Kentaro Toyama worked at Microsoft Research India for several years leading research initiatives but also ICT4D, or Information and Communication Technologies for Development. ICT4D seeks to address global poverty with technology.
He learned a few things while there.
Technology—no matter how well designed—is only a magnifier of human intent and capacity. It is not a substitute.
Just giving impoverished communities access to technology won’t help those communities. They need skills and literacies to operate the given technology. They heed to be shown how the technology will help them in their own environment with practical day to day uses.
In every one of our projects, a technology’s effects were wholly dependent on the intention and capacity of the people handling it. The success of PC projects in schools hinged on supportive administrators and dedicated teachers. Microcredit processes with mobile phones worked because of effective microfinance organizations. Teaching farming practices through video required capable agriculture-extension officers and devoted nonprofit staff. In our most successful ICT4D projects, the partner organizations did the hard work of real development, and our role was simply to assist, and strengthen, their efforts with technology.
How technology can address poverty? Look at how it’s widened.
- Access: Increase the access to technologies
- Capability: Everyone has the same skill level
- Motivation: How to apply the technologies and skills to relevant situations