It’s great to see the global reach of our website over the last three years (since January 2023) in the map below. Just a few countries still to crack! We look forward to those living in one of the pale grey states discovering our research and practice – please spread the word. To be sure the dominant countries in terms of visitors remain the UK and USA, but Nepal (3rd), South Africa (6th) and India (7th) are also in the top 10.
In case you are concerned about how we use your data, please see our Privacy Policy. In essence, all we use your data for is to find out the countries from which we receive visitors, and can therefore generate maps such as this.
Many of the authors have contributed audio recordings of their vignettes. These are available here, but are also being shared on a regular basis through our blog and our podcast over the next six months. Do follow us on Apple Podcasts to listen to these inspiring examples of how digital tech can be used constructively by some of the world’s poorest and most marginalised people, but also the reasons why most such initiatives fail sufficiently to serve their interests.
This important book can be pre-ordered from Routledge using the link above, and for those who respond quickly there is a 20% reduction if you order before 23rd October 2025.
The 15th Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) held between 2 and 4 September 2025 brought together in Riohacha, Colombia, more than 800 delegates representing governments, city mayors, businesses, civil society, youth and academia to exchange ideas on some of the most pressing challenges in global mobility.
The Colombia Chairship deserves huge recognition for putting together an ambitious and thoughtful programme shaping dialogue around six thematic pillars spanning mobility and women, children and young people on the move, media and culture for changing narratives, the promise and perils of new technologies, climate mobility, and the critical importance of regional cooperation and partnerships between origin and destination countries.
Prof. G Hari Harindranath comments that “it was a privilege to contribute remarks on behalf of academia at the session on the Future of the Summit on the final day and to speak in Round Table 6 on the digitalisation of migration management alongside colleagues from the governments of Ecuador and Georgia, the Institute of Employers, and technology and immigration services organisations”.
In the digital space, the opportunities are clear: technology can contribute to making migration safer and more efficient. But without safeguards, it can deepen inequalities. Many labour migrants already face precarious conditions, and now digital insecurity adds another layer of vulnerability, particularly so as they often lack the capacity to use digital tech safely, wisely and securely.
If we design digital systems with simplicity, accessibility, transparency, accountability and proportionality at the centre, we can then bring the benefits of digitalisation to those who are most likely to be disempowered by it. Getting it right for the most vulnerable means getting it right for everyone.
Thank you to the GFMD and for creating space for academic voices throughout this process, from the preparatory roundtables through to the summit. Evidence-based perspectives are essential in a field that is increasingly politicised and polarised, and GFMD’s unique framework is one of the few places where all stakeholders can meet together as equals.
Following our impact activities in Brazil during 2024, Prof Hari Harindranath returned to Rio de Janeiro in June/July 2025 to work with our local research partner, Dr Heloisa Melino, and organisations there for a series of follow-on activities funded by Royal Holloway’s Social Science Impact Accelerator (SSIA). These included three main activities.
1. Amplifying the impact of our work through artistic means
Efeito Urbano, an arts organisation and social project, based in the Providência favela of Rio de Janeiro, showcased a creative performance on digital safety in the periferias which drew on SSIA-funded work previously undertaken by Collective members, Prof Harindranath, Prof Tim Unwin and Dr Heloisa Melino and the experiences of the artists themselves with social networks and digital technologies.
Efeito Urbano is the first professional dance company in Morro da Providência and has developed its own concept of creation and research, Dança Urbana Negra Periférica, based on the pillars of race, gender and territory as well as traditional and contemporary Afro-referenced dances, in addition to the diverse expressions and cultural manifestations of experiences in the favelas and peripheries
The dancers put on a stunning performance capturing the intertwining of physical and digital lives in the favelas of Rio (link here to a short video). Choreographer Juliana Mello explained that the performance was a starting point for their new residency aimed at reflecting, through the language of dance, how the peripheral body navigates, resists and reinvents itself in the digital environment, with its strengths, pitfalls and invisibilities. Producer Ellen Pereira da Costa talked about the importance of engaging young people through artistic means to spread important messages such as the safe, wise and secure use of digital tech in their contexts which are often characterised by scams, identity theft and violence, both physical and online. Their aim was “to explore the potential of art as a languagethat activates different senses compared to textual narratives, by engaging the body and movement in the exchange of knowledge on a topic as urgent and necessary as this – particularly among vulnerable populations, who make up the core audience of Instituto Efeito Urbano”.
2. Extending our work on the safe, wise and secure use of digital technologies by vulnerable groups
This visit allowed us to extend our work on digital safety nasperiferias from our earlier focus on communities in the Maré favela of Rio de Janeiro to young people in the Morro da Providência favela and the surrounding areas. Following the Efeito Urbano performance, Hari and Heloisa led a workshop on the safe, wise and secure use of digital tech by vulnerable groups with some of the artists and members of the audience. Participants were keen to share their online experiences with each other and through the creation of a series of short videos.
