Tag: Technology

Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 25) – Tim Unwin on “Lessons from Imfundo: Partnership for IT in Education”

This is the twenty-fifth and final episode of our podcast based on the vignettes contributed by friends and colleagues to Tim Unwin’s new book Digital Technologies in an Unequal World: An Empancipatory Manfesto. In it, Tim Unwin provides a summary of his perspectives on leading Imfundo: Partnership for IT in Education between 2001 and 2004 in the UK’s Department for International Development, and asks why, despite Imfundo making al of its information and lessons learnt available online and in hard copy, so many digital tech for development initiatives still tend to start again from scratch instead of drawing on the experiences of previous such interventions

The full vignette can be listened to here.

All audio files relating to the book are also available on our podcast with a new episode every week.

Tim is the Catalyst of the ICT4D Collective, and Emeritus Professor of Geography at Royal Holloway, University of London, and was the editor of ICT4D: Information and Communication Technology for Development (Cambridge University Press, 2009) and author of Reclaiming Information and Communication Technologies for Development, (Oxford University Press, 2017).

Full details of his new book are available through the following links:

Order your copy direct from Routledge here

Other recent episodes

Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 25) – Tim Unwin on “Lessons from Imfundo: Partnership for IT in Education” – ICT4D Collective » ICT4D

Tim is the Catalyst of the ICT4D Collective, and Emeritus Professor of Geography at Royal Holloway, University of London, and was the editor of ICT4D: Information and Communication Technology for Development (Cambridge University Press, 2009) and author of Reclaiming Information and Communication Technologies for Development, (Oxford University Press, 2017). Full details of his new book … Continue reading Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 25) – Tim Unwin on “Lessons from Imfundo: Partnership for IT in Education” ICT4D Collective » ICT4D is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://ict4d.org.uk/
  1. Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 25) – Tim Unwin on “Lessons from Imfundo: Partnership for IT in Education”
  2. Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 24) – Tom Wambeke on “Beyond the Cable: ‘The embrace of co-designed, plural futures'”
  3. Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 23) – Ugo Vallauri on “The Right to Repair”
  4. Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 22) – Jamie Proctor on “The Right People, Building Things They Understand, and Striving to Deliver Directly for Citizens”
  5. Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 21) – Ettie Unwin on “Crafting a More Equitable Framework for Global Epidemiological Research Practice: Working With Not On”

Guidance note for small civil society organisations on the safe, wise and secure use of digital tech

The latest revision (Version 7) of our guidance note designed mainly for small civil society orgnisations on the safe, wise and secure (or private) use of digital tech is now available here. This is essential reading for all such organisations, and indeed anyone interested in how to mitigate the potential harms of hacks on their digital systems.

As the guidance note begins,

It is not a matter of “if”, but “when” your organisation will suffer from a cyber-attack of some kind.

This revised version makes minor revisions throughout, tidying up the text and simplifying it for non-technical users, and also includes the important recommendation of using passkeys rather than passwords that is now being widely advocated. On this issue, see for example the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre’s recent advice.

We are always looking to revise and improve this document, and we welcome any suggestions for future revisions. Please use our contact form to share your thoughts with us.

Translations of earlier drafts of the guidance notes are available in the following languages:

The guidance notes are available for free through a CC BY-SA license, and we welcome all offers to translate them into other languages.

Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 24) – Tom Wambeke on “Beyond the Cable: ‘The embrace of co-designed, plural futures'”

This is the twenty-fourth episode of our podcast based on the vignettes contributed by friends and colleagues to Tim Unwin’s new book Digital Technologies in an Unequal World: An Empancipatory Manfesto. In it, Tom Wambeke argues that we need to “move beyond inclusion as mere access toward inclusion as transformation — a redefinition that gestures toward a truly radical inclusion. This vision demands co-designing for the pluriverse — a world where multiple ways of being and knowing coexist”.

The full vignette can be read here.

All audio files relating to the book are also available on our podcast with a new episode every week.

Tom is a UN Senior Executive and Chief of Learning Innovation at ITCILO. With global experience in learning innovation, digital transformation, and foresight, he leads impactful programmes on inclusive capacity development. A speaker, strategist, and facilitator, he collaborates worldwide to foster sustainable, tech-enabled solutions for digital inclusion.

