Foreign Aid | From Planning to Markets and Networks

The practical work of moving foreign aid away from the planning and towards markets and networks is only in its infancy. In his fantastic Center for Global Development paper on Markets and Networks for Better Aid, Owen Barder provides a vision of what a marketplace and network for aid would begin to look like. The most interesting challenge to me is finding a replacement for price in the market metaphor. Owen seems to agree:

...there is no obvious analogue to price. Markets work by simplifying large amounts of information about preferences, costs, and effectiveness into a simple, transparent price signal. In the aid system, there are rarely explicit measures of the price of each output which would provide signals to producers and consumers.

Improving the feedback loop between donors, project managers and aid recipients is the best way to create a proxy for price in aid projects. My friend and Fletcher colleague Chrissy Martin has a great piece about how groups are experimenting with informal, SMS-based feedback tools. In Put Up a Billboard and Ask the Community: Using Mobile Tech for Program Monitoring and Evaluation, Chrissy explores the experience of RapidSMS in Malawi, Global Giving and Twaweza in Tanzania, each testing SMS-based feedback mechanisms on various scales and in very different settings. The goal, she writes, is that "mobile technology can be integrated into M&E systems so that they are more participatory, useful, and cost effective."

The time-lag question seems interesting. There is an argument for using feedback mechanism(like on the billboard) to develop priorities before aid is distributed, but also in the aftermath of aid, in a more targeted attempt to evaluate a particular intervention.

Coded in Country | Stoking Local Innovation

Can institutions [be they international organizations, companies, universities, foundations or governments] enable innovation in local technology industries? We explored this question on a rainy Saturday afternoon in New York at the 'coded in country' session of the Open Mobile Consortium's Open Mobile Camp in New York.

The challenge of 'coded in country' -- how to get more coders in the developing world working on mobile projects -- is in many ways a helpful proxy for thinking about the larger question above. In an energetic discussion, we developed something of an incomplete typology for developing the capacity of local programmers, each with its advantages and drawbacks.

Partner with Local Universities
Lucky Gunasekara of FrontlineSMS:Medic and Stanford University pointed to Nathan Eagle's Entrepreneurial Programming and Research on Mobiles project that partners with African mobile engineering department to strengthen capacity. challenge: ensure knowledge reaches beyond university-educated classes.

Break Down Barriers with Local Tech Industry
Chrissy Martin of the Fletcher School mentioned that in Tanzania, the most inspired, engaged, and talented programmers all worked at value added services companies. These are companies that charge premium rates for sending and recieving sports scores, concert tips and other local cultural content. Chrissy argued that there should be more cross-pollination between private sector talent and those working on M4D projects. challenge: find an incentive for private sector programmers to engage.

Convince Donors to Adopt a 'Coded in Country' Standard
Similar to a fair trade stamp of approval, what if the Gates Foundation declared that any development project with a coding element must be 50% coded in-country. To be sure, some projects already feel a need to hire local developers. Stephen Miller of the Ujima Project | Investigative Reporting for Africa, discussed how the group hired Appfrica Labs to do the coding for the project. challenge: in places where local capacity is not established, balance project goals with local capacity building.

Give Space for Informal Innovation Labs
Christelle Scharff, professor of computer science at Pace University, discussed the mobile development boot-camps she runs in Senegal. The goal is to create space and an incentive for young people to spend a week intensely tinkering with mobile solutions to community problems. This is a similar approach to Appfrica Labs 10,000 Hours project, which urges companies in Kampala to open their space to young people interested in digital technologies. challenge: ensure that peer-education ensures learning of fundamental skills.

Should the Foreign Aid Industry and the African Digerati Work Together?

The foreign aid establishment and the African Digerati are at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to Africa. USAID, the World Bank and other anchors of aid are consolidated, lethargic and rooted in a command economy that Breznev would be proud of. The Digerati: engineers and entrepreneurs solving problems via the medium of mobile phones and the Internet, are decentralized, innovative, energetic and generally suspect of any bureaucracy.

One line of thinking says that getting these communities to even talk to each other is a waste of time. I'm not so sure. I've made the argument that the Obama Administration should think carefully about concrete ways to leverage technology in international development.

I just wrote a short article called Searching for Innovation in Foreign Assistance in the Fletcher Forum of World Affairs. Its a review of the economist Bill Easterly's most recent book, but its also a first attempt at introducing the reform minded flank of the aid industry to the dynamism and energy of the Digerati. I'll be on the hunt for anecdotes of the Digerati as I romp through Kenya and Uganda this summer.

Contrarians of Philanthrocapitalism

A few months ago I drafted a technology for international development proposal for the Obama Administration. This was one piece in a broader effort to get the official foreign assistance community to embrace the values of the Africa tech community: experimentation, low cost innovation, local solutions and flexibility.

This largely tracks with Matthew Bishop's notion of Philanthrocapitalism:

While hopefully some of the world's problems will be solved using for-profit business models, many will not. But that does not mean they can not be addressed in a businesslike way, in the sense of serious focus on results; understanding where to use scarce resources to have the greatest impact through leverage; a determination to quickly scale up solutions that work and a toughness in shutting down those that do not; backing entrepreneurial, innovative approaches to problems; forming partnerships with whoever will get the job done soonest and best and taking big risks in the hope of achieving outsize impact.