3. Evidencing the impact of our ongoing work
We undertook an Outcomes Meeting to gather qualitative feedback on impacts and outcomes from our activities during 2024 with our main partner organisation, Casa Resistências in the Maré favela of Rio. The team at Casa Resistências, an LBT advocacy organisation and a shelter for women fleeing violence and abuse, had previously collaborated with us on activities relating to the safe, wise and secure use of digital technologies nas periferiasincluding a workshop led by Dr Heloisa Melino and the creation of a range of beautiful resources on digital safety designed by local graffiti artist, JLo. These and related activities were aimed at helping activists and others remain safe online while they report on rights violations and undertake their advocacy campaigns. Hari’s visit offered the opportunity to reflect on our activities and their impacts and outcomes.
Kimberly Veiga from Casa Resistências explained that our collaboration had helped build capacity and enabled them to undertake further activities with local partners such as Fiocruz University on online safety for activists and others in the favelas. She spoke of the impact of online harms for people in her context including online scams, digital identity theft and violence.
This collaboration has allowed us to think about technology as a route to access rights and it has opened another avenue for us to obtain wider support… It has helped us connect with wider networks of support. We now exchange experiences and access support from across the country, including psychological and therapeutic care…Thanks to this collaborative work, we have now created a new agenda on digital for our organisation
Kimberly Veiga, Casa Resistências
Kimberly spoke of the cascading effect of our collaboration that led them to undertake activities relating to the challenges faced by lesbian mothers and the creation of trustworthy resources to support them, similar to the ones we helped create on the safe, wise and secure use of digital tech by vulnerable groups in the Brazilian periferias. Fernanda highlighted the importance of our resources not only as a means to disseminate messages on online safety at all the events they attend but also as a means to enhance the visibility of the broader advocacy work being undertaken by Casa Resistências.
The visit also enabled Hari and Heloisa to meet with Voz das Comunidades, a community media organisation based in the Complexo do Alemão (Alemão complex of favelas in Rio) where they presented their ongoing work on the safe, wise and secure use of digital tech in the peripheries. The team at Voz shared their experiences of working in the challenging context of the favelas and the importance of physical and online safety as they go about recording and reporting on community matters.
Voz das Comunidades and their Social Impact team expressed interest in working with us in the future. So, watch this space!
In summary, our impact agenda in Brazil funded by SSIA has allowed us to work with multiple organisations and communities in the peripheries of Rio to spread awareness on the safe, wise and secure use of digital tech by vulnerable groups, helped build capacity of both individuals and organisations and reach a broader range of groups through engaging workshops and creative activities and multimedia outputs relevant to the local contexts in Brazil. Hari hopes to continue further collaborative work in Brazil with Heloisa given the interest and enthusiasm shown by local organisations.
The ICT4D Collective and Microsoft (UN and International Organisations UNIO) (supported by Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication, ICT4D.at, and YouthIGF) convened a very lively and interactive Session 360 this morning at the WSIS+20 gathering at Palexpo in Geneva. This began by recognising that digital tech will not be used successfully to deliver the SDGs (especially SDG10) by 2030, but then focused in a very positive way on what governments, the private sector and civil society can indeed do to try to ensure that the poorest and most marginalised can use digital tech to improve their lives.
The session built on an online survey conducted in advance of the gathering to explore what people in our networks consider are the most important actions that can be done by governments, the private sector and civil society (as well as international organisations and academia). This is summarised in the slide deck used to guide the sessions (the whole deck is also available by clicking the image below).
Lively introductory thought-provocations were given by Erica Moret (Microsoft), Bazlur Rahman (BNNRC), Paul Spiesberger (ict4d.at) and Yuliya Morenets (Youth.IGF), and the main focus of the session was then to create together a mind map from brainstorming by participants both in the room and also online (as well as using post-its). This generated a wide range of positive and constructive ideas for what we all need to do if we really care about helping the most marginalised use digital technologies to improve their lives. This discussion is summarised below (click on image for full sized .pdf file):
The session ended by participants re-committing themselves to doing something different in the interests of the poorest and most marginalised.
The multistakeholder digital tech communities associated with the UN system seem unlikely to deliver on the SDGs by 2030, despite the efforts of those involved in developing and implementing the Global Digital Compact (2024). In particular, SDG10 on reducing inequalities remains insufficiently addressed, with much emphasis instead continuing to be placed on maximising economic growth through innovation. All too often the most marginalised, especially those with disabilities, LGBTIQ communities, women in patriarchal societies, the elderly, ethnic minorities and refugees, are in practice made yet more marginal through the adoption of the latest digital tech by those more powerful and richer than they are.
