The role of ICT4D innovation in “Building Resilience”

Nairobi, Kenya, March 2014

What is Resilience?

• the capacity of HH’s, communities, countries, and systems to mitigate, adapt to and recover from shocks and stresses in ways that reduces vulnerability and facilitates inclusive growth.

• The ability to recover or ‘bounce back’ after a catastrophic event, without significant external support.

What are the shocks and stressors?

Extreme climatic eventsGlobal market volatilityPopulation doubling every 20 yearsServices/ infrastructure cannot meet demandHealth problemsLimited education Financial inequity accelerates social divisionsNatural resource limitations i.e., no landNo jobs leading to Conflict Poverty traps

Why is Resilience important?• Recurring crises in Africa and Asia have cost

donors and Governments billions of dollars.• Despite short-term humanitarian success,

current interventions have not substantially improved capacity to withstand future shocks / stresses. More people need help

• As a result, the concepts of resilience and risk management have emerged as frameworks to improve the capacity of vulnerable communities to withstand future shocks and stresses.

Lack of resilience diverts resources from development…

0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0% 60.0% 70.0%

Average low drylandNigeria

South AfricaZambia

TanzaniaGambiaLesotho

SwazilandKenya

AngolaEthiopia

ZimbabweBotswana

NamibiaSenegal

Cape VerdeBurkina Faso

MaliMauritania

NigerEritrea

ChadSudan

Somalia

Med

ium

Mos

tlydr

ylan

d

Average developing countries

Average Sub-Saharan Africa

Share of humanitarian aid in total ODA (2000-2010) Number of Persons in Need of Humanitarian Assistance in…. Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad by Year

Real challenges of we need to address…

25 % of Africa’s population lives in dry lands which suffer recurrent shocks.

Real concern that rising costs of emergency case load will drain development funding.

Choice: Should we focus on emergency or Should we rethink how investments are made in emergency and development operations?

Source: (CGIAR) - Zomer et al. (2007) and Zomer et al. (2008) based on WorldClim

What’s different about Resilience?• Seeking to Integrate Emergency and Development

• Supports market based methods for growth / stability

• More emphasis on Governance and systems thinking

• Requires greater Voice and Agency local actors

• Scaled solutions and “connectedness” between scales

• Purposeful attention to conflict resolution

• Expanding DRR to Program wide “Risk management”

• More local responsibility and accountability

Unexpected trends….

•from free to fees

How can technology and new financial models help us to co-invest in smarter solutions?

• Solutions that support scaled engagement • Systems help us monitor and learn what works• Maps and helps coordinate investments • Improves feedback loops with target clients• Offers mass affordable information access • Supports better feedback to Governance systems• Enables co-investment and ownership• Provide options for better “value for money”

How does Technology help build More Resilient Programming?

• Ability to Push, Pull and Share information now• Multiple ways to promote productivity gains• New forms of service delivery• Helps to blends public and private capital• Map and Measure actions - accountability• Monitor changes and supports actionable data• Helps people plan and react more effectively.

Unexpected Trends….

•From Mass communication to•Mass Customisation

Innovation Examples from this week

• Finding new jobs – Jobs Souktel, iMerit• Mapping –ESRI, Poi mapper• Monitoring and Evaluation – Kimetrica, e-valuate, T-works• Weather alerts – Grameen, e-extension• Market information – Esoko, IFDC• Knowledge sharing – Iformbuilder, Frontlines, DW• Education – Bridge Academies • Learning by Video – Digital Green• Financial services – MPESA, • Analytics – Zoho, Salesforce reports• Medical support – Dimagi, Datadyne, • e-extension – Min of Ag, GSMA

Working at Scale across Scale levels

1M

100,000

10,000

1,000

Health

NRM

LivelihoodsValue chains

EarlyWarning/ DRR/ CCA

Connectedness

Community

Districts

Households

National

SPA

Highly vulnerable

Vulnerable but Viable

RECOVER

BUILD

GROWResilient and empowered

Incr

easi

ng H

H re

silie

nce

Incr

easi

ng m

arke

t per

form

ance

Consistent market sales

Infrequent market sales

Occasional market sales

REBOUND

Pathway to Prosperity

ASSETS

SKILLS

SERVICES

RESILIENCE

Market Pull

Market Push

The community

shock

1.

Disaster Risk Reduction

Building Resilient Pathways to Prosperity

3.

2.

Consistentmarket sales

Highly vulnerable

Vulnerable but Viable

Blended Capital funding

Private capitalResilient and

empowered

Incr

easi

ng H

H re

silie

nce

Incr

easi

ng m

arke

t per

form

ance

Infrequent market sales

Occasional market sales

TransitionGrant Funding

EmergencyGrant Funds

EmergencyFunds

ResilienceProgramming

$$$$$$$$

•Achieving scaled solutions through innovation, risk management and blended financing

Conclusions• Globally, societies are embracing technology as a way of

working smarter, civil society needs to do the same.

• Innovation offers a diversity of tools and combinations to deal with more complex and scaled challenges.

• Blending different financial models supports new ways of programing service delivery (grants and investments)

• Better information enables us to reduce risks for investments and “insure” against future shocks

• Can help us achieve more resilient solutions that offer investors /communities choice and “value for money”

THANK YOU!

Resilience through innovationLets make it Happen!

Resilience and Risk

• We live in a multi-risk environment.

• Global and Local risks are changing rapidly.

• The scale of the challenges are escalating

• The dynamics of recurrent shocks and persistent stressors make for a complex situation

• Current humanitarian and development approaches are not able to address these evolving contexts.