Google is Bringing Project Loon to Indonesia

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The challenge of providing adequate Internet service in countries with vast populations that are spread out over large geographical areas is a difficult one. Rich and poor countries alike are dealing with this difficult problem. The task of providing access to the Internet infrastructure is compounded in developing countries. Not only do these countries face the burden of delivering broadband services to a large population that is spread over numerous remote islands and is isolated by mountainous terrain, but also even if the geographic conditions were ideal, the Internet infrastructure is typically under developed and insufficient to meet the growing population’s needs.

Satellite Connectivity

In many cases satellites have been utilized to enable developing countries to leapfrog in their Internet infrastructure development. Many developing countries tend to lack much of the traditional terrestrial infrastructure such as cable, fiber and other critical equipment, facilities and resources that have been invested and deployed in the broadband Infrastructure of developed countries over several decades. Satellites provide developing countries with the potential to by pass the expense and resources involved with more typical terrestrial Internet infrastructure development.

However satellite technologies present many disadvantages as well. For example there are line of sight limitations, which makes broadband service over satellites unsuitable for mountainous areas where the rugged terrain gets in the way of the signal. Alternatively the distances that the signal has to travel on satellite systems make them less than ideal for today’s high speed Internet networks.

Project Loon

Google Asia Pacific recently announced a technological solution to the intractable problem of providing Internet access in countries without sufficient existing broadband infrastructure. This technology entitled Project Loon is designed to provide Internet services via high-altitude balloons that act like floating mobile towers in Indonesia. While the planning for Project Loon began over two years ago, it was recently able to announce that Indonesia’s three largest mobile operators – Indosat, Telkomsel and XL Axiata – will begin testing balloon-powered internet services.

Indonesia has the geographic and demographic traits that make it an ideal fit for Google’s Project Loon. For example, it has a population of over 250 million that is spread out over 740,000 square miles and more than 17,000 islands. Moreover its mountainous terrain and large swaths of land covered by jungle create the types of limitations to the provision of sufficient broadband access that Project Loon’s technology is specifically engineered to address.

The introduction of this project should pose numerous benefits for Indonesia. In terms of Internet connectivity Indonesia lags behind many developing nations in Asia and around the world. In a recent study conducted by the Internet Society Indonesia ranks 135th in the world with 15.8 percent internet user penetration. This project should help to improve this ranking. Another benefit is that the project would not be dependent on the time consuming and expensive process of allocating spectrum just for Project Loon. The three participating mobile operators – Indosat, Telkomsel and XL Axiata – agreed to contribute their own stockpiles of spectrum for this project.

By Siddhartha Menon, a Research Developer and Social Media Strategist

Apply Now for Wireless Innovation Project Awards

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The Wireless Innovation Project from the Vodafone Americas Foundation is designed as a competition to promote innovation and increase implementation of wireless related technology for a better world. Total awards up to $600,000 will be available to support projects of exceptional promise that meet our eligibility criteria.

Types of Projects

The Vodafone Wireless Innovation Project seeks to identify and fund the best innovations using wireless related technology to address critical social issues around the world. Project proposals must demonstrate significant advancement in the field of wireless-related technology applied to social benefit use.

The competition is open to projects from universities and nonprofit organizations based in the United States. Although organizations must be based in the United States, projects may operate and help people outside of the United States.

  • Applicants must demonstrate a multi-disciplinary approach that uses an innovation in wireless-related technology to address a critical global issue in one or more of the following areas:
    1. Social Issue Areas: Access to communication, Education, Economic development, Environment, Health
    2. Technical Issue Areas: Connectivity, Energy, Language or Literacy hurdles, Ease of use
  • The project must be at a stage of research where an advanced prototype or field/market test can occur during the award period.
  • The technology should have the potential for replication and large scale impact.
  • Teams should have a business plan or a basic framework for financial sustainability and rollout.

Winners will be selected for awards of $100,000, $200,000, and $300,000 which will be paid in equal installments over three years.

How to Submit a Proposal

To submit a proposal, Applicants must first successfully complete the Eligibility Questionnaire. Eligible Applicants will then receive the URL for the online application via e-mail and be asked to create a username and password which will enable them to work on their proposal online. The application consists of multiple narrative questions and a project budget spreadsheet that Applicants must complete and submit. All information must be submitted through the on-line application.

Submissions will be accepted from 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time on November 2, 2015 to 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time on February 22, 2016 (the “Entry Period”).

2015: a year in review

2015 has been a busy year of the ISIF Asia program with awards, grants and capacity building activities been supported around the Asia Pacific region. Here is a summary of what we have done in 2015.

ISIF Asia Awards 2015

The Information Society Innovation Fund (ISIF Asia) Awards seek to acknowledge the important contributions ICT innovators have made to their communities, by addressing social and development challenges using the Internet. The Awards recognize projects that have already been implemented, or are in the final stages of implementation, and have been successful in addressing their communities’ needs.

