Information and stories about technology news.

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The Future of Toilets in Poor Countries

The future of toilets in poor countries
What does the future of toilets in poor countries look like? The Gates Foundation hosted a competition to reinvent the toilet to process human waste without utilizing piped water, sewer or electrical connections and to transform waste into useful resources like water and energy.

The grand prize design was a solar-powered toilet that creates hydrogen and electricity. The second place prize was taken by a toilet that creates biological charcoal, minerals and clean water. A toilet that sanitizes feces and urine and recovers resources and creates clean water won third place.

Why all the excitement about toilets? In a nutshell, return on investments in sanitation is huge. For every dollar spent on sanitation, 5.5 dollars are returned. At a national level, lack of access to proper sanitation costs countries up to 7 percent of their GDP. In addition to being a smart investment, investing in sanitation is also a moral imperative. Diarrhea is the cause of an estimated 5000 child deaths every day. In areas where people defecate in the open or share large community bathrooms, women and girls are more frequently victimized.

Despite these striking numbers, improved sanitation is neglected at every political level. Without a drastic shift in strategies and the courage to undertake this stigmatized issue, the Millennium Development target of cutting the proportion of the population without access to clean water and basic sanitation by a half will be missed by a long shot.

In addition to the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge, the government of India is running multiple campaigns to improve sanitation such as the “No toilet, no bride” campaign and an information and shaming campaign aimed at changing the culture of open-space defecation.

The World Bank also recently wrapped up a sanitation hackathon where mobile phone application developers were challenged to create apps to improve sanitation. Many involved mapping public toilets and reporting malfunctioning toilets. Several were designed as games to teach children good sanitation.

– Katherine Zobre


Sources: Gates Foundation , Global Poverty Project
Photo: The Guardian

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How Digitization In Courtrooms Effects Impoverished Nations

How Digitization In Courtrooms Effects Impoverished Nations
Oftentimes the problem that arises from implementing technology in developing nations is that the solutions provided are geared more toward the first world than the third. To many, the digitization of paperwork falls into this category. However, in Mombasa, this is not the case.

USAID funded a digitization project recently to address the recurring problem of missing files in the Mombasa court system. While there is some controversy regarding whether the missing files are in fact misplace or stolen, the new digital system will alleviate that problem. This new system will be operated by clerks who can respond to any questions regarding cases through text message. Computer screens have also been installed in the courtrooms to avoid congestion and allow easier access to court documents for the media and families.

To some, this may seem to be a superficial use of technology in an area where there are more pressing problems. However, the effects of a strong and fair legal system have a ripple effect on nearly every aspect of an effective and productive society. With a more efficient system, residents can finish their courtroom transactions in less time and dedicate more focus to problems occurring within their communities. This new system also guarantees more effective and fair proceedings in the courtrooms of impoverished nations which lowers dissatisfaction within the community.

– Pete Grapentien

Source: The Star
Photo: Washington Post

How the 2022 World Cup Could Help Alleviate Poverty

How the 2022 World Cup Could Help Alleviate Poverty
Qatar will be hosting the World Cup in 2022 which creates the problem of dealing with the high climate experienced by the region. Temperatures in Qatar reach roughly 104 Fahrenheit and while the World Cup has relatively little effect of many impoverished nations the developments made to assist in cooling the stadium could be implemented throughout the Middle East.

Nasser Al-Khelaifi, a former professional tennis player and current sports businessman, is acting as the organizing committee’s director of communications and marketing. The stadium has already had a cooling system installed which has earned it the title of being the first and only cooled stadium in the world. However, the main element of the 2022 World Cup that could help alleviate poverty is the method in which they power the cooling system.

Al-Khelaifi is working with companies in Germany to develop a more resilient solar power grid to help power the stadium. Germany has thus far been leading the way in solar power technology and should prove useful in developing a new technology to deal with the conditions of harvesting power in the desert. The main problems in harvesting solar energy in the desert are keeping the grids clean enough to run efficiently.