UNDESA, ECOSOC/CSTD, many other UN agencies, and the IGF process are all conducting widespread consultations about the future of “digital and development” and the WSIS Process, but these have still not sufficiently addressed the tendency for digital tech to be used to increase inequalities, rather than to address issues of inequality and equity. Our interactive session is the culmination of a consultation process during the three months before the annual WSIS Forum through which people across our different networks have contributed their ideas to what the five highest priorities should be for governments, the private sector, civil society and the UN system in creating greater equity in the use of digital tech. The findings of this process will be presented during the session, and participants invited during the session to add to the recommendations through the interactive development of a mind map on marginalization that will provide a very specific output to feed into the wider ongoing debate within the UN system about digital tech and equity.
Please make your voice heard beforehand
Everyone is invited to contribute before the session through a short (max 10 minute) online survey available at: https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/rhul/digital-equity-wsis2025. This will form the basis of our conversations in Geneva, and so even if you cannot attend in person please do copmplete this survey about what needs to be done to ensure that the poorest and most marginalised can indeed benefit from the use of digital tech.
Temos o prazer de anunciar a tradução para português das nossas notas de orientação gratuitas para pequenas organizações da sociedade civil sobre a utilização segura, inteligente e protegida da tecnologia digital https://ict4d2004.wordpress.com/…/2025/06/udtsws-v6-pt.pdf. Este trabalho foi realizado pelos nossos parceiros da Coordenador do Centro de Apoio à Informação e Comunicação comunitária na Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (CAICC; CIUEM) em Moçambique, e estamos agora a desenvolver um plano conjunto para a sua ampla divulgação na África Lusófona, começando por Moçambique.
Digital technology is rapidly transforming the way migrant workers are recruited, bringing both new opportunities and serious risks. The interactive panel session examined emerging digital solutions that aim to promote fair recruitment – from tools used by workers to platforms leveraged by governments, inspectors and employers – and unpacked the associated risks and opportunities, and discussed actionable insights from participants on what works, what doesn’t, and how digital tech can be better harnessed to protect migrant workers.
Hari participated in a panel that also included representatives from the International Trade Union Confederation and The Adecco Group, one of the world’s largest human resources and temporary staffing firm.
Hari’s contribution questioned the uncritical application of digital tech in contexts of vulnerability that can cause harms, exacerbate existing inequalities and even create new ones. If digital technologies are to be used to advance fair recruitment of labour migrants, then it requires responsible digital practices that balance tech with supportive human interventions and a sustained focus on the safe, wise and secure use of digital tech by migrants.
Hari had previously been invited to contribute to the Global Forum on Migration and Development’s (GFMD) preparatory roundtables on ‘New Technologies and Digitalization: Improving Migration Management and Regular Migration Pathways’ in Geneva during February 2025 (and online in November 2024) in preparation for the 2025 GFMD Summit in Colombia.
Created in 2007, the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) is a state-led process connecting governments with civil society, the private sector, local and regional governments, youth, the UN system and other relevant stakeholders to helps shape the global debate on migration and development.
These significant policy engagement opportunities evidence the impact of our research-practice with vulnerable groups including migrants undertaken over the past six years, initially funded through a major UKRI GCRF grant and then through Royal Holloway’s Research England ODA and Social Purpose Research and Innovation Hub (SPRIH) grants (all in Nepal and South Africa) and through SSIA funding (in Brazil). Further details of this ongoing work can be found here (on the safe, wise and secure use of digital tech) and here (on our research-practice with migrants).
The ICT4D Collective is delighted to be assisting The Global Development Network (GDN) deliver its flagship Global Development Conference (GDC) 2025, taking place October 28-30 in Clermont-Ferrand, France, and virtually. Co-hosted by FERDI and CERDI, this year’s conference focuses on “Inclusive Digital Transformation – Bridging the Gap Between Promise and Reality.”
As ICT4D researchers and practitioners, we know technology holds immense potential for development, but we also see the risks of deepening inequalities and reinforcing existing power structures. GDC 2025 aims to foster a critical, evidence-based dialogue that moves beyond the hype. We’ll explore the complex interplay of social, economic, political, and ethical forces shaping our digital world, with a strong emphasis on learning from diverse global experiences, particularly within low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
Get Involved Now! Call for Papers: this is the chance for researchers to share original research on digital inclusion, governance, the digital economy’s impact on social development, or technology for climate action. Contribute your evidence to inform policy and practice! Deadline: May 16, 2025.
What to Expect: GDC 2025 will feature inspiring keynotes, thought-provoking plenary discussions, and engaging, practical sessions designed for interaction. It’s a prime opportunity to connect with fellow researchers, policymakers, civil society representatives, and practitioners from across the globe.
Registration Coming Soon: Interested in attending, either in person or online? Participant registration will open shortly!