During 2015, 5 awards of AUD 3000 were given to very interesting projects from India, Indonesia and Pakistan covering very relevant issues were Internet technologies make a difference for community development, such as citizens participation to improve public infrastructure in India; bridging fractal algorithms with traditional batik design in Indonesia; supporting female doctors in Pakistan to access the workforce; mapping diseases in rural areas of Pakistan. 5 award winners were selected out of the 78 nominations received from 12 economies across the region.

  1. Innovation on access provision: doctHERs – Pakistan, NAYA JEEVAN / http://www.docthers.com
  2. Code for the common good: Batik Fractal – Indonesia, Piksel Indonesia Company / http://www.batikfractal.com
  3. Innovation on learning and localization: Jaroka Mobile Based Tele-Healthcare – Pakistan, UM Healthcare Trust / http://www.umtrust.org
  4. Rights: I Change My City – India, Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy / http://www.ichangemycity.com
  5. Community Choice Award: I Change My City – India, Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy / http://www.ichangemycity.com

This year was particularly interesting to receive an application from China, for the very first time since the inception of the ISIF Asia program. 31 applications were accepted for the selection process and are publicly available for anyone interested to learn more about the ingenuity and practical approaches that originate from our region. 16 applications were selected as finalists for full review. When the final selection of the 4 award winners was completed, the process was opened for the community to cast their vote to select the Community Choice Award winner, selected with 426 valid votes. Besides the cash prize, the award winners were invited to attend the 10th Internet Governance Forum (Joao Pessoa, Brazil, 10-13 November 2015) were the awards ceremony took place. The full video of the awards proceedings is below:

 

Internet Governance Forum participation

As part of the Seed Alliance support, ISIF Asia led the development of a workshop proposal that was accepted by the MAG for inclusion in the official IGF program. A follow-up of the work conducted during the IGF in Bali and the IGF in Istanbul the workshop No. 219 “Addressing funding challenges for continuous innovation” to understand how funding for Internet innovation operates, how the Internet community respond to those challenges, as well as explore solutions together. In light of the publication of the new Sustainable Development Goals in August 2015, the workshop also explored the link between funding opportunities to achieve Goal #9 “Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation” where 9c set the objective of “Significantly increase access to information and communications technology and strive to provide universal and affordable access to the Internet in least developed countries by 2020”.  The workshop speakers were Jens Karberg (Sida), Laurent Elder (IDRC), Paul Wilson (APNIC) and Vint Cerf (Google). You can follow the workshop on the video below:

Capacity Building Fund

During 2015, ISIF recipients benefited from additional support through the Capacity building fund to promote the results of their ISIF supported projects at 9 international events that have raised their profile which open doors to negotiate additional support for their projects through a stronger and wider network of contacts, as follows:

  1. 10th Internet Governance Forum. 10-13 November 2015. Joao Pessoa, Brazil
  2. APNIC 40. 3 Sep 2015 to 10 Sep 2015. Jakarta, Indonesia
  3. COHRED Forum 2015. 24 Aug 2015 to 27 Aug 2015. Manila, Philippines
  4. WiSATS 2015. 6 Jul 2015 to 7 Jul 2015. Bradford, United Kingdom
  5. APrIGF 2015. 30 Jun 2015 to 3 Jul 2015. Macau, Macau
  6. RightsCon. 24 May 2015 to 25 May 2015. Manila, Philippines
  7. ICTD 2015. 15 May 2015 to 18 May 2015. Singapore City, Singapore
  8. AVPN 2015 Conference. 20 Apr 2015 to 23 Apr 2015. Singapore City, Singapore
  9. APNIC 39.  24 Feb 2015 to 6 Mar 2015. Fukuoka, Japan
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Additionally, a “Mentoring workshop on evaluation and research communications” was provided for 2014 grant recipient Operation ASHA for the project “Linking TB with technology” from 23 Mar 2015 to 26 Mar 2015 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where Sonal Zaveri and Vira Ramelan provided mentoring to Jacqueline Chen and Vin “Charlie” Samnang for the eDetection app project to provide training on U-FE and ResCom concepts, refine key evaluation questions and draft plans for communications strategy.

On top of these face-to-face opportunities, ISIF provided access to the JFDI.Asia pre-accelerator course from August to November 2015, providing 60 accounts for ISIF recipients to join in teams the course. JFDI was founded in Singapore in 2010 by Hugh Mason and Wong Meng Weng. The community has since helped thousands of people in Asia to engineer innovative businesses around their ideas. They can do this because innovation is evolving from an art into a science, and because we have built a community who share their expertise and experience turning ideas into reality. The 60 teams are all ISIF Asia funding winners seeking to accelerate their learning and thereby scale and grow the impact of their ideas.