In the latest issue of Dissent, Alix Rule offers one critique of philanthrocapitalism from the Left that can not be ignored:

The 'sensibility of giving a damn' isn't really much to commit to; conveniently, most everyone's already committed. But mere possession of a moral pulse doesn't provide much of a basis for decision-making. Yet, when good is like money, individuals do not need coherent approaches to it any more than institutions do; there are no trade-offs or hierarchies or conflicting loyalties here, either. In place of a critical moral framework, we're furnished with a sort of cabinet of curiosities, the decontextualized contexts of which are presumably to be enjoyed as peculiarly shaped artifacts of good...Absent the semblance of context- we're ill equipped to judge.

Any marketplace for good risks being overtaken by possible oligarchs (Gates, Soros), falling prey to glossy marketing at the expense of accuracy and context (Save Darfur) or simply continuing to exclude the recipients of aid. Overcoming these dilemmas is the challenge of foreign assistance community in our time.

Obama's Tech for Int'l Development Agenda

How would you suggest the Obama Administration leverage technology to improve the international development agenda?

With a reluctance to innovate, little flexibility to react to conditions on the ground and central planning that Breznev would be proud of, the development establishment often seems hopelessly out of touch. Unfortunately, while many groups are recommending changes in policy, too many of these ideas are centered around bureaucratic re-shuffling or funding increases [here is my take on the 'state of play' on ideas from the Dupont Circle think tanks].

What if the aid community embraced the values of the African tech community- experimentation, low cost innovation, local solutions and flexibility? This would be an unprecedented opportunity to leverage new tools to reach economic development and poverty alleviation goals.

Here is a very quick first cut at recommendations to the Obama Administration foreign assistance team. I'm open to recommendations on re-organizing headings, but three priorities I see now are innovation, private enterprise and collaboration & accountability. Suggestions most welcome!

Technology and U.S. Foreign Assistance
Priorities for a New Administration

The Obama Administration has an unprecedented opportunity to promote sustainable development, fight global poverty and rollback disease around the world. New technology can encourage more good ideas, provide opportunites to sustain and scale ideas that work, and make the funding and planning process more transparent and inclusive.

Innovation
Mechanisms for collecting more good ideas

Provide Seed Funding for Start Ups
More tranches of seed funding should be available without significant bureaucratic and administrative restraints. This will allow new solutions to practical challenges to emerge from anywhere instead of only from centralized experts. Y Combinator and GlobalGiving provide an online prototype for how the Internet can be used to lower transaction costs and utilize the wisdom of the crowds.

Provide more ‘Pull’ Incentives
While push incentives provide funding for research or project implementation, pull incentives provide rewards if results are achieved. Similar to market forces, pull incentives encourage recipients to use efficiently utilized resources and stay results oriented. Pull initiatives range from advanced purchase commitments (APCs) for developing a vaccine to implementing a cash-on-delivery scheme for school enrolment.

Collect and Share More Information
Internal blogs, Wikis, chat, email groups and other basic tools should be available to staff around the world. Data should be easily accessible and searchable, allowing a staff member who has implemented a farming project in Guatemala to share tips with a colleague gearing up to do a similar project in Kenya.

Create Diaspora Committees
Business leaders in the Diaspora often have a useful understanding of the policies that lead to growth and innovation in their home countries. Foreign assistance communities should leverage the intelligence of this community to advise development policy.

Private Enterprise
Opportunities to sustain and scale ideas that work.

Catalyze Pro-Poor Enterprise
By serving the poor while creating new jobs, pro-poor enterprises play an invaluable role in promoting growth and fighting poverty. However, supporting these enterprises has been continuously sidelined. Aid agencies should make pro-poor enterprise growth a critical component of a poverty reduction strategy.

Engage Local and Global Private Sector in Business DNA Transfer
Business practices can be injected at every level of the aid value chain. Aid agencies can promote alternative funding by encouraging the business community to focus more resources on business solutions at the bottom of the pyramid. Also, hiring more staff with business experience is likely to result in better enterprise-oriented interventions.

Increase Internet Penetration
Just as oil is the driver of the manufacturing, access to digital technology is the driver of the information economy. Delivering connectivity to universities, as well as rural and urban regions should be considered alongside funding other public utilities ranging from power, sanitation and irrigation.

Facilitate the Emergence of Development Clusters
Throughout the developing world, local entrepreneurs are experimenting with agriculture, logistics and mobile phone solutions that are generation jobs in their communities. Aid organizations should support the 'clustering' of research institutions, access to capital and markets that are necessary to transform ideas into profitable businesses. The African Rural University for Women in Uganda, Ghana's University of Development Studies, and the Pontifical University ofRio de Janeiro are already fostering these innovations. Aid organizations could stimulate growth by incorporating the best innovations into their development programs.

Openness & Accountability
Getting more people involved in the policy-making process

Hire a Technology for Development Czar
Thinking carefully about the use of technology in development can lower overhead costs dramatically and improve effectiveness. A technology czar, reporting directly to the Director of Foreign Assistance, could choose the appropriate mobile software for field reporting and develop mechanisms for better information sharing within the U.S. foreign assistance community.

Place More staff In-Country
Along an increasingly de-centralized funding process, more staff in-country with more autonomy will allow for more creative solutions to emerge. These staff should directly contribute to the planning and project implementation process.

Support Flexibility and Autonomy for Aid Recipients
Aid recipients are often left sidelined in the foreign aid decision making process. Working with industry partners to develop an experimental voucher system, where aid recipients can choose amongst many donors, will enable recipients to vote with their feet.

1/5 Of The World's Laptop Production

Before catching a flight to Cameroon, I saw Nicholas Negroponte, director of One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), speak at Harvard's Berkman Center Internet and Society Conference.

