"If digitalization truly is an element of great social change, it has to be sustainable, fair, and relevant to all people and working for the common good. Without proper discussions on benefits or risk, without democratic control and regulations, technologies have the potential to lead to more and n
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ew social, economic and ecological problems. Important first steps have been made to discuss the role of technology and the digital world. Yet we have to continue to actively shape the path of a truly sustainable digitalization. As a framework, in this paper we propose one of the most comprehensive sustainability concepts ever agreed on by the world: The 2030 Agenda with its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)." (Page 1)
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"Knapp 2.000 Menschen zog die ‹Bits & Bäume› im November 2018 an die Technische Universität Berlin. Dieser Zuspruch verdeutlicht die Lücke, die wir mit unserer Veranstaltung gefüllt haben: Digitalisierung und Nachhaltigkeit als zwei wesentliche aktuelle Herausforderungen unserer Gesellscha
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ft müssen endlich gemeinsam diskutiert werden. Die ‹Bits & Bäume› hat vielfältige Akteure zusammengebracht, vor allem aus der Tech-Szene und der Nachhaltigkeitsbewegung, aber auch aus Wissenschaft, Wirtschaft und Politik. Die Konferenz hat gezeigt: Wir brauchen dringend neue Foren, um uns mit Digitalisierung auseinanderzusetzen. Verschiedene Akteure müssen gleichberechtigt und demokratisch daran teilhaben. Denn wie die Digitalisierung politisch gestaltet wird, darf nicht vordergründig von wirtschaftlichen Erwägungen abhängen. Mit diesem Buch möchten wir zentrale Inhalte der‹Bits & Bäume› für diese gesellschaftliche Debatte festhalten." (Editorial, Seite 2)
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"Längst hat der digitale Wandel auch die Entwicklungszusammenarbeit und die Humanitäre Hilfe verändert. Das Internet bietet die Chance, die Lebensbedingungen vieler Menschen durch Zugang zu Wissen und zu neuen Möglichkeiten der politischen und ökonomischen Teilhabe zu verbessern. Auch Nichtregi
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erungsorganisationen (NRO) nutzen diese Chance bereits jetzt. Bildungs-, Ernährungs- oder Gesundheitsprojekte und viele andere Vorhaben profitieren vom Einsatz digitaler Technologien. Wie das geschieht, wollen wir mit dieser Publikation an Beispielen aus der Praxis zeigen. Nachahmung und Weiterentwicklung der hier vorgestellten Ansätze und Instrumente sind explizit erwünscht. Im Digitalisierungsdiskurs geht es aber um mehr als die rein technische Innovation. Unsere Aufgabe als Nichtregierungsorganisationen ist es deshalb auch, uns den zentralen politischen Herausforderungen einer gerechten Digitalisierung zu stellen. Denn wer bereits jetzt ökonomisch und politisch gut dasteht, hat die größten Chancen, die Digitalisierung für sich nutzen zu können. Die sogenannte digitale Kluft betrifft sehr häufig Frauen und ländliche Bevölkerungen, die einen deutlich schlechteren Zugang zu digitalen Dienstleistungen haben. Auch Gruppen, die aus ethnischen oder anderen Gründen benachteiligt werden, sind oft aufgrund fehlender oder schlechter Infrastruktur vom Zugang ausgeschlossen. Darüber hinaus begegnen uns in der Digitalwirtschaft Phänomene, die uns auch in anderen Bereichen zu schaffen machen: Monopolstellungen multinationaler Großkonzerne, ungenügende rechtliche Rahmensetzungen für Unternehmen und das Streben nach maximalen Gewinnen auf Kosten von Mensch und Umwelt. Hinzukommen Orwellsche Alpträume totaler Kontrolle und Überwachung. Neue Technologien können einen wichtigen Beitrag zu Erreichung entwicklungspolitischer Ziele leisten. Sie können Entwicklung aber auch behindern oder gar negative Folgen für die Menschen vor Ort haben. Genau deswegen ist die Auseinandersetzung mit dem digitalen Wandel und dessen Steuerung eine zunehmend bedeutende entwcklungspolitische Aufgabe für Nichtregierungsorganisationen." (Vorwort)
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"This guideline has been developed by the authors in a collaborative manner over the period May 2018-May 2019 in consultation with the Knowledge Management for Development (KM4Dev) community. It is designed to provide guidance for development organizations who are setting up portals –also known as
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knowledge portals, hubs and websites– as a way of counteracting what is known as portal proliferation syndrome. The guideline provides a checklist of issues which are important in the development of portals, covering what to take into account before starting, during the design phase and implementation, and technical standards and specifications. The checklist will be further developed to identify the most important issues." (Page 83)
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"Featuring a wealth of interviews with a variety of actors – from Chinese and African journalists in Chinese media to Chinese workers for major telecommunication companies – this highly original book demonstrates how China is both contributing to the 'Africa rising' narrative while exploiting th
