Tom Poe wrote:
> Large Donor agencies - - - Who would they be? How to get their
> attention? Here's a more direct, simplified [too simplified] approach
> that could be used > to demonstrate that outfitting an entire nation
> with community kiosks is the most efficient means to bring money to
> the developing nations, rather than drain it away from developing
> nations: http://www.worldccr.org/kiosks.htm
In response to Tom's response,
The Grameen Bank already runs a "commercial" operation called the
village pay phone project, which "siphons off" money whilst providing
important communication infrastructure. Perhaps this might give pause
for thought , when you invoke the business = bad, charity = good
dichotomy. Don't forget that development in itself has its roots as a
power political "business."
Secondly, to advocate a "one solution fits all" strategy underestimates
the intelligence of those at the recieving end. The Grameen Bank is in
fact a business started by phlianthropically minded entrepreneurs IN
BANGLADESH. But even their specific solutions are not a replacement for
people within the countries to be "helped" being engaged in the creative
process of finding their own communication products and solutions.
Hence the idea, in line with Grameen Bank's Philosophy, of involving
local entrepreneurial talent.
Who are big donor agencies? Government agencies such as UKs DFID,
canada's CIDA and Sweden's SIDA all have a healthy interest in ICTs in
development. Unfortunately they often fall for "one size fits all"
approaches too, but admittedly the Grammen Bank solution is much more
realistic cost wise. To get their attention requires good old advocacy,
just like the process that the Grameen Bank went through in order to
catch your attention, and that has made it a model of best practise for
such State donors.
Finally, private business might be seen as donors in such a project,
since they would gain market research information. Don't forget that
Sub Saharan Africa is partly "under developed" not because of
Multinational Companies being over-represented there, but due to a lack
of foreign interest in investing in anything but natural resource
extraction: These countries are crying out for investment in
manufacturing.
Simplistic black and white judgements do not help in this area, if the
good guys and bad guys were easy to identify then "development" would
not be the largest social crisis of our age.
Daniel Taghioff
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