To briefly summarize the talk: Nicholas described OLPC as an educational program that happens to use new technology as a means. The strategy is to give out these laptops en masse to entire countries of primary school students, allowing them to learn to read, write and count in new and exciting ways bypassing other unexciting and unsuccesful learning systems. OLPC already has contracts with several countries on a massive scale. In fact, scale is central to OLPC, and Nicholas does not see this as a gradual program, but one that will be producing 1/5 of the worlds laptops by 2010.

I came away from Nicholas' energetic talk both freightened and hopeful. After spending a year in Uganda, one thing I learned about community development in Africa is that the only thing more important than providing a means for staying alive for those in 'extreme' poverty is to work towards a system that promotes entreprenuership and self-reliance in the rest of the population.

The best long term solution for this is a revitilization of basic education. OLPC is probably a better and more exciting solution than any other that I have seen. However, there is a variable whose effect is impossible to predict. No development on such a large scale has every involved giving expensive devices to millions of children, most of whom have never had anything. This could either cause massive disruption to a struggling school system, or as Nicholas predicts, massive enthusiasm for showing up at school.

The Dark Side of Mobilization

Today is one of those days I wish I was back in Kampala so I could cover the Mabira Forest Controversy first hand. To recap, the Government wants to hand over one of the nation's most prominent tropical forest to Kakira Sugar Works, a subsidiary of a huge Asian-owned conglomerate. This week, a massive, grassroots environmental campaign was launched (mostly through SMS campaign) to block the deal.

Last week, we wondered what the results of such a massive mobilization would be. Western observers may be saddened that the results may be far from positive, and even catastrophic. A peaceful protest march in Kampala gave way to anti-Asian riots which resulted in three deaths, including one Asian who was stoned to deal in the streets. The riots, as often is the case in mayhem below Kampala road, had nothing to do with the original cause of the protest. Baz put it cynically, yet probably accurately: "Envy has turned into racism, which has turned into murder."

On the positive side, a coalition of concern environmentalists presented a petition to the Parliament to halt the proposed land give away. We will have to wait and see what happens next.

Note to Uganda bloggers:

Jackfruity has malaria, but I bet we can cure her by leaving get well soon comments on her blog.

Uganda: Blog Awards, Digital Activism and More

From my latest Global Voices post, available here.

Ugandan bloggers have responded forcefully to the story that the Ugandan cabinet was considering giving away 7,100 hectares of Mabira Forest to private investor to turn into a sugarcane plantation. Mabira Forest is prominently located on the Kampala-Jinja Road and is Uganda’s largest tropical forest. I Have Left Copenhagen for Uganda reports that a boycott of Lugozi Sugar, a brand owned by the company intent on developing Mabira Forest, is being promoted via text message:

Congratulations to the Ugandan civil society for reacting! This is a fine example of a non-violent action, which in no time has created massive attention among the population, not just on individual basis, but also institutions and organisations are reacting. And not just within Uganda, it is going global. Campaign-wise this is a very interesting tool; any person with a mobile and airtime can participate.

However, no one said it should be easy; Police Spokesman Asan Kasingye is now hunting the originators of the text messages encouraging the sugar-boycott. He states that this kind of boycott is economic sabotage, claiming probably rightfully, it is illegal in the country. He is prepared to carry out arrests. In my opinion this man’s reaction is proving that the campaign is working! Guess the Uganda goverment is to learn about modern non-violent campaigning methods…(hopefully before it runs out out teargas).

In his post titled, “Battle to halt Mabira Forest giveaway taken to cyberspace,” Abubaker Basajjabaka shows the effectiveness of the SMS campaign:

With government playing hide and seek, on top of giving contradictory statements about the whole saga, environmentalists took their fight to FM Radio Stations, dgroups and have also resorted to using Short Message Services (SMS) to caution Ugandans to stop buying Lugazi Sugar if their desire to grab part of Mabira Forest is not dropped.

SMS have particularly been effective. Over the weekend, packets of Lugazi Sugar have been piling up in supermarkets besides some business owners withdrawing them from their stalls. Environmentalists have been arguing that apportioning part of Mabira Forest would bring more adverse effects than the sugar shortage. Opposition politicians have also picked up the slack and are busy de-campaigning government for seer lack of concern if they granted a deal like that.

Rainforest Blog calls for action to stop “Great Ugandan Mabira Rainforest Give-Away”:

Let the Ugandan Parliament know rainforests and their ecological services including water, climate and biodiversity are more important than sugar which can be grown elsewhere. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni continues to pursue legally dubious plans to destroy large areas of Uganda’s last important intact and protected rainforests. Some one-third of Mabira Forest Reserve [search], about 7,000 hectares of an area which has been protected since 1932, will lose its protection for sugar cane production by the Mehta Group.

Daniel Kalinaki, a prominent journalist for the East African, weighs in on his personal blog:

In his book, Sowing the Mustard Seed, President Yoweri Museveni waxes lyrical about his life-long drive and ambition to liberate Ugandans politically and economically. The jury is still out on whether the political liberation, aka the ‘fundamental change’, is temporary or a mere papering over the cracks. Economic development, however, will certainly not come by pawning the family silver as giving away Mabira represents. To do so would be to see the forest for the trees, instead of seeing the trees for the forest.

Two other bloggers, Just Sayin and Only in Uganda, both write that concerns of economic development and environmental protection should be balanced.

There is an online petition to save the Mabira with over 9000 signatures.

Continue reading...

Ugandan Blogosphere: Juba Peace Talks and Best of Blogs

My latest Global Voices post, also available here.