Site visits

The site visits allowed ISIF Asia to gain a deeper understanding of: 1) the context in which the supported organization operates, partnerships with other organizations and relationships with project beneficiaries; 2) the problematic that the project addressed; 3) the solution proposed; 4) the results that the project achieved and 5) the challenges the organizations face for future development.  The site visits were documenting using photographs, videos, and blog articles. The visits were not only informative about the challenging contexts that these 2 projects operate but were also inspiring, as what can be achieved when talented and highly committed professionals, put their knowledge and effort to good use, for the benefit of disadvantaged communities. During 2015, ISIF Asia visited:

  • iSolutions. Aug 2015. Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia.
  • Access Health International. Mar 2015. Manila, The Philippines
  • Operation ASHA. Mar 2015 to Mar 2015. Phnom Penh, Cambodia

2014 grants completed!

During 2015, we have seen the completion of most of the 2014 grant recipients. Projects addressed development problems and demonstrated the transformative role the Internet can have in emerging economies. This summary of 2014 grant recipients and their projects are examples of the kind of partnerships that ISIF encourages and supports.

  • The Pacific Islands Chapter of the Internet Society – PICISOC in collaboration with University of Auckland (Pacific Islands) worked to improving Internet Connectivity in Pacific Island countries with network coded TCP with deployments in several islands of the Pacific with very positive and encouraging measurements for future development.
  • The Punjabi University, Patiala (India) completed their project to overcome the barriers that Sindhi Arabic and Devnagri scripts posed for researchers. They have completed the transliteration tables for both scripts and millions of words have being input into the database which is now on their final version.
  • The Cook Islands Internet Action Group (Cook Islands) has released the Maori Database app, website and social media page that has raised attention from the local media and interest from the local government to preserve the language.
  • CoralWatch, The University of Queensland (Australia/Indonesia) finalized their mobile app in Bahasa-Indonesia and English to improve citizen science monitoring of coral reefs in Indonesia
  • The Internet Education and Research Laboratory, Asian Institute of Technology, in collaboration with the Mirror Foundation and the THNIC Foundation (Thailand) deployed Chiang-Rai MeshTV: An Educational Video-on-Demand (E-VoD) System for a Rural Hill-Tribe Village via a Community Wireless Mesh Network (CWMN). The Chiang-Rai community has now a fully operational mesh network that streams educational videos for learning development over a community wireless network, increasing their access to educational content fit for a low literacy context motivating families to support their kids to keep on their learning path.
  • The Institute of Social Informatics and Technological Innovations – ISITI-CoERI. (Malaysia) continued their research in and develop a game to digitalize and preserve Oro, a secret signage language of the nomadic Penans in the rainforest in Malaysia. Their efforts have allowed to document traditional knowledge from the elders and making it relevant for the younger generations.
  • iSolutions (Micronesia) deployed the Chuuk State Solar Server Education Hub, through a scale-up grant, following the deployment of the PISCES project support in 2013 to connect schools to the Internet in Chuuk. The solar server education hub connects schools to educational content and share communications capabilities, lowering the cost by rationalizing the use of their limited broadband connections and using solar energy.
  • Nazdeek, in collaboration with PAHJRA and ICAAD has introduced a different approach on how to improve maternal health in India. They are using SMS technologies liked to online mapping to increase accountability in delivery of maternal health services. Their approach allows Adivasi tea garden workers in Assam to understand their rights and how to claim the benefits they are entitled to.
  • The ECHO app from eHomemakers in Malaysia received an award in 2012 for their work to support workingwomen in Malaysia to communicate and coordinate better when they work from home. In 2014 they received a scale-up grant replicate their experience in support to Homenet in Indonesia.
  • The University of Engineering and Technology and Vietnam National University are working on better systems for monitoring and early warning of landslides in Vietnam.
  • Operation ASHA successes in India, have inspired this scale-up grant to support the deployment of an application to monitor TB in Cambodia and support the work that healthworkers do to contain the spread of the disease and provide adequate follow-up for patients. They developed the eDetection app and improved diagnostics to reduce the spread of TB in Cambodia.
  • BAPSI has completed training and testing the development of Morse code-based applications to provide deaf-blind people with the opportunity to use mobile phones to better communicate with those around them that do not know sign-language.

2015 supported projects are well under way!

The selection for the 2015 grant recipients was also completed and 4 projects have received support. Their progress reports are starting to flow in, and they will reach completion during the first semester of 2016.

  1. Development of mobile phone based telemedicine system with interfaced diagnostic equipment for essential healthcare in rural areas of Low Resource Countries. Department of Biomedical Physics and Technology. University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
  2. Deployment of a Community based Hybrid Wireless Network Using TV White Space and Wi-Fi Spectrum in Remote Valleys around Manaslu Himalaya. E-Networking Research and Development. Nepal
  3. Improved Carrier Access in Rural Emergencies (ICARE). Innovadors Lab Pvt Ltd and School of Computer and Information Science, IGNOU. India
  4. A Peering Strategy for the Pacific Islands. Network Startup Resource Center and Telco2. Pacific Islands

The Discovery Asia blog

44 new articles have been published this year, to highlight the talent, skills and commitment that the Asia Pacific region has to offer, continues to raise attention to the vibrant community we serve, their needs and their innovative approaches to solve development problems using the Internet for the benefit of their communities. We encourage you to share your stories. It has been a busy year, and we look forward for new challenges during 2016! We look forward to complete 100 articles soon!

