Technology and Global Development
15-502
Instructors:
M. Bernardine Dias and Yonina Cooper
TA: Aysha Siddique
Spring 2009
Lecture 6
Capacity Building II
Outline
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Logistics
Capacity building
Your assignments for
next week
Logistics
• New student plan
• Research assignment reminder
• Questions about the media and
campaign assignments?
• Movie night?
• Any other questions/comments?
Problem Solving
• Identify the problem
• Understand the problem
– Start with the big picture
– Drill down for details
– Different perspectives?
• Potentially decompose the problem
into smaller parts
– Always keep in mind how the component
problems relate to the larger one
• Identify the requirements and
constraints of the problem
• Define your role in solving the problem
• Design a solution
– Research related work
– Don’t reinvent the wheel
• Test and validate the solution
• Deploy the solution
Capacity Building
Video Discussion
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What were some of the problems with the way water was supplied to
the villagers at the beginning of film?
How was clean water brought to the village?
What problems (and for whom) arose with this solution?
Why did this solution fail?
Who initiated finding out why the project failed (i.e. why the pumps
were not repaired)?
What were the problems? Why was there no resolution to
these problems?
Who initiated a possible solution to broken pumps in Ayole? What were
the attitudes (initially) of the workers sent in to facilitate helping the
villagers have clean water? What were the attitudes of the villagers?
Identify the stakeholders in the second solution. What was the role
of each?
Why was this solution successful?
What were other benefits resulting (than clean water) from
this solution?
Development Gateway
• Development Gateway Foundation is an international nonprofit
organization with the mission to reduce poverty and enable change in
developing nations through information technology.
• Development Gateway Foundation provides Web-based platforms that
make aid and development efforts more effective around the world.
• Focus resources in three areas where even small investments in
information and communications technology (ICT) can make a
major difference:
– Effective government – enabling better aid management and coordination,
and more efficient and transparent government procurement.
– Knowledge sharing and collaboration – leveraging the Internet for online
communications among development practitioners worldwide.
– Local partner programs in nearly 50 countries – connecting developing
country organizations into our mission and helping empower them to use
ICT to scale up local development efforts.
• Development Gateway Foundation has an online resources portal for
development information and knowledge-sharing worldwide.
– The tools on this website bring together people and organizations around the
globe who are working to improve life in developing countries.
http://www.developmentgateway.com
Capacity Building/Development
• The UNDP:
– Strengthens institutions to
empower the citizens they serve
– Supports institutions that
safeguard political and
economic stability
– Promotes the equitable
distribution of resources
– Increases public transparency
and accountability
– Enhances the conditions for
sustainable human development
– Forges relevant partnerships
• The key is to empower people to
help themselves
• Sustainability is crucial
http://www.undp.org/publications/annualreport2008/pdf/IAR2008_ENG_low.pdf
Reading Discussion
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How did the state of the government in Bangladesh affect
the establishing of the Grameen Bank?
Who was A. M. A. Muhith? What role did he play in
helping Yunus establish the Grameen Bank?
Was the bank established as envisioned by Yunus? What
were the differences in the bank created and the one
Yunus desired?
Were all the problems ultimately resolved to Yunus’ liking?
What was Muhith’s promise regarding the bank? Was he
able to keep his promise? Why or why not?
What lessons can you take away from Yunus’ experiences
in the establishment of the Grameen Bank?
What did you learn from the pictures?
Was this capacity building? Why or why not?
Capacity Building Examples
• Are each of these examples of capacity building? Why
or why not?
– In Niger, UNDP helped create a corps of local volunteers in a UNVsupported national volunteerism scheme. Among the first clients of the initial
100 recruits were newly elected administrators in rural areas of Niger, who
turned to their compatriots in seeking practical expertise in delivering
public services.
– In Jordan, UNDP worked with the Government to devise a sustainable mine
action strategy that allowed Jordan to meet its obligations under the
international Mine Ban Convention. Among the cleared locations were the
southern area of Wadi Araba, the site of massive foreign investment in the
tourism sector, and the Jordan Valley, home to many of Jordan’s
poorest communities.
– In Albania, UNDP supported the creation of an online ‘braingain’ database to
allow skilled emigrants from the Albanian diaspora to contribute to their
country’s development in academia, the private sector and other domains.
http://www.undp.org/publications/annualreport2008/pdf/IAR2008_ENG_low.pdf
Capacity Building Exercise
• How could you have addressed these problems
without building capacity?
– In Niger, UNDP helped create a corps of local volunteers in a UNVsupported national volunteerism scheme. Among the first clients of the initial
100 recruits were newly elected administrators in rural areas of Niger, who
turned to their compatriots in seeking practical expertise in delivering
public services.