If the activity in January and early February is a sign of things to come, 2007 promises to be a banner year for relevancy, engagement and quality of content in the Ugandan blogosphere.

The Juba Peace Talks between the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the Government of Uganda, whose wheels had been humming energetically as recently as October, have ground to a halt, with reports early this week of rebel movement towards the Central African Republic (CAR). However, Uganda-CAN, a leading policy advocacy organization has helped fill the void by creating an 8-part interactive blog series called ‘What’s At Stake in the Juba Peace Talks.’ Two highlights:

On Implementing Sudan’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA):

The LRA rebels’ presence in southern Sudan is further weakening the CPA. They continue to destabilize the region, making it more difficult for the GOSS to rebuild institutions and communities. The NCP may also try to maintain its monopoly on political power and access to oil revenues by renewing its support for the LRA in an attempt to destabilize the south and prevent its secession. However, success in the Juba peace talks would help consolidate the gains towards peace and democracy in South Sudan initiated by the CPA over the past two years, which in turn are crucial to the hopes for the stabilization of Darfur.

On Peace in Karamoja:

The proliferation of arms in the region from conflicts in northern Uganda, southern Sudan, and Somalia has also fueled Karamajong cattle raids in the neighboring Iteso and Acholi regions of Uganda, undermining the Juba peace talks by making northern Uganda less secure and safe for IDPs to begin returning home. If the Juba peace talks succeed in bringing stability to northern Uganda despite this, the Ugandan government might be encouraged to seek a peaceful solution to the violence in Karamoja. However, a failure of the parties to the Juba talks to come to an agreement would greatly hamper efforts to address the arms proliferation, political tensions and humanitarian crisis in Karamoja.

In other news, we can see the level of organization, profile and relevancy of Ugandan bloggers rising. The first Uganda Bloggers Happy Hour in Kampala in mid-January was discussed by prominent Amsterdam based podcaster Bicycle Mark as well as the Daily Monitor newspaper in Kampala. Coming up in February, nominations are due for the First Annual Uganda Best of Blog Awards (make nominations here by February 15th), the awards for the cream of the Uganda blogging crop, and the second Uganda Bloggers Happy Hour will take place in Kampala.

In other news, Uganda blogger and provocateur Dennis Matanda is quickly becoming much talked about across the the African blogosphere. In our last Uganda roundup, we talked about his proposal for recolonization of Africa. This post has been muched talked about, including this comment from White African:

Want to become an instant pariah? Talk about race in Africa. How about you continue and blame Africans for Africa’s problems, and how Africa isn’t living up to it’s potential. How about you make things even more explosive and talk about how things would be better if the white man was back in control. Stirring up a huge pot, that no one in their right mind would want to touch, Dennis Matanda has really put himself on the map.

This week, Matanda published 100,000 Guns Later, another provocative article detailing the subtle connection between Uganda’s history of ethnic militirization and today’s proliferation of weapons in the big business private security apparatus:

Uganda has over 100,000 guns floating around. It is roughly estimated that there are over 5,000 guns in private citizen’s hands; another 22,000 in the private security firm’s armories, a colossal 20,000 amongst the Karimojong, another approximately 18,000 with the police force, 50,000 plus divided amongst the regular army – and maybe 5,000 or so scattered amongst the many secret and sub secret security organs.

The point I am trying to make is encased in the fact that a great many Ugandans have lost their jobs and their livelihoods under the Yoweri Museveni years, 1986 to the present. The country has never been as polarized as it is right now. Our future has never been as uncertain as it is today. We are living in a bubble as it could burst any time. Unlike the Obote time in 1985, these over 100,000 guns in the “wrong hands” could do damage to ordinary people like me.

Finally, Ugandan bloggers are continuing to cover issues out of the sight of mainstream media. In Uganda there is much talk about the plight of both urban and rural Internally Displaced Persons (IDP’s). However, I Left Copenhagen for Uganda provides a fascinating piece that addresses the plight of Sudanese refugees displaced in Uganda:

Officially, there is peace now in southern Sudan, and asking any Sudanese refugee if he/she is to return, they answer positively. Asking ‘when that would be more specifically?’, they whirl into abstract explanations, finally concluding ‘that when the repatriation starts, that will be’. Translated into plain English it basically means ‘when there is someone facilitating the transport’. It is very simple, someone else (UNHCR) brought them here, now those ones must also bring them back.

Looking Into the Future of IT4D (Information Technology for Development)

In the Fall, I'm heading to grad school for a Masters in International Affairs. I've been accepted to the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Boston and I was there on Monday for an open house for accepted students. I gave myself a very specific investigative task: find out what is available academically and professionally in the space where post-conflict development and IT intersect.

The answer is that very little is established, but the potential is huge. I saw from my experience with working in post-conflict development in northern Uganda that in the next decade IT is going to play a defining (if not re-defining) role in how the development community thinks about reconciliation, rebuilding and transitional justice. The proliferation of access to technology will allow people to connect better and easier and transcend the normal boundaries of economic development and communication.

I have a feeling that investigating this from an academic perspective can lead to opportunities in business, governance, and of course international development. I also got the sense that out of all top programs in International Affairs (including SAIS, Columbia and Princeton), Fletcher is the place that most encourages entrepreneurship, crossing traditional fields and creativity. I had two great conversations while I was there. The first was with Drew Bennett, a current student, who is looking at this same phenomenon, but from more of a governance and regulatory perspective. I also talked with Professor Eileen Babbitt who teaches conflict negotiation. Both agreed that the Boston area is the best place to engage in this new field. Fletcher students can cross-register with Harvard's Kennedy School (which is primarily a domestic program but has a few stellar IR classes), as well as connect with Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

My investigation was well times with some interesting pieces on increasing Internet access in rural Africa. Andy's Global View tells us about using WiMax as a catalyst for growth in northern Uganda, and Startups in Kenya tells the story of trying to make internet accessible in rural Kenya by using EDGE technology.