Seed Alliance end of a 3 year cycle

The three years grants from IDRC and Sida that made the collaboration with FIRE and FRIDA programs possible has come to a close during the 10th IGF in Brazil, where the Seed Alliance website was launched. The website provides a comprehensive view of the work that IDRC and Sida’s funds have made possible supporting 116 projects from 57 economies. It has allocated around US$ 2.2 million of funding in Grants and Awards throughout Africa, Asia Pacific, and Latin America, helping to strengthen and promote the Information Society within these regions through 102 opportunities for networking, outreach, evaluation and/or capacity building. The website will be officially launched in February 2016, but we invite you all to explore it!

New funding confirmed for project implementation and more grants in 2016! 

After a successful external evaluation process commissioned by IDRC and a new proposal negotiation as part of the Seed Alliance activities, ISIF Asia has received renewed funding commitment from IDRC for 2016 and 2017. A new call for grants will open early in 2016 to which APNIC has renewed its commitment as well. In addition, the Internet Society has decided to increase their funding contribution to ISIF Asia and fund a full grant, more details about this will be shared earlier in 2016.

The selection process for the 2015 round is currently under way, with 60K AUD to contribute towards research in our region. And finally, APNIC has renewed the funding for the Internet Operations Research Grants 2016.

We thank all our partners and sponsors for their renewed support!

An Online Platform Promotes Fair Tourism in Rural Thailand

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Pai Somsak Boonkam was born in the rural village of Roiet, Northeastern Thailand. His parents were poor rice farmers who believed in education. When he was eight, they sent him to an uncle, so he could go to high school. He studied his way through the university and became an engineer.

Lack of Economic Opportunities in Rural Thailand

At 18 years old, he came back to his hometown, but found that all his friends had left the village too. Like in most rural areas of Thailand, there were no job opportunities in Roiet. Many of Boonkam’s friends had moved to the cities hoping for a better life.

Once there, they were faced with many difficulties. It was hard for them to adapt to urban life, and they would only get the low-paying jobs. Meanwhile, with no one to enliven it, the community’s culture was dying.

Boonkam wondered what he could do, but he had no idea. He went on with his own life, took a sabbatical and traveled to India, Laos and Myanmar. He then moved to the US, to pursue an MBA in sustainability. Finally, he came back to Thailand and was hired by the Mae Fah Luang Foundation. His job was to manage a rural homestay project in the Northern part of the country.

This is when he got the idea to use tourism as a development tool.

Tourism in Thailand

Since the 1960s, tourism has been the engine of the Thai economy. It now accounts for 20 percent of the country’s GDP. For years most tourists have been to Bangkok, the Southern beaches and the Islands. But more and more are now striving for an immersive experience of the local life. That’s why many travel agencies offer what they call “sustainability tours.”

For Boonkam, these are just marketing tools and have zero benefit for the locals. Villages on the tourist route have become like “zoos.” One day, while he was working in a village, a bus of tourists arrived. All they did was chase the villagers, to take their pictures, and none bothered to talk to them. Twenty minutes later, they were gone to the next spot…

For the villagers, this was a great annoyance, for which they hardly received anything. Hotel chains and tour operators get 70 percent of the income generated by tourism. Less than 10 percent goes to the communities and hill tribes who still live in poverty. No wonder some are tempted to sell their traditional treasures to the tourists.

Sustainability

Boonkam believes there is another way to travel. He also believes that tourism can sustain the development of the communities. That’s why in 2012, he quit his job to start Local Alike. He was 31 at the time, and his ambition was to make the Thai tourism industry more just. And to do so, he would work with the communities to create authentic tourist activities.

Each tour promoted by Local Alike is designed by the villagers themselves. They decide everything – from the concept to the pricing. Even the guides are local people. Boonkam and his team give some support, making sure that the tourists’ expectations are met.

What’s more, Local Alike connects the local communities with their clients. They promote each project on their website, where the tourists can do their bookings.

A Source of Hope for the Future

In three years, Local Alike has developed tourism projects in 15 communities across Thailand. And everyone is already reaping the benefits!

Travelers can now delve into the local communities’ real life. So far, 1,300 tourists have participated in a tour or an activity. For the communities, it means 20 percent of extra income every year. And more than 2,000 jobs have been created.

Moreover, a dedicated development fund is formed for every participating village. Local Alike gives five percent of its profits and the community gives five percent of its income. The money is then used to finance local projects.

And it’s paid off, like in Suan Pa, north of Thailand. This hill tribe village was the first one to work with Local Alike. It is a hidden gem, yet it had a bad reputation among tourists. The locals would not pay any attention to the waste. Boonkam spent time explaining to them how important cleanliness was for the tourists. Right after, the villagers gathered to clean the whole place and its beautiful surroundings.

Soon, trekkers came back, bringing hope of a brighter future.