Stay updated and find all details on the official GDC 2025 website: conf2025.gdn.int
Building on our research-practice in the MIDEQ Hub, funded by the UKRI GCRF, between 2019 and 2024, we have been working with colleagues in Brazil during 2024 to reversion and develop resources on the safe, wise and secure use of digital technologies. These were originally created with migrants and migrant organisations in Nepal and South Africa, but discussions with Dr. Heloisa Melino in Rio de Janeiro in September 2023 suggested that they could also be useful for those living nas periferias of Brazil. Subsequent funding from the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) through its Social Science Impact Accelerator at Royal Holloway, University of London, enabled us to put this into action, and following design workshops in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in April 2024, a series of new resources were developed in formats that would be appealing, especially for the LBT community in Maré.
These resources were launched on 12th September at the Casa Resistências in Maré, Rio de Janeiro. This was a vibrant occasion and provided important validation both of the value of these resources, and of their significance especially for the LBT community. Huge thanks are due to our friend and colleague, Heloisa Melino, for all the work that she did in co-ordinating and delivering this inspirational event (see images below).
Participants in the launch workshop were eager to express their views about the value and importance of these materials, and created these inspiring videos (in Portuguese):
For more information about this research-practice do click in the links below:
Many research (and practical) projects finish when the funding finishes; researchers and organisations quickly move on to the next source of funding, and new ideas. Even those who have the best intentions to measure real outcomes, rather than just outputs, very often do not have the time or funding to do so. As part of the UKRI GCRF funded MIDEQ initiative (2019-2024), members of the ICT4D Collective were from the beginning eager to try to work differently in their research with migrants on how digital technologies might be used to reduce inequalities. Some of our discussions around this have been published in our working paper Unwin, Casentini, Harindranath and Lorini (2023), but funding from a Research England Block Grant, the ICT4D Collective, and our own personal resources has recently enabled “Hari” Harindranath and Tim Unwin to return to South Africa in September and October 2024, eight months after MIDEQ funding had ceased, to meet with organisations and migrants in Johannesberg and Cape Town to learn from them about the outcomes of our work so far, and what lessons we mght learn from our engagement together, so that we can improve similar work that we might undertake in the future. Our findings are briefly summarised at https://ict4d.org.uk/technology-inequality-and-migration/zaoutcomes/, which includes some encouraging and inspirational videos from the migrants with whom we worked.
It is evident from their comments that our research-practice has indeed had many positive outcomes on their lives, interestingly not necessarily direly to do with digital tech, but more in terms of self-confidence, knowledge sharing and community building. However, the number of migrants with whom our team (Maria Rosa Lorini, Tim Unwin and “Hari” Harindranath) actually worked together was relatively small. The challenge remains as to how we can continue to support them to extend this work on the safe, wise and secure use of digital tech more widely, thereby making it more sustainable into the future. It is clear that nothing works without some funding, and relying on volunteers is rarely ever sustainable.
For our free resources on the safe, wise and secure use of digital tech on different themes and in multiple languages, see: https://ict4d.org.uk/sws/.
“Hari” Harindranth and Tim Unwin from the ICT4D Collective were delighted to have had the opportunity to participate actively in this year’s ICEGOV (International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance) held in Pretoria from 1st to 4th October, and convened by our good friends at UNU EGOV, under the patronage of South Africa’s Department of Public Service and Administration, and organised jointly with the Univeristy of the Witwatersrand and South Africa’s Centre for Public Service Administration. The organising committee created a very convivial atmosphere, in which we were able to meet with acquaintances from the past and also made many new friends from across the world. On a more personal level, it was great being able to walk to and from the conference centre at CSIR every day which served to keep us fit, and we had just about adjusted to the altitude (c.1350 m) by the time we had to leave!
We were kept busy by the organisers, chairing a third of the conference’s paper sessions between us! Hari was joint session chair for two of the conference sessions (click on link for the detailed programme):
Hari also presented a joint paper on behalf of Maria Rosa Lorini and Tim on Mitigating Risks: Safe, Wise and Secure Use of Digital Technologies by Migrant Communities in South Africa. To our delight, this was one of three papers nominated by the conference panel for the best ongoing research! The proceedings will be published in digital format only as part of the ACM International Conference Proceedings Series (ICPS) so watch out for this if you want to read the full paper.
Highlights of the conference included keynotes by Prof. Tshilidzi Marwala (Rector of the UNU) on Digital Cooperation: International Governance of Emerging Technologies & the Global Digital Compact, and by Prof. Judy Dlamini (the Chancellor of Wits University) who gave an inspiring closing keynote. We were also richly entertained to a traditional South African braai and music at ithe conference dinner, where together we all sought to put to rights the world of global digital governance!
Particular thanks are due to the entire organising team, and especially to the tireless Flávia Barbosa who did so much behind the scenes to make our participation in the conference so productive and enjoyable.
ICT4D Collective 