Research

From Sendrine Constant
http://unicefstories.org/2017/03/22/sharing-the-methodology-and-key-learnings-of-the-bicu-innovation-camps-in-nicaragua/
https://smartcitizen.me/
http://www.checkmyschool.org

From Lisa O'Shea
Kigali, Rwanda

Annual summit of Tech Africa held in Rwanda - Connect/innovate/transform
https://www.smartafrica.org/tas17/

http://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/rwanda-africas-silicon-valley

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/janet-longmore/rwanda-could-be-the-next-_b_6122384.html

Ghana's MEST Incubator and VC fund
Training, mentoring, and investing in world-class tech entrepreneurs in Africa.
http://meltwater.org/incubator/about-the-incubator/

Bangalore, India

http://www.amritatbi.com/
Amrita TBI is a non-profit incubator supported by Govt. of India and Amrita University that funds,
mentors and nurtures ideas, startups and entrepreneurs.

Amrita TBI has incubated 58 startups, mentored 216 startup ideas and has zero loss from its investments.

http://www.nsrcel.org/
Supported by intel, University partnerships - less tech-oriented

Existing Youth Incubators

Global Youth innovation network - http://www.gyin.org/
http://www.catapultideas.com/ High-school start-up incubators

Giving Point Institute - https://www.mygivingpoint.org/about-givingpoint-institute
ten-month learning academy for young people who have demonstrated outstanding service by making a documented impact on their communities. GPI students participate in monthly forums sponsored and taught by corporate and community leaders from companies such as Coca-Cola, Goldman Sachs, and ESPN. Areas of study include strategic planning, budgeting, brand and marketing awareness, public speaking, and fund and "friend" raising. At the end of each class, a "shark tank" environment is set up for the young people to showcase their 501(c)3 charities or major projects, with the public invited to participate.

From Diana Quick
http://abroadship.org/training-course-the-incubator-less-work-for-more-impact-denmark/

This short training course aims to reach youth workers (professional and volunteer), youth leaders and decision makers in the field of youth, with a solid intention of using (amongst others) Erasmus+: Youth in Action as a tool within a long term strategy to promote empowerment possibilities on individual, organisational and community level

From Charles Badenoch

Potential to collaborate with IEEE Sight. IEEE has 420,000 members in 160 countries and "is the world's largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. IEEE and its members inspire a global community to innovate for a better tomorrow through its highly cited publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities. IEEE is the trusted “voice” for engineering, computing, and technology information around the globe." IEEE stands for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. I met Kartik Kulkarni, Chair of the IEEE SIGHT Steering Committee. The IEEE Special Interest Group on Humanitarian Technology (SIGHT) serves as an internal Peace Corps for its member and there are now IEEE SIGHT* chapters around the world. I discussed with Kartik the idea of World Vision engaging with targeted SIGHT chapters to engage local context engineers (pro bono) to develop/strengthen child protections into the design and architecture of existing and new Internet platforms. Karkik is very open to having a discussion with World Vision. Short term - perhaps some great Child Protection advances; Long term - continued CP advances and a global MOU between IEEE SIGHT and WVI for engagements around the world with all aspects of WVI systems/programming/data management/cloud services/etc..

*Info on IEEE SIGHT. See ieeesight.org. In recent years, IEEE has placed great emphasis on Humanitarian Technology Activities, instituting the Humanitarian Activities Committee (HAC) in 2016. As part of a strategic effort toward member engagement, HAHC has instituted a program called Special Interest Group on Humanitarian Technology (SIGHT).

Objectives of SIGHT
To promote the mission of IEEE regarding humanitarian technology activities, particularly:

To bring together members/IEEE OUs working in or wishing to work in humanitarian fields and to encourage and promote them in activities that use humanitarian technologies by giving them an opportunity for participation
Increasing awareness of IEEE members and engineers of the potential of their work to improve the standard of living of underserved populations, and encouraging them to increase efforts in this direction
To engage with NGOs, Civil Society Organizations, UN Organizations, Corporates, and other similar bodies to synergize efforts in delivering useful and sustainable technologies in their operations
To work with other bodies in the global engineering community who have similar goals and help each other in delivering to the ideals and participate in joint activities like Engineering for Change (E4C)

From Charles

As four billion people (55% of humanity) are still not on-line, there is a tsunami surge to expand connectivity/internet access to every community on the planet. People-Centered Internet Coalition/Global Connect* (Global Connect is the name for the U.S. State Dept's initiative) have the goal to connect 1.5 billion people by 2020. World Economic Forum's similar initiative is called Internet for All. China has a massive connectivity initiative in process as well. Per a U.S. State Dept survey, there are at least 65 connectivity initiatives in process, which will grow to 120+ initiatives in the next 24 months. Translation: in addition to the existing 3B smart phones, 2B additional people will get smart phones in the next 24 months, and 2B more people in the 24-26 months thereafter.