Overcoming Connectivity Challenges in Rural Schools with Content Servers

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Many schools in Asia Pacific have deployed computer labs to increase ICT literacy. However, it is challenging for schools to move beyond teaching basic computer skills such as typing, and office productivity tools without good internet access. There are incredible rich educational resources available in the cloud including Wikipedia, Khan Academy, and PhET. However, remote schools either lack adequate access to the internet or cannot afford it due to the high cost of broadband connectivity.

So, how can schools, particular remote and rural schools move beyond teaching basic ICT literacy and integrate ICT into core subjects such as English, Math and Science? The answer is a content server.

Content Server Options

While the concept of a content server is not new, it has evolved in recent years with more affordable hardware and relevant content. There are two key features that define a content server. First, it has to be simple to use. Second, it has to be robust and require zero or little maintenance.

Students and teachers access the content server using a standard web browser on a device that is available to them whether it be a desktop, laptop, tablet or even a smart phone. Content on the server must not require access to the internet but yet provide an experience that mirrors applications on the net.

Nowadays, more and more such content is available. For example, Kiwix started by making Wikipedia available in an offline mode but now has moved to offer additional resources such as wikitionary and TED® talks. KA-LITE from Learning Equality has developed a version of Khan Academy that is easily deployed on a local content server and provides a similar learning experience to the cloud version Khan Academy. PHeT has a server version that provides their rich simulation apps to be accessed in the browser. World Possible has curated content and made it available through Rachel, their off-line educational content portal.

These are just some examples of popular cloud education resources that are now available in versions suitable for a content server. Often it only take some minor tweaks to migrate country specific educational content into a format suitable to be placed on a content server.

A content server must be robust and require little or no maintenance. Schools do not have the IT support to maintain a traditionally server. Thus, ideally a content server only has an on/off button with no keyboard and monitor. This prevents “misuse”, which can introduce viruses or unintended configuration changes. For example, I have seen “servers” used as an additional desktop only to have configurations changed inadvertently rendering the server unusable.

A content server is a not a traditional server requiring large “server” hardware. Rather it can be implemented on different hardware including small form factor desktops, a network attached storage, or even a Raspberry Pi. One interesting implementation is an integrated unit called Intel Education Content Access point which combines a server with a Wi-Fi Access point, a 3/4G connection and a battery which makes it ideal for schools with unreliable power. Most implementations are running a version of Linux operating system due to its stability and small footprint.

Content Server Deployment

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So, how does a content server look like in practice and what impact does it have? Marilog Elementary School is a primary school in Mindanao, Philippines. While not remote, the school has no internet access, and cell phone coverage is poor. The school had a small computer lab for several years. Two years ago, the school received a content server along with several tablets.

In this implementation the content server was a C3 unit from Critical Links. A small form factor desktop measuring only 12cm X 12 cm X 5cm integrates a server with a Wi-Fi access point. Thus students can access it directly without the need of WLAN. However, the major advantage of the C3 is that content can be updated remotely. That is, once in a while the content server is connected to the internet at an office, and the content can get updated.

Students access the content using tablets. The off-line version of Wikipedia has proven to be one of the most popular application with both students and teachers. Students use it as a traditional encyclopedia, while teachers particular like the photos within Wikipedia to supplement their teaching materials. More recently, teachers started augmenting the content server by posting their own educational documents allowing for an easy and efficient way to distribute information to their students.

The concept of a content server is not new, but technology has evolved so that a content server can now run on very affordable hardware and requires minimum maintenance so that schools without access to the internet and without IT resources can now provide some of the educational applications of the 21st century.

Bernd Nordhausen advises organizations and governments on how to effectively utilize technology to bridge the digital divide.

DataKind Bangalore: Using Data to Improve Development

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On the eve of the birthday of MK Gandhi- India’s founding father- two very different groups of technologists are buckled up onboard flights to the United States. One surrounds a man who has risen from poverty to the position of the country’s Prime Minister. Soon, their plane begins its descent into the sun-drenched hillsides around Silicon Valley. The second comprises a trio of young middle-class professionals who’ve applied for extended leave from their day jobs to visit New York.

Peering out at the towering skyline from their windows, they dwell on the upcoming Second Annual Summit of the movement that they helped launched globally a year ago. Despite these surface differences, the two groups find their eyes glazing over the same dreams: harnessing the power of technology and internet connectivity to build a better, brighter India.

Who are they? The first-as you must have guessed- is the retinue of Narendra Modi, spearheading his ambition for a Digital India. Less obvious, and the subject of this three-part series- is DataKind Bangalore, and their diverse initiatives for the improved governance and accountability.

DataKind Banga-what? Mouthful alert. So let’s review that- one word at a time.

DataKind is a global nonprofit that unites pro-bono data scientists with social sector organizations to address critical humanitarian problems within a project-based framework. Since its launch in New York City in 2011, DataKind’s volunteers have undertaken a range of exciting initiatives– from scraping website data on Indonesian agricultural prices and Mozambique’s microfinance, to exploring poverty levels through satellite imagery of electric lighting in Bangladesh and roof materials in Uganda, to identifying trends in the needs of the distressed by mining their SMS text in India, the US and the UK.

