TechPlus+
Technology and Development Redux
UNDP/Motorola Mobiles for Human Development Report
The report has now been published online by UNDP and can be downloaded here. I also placed a copy here just in case the previous link is unavailable. Below are the conclusions to the report which I wrote a few
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Pakistan Interview: e-governance and development
I gave the following interview to a local business newspaper during my mission to Pakistan. The interview was published on 15 December. BR Research: You have previously worked in Pakistan. How was the e-governance situation like back then, and how
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Saudi Arabia National Open Source Software Policy
Seems this process has been going on for a while now (see previous blogs on the subject), but this time around I am told the policy will be approved by the national government early next year. The original text is
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Proposal for Social Innovation and Development, Colombia
We pitched this proposal to the social innovation of Colombia’s Ministry of ICTs. Seems however their approach to the issues is more supply driven and technology focused. We will see… Innovación Social para el Desarrollo Humano Introducción La última década
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BTOB: ICEGOV 2014
This was my third ICEGOV meeting and I can tell you I felt lots of deja vu. In the interim, UNU’s e-government unit has moved from Macao to the beautiful city of Guimaraes, Portugal, which the Portuguese call “the city
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Pakistan Technology and Strengthening Democracy Meeting
I was invited to speak at this meeting thanks to the elections team in New York who furnished my name to the Country Office in Pakistan. I had attended a similar meeting in Guadalajara, México, in April 2013. With the
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Pakistan Interview: Champions for e-gov
I gave the following interview to a local business newspaper during my mission to Pakistan. The interview is expected to be published in December. “E-governance needs Champions from within Ministries” Raul Zambrano, Senior ICT & Governance Policy Advisor, Democratic Governance
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Briefing Note on Cybersecurity and UNDP’s Take
Briefing Note on Cybersecurity and Cybercrime Background At its 17-18 October 2013 meeting, the CEB endorsed the paper “Towards a UN-wide framework on Cybersecurity and Cybercrime.” The CEB agreed to form a Steering Group on Cybersecurity and Cybercrime consisting of
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BTOB: Cybersecurity Capacity Building, EUISS
I attended the above mentioned meeting hosted by the EU Institute for Security Studies, based in Paris. This was the 2nd meeting on the topic organized by EUISS. The initial meeting took place back in March this year. The main
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OGP Commitments
OGP has asked UNDP to put in writing the commitments it can make to support the initiative in developing countries. Here is what we submitted. One sentence summary (140 characters) Supporting multi-stakeholder participation in open government processes that foster inclusive
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OGP meeting in NY, GA 2014
The Administrator has been invited to speak at the upcoming OGP meeting at the UN GA next week. Here are the draft remarks which also serve as an update on OGP. The OGP shines for being a unique multi-stakeholder initiative
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More on gender and ICTs
Why Gender Matters: from access to empowerment Unequal access to ICTs mirror actual socio-economic and political inequalities in society. The gender digital divide is thus a reflection of complex issues permeating the world in which we live. Not surprisingly, the
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ICTs and post2015 Broadband Comission Session
The Administrator has been asked to chair the first session of the upcoming Broadband Commission meeting which will take place in New York on 21 September. The session will focus on ICTs in the post215 development agenda. It seems some
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Knowlege Management and Innovation in UNDP: Looking Ahead
Knowledge to master innovation, innovation to augment our stock of development knowledge 1. Earlier this year UNDP approved a new KM strategy which has 6 pillars: Organizational Learning and Knowledge Capture; Knowledge networking; Openness and public engagement; South-South Cooperation and
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Draft think piece on Gender and Participation
How can the new technologies empower women in politics and political situations and help them be active participants in policy and decision-making processes that directly affect their lives? Latest ITU data inform us that while global Internet penetration is close
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UNDP and Open/Big data
Got an unexpected request from BDP to quickly provide one sentence on the role of UNDP on the above. Here is what I drafted in a rush. Forgot to ask though what was this for… As big data continues its
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Panama and Open Government
We received an unexpected and urgent email from UNDP Panamá requesting advice and help on Open Government. Apparently, the Ministry of Government of the newly elected government was asking UNDP to help in setting up ICT platforms that foster transparency
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BPPS Staff Data Analysis Report
A recent report indicates that we are now creating 2.5 quintillion (1 followed by 18 zeros) everyday thanks to the explosion of new technologies and mobile devices. This is what now is known as big data. The big issue with
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More on UN's Cybersecurity paper
Late last week I got a short notice request from both BoM and ITU to join an impromptu e conference call to discuss UNDP’s contribution to the inter-agency paper we are drafting. As I was unavailable in such notice, we
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Concept note for BBComm Gender Working Group (GWG) Report
Unlike last year, the GWG has set more modest goals for the annual Broadband Commission NY which usually precedes the opening of the UN General Assembly. This is probably the result of two things: 1. The upcoming change of the
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Case Studies Outline for ICTs and Gender
The Broadband Commission Working Group on Gender has agreed to produce a short digital report for the upcoming meeting in New York on 21 September. Below is the draft outline I shared with the thematic cluster leaders who are supposed