Full details of the book are available through the following links:

Order your copy direct from Routledge here

Other recent episodes

Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 25) – Tim Unwin on “Lessons from Imfundo: Partnership for IT in Education” – ICT4D Collective » ICT4D

Tim is the Catalyst of the ICT4D Collective, and Emeritus Professor of Geography at Royal Holloway, University of London, and was the editor of ICT4D: Information and Communication Technology for Development (Cambridge University Press, 2009) and author of Reclaiming Information and Communication Technologies for Development, (Oxford University Press, 2017). Full details of his new book … Continue reading Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 25) – Tim Unwin on “Lessons from Imfundo: Partnership for IT in Education” ICT4D Collective » ICT4D is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://ict4d.org.uk/
  1. Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 25) – Tim Unwin on “Lessons from Imfundo: Partnership for IT in Education”
  2. Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 24) – Tom Wambeke on “Beyond the Cable: ‘The embrace of co-designed, plural futures'”
  3. Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 23) – Ugo Vallauri on “The Right to Repair”
  4. Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 22) – Jamie Proctor on “The Right People, Building Things They Understand, and Striving to Deliver Directly for Citizens”
  5. Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 21) – Ettie Unwin on “Crafting a More Equitable Framework for Global Epidemiological Research Practice: Working With Not On”

Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 23) – Ugo Vallauri on “The Right to Repair”

This is the twenty-third episode of our podcast based on the vignettes contributed by friends and colleagues to Tim Unwin’s new book Digital Technologies in an Unequal World: An Empancipatory Manfesto. In it, Ugo Vallauri shows how “it’s possible to give devices a second lease of life, to create abundance and digital access out of Big Tech’s deliberate attempts to make products obsolete, with extortionate pricing of spares, repair-averse design and increasingly using software as a weapon”. He shows how Restart Parties and Repair Cafés provide part of the answer to a more sustainable digitsal future, noting that “in Africa, Asia and South America repair remains vital: a necessity, not a privilege”.

The full vignette can be read here.

All audio files relating to the book are also available on our podcast with a new episode every week.

Ugo is co-founder/co-director of The Restart Project, a charity which promotes repair to change our throwaway economy. He’s a co-founder of Right to Repair Europe, a coalition advocating for ambitious right to repair legislation. Ugo is a fellow of the Ashoka Foundation in Italy, with 20 years of experience in the not-for-profit sector

Full details of the book are available through the following links:

Order your copy direct from Routledge here

Other recent episodes

Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 25) – Tim Unwin on “Lessons from Imfundo: Partnership for IT in Education” – ICT4D Collective » ICT4D

Tim is the Catalyst of the ICT4D Collective, and Emeritus Professor of Geography at Royal Holloway, University of London, and was the editor of ICT4D: Information and Communication Technology for Development (Cambridge University Press, 2009) and author of Reclaiming Information and Communication Technologies for Development, (Oxford University Press, 2017). Full details of his new book … Continue reading Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 25) – Tim Unwin on “Lessons from Imfundo: Partnership for IT in Education” ICT4D Collective » ICT4D is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://ict4d.org.uk/
  1. Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 25) – Tim Unwin on “Lessons from Imfundo: Partnership for IT in Education”
  2. Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 24) – Tom Wambeke on “Beyond the Cable: ‘The embrace of co-designed, plural futures'”
  3. Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 23) – Ugo Vallauri on “The Right to Repair”
  4. Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 22) – Jamie Proctor on “The Right People, Building Things They Understand, and Striving to Deliver Directly for Citizens”
  5. Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 21) – Ettie Unwin on “Crafting a More Equitable Framework for Global Epidemiological Research Practice: Working With Not On”

Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 22) – Jamie Proctor on “The Right People, Building Things They Understand, and Striving to Deliver Directly for Citizens”

This is the twenty-second episode of our podcast based on the vignettes contributed by friends and colleagues to Tim Unwin’s new book Digital Technologies in an Unequal World: An Empancipatory Manfesto. In it, Jamie Proctor argues that “to serve the needs of the world’s poorest and most marginalised it is essential to systematise … changes towards multidisciplinary teams, delivering iteratively, with a focus on citizens. Otherwise, the potential benefits of digital technology in the public sector will never be realised”.

The full vignette can be read here.

All audio files relating to the book are also available on our podcast with a new episode every week.

Jamie’s background cuts across research, education and technology. He has worked in tech start-ups, across UK Government digital teams, and established a school construction NGO in Malawi. He wrote this contribution whilst seconded to EdTech Hub from FCDO, and maintains keen research interests in the development of climate resilient and sustainable school infrastructure.

