Technological innovation for social change in the Global South (7 single modules) | april – june 2015

7 ONLINE COURSES TO PUT ICT4D IN PRACTICE
Social networks to empower human rights activists, mobile phones to support health workers, digital maps to respond to humanitarian crises, solar power to produce energy purchasable with mobile money. Are you avid to learn how to use technologies to improve lives? Choose your area of interest and apply now!

*English will be the working language

The last decade has seen a proliferation of initiatives aimed at leveraging technological innovations to tackle development issues. The aid-for-development sector can benefit a lot from the use of ICTs, not only to speed up the process of social change in the Global South, but also to become more efficient, effective and transparent. However, technology is not a silver bullet and development actors need to be aware of ICTs’ potential advantages and disadvantages, as well as of the facilitating and hindering factors to their fruitful exploitation. The high rate of failure of ICT4D projects testifies how challenging it is to integrate all these aspects effectively in a sustainable way.

The online course Technological innovation for social change in the Global South aims to assist NGOs and civil society organizations in understanding:
1. why ICTs are important for development initiatives
2. how they can be an integrated in them, both strategically and practically.

AgriRevolution: technology for agriculture and water
Module leader: Simone Sala, Swansea University
– how can ICTs support projects in agriculture?
– potentials, challenges
– analysis of case studies: tools, methodologies, outcomes, lessons learned

Beyond mBanking: ICTs for financial inclusion
Module leader: Gianluca Iazzolino, University of Edinburgh
– how can ICTs support financial inclusion?
– potentials, challenges
– analysis of case studies: tools, methodologies, outcomes, lessons learned

Doctors on a fingertips: ICTs for health
Module leader: Paola Fava, gnuCOOP
– how can ICTs support projects in health?
– potentials, challenges
– analysis of case studies: tools, methodologies, outcomes, lessons learned

ICTs for democracy, activism, human rights and humanitarian aid
Module leader: Anahi Ayala Iacucci, Internews
– ICTs’ support in democracy, human rights’ protection, monitoring election…
– potentials, challenges
– analysis of case studies: tools, methodologies, outcomes, lessons learned

Digital learning and teaching: ICTs for education
Module leaders: Paolo Brunello, Royal Holloway University & Alessia Messuti, ITC-ILO
– how can ICTs support projects in education?
– potentials, challenges
– analysis of case studies: tools, methodologies, outcomes, lessons learned

Spatial ICTs for community empowerment
Module leaders: Giuliano Ramat/Maurizio Foderà, GISMAP & Giacomo Rambaldi, CTA
– mapping for development
– GIS & GPS
– participatory mapping

Technology for data collection, monitoring and evaluation
Module leaders: Pelle Aardema, Open for change & Marten Schoonman, AKVO & gnuCOOP
– data for development practicioners: big data & open data, data responsabilities
– data collection: sms, phone apps, softwares for data collection and data storage
– data analysis and visualization
– ICTs tools and strategies for evaluating the project
– potentials, challenges
– analysis of case studies: tools, methodologies, outcomes, lessons learned

Each module consists of 3 sessions; every session lasts about 90 minutes.

You will be required to attend live online sessions (also called webconference or webinar), during which you will have the opportunity to interact with the webinar leader and other participants via chat, webcam and microphone.

Webinars will be conducted by a highly qualified ICT4D expert for each of the course topics. Such experts are practitioners and academics from different countries, who will remain available for asynchronous interactions via email or on a ad hoc Google+ community..

At the end of each module there will be a summary session moderated by a course facilitator to discuss the exercises and share thoughts about the module.

Modules are divided into two learning elements. Specifically, they provide participants with:

1. conceptual frameworks to understand the role and the effective impact of ICTs in the development process

2. knowledge and tools to help in the effective planning, development, implementation and management of ICTD initiatives.

The course has a strong collaborative nature, including activities such as peer-reviews and discussion groups to facilitate learning and knowledge exchange.

In partnership with:

Università degli Studi di Torino, University of Oxford – PCMLP, Politecnico di Torino – CRD PVS, Swansea University, Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca, GISMAP, CSP

Developed under the Ong 2.0 AID 10111 framework, thanks to the support of the following organizations: Foreign Affair Minister, CISV, ACCRI, ADP, CELIM, COPE, EsseGiElle, LVIA, OVCI. Please note that any views or opinions presented in this website are solely those of the promoters and do not necessarily represent those of the Foreign Affair Minister.