This breadth of impact and depth of expertise has only been possible through a vibrant worldwide community represented at DataKind’s Chapters in Dublin, San Francisco, Singapore, the UK and Washington DC, and of course, Bangalore.

Yes, Bangalore. The city Indians would like to call the Silicon Valley of the East. And what Silicon Valley itself would like to dislike as the Outsourcing Capital of the world. Except now, Bangalore is ‘insourcing’. DataKind’s local Chapter, founded in 2014 has been harnessing the country’s top tech talent to take on its own greatest challenges.

Within just a year of operations, their tally of volunteers hit a staggering 700. So could India’s bemoaned Brain-Drain be quietly rebounding into a Brain Gain? Perhaps part of the pro-bono participants’ passion pertains to how Bangalore’s is the only Chapter situated in a developing country.

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Of course, all members of DataKind’s international network confront the ‘wicked’ problems that bedevil poverty alleviation. But when you experience this wickedness first-hand, when it’s cackling in your face on a daily basis, you’re far more inclined to land an algorithmic slap on its cheek.

One of the most stinging issues- possibly one that brought Modi into power- was a lack of transparency and accountability and an almost resigned acceptance of corruption and inefficiency.  And as the trio in New York soon realized at DataKind HQ, governance had unintentionally become a Chapter theme of sorts. 4 of all their 6 nonprofit partners thus far had resolved to support public bodies with data-driven decision making, or at least to build societal consensus on the need thereof.

As another interesting insight at the Global Summit, the Bangalore trio noted that even in developed nations like the UK, the supply of well-trained data scientists still fell short of demands from the private and public sectors. What did this portend for India?

In parallel and on the opposite coast, Modi had been pitching to several CEOs to invest in his country’s IT infrastructure. This tied in with the 17-point Digital India vision he announced 3 months ago, which concludes with ‘I dream of an India where every Netizen is an Empowered Citizen’. But as former Microsoft researcher, Kentaro Toyama elaborates in his book ‘The Geek Heresy’– mere provision of internet and mobile technologies, without investing first in human capacity to handle them (and the resulting information deluge) would ring hollow. An empty promise.

Volunteers at DataKind Bangalore have been fortunate to belong to the narrow segment of digital elite equipped with the industry knowledge and cognitive capabilities to leverage these tools. And it turns out that 6 of the 17 points in Modi’s mandate could be linked to issues of Good Governance. So if there is any measure of evaluating just how truly efficacious the ICT4D mandate could prove for India, and particularly in transparency and accountability, DataKind Bangalore and its projects with local NGOs provide an exciting testing ground.

Likewise, this current Chapter theme of Governance will form the focus of this series, though future extensions may explore outstanding DataKind Bangalore projects in other areas such as education, agriculture and microfinance. The remainder of this entry outlines the workings of DataKind’s typical project cycle, and sets the stage for more detailed explorations that will follow in the coming weeks.

Given this backdrop of the non-profit and technologist landscape, how does possessing data lead to any sustainable change? The answer: it doesn’t. Not per se, at least. Then again, DataKind Bangalore isn’t a group of number crunchers alone. Think of it rather, as an innovation and strategy hub. Likewise, its leaders follow a system.

First, a rigorous scoping and outreach process helps determine which organizations hold sufficient management capacity and clearly defined data science problems for the collaboration to prove worthwhile.

Secondly, doors are opened to volunteers from not only the IT industry but a variety of fields including economics, design, journalism, anthropology, and business development. This diversity enriches the ideation process, while also providing many participants with their first on-the-job taste of programming and statistics.

Thirdly, through a defined sequence of community events, the nonprofit’s challenge is hacked and hewed much like Michelangelo sculpting David out of a block of marble. Project Accelerator Nights (evening brainstorming sessions that lead to problem formulation) and DataJams (sessions of data cleaning and exploratory analysis) then culminate in DataDives (weekend hackathons on clearly defined challenges).

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If partners believe that the resulting proposition would boost social impact, a specially selected DataCorps project then fully integrates it into the host organization over a six-month period.

For every David, there’s a Goliath lurking out there somewhere. And the world we inhabit today teems not only with Big, but Giant Data. This isn’t just the statistics computed to furnish in a Non-Profit’s annual reports or the World Bank’s tables, or even decade-end census figures. Neither is it the information gleaned from large-scale randomized controlled trials on policy effectiveness.

Sure, all of that is pretty and polished. But to (grossly) twist a John Legend classic, quantitative analysts today have to learn to love data with it ‘all its curves and edges, all its perfect imperfections’. And this could either pop up mercilessly in real time (through the spread of social media, mobile devices and sensor devices) or turn musty over years in impregnable government PDFs.

So no matter what fancy statistical technique DataKind may have planned, the first step of problem solving remains the same. All available data- whether from partners or scraped off the net- must be tamed and standardized into a format suitable for computers to perform their magic on. Once this foundation is laid, applications of data science to governance could be classified broadly into two use cases. We will explore each with a pair of Datakind Bangalore partners.