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e weaknesses of Western approaches to Africa, which remain trapped between an emphasis on stability and service delivery, on the one hand, and the desire to advocate human rights and freedom of expression on the other. Arguing no state can be understood without attention to its information structure, the book provides the first assessment of China’s new model for the media strategies of developing states, and the consequences of policing Africa’s information space for geopolitics, security and citizenship." (Publisher description)
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"This report recognizes artificial intelligence (AI) as an opportunity to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), through its contribution to building inclusive knowledge societies. Based on UNESCO’s Internet Universality ROAM framework agreed by UNESCO’s Member States i
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n 2015, this study analyzes how AI and advanced information and communication technologies (ICTs) will impact Human Rights in terms of freedom of expression, privacy, media, journalism and non-discrimination; how Openness needs to inform the technological and safety challenges related to AI; how Access to AI hinges upon access to algorithms, hardware, human resources and data; and how a Multi-stakeholder approach concerning AI governance can address the challenges and opportunities for the benefit of humanity." (Back cover)
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"Information technology and its multifold applications offer spectacular opportunities in business. They can also contribute to making public institutions more transparent and accountable. In recent years however developmental visions that are related to digitalisation have become darker. The reason
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is that technology in itself is not a blessing. Vested interests can use it to gain yet more influence or entrench monopolies – often even in illegitimate ways." (Page 18)
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"This publication discusses the extent to which digital technology can help tackle poverty and social inequality. Does it increase or restrict the opportunities for social and economic participation open to disadvantaged people? We analyse the history of e-commerce in the light of this question. We
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consider current developments in the world trade regime, because a new dynamic has developed in trade policy almost unnoticed. As the Digital Agenda adopted by the US government in 2000 shows, leading tech companies - principally those from Silicon Valley - are increasingly using commercial law to promote their own interests. This is no longer just about reducing tariffs on digital products such as software, or about uniform standards for telecommunications services. Patents on artificial intelligence and the (non-)regulation of data flows are now elements of commercial regulations and the subject of controversy in the World Trade Organization (WTO). For the countries of the Global South - but not only for them - there is a lot at stake, including the risk of a new, digital colonialism. This publication explores the potentials and limits of digital solutions. It analyses the lessons to be learned from supposedly model projects such as the mobile payment system M-Pesa and the spread of cashless payment in India. We also examine whether the digitalisation of transnational supply chains not only boosts transparency but also increases value creation for workers on the coffee and soya plantations or in factories. The question of how digitalisation can be organised so that it contributes to the welfare of everyone must focus on one issue in particular: how can disadvantaged population groups in the rural parts of Africa or the inhabitants of slums in the megacities obtain better access to work and basic services? What steps must be taken to minimise the risks of the digital transformation for people in Asia and Latin America and enhance its potential? The study therefore concludes with a list of nine ideas that would help make digitalisation fair. Consider them as an invitation to engage in discussion of globally just and humane digitalisation." (Preface)
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"With the second volume in the series Digital Innovation Made in Africa, we want to raise awareness of the enormous potential of young entrepreneurs in Africa. In this edition, the Tech Entrepreneurship Initiative Make-IT in Africa presents innovative initiatives and projects that have attracted att
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ention in two different ways. In October 2017, the World Summit Awards (WSA) Grand Jury meeting took place in Berlin. As a contribution to the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), each year since 2003 the WSA has recognised the world’s most innovative digital applications and solutions for implementing sustainable development goals. The African winners and best entries for 2017 make up half of the 20 companies presented here. The other half is made up of innovations selected by the members of the Make-IT Alliance. In cooperation with technology hubs in Kenya and Nigeria, investors, German chambers of commerce abroad and startup networks, Make-IT launched the Make-IT Accelerator in Africa in December 2017. The nine-month support programme for innovations of particular importance for sustainable and inclusive development is being implemented in Nairobi and Lagos." (Foreword)
