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Learn about Information Communication Technologies for Development, effective altruism and the philosophy behind illuminAid.
Impact
Video can improve the adoption of new behaviors by seven times
A look at Digital Green’s work with Instructional Video Content
One of the most important things we can articulate to potential partners is the effectiveness of video in behavior change. If they don’t believe our intervention will make a difference, what reason do they have to work with us?
Digital Gap
How illuminAid is working to close the digital gap for women—and why it matters
By Carli Parisi
Technology has always been at the forefront of human development. It took human civilization from hunter-gatherer to agricultural, developed modern society through the Renaissance and lead the Industrial Revolution. While much of the world has continued to make enormous strides in technological development, Africa has largely been left behind. In fact, it has some of the lowest electricity rates on the planet. With only 31% of the continent’s population having access to the internet, compared the worldwide average of 50%, Africa continues to fall behind in the international race for digital advancement.
Education
Why Investing in Education is the Best Tool We Have for Ending Poverty
By Carli Parisi
When you think of global development aid, what comes to mind? Usually it’s images of disaster relief, food programs and building hospitals, homes or fresh water wells. Providing impoverished communities with their immediate basic needs like food, water and shelter is generally considered most important. However, what we often overlook is how education can be utilized as a tool for economic and social development, breaking the cycle of generational poverty in the world’s most vulnerable populations. Investing in primary and secondary education is essential for achieving global development but it continues to lack the necessary support and funding from international donors and governments alike.
Information Communication Technologies for Development
Part 1: History of ICT4D
What is ICT4D? ICT4D stands for Information Communication Technologies for Development. illuminAid is an ICT4D organization, one of many that use modern communication technology to improve the lives of people living in developing nations. ICT4D isn’t a new designation—the field has been around in some form or other since the mid-1950s though the development of the internet. In more recent years, the growth of mobile networks and alternative energy sources have vastly increased the ability of ICT4D groups to effect change throughout the world.
Part 2: Applying ICT4D
Applications of ICT4D are varied but generally fall into one of three categories: agriculture, education/literacy or health. illuminAid, as an ICT4D organization, has projects in each of these categories.
Part 3: Using ICT4D to change behavior
One of the most common uses of illuminAid’s video technology is to promote behavior change. Changing behavior can be a critical step in improving the lives of those in desperate situations. It’s also one of the most cost-effective ways to save lives and improve standards of living.
Giving
Effective Altruism
Effective altruism is a method of giving that uses quantitative evidence to determine the most effective places to donate. More and more, people are choosing to donate where they believe their dollars will have the most impact, whether that be in fighting animal suffering, protecting the long-term future of life on Earth through combating climate change or by providing aid and stability to underdeveloped nations across the globe.