I attended a private invitation PCIC/GC meeting in Palo Alto, CA, May 31, 2016. Present: representatives from The White House, US State Dept, Google, Harvard and various other entities. I was the only child focused NGO voice in the room. The discussion focused on Tunisia as a "first customer" and a included a discussion of potential concurrent/sequential countries such as India, Myanmar and Afghanistan. I raised the issues (listed below) during the meeting. I have been invited to attend a full day planning meeting, hosted by PCIC/GC, in San Francisco on July 28, 2016. The purpose of this meeting is to plan in detail for a full blown Global Connect launch event in Wash. DC in October 2016 (the April 2016 Global Connect meeting in Wash DC, which I did not attend, was hosted by U.S. Sec. of State John Kerry and WBG President Jim Yong Kim). I may be in a position to nominate a senior level WVI and/or WVUS representative to speak about the EVAC Global Campaign at this October meeting.

Our contribution may be a) to speak clearly about the Child Protection (and Community Protection) opportunities/challenges associated with these initiatives, b) to advocate that key development outcomes be embedded in the design of these technical infrastructure investments, and c) if resources are made available to World Vision, facilitate a) and b) in communities where World Vision is already present.

Here are some general and specific points I raised in May 31, 2016 PCIC/GC meeting; these ideas were well received.

    1/ Will local communities be authentically involved in this process from the beginning, even though a lot of time and resources must be focused on Systems Specifications, Supply Chain, Macro/Micro Energy Grids, Technology, Monetization and IP Protocols. etc.?  Can this process be hardwired to enable genuine discussions at various local levels (with separate focus groups of children, women, youth and men, as their vantage points and cultural voice and power vary greatly) to understand their hopes, fears, questions, etc.?  
    2/ A key metric for consideration: "Do No Connectivity Cultural Harm" to local communities.  How about a discussion of ways that the Do No Harm issue can be continually mitigated? For example: How about engaging a team of international and local anthropologists to reflect deeply on the high risk of local culture destruction/disintegration as an unintended outcome of rapid connectivity into villages that have literally hundreds of years of mostly undisturbed local/sacred practices?  Such an initiative could involve a collaboration with GeoPoll.com, which has a database for focus group research of 200 million mobile clients in developing nations.  They have the ability to get real time, local and scaled market intelligence, even in conflict zones, that could scarcely be imagined even a year ago.  

    3/ What does it mean to protect children in the context of Internet coming to the Last Mile?  Internet access should be a common good/human right, but deep reflection is needed, again, with local communities, about potential harmful outcomes.  At the most basic level, what if parents and teachers are unable to supervise children’s use and/or understand the content being made available? As well intentioned fast tracking of people into the digital world occurs, we need to be partner with governments and communities to provide support/advice on protection, particularly child protection.  

World Vision has a Keeping Children Safe Online model which has been in operation for five years in various countries. This program, and others like it, can support better child protection outcomes. http://www.wvi.org/keeping-children-safe-online.

How about approaching Sesame Street (the most recognized brand by children in the world) to partner with PCIC/GC to introduce of a new muppet that teaches children about protection issues in a friendly and engaging way? Note that Sesame Street has had unparalleled success teaching children positive messages and recently successfully launched the muppet Raya globally to teach children about hygiene and hand washing. http://www.sesameworkshop.org/what-we-do/our-initiatives/wash-up/

4/ What new financial models can emerge that work for the most vulnerable? Scaling cannot happen if providers offer the most vulnerable expensive data plans (a common problem now where connectivity is available at the Last Mile). JANA.com is ten times larger than Facebook Basic in India - 30,000,000+ users and all apps downloaded come with free internet. Their current goal is 500,000,000 users by 2020. Is the JANA model a good way forward? And what other approaches should be piloted?