Talking Ugandan Blogging in Amsterdam

On my way back from Entebbe to Washington, I stopped in Amsterdam for a quick layover chat with BicycleMark. This is becoming a nice little tradition: meeting up with Mark during layovers on the way too or from Africa. I love chatting with Mark because he's literally all over the place; he was in Berlin the week before we met and was leaving for the Balkans the day after. He has incredible passion for promoting innovation and collaboration in the podcasting and vlogging worlds.

This time we did a podcast on the role (and potential role) of blogging and personal media in Uganda. But listener be warned! I was just off a flight from Uganda in which 6 of the 8 hours were bumpy and where a (failed) determination to sleep led me to pop 3 Tylenol PM's and drink two of those little dinky bottles of KLM red wine only hours before we met!

Click here for the show.

Kimeeza II Program a Success

Kimeeza II participant Abramz Tekya breaking in Kampala

Like a Jay-Z song bumpin' at Fat Boyz in Kampala, a gathering of individuals can have an energy of its own. I've lead many groups of American and Ugandan youth leaders around Uganda in the last year, but I've never seen energy, excitement and innovation like I have in the last two weeks at the Global Youth Partnership for Africa (GYPA) Kimeeza II (click here for blog entries and photos from the program). This program, on the role of youth in post-conflict northern Uganda, brought together Americans and Ugandans who are looking to learn about and contribute to helping a war-torn region get back on its feet.

Since the group left early on Wednesday morning, I've been thinking about what made this program so phenomenal. The first reason is timing. We had done programs on northern Uganda in the past, but only now, as most people have acknowledged, have we reached a point of 'no return' in terms of expected security in the North. Just as this has opened an opportunity for business expansion in Gulu (there are three new supermarkets in the last month alone), it has also created an opportunity for programs that address what happens in a post-conflict region where 80% of the population in northern Uganda are youth, few of whom have any prospects for productivity or self reliance.

Second, I believe the Kimeeza was a well structured program for its intended audience. Our vision has been to create a program where Americans and Ugandans could connect, network and decide, based on their own personal interests, to what extent they want to get involved in northern Uganda. Sitting and listening to an energized group of students talk about next steps at the closing session gave me the sense that our program had a strong balance of educational and practitioner experiences and opportunities.

Third, the program was a success simply because of the dynamic individuals involved. As a group, we seemed to enjoy each other's company, and when things changed or didn't going according to plan, there was a sense that we were in it together. The Americans seemed to appreciate that many of the Ugandans around them had made a conscious choice to devote their lives to improving their region and country. The dynamics and the learning that went on between the Americans and the Ugandan participants were central to the success of the program. Of course, the caring and dedication of the program staff made all the difference (Thanks all!)

It was a big January for GYPA travel programs. In addition to the success in Uganda, we held our first trip outside Uganda, to Sierra Leone (also on post-conflict development). In the next few months we will publish information on our summer programs to West and East Africa. If you are interested in keeping informed about these opportunities, send an email to carrie ( at ) gypafrica.org and continue to check the GYPA website.

Wall Street Journal Writes on Blogging

"Every concievable belief is on the [blogging] scene, but the collective prose, by and large, is homogeneous: A tone of careless informality prevails; posts oscillate between the uselessly brief and the uselessly logorrheic; complexity and complication are eschewed; the humor is cringe-making, with irony present only in its conspicuous absence; arguments are solipsistic..."
-Joseph Rago

Bloggers concerned with the quality and utility of their craft would do well to read Joseph Rago's piece The Blog Mob in the Wall Street Journal. In the feud that exists between the blogosphere and mainstream media (MSM), Rago's piece, in erudite prose, explains the two conventional points made by MSM against bloggers. The first is that blogs rely too much on expediency; in an effort to get their opinion out there now, they are too often half baked thoughts, unfinished thoughts or arguments which more appropriate for a commonplace book or personal journal. The second point is that the participatory Internet promotes syncophants pandering to already isolated ideological mobs, instead of promoting diversity and complexity of opinion.

The first point, that expediency limits quality, is valid. Rago writes that "the reason for a blogs being is: Here's my opinion, right now." Indeed. Of the two dozen blogs I scroll through daily via newsfeed, a large majority of posts would be better if the writer took more time working on style and substance. In fact, the reads I look forward to the most are by bloggers who have broader experience as writers in other contexts. These bloggers understand that in the end blogging is but another form of the craft of writing, where poor style and half baked thoughts are never a good thing. There is certainly value in the trend of publishing less frequently but with more substance and style.

However, Rago overlooks the point that expediency sometimes is valuable. Some of the best blog posts are by those who are, as Ethan Zuckerman has said, "at the wrong place at the right time, or the right place at the wrong time." First impressions on globally important events can be a valuable diversion from the formulaic approach that MSM too often takes towards, for example, humanitarian crisis or environmental disasters.

Rago's second point is bunk. He accuses the blogosphere of dwelling in the realm of intellectual pedantry, lacking is open discourse and thoughtful honesty. Rago's long career in media surely should have shown him that every form of media has thoughtless dreck and mere muckraking. Yes, bloggers have Michael Moores and Sean Hannitys, pandering to the mobs who don't want the burden of intellectual honesty, but so does radio, television, and yes, even newspapers. It seems to me the freedom of human thought in a free society will always produce rubbish; we need not discredit a medium because of this.