Full details of the book are available through the following links:

Order your copy direct from Routledge here

Other recent episodes

Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 25) – Tim Unwin on “Lessons from Imfundo: Partnership for IT in Education” – ICT4D Collective » ICT4D

Tim is the Catalyst of the ICT4D Collective, and Emeritus Professor of Geography at Royal Holloway, University of London, and was the editor of ICT4D: Information and Communication Technology for Development (Cambridge University Press, 2009) and author of Reclaiming Information and Communication Technologies for Development, (Oxford University Press, 2017). Full details of his new book … Continue reading Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 25) – Tim Unwin on “Lessons from Imfundo: Partnership for IT in Education” ICT4D Collective » ICT4D is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://ict4d.org.uk/
  1. Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 25) – Tim Unwin on “Lessons from Imfundo: Partnership for IT in Education”
  2. Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 24) – Tom Wambeke on “Beyond the Cable: ‘The embrace of co-designed, plural futures'”
  3. Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 23) – Ugo Vallauri on “The Right to Repair”
  4. Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 22) – Jamie Proctor on “The Right People, Building Things They Understand, and Striving to Deliver Directly for Citizens”
  5. Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 21) – Ettie Unwin on “Crafting a More Equitable Framework for Global Epidemiological Research Practice: Working With Not On”

Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 21) – Ettie Unwin on “Crafting a More Equitable Framework for Global Epidemiological Research Practice: Working With Not On”

This is the twenty-first episode of our podcast based on the vignettes contributed by friends and colleagues to Tim Unwin’s new book Digital Technologies in an Unequal World: An Empancipatory Manfesto. In it, Ettie Unwin draws on her experience in using statistics and mathematical modelling of infectious diseases to argue powerfully that scientists (and by implication all of us) need to work with rather than on people living in economically poor parts of the world. As she says “Since the global burden of infectious disease is not
equitable, it’s important to help train my future colleagues around the world in methods and tools so they can model transmission themselves”.

The full vignette can be read here.

All audio files relating to the book are also available on our podcast with a new episode every week.

Ettie is a Senior Lecturer in Statistical Science at the University of Bristol where her research focuses on developing methodologies related to infectious disease transmission to improve global public health. She is passionate about co-creating research with partners in areas where the global burden of disease is highest, whilst sharing her technical knowledge when appropriate.

Full details of the book are available through the following links:

Order your copy direct from Routledge here

Other recent episodes

Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 25) – Tim Unwin on “Lessons from Imfundo: Partnership for IT in Education” – ICT4D Collective » ICT4D

Tim is the Catalyst of the ICT4D Collective, and Emeritus Professor of Geography at Royal Holloway, University of London, and was the editor of ICT4D: Information and Communication Technology for Development (Cambridge University Press, 2009) and author of Reclaiming Information and Communication Technologies for Development, (Oxford University Press, 2017). Full details of his new book … Continue reading Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 25) – Tim Unwin on “Lessons from Imfundo: Partnership for IT in Education” ICT4D Collective » ICT4D is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://ict4d.org.uk/
  1. Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 25) – Tim Unwin on “Lessons from Imfundo: Partnership for IT in Education”
  2. Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 24) – Tom Wambeke on “Beyond the Cable: ‘The embrace of co-designed, plural futures'”
  3. Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 23) – Ugo Vallauri on “The Right to Repair”
  4. Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 22) – Jamie Proctor on “The Right People, Building Things They Understand, and Striving to Deliver Directly for Citizens”
  5. Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World (Episode 21) – Ettie Unwin on “Crafting a More Equitable Framework for Global Epidemiological Research Practice: Working With Not On”

ITCILO Labour Migration Academy Webinar: Digitalisation and Fair Recruitment – Sharing Experiences

Prof. G. ‘Hari’ Harindranath was delighted to to moderate the ITCILO Labour Migration Academy webinar on Digitalisation and Fair Recruitment – Sharing Experiences held on 23 October 2025. This was attended by over 50 practitioners from around the world representing governments, employers, trade unions, and civil society groups. They were joined by three experts who shared national experiences of digitalising fair recruitment processes in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal:

  • Neha Choudhary discussed Nepal’s Foreign Employment Information Management System (FEIMS), designed to reduce information asymmetries in the labour migration supply chain by connecting migrant workers, recruiters, employers, and other relevant actors.
  • Rahnuma Salam Khan introduced Bangladesh’s Recruitment Agents’ Information Management System (RAIMS), which enhances oversight of recruitment agencies and intermediaries, promoting transparency and accountability.
  • Dr. K.V. Swamy (former GM, Overseas Manpower Company of Andhra Pradesh, India) shared his experiences with India’s eMigrate system, which connects and monitors all stakeholders involved in labour migration.