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Interview with Motorola's Aid Connect Magazine
Here is the final version of the interview I did for the above. The final text was edited by Aid Connect staff. A pdf version of the magazine that contains the interview is here. Tell us about your background and
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More clouds in Cape Town
After a few long weeks of silence, I got an unexpected message from the innovation center asking me if there was any chance that they could drop the participation element from the overall e-governance framework we shared with them during
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UNDP statement at WSIS 2014
As it is now customary, we will be participating in this years’ WSIS review gathering in Geneva. But this time it seems to be a very especial occasion for three reasons: 1. UNGIS, led by ITU, is pushing hard to
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e-visa in Tunisia
We received a request from the RR in Tunis on the above. Apparently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is keen on moving on this as e-visas are a) a good way to capture revenue; and b) a starting point for
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South Africa OGP meeting
UNDP South Africa has been invited to be part of an expert group meeting that will discuss on the policy, legal and technical requirements for Open Government in South Africa on 5 – 6 June. Here are the remarks we
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Additional thoughts on Crowdsourcing
Below is the concluding sections of a crowdsourcing paper we submitted to ICEGOV 2014 for possible publication later in the year. 4.4 Main Findings All three examples studied above were undertaken by provincial and local governments where development gaps are
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ICTs and MDGs: The Guardian Live Chat
I was one of the 7 panellists that participated in The Guardian’s live chat on the role of technology in advancing the MDG agenda. The panel included a couple of experts on humanitarian aid which in my book is a
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Cybersecurity and Development: Initial Draft
As part of the CEB cybersec working group, UNDP has agreed to take the lead in two of the five thematic areas identified by the CEB Steering Committee, namely the role of cybersec in development and the post2015 agenda, and
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IBM, again!
Love is Colder than Death, that is the title of a film made a famous and now dead German director. This seems to be the case with IBM as our partnership refuses to die but it is usually very cold,
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OCHA and the Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX)
For the last few months, OCHA has been developing the idea of launching a humanitarian data lab (or hub) which it sees as an expansion of the work that has been undertaken for several years now, IRIN included. The latest
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South-South/Traingular Cooperation, ICT for Development and Post2015
The Administrator will be participating in this event on Contributions of North-South, South-South, Triangular Cooperation, and ICT for Development to the implementation of the Post-2015 Development Agenda which take place at the UN in New York on 21-22 May. She will
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Internet Governance and NetMundial in Brazil
Just got a last minute request from ExO to prepare a briefing on the above due at 2pm. I wonder what will happen with stuff like this when they get rid of all of most of us in a few
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Saudi Arabia Knowledge Economy Meeting: Recommendations
I will be attending this meeting that start on Thursday and which finally take place after 9 months of work and 2 previous postponements. The meeting has been scaled down quite a bit as many of the initial speakers dropped
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Update on OGP
The OGP Secretariat asked all 4 multilateral partners to submit an update of activities for the upcoming OGP SC meeting which will take place in May. Here is what we submitted. After the OGP Summit in London, the UNDP Administrator
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ICTs for Peace and Cybersecurity
Last Friday we met with the President of the ICT for Peace Foundation to explore possible areas of collaboration. The President of the foundation is a former Swiss diplomat whom I met in 2001 and who back then was heavily
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Singapore's Public Service Excellence Center and e-governance
UNDESA/DPADM will be holding its annual Public Service Awards (PSA) gathering in Seoul this coming June and has approached our Singapore center to organize a panel on e-governance/smart governance. As the center has no real expertise in these areas, in
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Public Admin and e-gov revisited
While the links between public administration (PA) and e-governance (egov) are strong, as evidenced by many UNDP projects and programmes on the ground, this is certainly not the case at the conceptual level. The democratic governance practice, soon to be
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OGP Open Data Working Group (ODWG) Work Plan
ODWG seems to be moving faster than the other 4 OGP workign groups. The group already had a conference call, created a steering committee that we were able to join as UNDP and prepared a draft workplan that has been
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CyberSecurity and Development
Spearheaded by the ITU, the UN has created a high-level steering group (SG) to work on cybersecurity. The SG includes UNESCO, UNODC, and UNCTAD in addition to ITU, UNDP, UN Secretariat and UNDG. The main goal of the group is
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Frontline SMS and UNDP
Frontline SMS , founded by Ken Banks, is the pioneer of using this technology in developing countries. For example, Ushahidi made use of the platform in 2007 when it started to track violent events related to the Kenya elections. Nowadays,
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Clouds over Cape Town
Memory tells me this was the fourth time in the last 14 years I have been in Cape Town on official mission. But I have no doubt that this was the first time I was down there to support the
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NYU's GovLab
After several attempts and 10 weeks in between, I finally visited GovLab which is hosted by NYU. The fact that I had personally met one of the GovLab co-founders, Stefaan Verhulst, did help a bit. Stefaan was previously with the
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INSIHD in Berlin – Alles Gut?
