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Ten Frontier Technologies for International Development (IDS report 2016)

As new technologies and digital business models reshape economies and disrupt incumbencies, interest has surged in the potential of novel frontier technologies to also contribute to positive changes in international development and humanitarian contexts. Widespread adoption of new technologies is acknowledged as centrally important to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

But while frontier technologies can rapidly address large-scale economic, social or political challenges, they can also involve the displacement of existing technologies and carry considerable uncertainty and risk. Although there have been significant wins bringing the benefits of new technologies to poor consumers through examples such as mobile money or off-grid solar energy, there are many other areas where the applications may not yet have been developed into viable market solutions, or where opportunities have not yet been taken up in development practice.

Against this background, the Department for International Development (DFID) commissioned the Digital and Technology Research Group at the Institute of Development Studies to undertake a review of frontier technologies in five key areas.

Shifting Social Norms to Tackle Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) (DFID Guidance Note 2016)

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is the most widespread form of abuse worldwide, affecting on average one third of all women globally in their lifetime. VAWG undermines the mental and physical health of women and girls, violates their human rights and can have a negative impact on long-term peace and stability. In line with its international and national commitments, preventing VAWG is a top priority for the UK Government and DFID.

Although the development community has long recognised the importance of attitudes, norms, and beliefs that justify violence and gender inequality in perpetuating violence against women and girls (VAWG), there has often been a lack of clarity about the definitions of and relationships between these constructs and the practical implications for programme design and evaluation. This Guidance Note therefore aims to clarify these constructs, summarise the role of social norms in sustaining harmful behaviours and contributing to VAWG, and provide practical guidance and advice for DFID advisors and programme managers on how to identify and address harmful social norms in the context of programming to prevent VAWG.

Increasing Access to Balanced and Objective Reporting: BBC World Service Great Lakes Lifeline Service 

In response to the conflict in Rwanda and the Great Lakes region, the BBC World Service established its Lifeline Service in 1994, broadcasting news and factual material from the United Kingdom gathered by its locally situated reporters in Rwanda, Burundi and the Great Lakes region.

The service, which is currently being supported by DFID, has a mixed format that comprises news, sports, human rights issues, tracing messages, music and a drama produced in Kigali by the NGO Health Unlimited.

The service was commenced in light of the clear need within the region for fair and accurate news and factual broadcasting.

Biased local broadcasters have been widely implicated in the genocide of the Tutsi that occurred in Rwanda, with the Hutu- run Radio-télévision libre des mille collines (RTLM) being particularly active.

To counter hate radio of this kind funding is increasingly being channelled towards media activities that promote free, fair and accurate reporting. Many such interventions are international in scope due to the absence of suitable partner organisations in country.

However, since it does not rely upon local broadcasting partners, the BBC is able to exercise its policy of impartiality effectively with little or no interference from external sources. The quality of its news is high.

Despite this, there are concerns associated with this type of international media response to conflict because little local capacity tends to be built through such interventions and they are generally not sustainable in the long term.[1]

[1] DFID’s ‘Working with the Media in Conflicts and other Emergencies’ 2000

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