– In Jordan, UNDP worked with the Government to devise a sustainable mine
action strategy that allowed Jordan to meet its obligations under the
international Mine Ban Convention. Among the cleared locations were the
southern area of Wadi Araba, the site of massive foreign investment in the
tourism sector, and the Jordan Valley, home to many of Jordan’s
poorest communities.
– In Albania, UNDP supported the creation of an online ‘braingain’ database to
allow skilled emigrants from the Albanian diaspora to contribute to their
country’s development in academia, the private sector and other domains.
http://www.undp.org/publications/annualreport2008/pdf/IAR2008_ENG_low.pdf
Capacity Building Exercise II
• How might you design a “capacity building”
solution to this problem?
• What would be an alternative solution that
doesn’t build capacity?
In Ghanaian public schools, governmentadministered Criterion Referenced Test in 2000
indicated that fewer than 10% of the school children
in grade six were able to read with grade level
mastery. Computer-based tools and mobile phonebased tools are showing some promise but access to
computers is sparse in rural communities.
Capacity Building Exercise II
• How might you design a “capacity building”
solution to this problem?
• What would be an alternative solution that doesn’t
build capacity?
Braille is the only form of literacy for the blind. The
Sefula School for the Visually Impaired in Mongu,
Zambia is the only school for visually impaired
children in the Western Province of Zambia. The
Sefula School has access to very limited resources
and just received a donation of five computers.
Capacity Building Exercise II
• How might you design a “capacity building” solution to this
problem?
• What would be an alternative solution that doesn’t build
capacity?
AIDS orphans and vulnerable children are sought out
by social workers and para-social workers in Tanzania
so that they can be placed with families who can take
care of them. A national database has been created to
keep track of the placements of these children.
Reporting mechanisms for this database involve travel
to a location where a computer can be accessed, or
filling out paper forms which must then be shipped to
a location with computer access and entered into the
national database.
CBPR
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Community Based Participatory Research
Not just a set of methodologies, but an attitude or
approach to working in developing communities
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Humility
Respect for the community’s knowledge and
ways of knowing
CBPR is reflexive, flexible, and iterative, not rigid
and linear
Focus on “knowledge for action” rather than
“knowledge for understanding”
Shifts location of power from researcher to
community (hopefully power becomes
equally dispersed)
Principles of CBPR
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Truly collaborative—all parties equal
Research is relevant to community
Direct benefits will be seen, hopefully in the
form of social change
Enhances capacity of participants
Everybody learns
Knowledge is disseminated within community
Community members receive credit for work
Steps taken to ensure that research is “ethical”
Modes of Participation
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Contractual - people are contracted into the
researcher’s project
Consultative - people are asked for
their opinions
Collaborative - researchers and local people
work together on projects designed, initiated, and
managed by researchers
Collegiate - researchers and local people work
together as colleagues with different skills to
offer, in a process of mutual learning where local
people have control over the process
Difficulties of CBPR
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CBPR is very hard to do well, especially under
time and resource constraints in the communities
you will be working in
Also may be seen by the organization that
contracted you as unnecessary because they
already “know” the solution to the problem
Must get Institutional Review Board (IRB)
approval for any research that involves “human
subjects” (people).
Potential Pitfalls
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Vapor-Participation: The CBPR methods are
done mechanically without the attitude of
participation such that you merely do what you
planned to do in the first place
CBPR can become a feel-good exercise that has
no practical value
CBPR can reproduce existing power relations
Marginalized peoples are not necessarily
empowered to speak their minds
Towards CBPR
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Decide to work collegially
Network to build partnerships
Look for “hybrids” or cultural translators
Work with existing organizations
– Community organizations
– Government agencies
– NGOs
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Take building relationships seriously
Other References
• 15502 lecture slides from 2006 and 2007 –
jointly prepared by Rahul Tongia, Joe
Mertz, Jay Aronson, and Bernardine Dias
• Most images are from TechBridgeWorld
(www.techbridgeworld.org)
What Next?
• Introduction to TFDC/ICTD
• Reading/viewing assignments:
– Due Today
• Research Assignment (make sure we get your email!)
– Due Tuesday
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Read http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=4548168&isnumber=4548155
Read http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=4548169&isnumber=4548155
View http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjWcmaVfMyY
Read article sent via email
– Due Thursday
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Skim http://www.viktoria.se/altchi/submissions/submission_indranimedhi_0.pdf
Skim http://www.cs.colorado.edu/department/publications/reports/docs/CU-CS-1006-06.pdf
View http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpRRivQgpjc&feature=related
View http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/iqbal_quadir_says_mobiles_fight_poverty.html
– Preparation questions on all reading and viewing assignments are
available on the course website in the “assignments” section.
• Special note: first do the reading/viewing and then look at the
questions and come prepared to discuss them in class.