TechPlus+ | Technology & Development Redux
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Mission to South Africa BTOB
Read more: Mission to South Africa BTOBWednesday 7 March Spent most of the day traveling. Arrived in Johannesburg around 8am and managed to get to the hotel in Pretoria at 10. Had lunch with UNDP staff to quickly catch up. Met the RR for almost two hours to discuss the e-skills project and its relevance to UNDP within the broader support…
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Weekly Update: 23 March
Read more: Weekly Update: 23 MarchSpoke to UNDP Ghana’s DCD to explore ways to kick-start, once again, Africa’s e-governance Academy (AfegA). Nothing much has happened since the former project coordinator was let go last September for not performing up to expectations. UNDP Accra had agreed to pick up the pieces but that did not really work out as staff in…
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India’s Social Media Framework and Strategy
Read more: India’s Social Media Framework and StrategyWhile the use of social networks in India is growing rapidly, latest data indicates that only 55% or 45 million people of the total Internet population in the country uses Facebook for example (see http://www.socialbakers.com/facebook-statistics/india#chart-intervals, a number that represents a very small portion of the population. This was certainly not the case when the Indian…
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Open Source and e-health
Read more: Open Source and e-healthICTs in the Health Sector In most countries, the health sector has been one less prone to rapidly adopt state of the art ICTs for its core functions and operations. e-health, as it is called, is thus still in its infancy, specially in developing countries. This situation is in sharp contrast with the rapid adoption…
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e-gov Team AWP Update
Read more: e-gov Team AWP UpdateHere are the updates I got from the team on the above. Our final AWP is here: egov-team-awp-2012-final-02-25 MM Open Governance; OPG oversight and summary refined and finished (on the Wiki). E-governance guidance note: Mapping of other UN agencies working on e-gov. and ICT4D done Guidance on working with other agencies almost finished Motorola; Application…
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Weekly Update: 16 March – South Africa mission continued
Read more: Weekly Update: 16 March – South Africa mission continuedMonday 12 March Met with the CEO of the e-skills institute (e-SI) to discuss various policy issues. First on the non-existing agenda was the potential to more effectively mainstream e-SI into the various other sectors. Capacity development is after all a means to an end that can benefit all sectors and institutions involved in development…
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Weekly Update: 9 March – On Mission in South Africa
Read more: Weekly Update: 9 March – On Mission in South AfricaMonday 5 March We had an all day retreat with DGG advisors ands spent quite a bit of the time discussing the links between DG and sustainable human development. We did not close the discussion which is still ongoing. It was also agreed to hold all day advisors meetings every quarter. Wednesday 7 March Spent…
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Innovation and Governance: Some ideas
Read more: Innovation and Governance: Some ideasInnovation and Governance and Innovations in Governance Talking Points The idea of innovation, which is indeed not new to development practitioners, is once again picking up steam. And it is now a buzzword that seems to permeate many discussions and conversations on development and beyond. What is perhaps new nowadays is the links that we…
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Social “media” and DG: Working with Bangkok RSC
Read more: Social “media” and DG: Working with Bangkok RSCOur RCS in Bangkok has commissioned a paper on Social Media and Democratic Space. The latest version on the paper is here: Bangkok-Social-media-democratic-space-AK-additions). Skipping any discussion on the notion of “Democratic Space” (which I personally see as a variation on the good old concept of public sphere), the paper has a heavy focus on the…
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Weekly Update: 2 March
Read more: Weekly Update: 2 MarchEarly in the week I met with the Director of BCPR’s Conflict Prevention Group, a champion in the use of ICTs and mobiles in crisis situations and governance processes who uses his experience in Kenya to promote this work in UNDP. BCPR clearly understands that crowdsourcing is not sufficient to adequately manage crisis situations and/or…
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Weekly Update: 24 February
Read more: Weekly Update: 24 FebruaryA call with UNDP South Africa and the government counterpart early in the week ended up in agreement on my mission to the country in early March. A 2 day workshop on the ongoing e-skills programme we are supporting will be followed by visits to several of regional hubs the Department of Communications (DOC) has…
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Libya: e-gov in Crisis Countries
Read more: Libya: e-gov in Crisis CountriesOne of our regional governance Practice leaders have been seconded to Libya for one year. The new government has strong interest in supporting e-governance. I thus received a request from our colleague to provide support for this process as well as indicating our expertise when it comes to crisis countries. Below is my reply. Background…
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e-governance Workshops – Themes to include
Read more: e-governance Workshops – Themes to includeUNDP Libya is planning to hold a one day workshop on e-governance. They are planning to increase awareness while learning from other countries about implementation. Here is what I proposed to them -which can be used for other similar events. The idea of the workshop is good. Please note that we have supported such event…
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Draft Concept Note for Rio+20 report: SDNP Revisited
Read more: Draft Concept Note for Rio+20 report: SDNP RevisitedBackground The Sustainable Development Networking Programme (SDNP) was launched by UNDP in1992 in direct response to the implementation of Agenda 21, established at the UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. A UNDP global programme, SDNP focused on Chapters 27, 37 and 40 of the Agenda, while at the same time calling for increased involvement…
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The impact of social innovation in developing countries
Read more: The impact of social innovation in developing countriesOur recently published mobile technologies report highlights the changing dynamics of local and social innovation. Whereas in the early days of the Internet, most innovations happened in the North, the situation has changed dramatically nowadays. This article, published in a well-known MIT magazine, shows the incredible impact of social innovation on Kenya’s economy and development…