Just as newspapering has the Economist and radio has National Public Radio, blogging has its gems, where one can go and consistently expect intellectual honesty and sharp writing. Perhaps Rago himself is too pedantic to recognize this. Clicking on Andrew Sullivan and Peter Levine will take you to blogs where the political leanings of the author is quite clear, yet discourse over real issues dominates the posts. These sites are the really good stuff; they have sharp writing and an honest desire to come to a fair conclusion on important issues.

At the end of the day, perhaps its not the medium we should be concerned with at all. We should all search for good ideas and clarity, in whichever form they may come.

Global Kimeeza II

Cross posted to the Kimeeza II website.

Early Wednesday morning, a group of eager American undergraduates arrive in Kampala for a two week travel conference called the Kimeeza II: The Role of Youth in Post-Conflict Northern Uganda. This is the fourth Global Youth Partnership for Africa (GYPA) trip I've helped lead in the last 12 months and I'm happy to be a part of it. The two week program, in Kampala and Gulu, will bring together American and Ugandan youth interested in a rebuilt and reconciled northern Uganda. These programs are innovative because they are travel/education hybrids; there is the experiential component of seeing a brand new place but also the education/practitioner component of engaging in first hand issues of community building and reconciliation.

I think this particular trip will be fascinating because it is the first GYPA program since the cessation of hostilities in northern Uganda, which means the people of northern Uganda, though inherently skeptical after 20 years of off and on war, have more to hope for and work for then ever before. One of the things I like about these programs is the energy that is created both among Americans who generally have not been involved with Uganda issues in the past, and with the Ugandan youth, many of whom have made advocating for war-effected peoples their life's work. The Ugandans are energized because their work is validated by enthusiastic and optimistic outsiders, and the Americans bring fresh insight and new perspective into difficult community challenges.

As a reminder of how unique a time this is in northern Uganda, here is a New Vision article (not available online) on New Year's celebrations from the North:

"For the first time in 20 years, the Acholi sub-region in northern Uganda ushered in the new year peacefully. In Gulu, there were fireworks at two seperate places and people dance to the morning hours. In Unyama displaces people's camp. 7km from Gulu, a former LRA commander, Onen Kamdulu, staged a thrilling disco performance to excited revellers."

Continue to check the Kimeeza II website for photos, blogs and the occasional podcast.

Uganda Bloggers Happy Hour

"I'm sorry, I have amnesia. Do I come here often?" If you didn't get your fair share of chessy pick up lines last night at a New Year's celebration, you have something to look forward to. I'm happy to announce the 1st Ugandan Blogger Happy Hour. This event will be a wonderful oppurtunity for the Ugandan blogging community to get to know one another in real life, tell some good tales, and think about the future of blogging in this country. Its been really fun seeing the Ugandan blogger community develop citizen journalism as well as its fair share of mirth. The development of blogging communities has a tradition in East Africa, with the Kenyan Blog Webring and the Tanzanian Blogger's Virtual Conference. I think the Ugandan blogosphere has huge potential for 2007, so this informal gathering is the start of a conversation about where we are headed as a community.

Thanks to Jackfruity for helping to put together this event, here is the invitation...

The first Uganda Bloggers Happy Hour will take place on Thursday, January 18, 2007 at 6:30 PM at Mateo's (above Nando's on Kampala Road, K'la). Bring your wit, your feistiness, your eloquence and your humor and meet up with the myriad of voices, minds and opinions that make up the Ugandan blogosphere.

Friends, readers and the blog-curious are welcome, as is anyone willing to debate the faults and merits of Aga Khan or Jay-Z. We hope this happy hour will serve as a springboard from which the Uganda blogging community can trade ideas, stories and opinions and continue to grow. We look forward to seeing you there!

(Out of the Uganda blogger loop? Check out the Global Voices Uganda page or the links to the right.)

Three Conferences

I like good conferences. They are a place to push the limits of your own ideas and build with people who are equally excited about the work as you are. Personally, I also like them because its an oppurtunity to fine tune your people instincts: that quick, instinctual read you get on a person when you first meet them. I think the people instinct is a fascinating amalgam of little including level of eye contact, enthusiasm, agressiveness, and style of dress.

Here are three hot conferences related to issues on this blog:

OK, I'm biased. I'm helping to lead the Global Kimeeza II: The Role of Youth in Post-Conflict Northern Uganda. This is a Global Youth Partnership for Africa conference thats bringing together American and Ugandan youth leaders to help imagine a rebuilt and reconciled Uganda. The Kimeeza will be Jan 3-17 in Kampala and Gulu, Uganda. You will be hearing more about the Kimeeza on this blog soon.






If I wasn't busy planning the conference above, I would be at the Global Voices Summit Delhi 'O6. But no worries, the conference will be broadcast live online this Saturday. The guiding question of this conference is: How can we use the Internet to build a more democratic, participatory global discourse? I think Global Voices is one of the most powerful forces for understanding under reported areas of the world.








The TED Global Conference in Arusha, Tanzania this summer is the mac daddy of all Africa conferences. Organized by Emeka Okefor, a leading Afriblogger and entrepreneur, the TED speakers list is simply breathtaking. I'll be watching this one closely.

Uganda's IT Scene and More

My most recent Global Voices post:

While only 0.6 percent of Uganda's population are internet users, there is increasing evidence that both Internet and Communication Technology (ICT) capacity is increasing, and that it is increasing in ways that are useful and relevent to local communities.

