Saturday 10 March 2012

Innovation for sustainability (Telecentres and mobile phones 4D)

Date - 11 Dec, 2011 (a chilly bright wintry day)
Venue - University of Cambridge
I was excited and honored to be invited to the Cambridge Hub. And that provided the platform to present our working hypothesis:
Innovation for Sustainable Development = Product + Social Impact + Community Acceptance

We (together with Sarvodaya-Fusion team) have spent a substantial time period to define this hypothesis. Reflecting from Fusion experience, the journey had started with the burning desire to become independent of philanthropic donor funding. As noted with many charities in the world, continuous over dependence on donor funding distracts the activist from core social mission, hence challenge the sustainability of the development engagement.

Fusion Education: ICT education service offered via rural telecentres has been the Social innovation of this effort.  'When 100s of rural students started to sign up for Fusion Education via  over 50 rural telecentres, thank god we have reached the community acceptance': that is how Fusion team reflect on it.

Yet, how do you know you are making the right kind of Social impact? The Social impact assessment framework helped to answer the question. Presentation has captured the evidence of this journey, and the subsequent efforts to replicate the lessons in mobile for development sector.

Who?

My photo
We are consultants for European organisations working in international development. Specialized in Innovation - Economic Sustainability - Social Impact Assessment in ICT4D and Mobile for Development (M4D) sectors. We have 20 + years of experiences and our clients include UN Agencies, EU, IDRC.

What we can offer you?

Are you involved in International development, introducing Information Communication Technologies and Mobile Phone applications to support disadvantage communities? Are you concerned about effective products and services in this sector, we can help to innovate them. Do you want to see their sustainability beyond funding cycle? We can help converting the project into a social enterprise. Do you want to understand the social impact? We can design a tailor made model to surface the social impact.