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"Innovative Entrepreneurship is one of the key drivers behind Africa’s digital transformation. For many young people, entrepreneurship is often the best way to achieve sustainable livelihoods. Innovative entrepreneurs know their local markets and understand the social context. This gives them a co
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mpetitive advantage that helps them develop “Digital Innovation Made in Africa” and to assert themselves on the market globally. This book presents a selection of these innovations. They represent numerous new developments that convey a completely new image of Africa: dynamic, modern, innovative, technical, and at the same time human – because behind every digital innovation there is a team of founders who are keen to combine socially responsible entrepreneurship with digital modernization." (Foreword)
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"The GSMA mHealth programme, under the mNutrition Initiative funded by UK aid (the UK Department for International Development, DFID), has been working with mobile network operators (MNOs) and other mobile and health sector stakeholders to support the launch and scale of mobile health (mHealth) valu
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e-added services (VAS). As of December 2017, these services have cumulatively delivered lifesaving maternal and newborn child health (MNCH) and nutrition information to over 1.59 million women and their families across eight Sub-Saharan African markets: Malawi, Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia, Uganda and Mozambique (Figure 1). Key findings: Adopting a HCD approach to product development and optimisation led to increased user engagement; mHealth service users demonstrated improved nutrition behaviours over non-users across all implementing markets; mHealth services resulted in an average improvement of 12 percentage points in overall nutrition knowledge among users across all eight markets; Mobile information services improve knowledge, even when existing knowledge around certain nutrition topics is reasonably high; Mobile information services have a stronger impact with poorly understood concepts; Repetition of messages about key health practices reinforces the behaviour; Forty-two per cent of mNutrition service users report sharing the information they learn with their family, friends and communities [...]" (Executive summary)
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"Die internationale Entwicklungszusammenarbeit kann die Digitalisierung in ihrer Vielfalt nutzen, um ihre Ziele besser und schneller zu erreichen. Mit der Digitalisierung sind aber auch Risiken im Bereich Datenschutz, Arbeitswelt oder Zugang zum Internet verbunden. Wer profitiert von der „digitale
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n Dividende“, und wie lässt sich die „digitale Spaltung“ der Welt überwinden? Mögliche Antworten auf diese Fragen bieten die Beiträge dieses Bandes aus den Perspektiven von Wissenschaft und Praxis." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"Far too often the implicit theory of change in digital developments, as with technology for development more generally, is that importing technologies can fix development. This does not acknowledge the political and social transformations that are needed to address and overcome economic and power a
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symmetries. Although understandable, the focus on simple fixes places too great an emphasis on the visible aspects of technology, which, at best, provide incremental gains in developmental terms. This leads to less attention on the less visible but fundamental aspects of capacity, skills and institutions, where arguably the potential for transformational development gains truly lie. The most significant digital development gains - as with technology for change more generally - have involved a dynamic interplay between technological developments and institutional change." (Page 15)
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"Around the world diverse actors are working to develop technology that directly improves social conditions. This report refers to these types of technology as ‘social tech’. Examples of social tech include anti-corruption systems for citizens to report bribes; communications platforms for refug
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ees on the move; and systems that allow farmers to plan their next crop. The resulting report surveys how social tech is produced and used across sub-Saharan Africa, and what interventions might enrich and improve this ‘ecosystem’. Its primary focus is on information and communication technologies (ICT), though many of its lessons will apply more broadly. It also concentrates on accessible systems, in which the end user is the person who benefits, rather than on specialised systems for professionals. Commissioned by funders in the social tech sphere, the purpose of this report is to find where intervention might improve the ecosystem. We believe that addressing key weaknesses in the ecosystem can help new social tech initiatives – with powerful base-of-the-pyramid benefits – to succeed." (Executive summary)
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