On OpenDemocracy.net, Patricia Daniels provides an overview of this continent wide phenomenon. In Africa: tools of liberation, she concludes with a general lesson:

The conclusion is always going to be the same: for peace, democracy or development, let's leave the real decisions to the people who know what matters to them. There is plenty of existing ICT capacity in Africa, as well as the potential to continue developing it, with the right kind of support. The conclusion of the discussion that sparked this essay was right: it's empowerment not patronage that's needed.

She notes a particular ICT project in Uganda:

In Uganda, ISIS-WICCE have developed a multimedia, multi-pronged approach to bring women under the ICT umbrella. This included training, opening a women's cybercafé, collecting women's stories and basing content on real urgent needs. Working with different technology and developing partnerships (including the Women of Uganda Network [Wougnet]) created a synergy, which has had concrete results in a wider sense of empowerment. In particular, their radio talk shows on violence against women, especially war victims and refugees, raised awareness among the international community and prompted donor support to address these issues.

In An African Minute reports on the launch on an innovative IT project aimed at helping the country coming to consensus on post-conflict reconciliation issues:

Like all countries that emerge from long periods of violence, Uganda finds itself at a fork in the road. In one direction is the neopatrimonialism, tribalism, distrust and violence amongst ethnic groups that has existed since its inception as a nation (of which Joseph Kony's LRA was but one incarnation). The other direction is a society where living in certain districts doesn't completely disqualify you from adequate security, healthcare, education or economic opportunity.

Northern Uganda Peace Initiative (NUPI): A Portal for Reconciliation is space designed to discuss the multifaceted issues of Ugandan reconciliation. While none of the tools on this site are new (blog, vlog, cell phone text messaging capability), as far as I know this is the first time they have been used to help identify solutions in a post-conflict setting. Since the site will be only as good as the amount of engagement from all communities interested in reconciliation, it will be a fascinating experiment to see how useful and relevant participatory communication tools are in the developing world.

In Kampala, the X-poser covers a Makerere University video conference on Blogging and Media in Africa:

Fears for blog-sphere to wipe-out journalism took center of the discussion for some good minutes but later Abdullahi Boru from Makerere University commented that, “Blog-o- phobia has to be substituted by blog-o-mania. Journalist will not run away from the new technology instead they should do their part professionally”. Hard material like Academics and news are blogged not forgetting sensational or un-researched material. Journalism students or journalist too have to blog, but what is the impact of their blogging?

In other news, there were three important pieces written this week about some of Uganda's under-reported issues: the Karamojong conflict, regional geo-politics, and new news on Uganda's HIV/AIDS rates.

Samuel Olara reports on the undercovered continuing conflict in the northeast Karamojong region:

People rarely win wars, and governments rarely lose them. People get killed. Governments moult and regroup, hydra-headed. Civilians become hostage and victims to the actions of their own governments, which is constitutionally mandated to protect them. Such is the tragic situation that has been playing itself in the Karamoja sub-region of northeastern Uganda since President Yoweri Museveni launched his so-called “disarmament program,” which has now turned out to be a massacre of the poor Karimojong.

Head Heeb outlines the continuing disasters in the Sahel region:

And a new theater may be opening in southern Sudan, where the Machakos peace may be collapsing before the world's eyes. Since the 2002 peace accord and the installation of a national unity government last year, the south has experienced a tentative recovery and thousands of displaced persons returned to their homes. Three days ago, however, the peace was broken when a clash between government and SPLA troops in the southern town of Malakal escalated into a pitched battle in which hundreds died. The latest reports indicate that calm has returned to the city and high-level delegations are attempting to mediate, but these efforts face uncertain prospects amid the southern ethnic groups' growing discontent over their marginalization. Unless regional conciliation is extended to ethnic groups as well as governments and militias, and unless the international community makes a sustained commitment to peacekeeping and development rather than choosing sides, the Sahel conflict zone may continue to expand.

In An African Minute asks if violence in Sudan, Central African Republic and Chad have an impact on events in northern Uganda:

Of course, the conflict zone has already expanded, playing a role in destabilizing the talks between the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and the Government of Uganda in Juba, Sudan. The LRA this week suspended the peace talks, claiming the cessation of hostilities agreement had been violated.

Elsewhere, Jackfruity investigates America's role in a possible reversal in Uganda's famous AIDS success:

The Washington Post recently reported that the AIDS rate is rising in Uganda. Peter Piot, director of UNAIDS, attributes the increase (from 5.6 to 6.5 percent in rural men and from 6.9 to 8.8 percent in rural women) to "a period of 'decreased credibility' of condoms, the consequence of messages by some fundamentalist groups, a run of defective condoms and then a shortage of condoms."

While serious issues continue to crowd the agenda, Ugandans continue to recognize the importance of laughter despite the struggles. Ernest Bazanye, known to Ugandans as Baz, and perhaps Uganda's funniest man, writes about his recent ride of Uganda's famous boda boda motorcycle taxis:

Twice in the past seven days I have found myself riding a boda in town, something I don’t usually do. It is both unsafe and unhygienic. It is on record that the National Boda Boda Association (NBBA) tests members’ underarms and will withhold an operator’s licence if the carbon concentration levels fall below a certain level of toxicity.

Participatory Media Tools in Post-Conflict Setting

Like all countries that emerge from long periods of violence, Uganda finds itself at a fork in the road. In one direction is the neopatrimonialism, tribalism, distrust and violence amongst ethnic groups that has existed since its inception as a nation (of which Joseph Kony's LRA was but one incarnation). The other direction is a society where living in certain districts doesn't completely disqualify you from adequate security, healthcare, education or economic opportunity.