By working to develop grids more resistant to the harsh environment of the desert, Al-Khelaifi could be producing a useful technology to assist in powering the impoverished communities which lie in some of the world’s harshest environment.

When the new solar power grids are not using the energy gathered by the grids for the World Cup in 2022, it will be put toward powering the neighboring communities.

– Pete Grapentien

Source: Arab Times
Photo: Ahram Online

Powering Communities Is Empowering Women

Powering Communities Is Empowering Women
More than 2.3 billion people around the world live without stable electricity or without electricity completely. To combat this, residents of impoverished communities use kerosene lamps. These lamps are not only harsh on the environment but also contribute to a huge amount of fires and burns among users. In Nepal, women are responsible for finding the kerosene and using these oftentimes dangerous lamps.

To tackle the problem of the pollution these lamps cause, the damage afflicted to the female users as well as the problem of helping disenfranchised women, Empower Generation, has created the WakaWaka light – a solar-powered LED light. This light not only eliminates the use of kerosene lamps, but WakaWaka lights are also sold exclusively by women. Nepali women are given microloans by Empower Generation to establish a small business and sell the WakaWaka lights. In a year, most women have made enough money to pay off the loan and are equipped with a business of their own.

Empower Generation is a nonprofit started by Bennett Cohen and his wife Anya Cherneff. Each entrepreneur had a different vision in which the two were eventually able to mold into one solution. Shortly after creating this union of ideas they created a civil union and were married. Now, they provide clean energy to impoverished communities and work together to improve living conditions in developing countries while simultaneously empowering women.

– Pete Grapentien

Source: Earth Techling

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Five Affordable Technologies Changing the World

Five Affordable Technologies Changing the World
More than just funky and fun, these innovations could be the key to progress and, ultimately, change in developing countries. The biggest hurdle developing countries face with widespread technology is affordability. While many basic life-saving and life-changing products are distributed throughout the developing world, technology is ready to make a breakthrough that gives everyone a chance to get connected, power their devices or have access to clean water. These five affordable technologies will change the developing world.

Affordable Tablets

On October 5, India launched the world’s cheapest tablet, Aakash, priced at just $35 for students with government subsidies or $60 in stores, which the government hopes will reduce the digital divide between the rich and poor. The Indian government is also distributing the first 100,000 units of the Android-powered tablet to college students for free. The tablet was also tested in 118 degrees Fahrenheit to test its durability in northern India’s summers and to give middle class Indians the value for their money. “The rich have access to the digital world, the poor and ordinary have been excluded. Aakash will end that digital divide,” said Kapil Sibal, India’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology.

Affordable Laptops

One Laptop Per Child’s XO and Intel’s Classmate PC share a common mission: Bringing children access to education through computer ownership. Both programs distribute rugged, affordable laptops to schoolchildren across the developing world. Each laptop costs between $400 and $500 to distribute and is powered by Intel. The software, an Intel innovation, enables students to communicate with their students through web-based learning.

Inexpensive Mobile Phones

Vodafone 150 sells the World’s Cheapest Cell Phone for just under $15. While it is not decked out with extensive features or applications, it does have the bare essentials; voice calling, text messaging and mobile payments. The phone will have an enormous impact on those who have never before been connected to the “grid”.

Alternative Energy

SunSaluter, winner of the Startups for Good challenge, aims to bring solar panels to villages in the developing world that have never had access to electricity. While solar energy is a hot topic across the world, its cost has halted widespread implementation.  Eden Full, a mechanical engineering undergraduate at Princeton University, developed solar panels that optimize energy collection as they rotate to face the sun for as much time as possible each day. The system costs just $10 and uses 40% fewer panels than typical solar energy thanks to its rotations.

Improved Sanitation

Last year, India’s Tata Chemicals released the Tata Swach (the Hindi word for clean). Priced around $21, Swach is an affordable water filter that uses rice husk ash and fine nano-silver particles to stop bacteria growth. Using the filter prevents against waterborne bacteria and viruses, requires no electricity and meets the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s sanitation standards.