The first centres on the executive wing of public administration- specifically interface with citizens at the municipal ward level. Hell hath no fury like a Smartphone owner scorned. Naturally, public officials often feel overwhelmed and understaffed to deal with the volume and variety of their complaints. As a first remedy, duplicates must be cleared, i.e. if many citizens are lodging new entries for the same issue. These must then be allocated to the appropriate authority for resolution.

For example, ISIF 2015 award winner (and coincidentally one of DataKind Bangalore’s inaugural partners), Janaagraha has leveraged its ‘I Change My City’ online platform and mobile app to empower over 2 million Bangalore citizens to lodge over 36,000 complaints on daily hassles such as potholes, garbage left in the open, streetlights, etc (see below).

With some practice on previous years’ data, a computer can soon begin to predict where and when they are likely to emerge, and calculate the probability that they will be resolved. Machine Learning, Mamma Mia! The next entry in this series will explore the mechanics of such an analysis both for the established Janaagraha initiative as well as the newly commenced e-Governments Foundation project in the neighbouring metropolis of Chennai.

The second approach turns to the judiciary and public finances by visualizing data over time or in specific areas. This allows for identifying trends to take action (for public officials themselves) or demand good governance (for citizens and activists). For example, a brief mapping exercise with the Bangalore Police helped them deduce the location of organized gangs (mostly around open public spaces) and then snatch up and enchain some unassuming chain-snatchers. But more importantly, such visualization converts endless and inscrutable reams of data into a clear and visually engaging narrative.  The final installments of this series will compare applications of data cleaning and visualization to two freshly minted DataKind Bangalore partnerships.

First, DAKSH and its Rule of Law project aim to throw light on another category of the overwhelmed government employee- judges at the District, State and National levels. By mapping and quantifying India’s notoriously high case pendency across courts, DAKSH aims to foster informed public debate and develop sustainable solutions.

Second, Centre for Budget and Government Accountability from New Delhi is striving to develop a detailed data Portal on Union and State budgets in India since 2005 and expose any discrepancies between funded allocated and those actually spent. With both partners, DataKind will help discipline and visualize unruly giant data for a simplified user experience that provides not only intelligible insights but impetus for informed action.

So there we have it- common citizens in the world’s largest democracy harnessing internet technologies for improved transparency and accountability.  The world has changed dramatically since back when Gandhi overthrew a colonial regime through the power of a clear national message and transforming the culture of community movements. It remains to be seen whether embedding technology and data-driven decision-making within organizations can help create a similar impact on the dramatically different challenges of the present day.

Two groups who believe in this potential- Prime Minister Modi and DataKind Bangalore- may have now caught the flight back to India to achieve their mission. But now it’s time for you to fasten your seatbelts. Stay tuned as we embark on new adventures with two fascinating methodologies applied to pioneering and passionate partners in the Silicon Valley of the East. No matter how long the seed needs to take root, and whether this experiment fails or succeeds- it’s definitely a journey you don’t want to miss.

Abhishek Pandit is a Strategy Consultant at ChaseFuture

Can ICTs Improve the Indian Rural Health System?

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Despite real progress since 1990, India has not achieved universal health coverage yet.

For instance, the country still has the highest infant death rate in the world. In 2013, 1.3 million children under the age of five died. For many, this was due to preventable causes like birth complications, pneumonia or diarrhea. Tragically, the majority of fatalities occurred in poor rural households.

A shortage of skilled medical staff in rural India

In India, most of the medical facilities are in the cities, where only 27 percent of the population lives. Approximately 716 million people are currently living in rural areas and they only have access to deplorable health centers. Most of the time, they have to travel a long way to get there. When they arrive, nothing assures them that they will find a practitioner to treat them. Rural India is indeed facing a 64 percent shortage of health professionals.

Aware of the situation, successive Indian governments have been working on this issue. In particular, they have hired women as health workers in remote villages. Today, they are the backbone of the public health system in the countryside. However, most of them are semi-literate and have an insufficient basic training.

A lofty young couple to tackle the Indian rural healthcare issue

They took the leap in 2013 and their dream seemed impossible to achieve. After all, Abhinav and Shrutika Girdhar had no healthcare experience. All they had were years of frustration with the rural medical system.

Shrukita grew up in Mumbai, but her grandparents live in a village of 2,000 people. Whenever they get sick, they have no choice but consult the local health workers. They are only two and they have poor medical skills. Often they cannot cure treatable problems, and often times, this leads to the patient’s death.

Such a situation worried Shrukita, so she opened up to her husband. As the son of two doctors and an entrepreneur at heart, Abhinav was willing to take action. Together they agreed they would focus on improving the training of health workers.

That’s how they left their well-paid jobs and started Bodhi Health Education.