Perhaps understandably, energy from all the major players is going into the technical Juba Peace Talks, and not into carefully addressing fundamental post-conflict reconciliation issues such as justice, land distribution, former soldier reintegration, economic development, and remembrance. The ultimate direction the country takes will be determined by a barrage of decisions that must be made quickly once the end of the conflict can be reasonably assured. Therefore, while continuing to focus on the Juba Talks, it is absolutely vital that Government, civil society and the international community start discussing these vital next steps.

I'm happy to announce the launch of a new site: USAID's Northern Uganda Peace Initiative (NUPI): A Portal for Reconciliation. The portal is designed a space to discuss the multifaceted issues of Ugandan reconciliation. While none of the tools on this site are new (blog, vlog, cell phone text messaging capability), as far as I know this is the first time they have been used to help identify solutions in a post-conflict setting. Since the site will be only as good as the amount of engagement from all communities interested in reconciliation, it will be a fascinating experiment to see how useful and relevant participatory communication tools are in the developing world.

Here are their tools, and the thought process behind each of them:

A BBC News-like 'Voice your views' section with periodically updated questions

A Think Tank for Reconciliation blog with several carefully selected and eloquent youth authors from around the country, many of whom are currently taking part in a North-South student exchange program

A media space which will contain (i) video montage of the mato oput traditional reconciliation process (ii) podcasts with views from all regions, including those usually excluded from the national dialogue

From an Informaation Technology for Development (ICT4D) perspective, I have my doubts about a site that is hosted by USAID being the best way to provoke an open and honest debate about the future of Uganda. However, pragmatically, NUPI was forward looking and willing to support this experiment, so I'm glad its happening. Also, of course, the site is only as good as the amount of participation. So far, I've recieved great feedback from the Ugandan youth leaders involved in the Think Tank.

Building a Nation

At this weeks Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society weekly meeting, Ethan Zuckerman and Eric Osiakwan made a fascinating presentation on Africa Internet Infrastructure: Opportunities and Challenges (see slides here) They showed that there is a huge opportunity for African's accessibility to increase while their costs drop. This is wonderful, because I've been fascinated how an accessible Internet in Africa can help countries recover from conflict and rebuild themselves. One question I'm battling with now at USAID is:

Can personal media and new technologies help connect a country that has been disconnected in the most fundamental ways since its creation?

A few weeks ago in Gulu, northern Uganda, the LC5 Chairman Norbert L. Mao (yes, he goes by Chairman Mao) was speaking at a community meeting about what to do now that 20 years of LRA pogroms are over. In between bemusing jokes about meeting Joseph Kony at the recent peace talks at Juba, Mao spoke about the need for a strong 'glue' to keep together this utterly fragile peace. This glue, he said, is Ugandans themselves. However, long before the most recent conflict, Uganda has been an utterly fragmented state, not only in the commonly acknowledged north/south divide, but even within the greater North, which is home to the broadly different cultures in Acholi, Lango, Teso and Karamoja. This fragmentation has caused everything from marked suspicion and mistrust to the horrific blood baths of Amin and Obote.

Making the Ugandan people the glue to a lasting peace and a reconciled nation is a complex process. No one in Uganda knows what this process will look like, but it will involve elements of transitional justice, psychosocial counseling, reparations and traditional forgiveness. There is no simple formula, and the experiences in South Africa, Mozambique, Rwanda and Sierra Leone can only provide limited guidance. What we do know is what Mao emphasized in Gulu: only if people feel included in reconciliation will the process be effective.

So far, the process of reconciliation has yet to become an inclusive process. Traditional, cultural and political leaders in the North are beginning the conversation, but as peace looms, not enough are involved. Enter personal media and new technology. I'm working on creating a USAID website whose goal is to raise the caliber and inclusiveness of the debate on Uganda's future. We are designing the first draft of the site with the following tools:
--A BBC News-like 'Voice Your Views' section with periodically updated questions
--A citizen media blog with several carefully selected and eloquent youth authors from around the country, many of whom are currently taking part in a North-South student exchange program
--A media space which will contain (i) video montage of the mato oput traditional reconciliation process (ii) podcasts with views from all regions, including those usually excluded from the national dialogue

Absolutely none of these tools are new, but from what I can tell, they have not been used by development practitioners to connect and involve a nation in its rebuilding and reconciliation process. I'm inspired by my friends at EchoDitto, who use the Net to raise the real world profile of political and community campaigns.

However, as one author recently wrote on the World Bank ICT discussion board, we have to temper our excitement about ICT in Africa with acknowledgement of the overall readiness of the continent for ICT solutions. First, I would respond that more people than we think use the Internet in Uganda, especially young people, even in remote regions. Second, our site is inspired by the 'bridge blogger' concept at Global Voices, utilizing eloquent young Ugandans from around the country who can collect and present the views of their community members and present it to the country at large.

Surely, the serious projects of reconciliation, transitional justice and nation building are not tasks accomplished by participatory media. However, there has never been more of a need for Uganda to engage itself in a national conversation. The question is, how much can participatory media contribute?

Serving Communities and the Net

There is a community of professors and staff at the university level who work in the field of service learning. A branch of experiental education, service learning aims at strengthening civic engagement in communities while providing learning oppurtunities. For a conference in Chicago in a few weeks, I've written a fairly straight forward paper to contribute to a discussion amongst these professionals on how personal media can change the way students interact with their communities, especially on the global level. See the paper, entitled 'New Communications Tools and Building Global Citizenship,' and comments here.