The Resilient World

Facebook and Twitter may not have caused the great awakening in North Africa and the Middle East, but they certainly facilitated it. Information and communications technologies can also help to build resilient communities. Tools that combine social capital with information can facilitate knowledge generation - a key ingredient for economic growth and environmental protection.

It is great to see USAID getting behind technology transfer in a big way through the Global Broadband Innovations Initiative. The GBI portal is at http://gbiportal.net; the environment portal (which I edit) is at http://enviro.gbiportal.net. This portal will serve as a knowledge-base for the development and information/communications technology community.

I've experienced the transformation that can be brought by ICT personally in observing the way that mobile phones are helping communities in Liberia to participate in national life in ways that were previously virtually impossible. 25 years ago, when I first visited Liberia, rural communities were often completely isolated from the capital. Now it is difficult, if not impossible, for the oligarchies that have long dominated resource allocation to control the flow of information. And this has been a key development in post-conflict recovery. It doesn't solve problems, but it promotes transparency and access to information, giving important leverage to communities.

Let's hear of more examples of how technology can free (or hinder) the resilience of communities.

Amplify’d from us2.campaign-archive1.com

Today, GBI is proud to announce the launch of the new GBI Portal, a multimedia resource portal and social network for development professionals interested in incorporating ICTs into their work. The portal brings together news, commentary, and updates from the field on cutting edge technologies and their applications to social and economic development. It also incorporates an extensive (and groing) library of documents and project discriptions related to ICT4D, connectivity and innovations in development. Read more at us2.campaign-archive1.com