The Center for Global Development (CGD) asserts: "Technology plays an increasingly important role in delivering effective aid and development programs." (CGD) Inventions, forms of communication, and innovative uses of the Internet are some of the means by which development can happen. New technologies have the potential, if given the support required, to aid in eliminating or easing most other global development problems. Without technological development, many other forms of development would not even be possible.
Technologies that will aid development have to be developed themselves. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) defines research and development (R&D) as, “creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise new applications. R&D is a term covering three activities: basic research, applied research, and experimental development.” (OECD) When development efforts are put toward researching and developing new forms of technology, other developmental changes are aided in the process.
A good example a development in technology aiding another form of development is the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project. OLPC developed a laptop to be given to children in the developing world, which was aimed to be “a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop.” (OLPC) The OLPC project’s main goal was to give children in the developing world the connectivity and computing power that children in the developed world already had, but in a form that was sustainable for their living conditions. This goal could not be accomplished without a technological development that made it possible to fit the necessary computing power into a rugged, sustainable, and, most importantly, affordable machine. The technological development achieved by the engineers at the OLPC project, made way for an important educational development.
Another example is the Grameen Foundation’s use cell phone technology as a tool to improve agricultural development. According to the Foundation, the “Community Knowledge Worker (CKW) program uses mobile phone applications and human networks we have developed to provide poor farmers with relevant, timely agricultural information, including caring for animals, planting crops, treating pests and diseases, and getting fair market prices for produce and livestock. This information helps farmers improve their lives and livelihoods by increasing their productivity and income.” (Grameen) By developing a cell phone application that gives farmers much needed information and connectivity, the Grameen Foundation has used technology as a means of facilitating agricultural development.
Even economic, private finance, and globalization development can utilize technology to be more effective. Kiva is a, “a non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. Leveraging the internet and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions, Kiva lets individuals lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world.” (Kiva) Kiva is an organization that allows for micro-financing to occur between lenders and entrepreneurs from across the world. Through an innovative application of the Internet, anyone, anywhere can help finance a loan to help their choice of people seeking small loans, such as Cambodian farmer Saroeun Yem, who plans to buy seed, fertilizer and pesticide to maintain his farm. (Saroeun)
There are areas, however, where providing innovative technologies is not a particularly useful tool. For example, political development is a method of addressing developmental needs on the highest level: those who make policy. Whether it is because of corruption, or government inefficiency, political development seeks to strengthen fragile states, promote fairer government, and work toward the equality of citizens, among many other goals. When conducting this form of development, the organization or body responsible for the work, is hammering away at the state itself. Examples of institutions that organize political development include the United Nations, the United States Military, and the National Democratic Institute. Technology, while it is routinely used by these development organizations, is not the means by which they are able to help in building and maintaining stable governments.
The development of new technologies for other kinds of development is a first step, in a manner of speaking. To have successful development in agriculture, for example, technological development must first be accomplished; whether that development is a new, more efficient piece of machinery, or a cell phone application that allows a farmer to connect with a body of agricultural knowledge. Applied technology makes many other forms of development easier, more efficient, and even possible.
While the development of new technologies is often vital to development in other areas, it is important to note where and how that technology is being developed. OLPC, Kiva, and the Grameen Foundation's cell phone application are all technologies that have been developed and maintained in the developed world. These technologies are then handed to people in the undeveloped world through nonprofits or other development organizations. The implications of this one-way transfer are complex, but development will really be happening when people develop their own necessary innovations. Otherwise, the developed and underdeveloped worlds are trapped in a cycle of hand-me-down technology.
Works Cited:
"Agriculture | Grameen Foundation." Grameen Foundation | Combining the Power of Microfinance and Technology to Defeat Global Poverty. <http://www.grameenfoundation.org/what-we-do/mobile-phone-solutions/agriculture>.
"Kiva - About Us." Kiva - Loans That Change Lives. Web. <http://www.kiva.org/about>.
"Kiva - Lend Saroeun from Cambodia." Kiva - Loans That Change Lives. Web. <http://www.kiva.org/lend/353299>.