An accessible, personalized training program for health workers

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In India, road conditions are usually poor, so it was unrealistic to organize the training sessions in the villages. On the other hand, mobile coverage is good and there are over 900 million cell phone users. Plus, Shrukita being an IT engineer, they opted for an e-learning solution that could easily be delivered through Android-based devices.

That way, they would tackle the challenge of training uneducated people. Most health workers have limited formal education and it is hard for them to learn medical topics. That’s why the Girdhars and their team of medical specialists developed an adapted curriculum. They made sure to explain every concept and procedures using pictures and videos. Additionally, they deliver the lessons in Hindi and India’s regional languages. That way, the learning is simple, interactive, and engaging.

Furthermore, the Bodhi curriculum relies on a personalized educational approach. After a lesson, the learner has to answer practical questions; after a module, she must then take a quiz exam. The results are sent to the trainers who can assess the learning process. It allows them to tailor the program to the health worker’s pace and progress.

Reluctant medical authorities

At first, Shrutika and Abhinav had to overcome resistance to e-learning. The medical authorities were doubtful about using technology to train community health workers. Despite this rebuff, the young entrepreneurs persisted. In less than two years, they developed 100 training modules. The Bodhi curriculum now covers topics like maternal and child care, immunization as well as tuberculosis.

Besides, the Girdhars introduced their program to health workers, who all showed great interest. They found it easy to use and were happy for the opportunity to increase their skills and knowledge. They knew it could help them better treat people, but also earn more money.

In view of these results, the Indian medical authorities agreed to give it a try. Bodhi Health Education could develop partnerships with the government, private hospitals and healthcare companies. These organizations provided tablets, computers and smartphones to upload the Bodhi curriculum. Over 1,000 community health workers could at last access the training.

Towards a better healthcare for the ‘bottom of the pyramid’?

For Shrutika and Abhinav, this is only the beginning. In the next five years, they aim to train more than 60,000 rural health workers. They also want to go international and promote their solution in Asia and Africa.

And of course, they will focus on the regions with the worst health indicators to achieve a major impact!

Why Leadership Is Important for ICT Initiatives

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Information and Communication Technology (ICT) based projects are being implemented on a large scale in developing countries. It is believed that ICT opens doors to various opportunities, which can be used by people for their development. In this article, I focus on the implementation and monitoring aspect of ICT enabled initiative and the role of leadership in the project’s successful roll-out.

The content of this article is based on my research study on eSeva, an ICT initiative, implemented in the ‘Eluru’ district of Andhra Pradesh state of India. The objective of eSeva project is to provide vital information to citizens in rural areas at a click of a button. The project considers ‘information’ a crucial entity towards bringing a change in people’s life. The project was initiated by Mr Sanjay Jaju, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) official.

It was during his tenure as District Collector, the number of services provided through the telecentres was greatest i.e. around twenty services. ‘Grievance redressal’ was the most sought service by the rural citizens. Citizens used this service for accountability of government officials.

There was resistance towards adoption of eSeva services by the government employees, especially towards grievance redressal service. However, all the services of the initiative were personally monitored by Mr. Jaju, and he used to make sure that all the registered grievances were addressed on time. There were mechanisms in place for government officials who were insensitive towards complaints registered by people. Due to a greater number of services, the project was financially sustainable during the early days.

Heydays of the project came to halt when Mr. Jaju was transferred to some other district. The District Collectors, who joined later, did not take much interest in the project due to their varied priorities. ‘Grievance redressal’ was the first service which got hammered. Grievances were registered at the centres, but no action was taken on them by the government authorities.

Consequently, citizens stopped using the service. Mr Jaju introduced services like issuance of ration card, voter ID, etc., but a change in the administration lead to removal of most services. At present there are only 3-4 active services in the centres, which include utility bill payments, issuance of caste certificates and information services. Therefore, changes in leadership created havoc for the initiative.

Not only most services stopped due to changes in leadership, but also some decisions of the authorities indirectly affected the financial sustainability of the project. For example, Joint Collector (JC) of the ‘Eluru’ district passed an order which made it mandatory for the Village Revenue Officer and Revenue Inspector to distribute caste and income certificates in villagers personally. Through this order, the role of telecentres in the issuance of certificates was eliminated.

‘Caste/Income Certificate’ service is one of the main revenue generation services for the centres. eSeva centres act as the front end to receive applications for caste or income certificates, and also deliver the certificates to people once ready. The entrepreneurs are wary of the consequences of such orders, as it would directly affect their business. However, district administration maintains that the order was passed in the good will of the district administration.

Hence, from the above discussion, it is apparent that interest of district authorities and government officials proved to be the one of the major reasons for a reduction in the number of services in eSeva centres. Gradually, sustainability of the telecentres is at stake and entrepreneurs are struggling to keep their centres running profitably. Leadership can bring a positive change, however, it is also necessary that the change is sustained. A new idea or an innovation from a leader is highly welcome. However, future considerations on the sustainability of that idea or innovation should be made, should there be a leadership change.

Gaurav Mishra is an Assistant Professor at Development Management Institute (DMI) – Patna