Expert Meeting on mobile innovations and local governance

Logo Mobile Innovation and Local Governance

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23 August 2011

On Tuesday, October 25th, an Expert Meeting on mobile innovations and local governancean will take place at the Royal Tropical Institute Amsterdam.

The rapid increase of mobile communication technology in Sub Saharan Africa is redefining the way people participate in economic and social life. Mobile applications are being developed in health, agriculture and banking sectors. What is the role of mobile technology for citizenship and local governance? What happens when mobile consumers become citizens, organize themselves and participate in politics, public decision making, monitoring and reporting?

Examples of mobile innovations in this area range from mobilization for campaigns, polls through SMS, interactive radio debates, corruption reporting, budget‐voting, among others. What are the impacts of these mobile innovations on political and social change? In particular on behavioral and institutional changes regarding voice of citizens and accountability of public and private institutions? How can mobile phones support inclusive democratization processes and what are the related risks? How can we overcome the ‘pilot‐then‐die’ syndrome characterizing many ICT4D initiatives?

Why?
The objectives of this expert meeting are first to discuss and define key conditions that need to be taken into account for mobile innovations to contribute to strengthening citizens’ participation and local governance in Sub Saharan Africa. Second, it is aimed at creating opportunities for further knowledge sharing and concrete collaboration on particular mobile innovations.

How?
Inspiring keynote speakers will highlight the potential and major challenges of mobile applications for social and political change and the MOGO programme will be briefly introduced. In the afternoon, participants will share experiences and expertise during break‐out sessions, focusing on concrete cases of innovations and discussing their impacts on citizenship and local governance, their up‐scaling potential and their social, political and financial sustainability.

Who?
Participants are key international researchers, practitioners and entrepreneurs working on the interface between new mobile technologies and social and political development in Sub Saharan Africa.

Knowledge sharing and networking: it promises to be an exiting day, so save the date!
The Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) is a knowledge institute in the field of development cooperation. This expert meeting is part of a larger action‐research programme in Sub Saharan Africa developed in collaboration with partners. Participation is by invitation only. A detailed program will follow in October. For more information and registration, please contact Heidi Molijn: h.molijn@kit.nl, T 0031 (0)20 568 8494