When Swach was released, Tata said only 6% of urban households and 1% of rural households in India were using water purification devices. Hopefully, this nanotechnology will reach billions of people that don’t have access to clean water and improve sanitation in developing countries around the globe.

– Kira Maixner

Source: Mashable
Photo: Action Instute

The Good and The Bad: Geolocation in the Developing World

The Good and The Bad: Geolocation in the Developing World

Modern technologies such as commercialized geolocation have many positive aspects in the developed world. Never before has it been easier to sate your Foursquare obsession while simultaneously tracking Peter Dinklage. However, the effects of geolocation in developing countries are a little more extreme, ranging from trailing Joseph Kony to helping pregnant women find hospitals within driving distance, the positives and negatives can get pretty extreme.

The Good

The UK Department for International Development has collected data concerning the distance between pregnant mother and hospitals facilitating childbirth. By overlaying the data collected by geolocation systems onto satellite imagery, the department was able to show that child mortality increases as the distance of a pregnant mother from a hospital increases. Disseminating information like this throughout impoverished communities encourages safe childbirth at clean hospitals and lowers child mortality.

The Bad

In conflict stricken countries, having a smart phone or even a slightly more advanced mobile phone can have dire consequences for the owner. Because of GPS applications, if someone is caught with a smart phone by a militant organization they will most likely be considered a spy. This makes even owning a smart phone capable of geolocation a risk.

The Good

Geolocation systems can also be used to help prevent civilian deaths in fragile countries where rebellion is common. “Geospacial analysis” has even been used to predict where Joseph Kony’s militant group Lord’s Resistance Army will attack.

The Bad

Since GPS systems are so sensitive and exact when pinpointing location, expressing political opinion through a device with GPS could be potentially dangerous for a citizen in an unstable country. Even corporations collecting data on citizens to use for marketing could be potentially dangerous if that information falls into the wrong hands.

– Pete Grapentien

Source The Guardian

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Mobile Banking With M-Pesa

Mobile Banking With M-Pesa
Here in the U.S., cell phone apps such as ‘Venmo’ that allow simple and quick money transfers have revolutionized the way we exchange money. However, with mobile banking as well as Venmo-like apps, they require all users to actually have a bank account. While speed and efficiency are a huge pro about these apps, they, as they are, wouldn’t necessarily be as successful a venture in the developing world.

M-Pesa (meaning mobile ‘money’ in Swahili) has grown to be the most successful mobile financial service in the developing world. Started in 2007, the company’s main goal wasn’t necessarily convenience but had the more objective of creating an app that people without bank accounts can use. Bank accounts usually must maintain a minimum balance or have other requirements many people living in developing areas just cannot meet.

M-Pesa users only need two out of three things: a mobile phone and an ID card or passport. With these in hand, they can do numerous things just from their phone: deposit and withdraw money, transfer between different accounts (even to those without an M-Pesa account), manage their transactions, pay their bills, and even purchase mobile minutes. With about 1 in 5 sub-Saharan Africans actually having a bank account, M-Pesa opens up an entire world for people to exchange money freely without being tied down to a bank.

The company manages an individual’s account through their phone number. As part of Safaricom’s and vodacom’s networks (service operators in Kenya and Tanzania: think Verizon or AT&T), only those who receive their service through these companies can take advantage of the system. Once money is transferred, users can cash out at various retail outlets or stores that normally sell cellphone minutes.

M-Pesa was initially created to help the transfer of funds for people receiving microfinanced loans because it helped keep rates down, as it cut out the direct contact with money. Now, it operates in 5 countries including Afghanistan, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, and India. It reaches 15 million users in Kenya alone. 

– Deena Dulgerian

Sources: Co.Exist, Wikipedia
Photo: Hapa Kenya

Nafundi and Open Data Kit: Organizing the World

Open-Data-Kit-Nafundi

As Bill Gates discussed in his 2013 letter, data collection and maintenance is an important aspect in running nonprofit organizations in developing countries. This is especially important when it comes to using that data to help make better decisions and analyze trends and successes. Gates encourages a focus on training staff members, clinicians, and volunteers on how to meticulously keep such records.