The 4th INSIHD meeting took place in Berlin the week of 3 March. We were able to bring together over 25 participants from 15 countries and ensure good representation from Motorola Solutions -which previously had been limited at best. We
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Framework for ICTs, Democratic Governance and Conflict
We have been going back and forth with the analytical framework for the guidance note on the above. Below is a draft that tries to put it all together in brief form, keeping mind that the audience is comprised of
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OGP in South Africa and UNDP
A message from the CO in Pretoria indicates that UNDP ZA is now working with the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA), the government OGP official counterpart, to support the implementation of the 2nd national action plan and the
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What is Contentious Politics?
Contention at its core involves claim-making activities that bear on someone else’s interests (Tilly and Tarrow 2007: 4). Contentious politics represent the intersection between contention, politics and collective action. It is defined as “episodic, public and collective” claims made by
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BTOB: ICANN's Public Responsibility Panel
Background Created in 1998, the Internet Corporation for the Assignment of Names and Numbers (ICANN) is a US non-profit organization based in Los Angeles, California that is in charge of managing the allocation of Internet domain names and IP (Internet
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Think Piece on the relevance of ICTs in the SDGs – Issues Paper
ITU has been providing support to the UN’s OWG while promoting at the same time the importance of ICTs in the post-2015 agenda. This process has been going on for a few months and apparently discussions on the subject have
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UAE, National ID Systems and UNDP
For the last few years, UAE has developed comprehensive policies and programmes to establish a National ID system. Institutionally, the country created in 2004 the Emirates ID Authority which has been leading efforts at the national level. In a country
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Data "Revolution": Harnessing Data in MAF Reports
Context Access to both new technology platforms, such as social networks and mobile technologies, and faster networks has enabled millions if not billions to share information on a global scale. The fact that most of these new platforms are private
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e-administration and Business Process Re-engineering
Last Friday, UNDP Delhi sent me a message indicating that the RC will be participating in the 17th National e-governance meeting in Kochi, Kerala (see http://www.nceg.gov.in/. I also recieved a copy of the draft agenda and was informed that the
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UNDESA/DPADM: e-participation and METEP
For the last few months, the Development Management Branch (DMB) of UNDESA’s Division of Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM, see here for organogram of DPADM) has been working in developing a e-participation methodology for use by UN member states
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International Public Software (SPI) Revival -> SPI 2.0?
After a an apparently very quiet 2013, interest in SPI seems to be making a big comeback. Most of the people that were involved in SPI 1.0 have moved on, including the staff at Brazil’s Ministry of Planning (MP). New
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Digital Engagement Framework Advisory Board, WB
The first meeting of the Advisory Board for the WB’s Digital Engagement Framework took place yesterday morning. Participants included WB staff from various sectors as well as external partners (and remote participants) such as UNDP, OECD and the EU among
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Quick thoughts on ICTs and Corruption
Got a request from DGG Directorate to furnish last minute inputs on the above for an anti-corruption meeting in Panama this week. This is what I sent. Needs editing and further thought. Potential of new ICT and networking technologies (latter
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Some thoughts on Cyberspace and Cybersecurity
Last month, UNDP took part in the Seoul Cyberspace conference and we provided the inputs to BDP (see http://blog.raulza.me/?p=2379) for its engagement on a panel on capacity building. The Seoul gathering produced a framework as well as a series of
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ICTs and Local Governance in Colombia
UNDP Colombia is keen in beefing up its support to e-governance in the country by focusing on local governments – as the office has an important portfolio of projects that support local communities (see for example http://bit.ly/1fr1H0h). At the same
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Methodological note on IRRF indicator 7.6.1, Innovative Partnerships
As mentioned in a previous post, I am working in the development of a couple of the new UNDP IRRF indicators. Indicator 7.6.1 addresses innovative public-private partnerships but seems to put the emphasis on the mechanisms that UNDP country offices can
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Local Governance and ICTs
Earlier today we had a good meeting with the LG DGG team to discuss possible synergies. LG is organizing, in partnership with the Brazilian government, a large event in Foz de Iguazu where at least 20 UNDP COs will be
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