Key insights from the discussion

Key insights from the discussions were:

  • Digitalisation can be transformational for fair recruitment. It enables more integrated engagement across stakeholders in the labour migration cycle, improving data collection and analysis, increasing transparency and accountability, reducing migration costs, and offering quicker access to grievance resolution mechanisms.
  • However, these benefits cannot be taken for granted. Labour migration recruitment is complex and risk laden. Digital tools alone cannot eliminate exploitation or structural inequities. Successful digitalisation of fair recruitment requires significant groundwork, including:
    • A migrant-first approach, aligned with the principle of “nothing about us without us”
    • A whole-of-government approach to ensure policy coherence and a data governance approach to match
    • Organisational cultural change across stakeholders to enable new ways of working
    • Commitment to digital skills development and ensuring accessibility for all migrant workers
    • Complementary on-the-ground interventions to ensure inclusion of the most vulnerable, who are often least likely to benefit from digital systems
    • Ethical and privacy safeguards that underpin digital systems, ensuring compliance with data protection regulations and safeguarding migrant workers’ rights.

Hari would like to thank the ITCILO for convening this panel, all the participants and staff for their engagement, and particularly Elton Di Tommazi Maciel and Michela Albertazzi for inviting him to moderate the session.

Prof. Harindranath’s reflections on an inspiring session at ITCILO’s Academy on Labour Migration

Today, I had the privilege of delivering a session titled “Digitalisation of Labour Migration Governance: Inclusive Solutions or Digital Solutionism?” at the ITCILO Academy on Labour Migration. The session brought together an incredible group of nearly 40 participants from diverse regions – Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Pacific Islands, and Europe. This global audience included policy planners, government officials, workers’ and employers’ organisations, civil society representatives, activists, researchers, and journalists – all deeply engaged in the critical issues surrounding labour migration.

What stood out for me was the richness of the perspectives shared by participants on the role of digital technologies in this sensitive and complex domain characterised by huge power imbalances and varied digital capacities. Digitalisation of labour migration governance cannot be truly fair if it serves governments, employers and intermediaries and then disempowers vulnerable labour migrants, the very group it is meant to support. We must ensure that migrant voices are at the forefront of these efforts. Their experiences and needs are integral to shaping solutions that are equitable, inclusive, and just.

Let us keep working together to amplify and centre the voices of migrants in this important conversation.

Prof G. ‘Hari’ Harindranath

15/7/2025

The ICT4D Collective at WSIS+20, Geneva, 26-31 May 2024

The ICT4D Collective is delighted to be participating actively in the upcoming WSIS+20 week of activities in Geneva, especially since 2024 is also the 20th anniversary of the foundation of the Collective, which was created in 2004 to conduct the highest possible quality of research in the field of ICT4D primarily in the interests of poor people and marginalised communities, and making the results of this available freely to the global community.

Geneva from the ITU

Members of the Collective are actively engaged mainly in the following sessions at WSIS+20:

All of these events have been convened jointly with our partners and friends or we have been invited to participate in their sessions as speakers and moderators, and we are most grateful to them for such collaboration. Please do join us at WSIS+20 – we promise to try to make our involvement exciting, interactive and challenging. Should you wish to contact us and arrange meetings during WSIS, do please use our contacts page.

Akber Gardezi awarded for his work for blind people in Pakistan

It is with great pleasure that we report that Dr. Akber Gardezi (Assistant Professor at COMSATS University, Pakistan, and the Inter Islamic Network on Information Technology) and an Affiliated Member of our UNESCO Chair in ICT4D has received this year’s Saima Ammar award for his work in using digital technologies to support people with disabilities in Pakistan.  The award is made annually by the Young Women Writers Forum (based in Islamabad) in association with Sightsavers, and this year it was made during a ceremony at Rawalpindi Women University.

The award was created in 2011 in memory of Saima Ammar, who had bAkber awardeen a very active member of the Young Women Writers Forum, and had recently passed away battling Multiple Sclerosis.  The Forum did not have any funding available and so they contacted Sightsavers with whom they had an existing MoU to help and support Blind Women Writers in Pakistan.  The first “award” (but not in a physical sense) was a small gathering of like minded people who supported the cause of empowering women and overall inclusion more generally. As the years passed by this gathering which always took place around the 15th of October began a regular feature to honour visually impaired people who had done substantial work within the community.  For the last 3-4 years they have also sought nominations from the wider community to include sighted people working for the service of visually impaired people.