Open Data Kits, or ODK, was started as a google.org project in 2008. ODK is an enormous mobile, web, and cloud based resource that simplifies and organizes data collection through various tools and applications. With interns and researchers from the University of Washington’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering, the project grew into a full scale organization with multiple members, companies, developers, and users.

Two of the interns, Yaw Anokwa and Carl Hartung, started their own company, Nafundi, that extends these services to individual clinics, companies, or other nonprofits that work in developing countries. Not only does Nafundi provide these services and the mobile devices to use them, they spend a significant time training users so that they can handle any issues and gain a deep understanding of what is going on with all their data.

For example, a health clinic in rural Kenya needs to record the number of patients, their illnesses, drugs prescribed, and follow-ups. After collecting all this information, there needs to be a safe way to store this information; safe from natural distress, purposeful destruction, or faulty handling from staff. Users can create forms and surveys, including images, audio recordings, videos, and most importantly mapping locations. This data is then aggregated and can be illustrated as graphs and maps, showing specific locations where there is a decline or increase in a disease.

While the initial cost of the technology to use ODK may be expensive, looking into the future cost-benefit analysis, detailed visuals of successes or failures of a clinic’s or organization’s efforts will better help them decide how to move forward. These final products could also greatly affect the willingness and understanding of donors to see how their money is being put to use.

– Deena Dulgerian

Source: opendatakit.org
Source: nafundi.com

REwiRE Brings Electricity to 67 Million

REwiRE Brings Electricity to 67 Million
Rural Electrification with Renewable Energy (REwiRE) has taken the multi-level task of financing, developing and managing renewable and sustainable energy power grids in emerging markets. In this type of setting, once a company is on the ground in a foreign country, many unforeseen challenges present themselves.

REwiRE has chosen Indonesia, where 67 million people are without electricity, as the best country for the business. Indonesia presents almost the perfect situation for a startup such as REwiRE. The archipelago landscape has made fuel shipments to the country’s 18,000 islands very costly leaving some communities without power completely. However, this provides the perfect context for smaller scale power grids which can provide the communities of Indonesia with much needed and affordable electricity.

Faced with a new culture, diverse landscape, and unfamiliar legal system, REwiRE has teamed up with Ibeka, an NGO which has been helping REwiRE get accustomed to local culture and other challenges.

Providing electricity to impoverished communities is one of the most important building blocks to creating an infrastructure that can pull a developing country into the developed world. By contributing this tantamount element to Indonesia’s diverse landscape REwiRE sets the stage for more future development.

-Pete Grapentien
Source: Social Capital Markets
Photo: 

How Cell Phones Are Reducing Child Mortality In Mozambique

UNICEF SMS Health Blog_opt
The problem of disseminating health-related information to impoverished communities is consistently at the forefront of humanitarian aid. On March 27,  Mcel, a mobile telecommunications provider in Mozambique, along with UNICEF and the Ministry of Health signed a partnership which enables all Mcel customers to receive educational text messages.

This project, dubbed “SMS for Life,” spreads information to all Mcel users free of charge. The topics addressed in the text messages go over disease prevention, injuries, violence against children, and the importance of using health facilities. The program is scheduled to last three years and contributes to the national effort to achieve Millennium Development Goals four and five established by the UN. These goals focus on reducing child mortality rates and improving maternal health.

While the use of mobile phones in Mozambique isn’t as common as in the United States, Mcel’s subscribers cover all social groups – this project alone is predicted to reach nearly five million people.

One of the interesting aspects of this partnership is the use of the private sector in contributing its resources and support to public health and national goals. This type of success includes low involvement from external countries and simply aids the nation’s own companies and people in addressing national problems.

-Pete Grapentien
Source: UNICEF