5/ Local technical expertise at the Last Mile for home connectivity/sustainable energy installations and maintenance. How about a full value chain "Train the Trainers" model, that expands upon the highly effective approach that BRAC has developed for provision of legal services at the Last Mile? BRAC's award winning "Barefoot Attorneys" initiative has already trained 20,000 - 30,000 local community members to bring justice to the marginalized at the Last Mile in numerous countries. How about inviting BRAC to partner with PCIC/GC to develop a Last Mile service corps of women and men that can install and maintain home sustainable energy and local connectivity products and trouble shoot basic issues on a fee for service basis? http://blog.brac.net/2014/02/barefoot-lawyers-bring-legal-empowerment-to-the-poor/
6/ Possible collaboration with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to collaborate by engaging Southern Think Tanks in this connectivity journey? The Gates Foundation is funding 48 Southern Think Tanks with 10 years of core funding. See thinktankinitiative.org. How about approaching Gates with a social research innovation idea; namely, what if PCIC/GC and Gates issue a call to these 48 think tanks to publish research within the next 24 months on a Question Presented such as: How can global/local connectivity and internet access empower girls and women to achieve the SDGs in their local communities? PCIC/GC and Gates could establish an independent advisory panel to choose the best five research pieces to receive a significant financial reward; and these Southern policy papers could be shared with the global development community and governments during the 2018 UN General Assembly Week and at other venues. This process could be repeated with different questions every two years with the following outcomes: a) these awards inform policy and programming discussions and implementation models globally, b) Southern Think Tanks experience shorter maturity cycles resulting from such competitions; and c) over time these research awards achieve global recognition with all related benefits associated with the most prestigious global awards.

     7/ Principles for Digital Development - It is critical for governments, multi-laterals and corporations engaged in this connectivity journey to debate and, to the extent possible, embrace the Principles for Digital Development, which have been developed over several years and have been endorsed by 60* UN, bilateral and NGO entities, see  http://digitalprinciples.org/ The Principles 1 Design with the User; 2 Understand the Existing Ecosystem; 3 Design for Scale; 4 Build for Sustainability; 5 Be Data Driven; 6 Use Open Standards, Open Data, Open Source, and Open Innovation; 7 Reuse and Improve; 8 Address Privacy & Security; and 9 Be Collaborative. *Abt Associates, Awaaz.De, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Build Up, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Charlie Goldsmith Associates. Code Innovation, Creative Associates International, Democracy International, Development Alternatives Incorporated (DAI), Digital Campus, Digital Green, Dimagi, Every1Mobile, FHI 360, Global Integrity, Grameen Foundation, HealthEnabled, Human Network International (HNI), InSTEDD, International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), International Rescue Committee (IRC), Internews, IntraHealth International, IREX, IST Uganda, John Snow, Inc. (JSI), LINGOs, Medic Mobile, Mercy Corps, mPower Social Enterprises Ltd., mPowering Frontline Health Workers, National Democratic Institute (NDI), Ona, OpenHIE, OpenLMIS, OpenMRS, OpenWise, Palladium, PATH, Pathfinder International, Reboot, RTI International, SlashRoots Foundation, Souktel, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), The Swedish Program for ICT in Developing Regions (SPIDER), SurveyCTO, TechChange, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Global Pulse, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), VillageReach, VOTO Mobile, World Bank, World Food Programme (WFP), World Health Organization (WHO), World Vision International

*Key organizers of PCIC/GC are as follows: Mei Lin Fung, Organizer, Secretariat, People Centered Internet; Founder, California Health Medical Reserve Corps; Manu K. Bhardwaj, Founding Member of the Secretariat, People Centered Internet, Senior Advisor and Staff Coordinator to the Under Secretary for Technology and Internet Policy Matters, U.S. State Department; and Gary A. Bolles, Organizing Committee, People Centered Internet, Partner, Charrette LLC

From Charles

Innovation at UNICEF

Digital Principles http://digitalprinciples.org/
(see list of endorsing organizations as possible partners).

https://www.unicef.org/innovation/
UNICEF Innovation Stories
Partnership with Pearson – Vietnam and Myanmar
http://unicefstories.org/2017/03/29/21st-century-skills-for-all/
Innovation Camps for children in Nicaragua – designing solutions to local isues
http://unicefstories.org/2017/03/22/sharing-the-methodology-and-key-learnings-of-the-bicu-innovation-camps-in-nicaragua/
Partnership with art design college in Mexico, including on migrant children
http://unicefstories.org/2017/03/23/art-center-college-of-design-partners-with-unicef-mexico-bringing-design-and-technology-to-issues-within-international-development/
Request for proposals, latrines disabled children in emergencies.
http://unicefstories.org/2017/03/23/art-center-college-of-design-partners-with-unicef-mexico-bringing-design-and-technology-to-issues-within-international-development/
https://www.unicef.org/innovation/