Ken Banks on inconvenient truths for M4D

Ken Banks has written a superb article on mobile technology in developing countries (M4D). He is concerned that:

1. Everyone is still excited by the potential of mobile
2. The same projects surface over and over again as proof mobile works
3. Mobile is still largely seen as a solution, not a tool
4. It’s up to the developed world to get mobile working for the poor
5. The top-down mindset is alive and well

Banks is the founder of kiwanja.net, which “helps social innovators, entrepreneurs and non-profit organisations make better use of information and communication technologies in their work”. He’s also a key contributor to the revolutionary FrontlineSMS. In his article he argues:

Development is changing, powered by accessible and affordable liberating technologies and an emerging army of determined, local talent. A local talent that is gradually acquiring the skills, resources and support it needs to take back ownership of many of its problems – problems it never took original ownership of because those very skills and resources were not available.

Well, now they are. The ICT4D community – education establishments, donors and technologists among them – need to collectively recognise that it needs to ajdust to this new reality, and work with technologists, entrepreneurs and grassroots non-profits across the developing world to accelerate what has become an inevitable shift.

Read the full post here.