Akber.GardeziAkber writes “I am deeply humbled and thankful to my vision impaired friends who recommended my name for this award. This is very special for me as it links me to the memory of the late Saima Ammar. She was a symbol of activism and defiance; she is someone who fought the cause for access to education for people with disabilities in Pakistan. She is someone who did not let blindness be a burden on her life, but rather used it as a motivation. She did not lead a very comfortable and luxurious life herself but played an immense role promoting educational culture among the visual impaired community of Pakistan. She founded Pakistan Foundation Fighting Blindness (PFFB) and initiated the Audio World Project in 1995 with the aim of providing education, information and entertainment to visually impaired persons through audio books. Let this be a reminder for us all to keep fighting the good fight and remember Saima in our thoughts and prayers”.

Why migrant technology research needs ‘values’ at its core

In a world where the fundamental human values of liberty, equality and fraternity are being challenged by digital technologies, research on how these technologies impact inequality and migration has never been more pressing.

Digital technologies are often implicated in stories around migration. Mobiles and mobile apps offer a lifeline for migrants in vulnerable situations; a means to connect with their past and to engage with their present.

But in many countries, digital technologies are also at the centre of state surveillance and anti-migrant propaganda. Access to technologies and capacity to use them effectively also vary across communities and individuals. Digital technologies create a kind of paradox: they empower but also create vulnerabilities and even inequalities.

How we use digital technologies to address the migration-inequality-development nexus matters. The values that underpin these efforts matter more. Migrant technology can only genuinely claim to address migrant concerns when it starts and ends with those affected by these technologies – the migrant themselves.

But this raises a couple of questions. How are the problems that migrants face being addressed by digital technologies? Will these technologies create other problems, vulnerabilities or inequalities? How can we fundamentally shift the focus of migrant technology research from the technologies that underpin it to the values that underpin their use?

Answers to these difficult questions aren’t easy. As we embark on a five-year project to understand the role Information Communication Technology (ICT) can play in addressing inequalities in the context of South-South migration, here are three key principles driving us:

  • There is nothing inherently good about digital technology. It can be used to do good or harm.
  • Digital development interventions are often technologically deterministic and have unintended social consequences. Both can lead to failure. Therefore, we must address not just the technological aspects, important as they are, but also the social processes that underpin their use in particular contexts. Different migration contexts may have different needs, and may likely need different kinds of technological interventions.
  • Development outcomes and meaningful user engagement are not inevitable in technology-related interventions. We must find ways to engage users in their context to ensure that interventions are both relevant and sustainable, while maximising positive outcomes and minimising negative social impacts.

Migrant technology research needs to put values at its core. It must reflect the values that we privilege, particularly when we are required to make difficult trade-offs.

When freedom of choice is constrained by the socio-political and legal context, when equality of access is constrained by the cultural context, or when fraternity is impeded by privacy concerns in risky and vulnerable contexts – these values will be integral.

Ultimately, recognising the multifaceted nature of the migrant context means being particularly mindful of the values we may seek to promote through technology interventions.

 

[Originally posted on MIDEQ site on 31 August 2019]

DFID-funded technology for education Hub Inception Phase consultation retreat hosted at Royal Holloway, University of London

It was great to have hosted the DFID-funded technology for education EdTech Hub three-day Inception Phase consultation retreat from the evening of  29th July through to 1st August at Royal Holloway, University of London.  This brought together some 30 members of the core team, funders and partners from the Overseas Development Institute, the Research for Equitable Access and Learning (REAL) Centre at the University of Cambridge, Brink, Jigsaw Consult, Results for Development, Open Development and Education, AfriLabs, BRAC and eLearning Africa, and the World Bank, as well as members of the Intellectual Leadership Team from across the world, and representation from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The meeting was designed to set in motion all of the activities and processes for the Inception Phase of the eight-year Hub, focusing especially on

  • The Hub’s overall vision
  • The work of our three main spheres of activity
    • Research
    • Innovation, and
    • Engagement
  • Our governance structure
  • Our theory of change
  • Our ethical and safeguarding frameworks
  • Our communication strategy, and
  • Our use of Agile and adaptive approaches

The Hub aims to work in partnership to “galvanise a global community in pursuit of catalytic impact, focusing on evidence so we can collectively abandon what does not work and reallocate funding and effort to what does”.  Moreover, it is “committed to using rigorous evidence and innovation to improve the lives of the most marginalised”.

Above all, as the pictures below indicate, this meeting formed an essential part in helping to build the trust and good working relationships that are so essential in ensuring that this initiative, launched in June 2019, will achieve the ambitious goals that it has set.