"Mission." One Laptop per Child. Web. <http://one.laptop.org/about/mission>.
Technology" Center for Global Development (CGD). Web. <http://www.cgdev.org/section/topics/technology>.
"SourceOECD: Factbook 2009." SourceOECD. OECD, 2008. Web. <http://lysander.sourceoecd.org/vl=2988869/cl=18/nw=1/rpsv/factbook/070101.htm>.
Ethan-
ReplyDeleteInteresting post. At the end you state that unless these developing countries create their own innovations that they will be trapped in a cycle of hand-me-down technology. As of now, most of these developing countries lack the resources to make these innovations on their own. In your own opinion, what is the best way that these countries could start to making these innovations.
Patrick,
ReplyDeleteI think that the best about innovation is that you can never lack resources for it. It will certainly be innovation different to our own in the developed world, but it will still be innovation. For example, a farmer developing a simple but effective new tool that helps the effectiveness of irrigation is a technological innovation. Innovation has to build from the ground up, literally. A lack of resources cannot always be the excuse for a lack of innovation, because innovation is what you make of it.
Hey Ethan,
ReplyDeleteWe talked in class about development and where development aid should go. Do you believe that by giving computers to children in undeveloped nations that it will help them to improve their economic situation? Do you believe money should be spent giving these communities laptops, when they still don't have basic amenities like clean drinking water and vaccinations?
Patrick,
ReplyDeleteIn addition to what I already wrote left out that foreign capital for inovation done domestically is a step in the right direction. In a way Kiva sort of straddles that line.
Emma,
I agree with you that giving a child a laptop while they don't have clean water is nonsensical, however, if you give a child a laptop, a physical item, while also working on a macro level to improve the quality of life, you are achieving the best of both worlds. The problem is you are comparing apples and oranges: A physical commodity (a laptop) and a huge infrastructural project. You can give a child one while working on the other. Both are good, but a laptop is a very easy thing give and then say, "yes we have accomplished this"
But your first question is really tough. The short answer is yes. By giving children in underdeveloped countries laptops, you are opening educational doors to them that hadn't existed before, thereby offering them a chance, when they are older, to become a member of their society that greatly and positively changes their economy. But the long answer is no. This is because by giving that child a laptop and by giving is community's children laptops, you have just forced that community and that country into a cycle of dependence that is not easily broken. It is the developed world saying to the underdeveloped world "here is your educational tool, use it" rather than entrepreneurs from within the country saying "I have developed a piece of technology that will help the children of my country thrive."
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ReplyDeleteEthan,
ReplyDeleteInteresting and thought provoking post! I agree with your answer to Emma's question, however I was wondering if you think it could maybe work two-fold with providing under-developed countries a wider access to education in the more traditional sense. For example, if a developed country like the US were to help an under-developed country in Africa with its educational program, and then also provide each child with a laptop, do you think this could help alleviate the dependency? Maybe then we could reach the "I have developed a piece of technology that will help the children of my country thrive" point if the improved education allows children to take this responsibility on. What do you think?
Ethan,
ReplyDeleteSimilar to Emma’s post, I think the intentions behind technological aid and developments are positive. However, I believe that the outcomes parallel the issue that Professor Craig spoke about in class today of sending yoga mats to Haitian citizens. If a country does not have the basic means to survive, are yoga mats and laptops really necessary and useful? I know that people and organizations in developed countries mean well, but I believe money should be focused on the basics first, and then development of the economy can follow.
Julia,
ReplyDeleteYour idea is spot on! If you want a developing country's children to be successful you first need to fix and strength education. But the important part is to eventually back away, and to not fall into a dependence cycle, which has the potential to be damaging to the dependent country.
Hannah,
ReplyDeleteYour point is well taken. A laptop won't do much for a child who is facing death from tainted water or a lack of food. However, development cannot be taken on from only one front. It requires a multisided approach. Because even if that child has clean water, he/she does not have the skills necessary to improve themselves, which in turn will improve their country. So what is needed is for their to be clean water, and for children to be able to learn so that they can innovate and receive micro-financing, so that they may better their homes.