mission statement ETOW claims that their mission is “ to enable children and their support networks in the most remote, impoverished parts of the world to receive educational programming, local and international news, emergency and health information as well as music and arts programming through the use of shortwave radio receivers. While our primary focus is on schools, our reach now encompasses other community facilities, the visually impaired, and, when required, disaster relief ” (ETOW). Ears To Our World is just a few of several non- profit organizations that focus on using radio and other ICTs as a tool to further development.

Health Education through Entertaining Radio Programs

In this week’s reading, “Why Radio Matters,” Dr. Mary Myers highlights a list of reasons and examples why radio is “the most widespread mass-medium for the developing world.” One of these reasons was that radio has the potential to educate and entertain its listeners. Myers then went on to fuse these two functions into one example- that of the Tanzanian radio soap opera titled “Pilika Pilika,” which educates its listeners on myriad health issues through entertaining plot lines. Earlier today, when writing our assigned analysis and discussion questions based on the readings, I posed the question, “Do you believe that this is actually effective in educating people on important health measures?” I then went on to do a little research of my own, which is how I discovered “Shuga-Love, Sex, Money”–a 12-episode radio drama that tells the stories of a group of four young fictional characters aged 15-24, their choices, dreams, friendships, challenges, and triumphs in a world where HIV and AIDS are an ever-present threat.

Launched in June of 2012, Shuga is a joint initiative of MTV, UNICEF, and the HIV Free Generation (HFG) Partnership. Not only is the series produced in French, English, and Swahili, but it is also distributed at no cost to a wide range of broadcasters. Some of the themes and topics covered through the plot of the series are: HIV counseling and testing, condom use in stable relationships, positive prevention, gender inequality and sexual violence, transactional sex, alcohol abuse, and the role of multiple concurrent partnerships in driving the HIV epidemic. Another unique aspect of the Shuga series that has undoubtedly lent it more success is that it was written and produced by 30 young people from Cameroon, DR Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Lesotho and South Africa. These young Africans from diverse backgrounds all came together for training in a special workshop hosted by Question Media Group with support from MTV and UNICEF in order to create the drama that informs people just like them.

Now to my question as to whether or not this means of delivering vital health advice through entertainment radio is actually successful in improving health outcomes. According to research conducted by Johns Hopkins University/Centre for Communications Programs in Kenya following the airing of Shuga, the data reported increased intentions for HIV testing coupled with decreased intentions for multiple sex partners; improved attitudes towards people living with HIV and AIDS, and increased usage of accessible health and social services among youth who had watched the series. Being a radio DJ myself at the campus station, WTUL, I know what it is like to read obligatory Public Service Announcements each week. The information is terribly mundane, and most of the time, I am certain my listeners tune out during these mandated announcements. Now having learned about these examples of innovative use of airtime to educate the public, I will question these PSAs even more.  Unfortunately, I do not think this coupling of education and entertainment, particularly through radio, would be very successful in the U.S. But programs like “Pilika Pilika” and “Shuga- Love, Sex, Money” show promise for the future of education and empowerment through radio in the developing world.