ICT4D News Roundup – April 21, 2017
Welcome to our weekly #ICT4D News Roundup! We are passionate about the intersection of technology and social good. Each week we look for the best articles that focus on the ICT4D industry, the issues that impact the sectors we work across, and content for social enterprises.
Highlighted articles this week:
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- What happens to doctors, nurses, and midwives when they are displaced from their home countries? How can we better incorporate them into health systems? – Devex
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- Could the next agricultural revolution be drones and flying robots? – Digital Trends
- Why do we need more women in AI? Lolita Taub, a cognitive computing & artificial intelligence researcher, shares her take. – Forbes
- Launching a mobile solution and need to train your staff? Dimagi’s field manager, Jordan Lerner, shares 7 training tips. – Dimagi Blog
- Impact Investing: read about the Ford Foundation’s unlikely shift to impact investing. – The New York Times
OPINION: MAKING IT POSSIBLE FOR REFUGEE HEALTH WORKERS TO ANSWER THEIR CALLING
We are currently facing a global shortage of 7.2 million doctors, nurses, and midwives. Dr. Vanessa Kerry, from Seed Global Health, believes that the root of the problem is underutilizing skilled health workers that have refugee status. This article shares how we can identify these healthcare workers and better incorporate them in to health systems, especially when many of them may be living in refugee camps — the very locations that need healthcare workers the most.
In a 2014 report by Massachusetts Advisory Council for Refugees and Immigrants, the task force found that there were 3,000 doctors unable to work, unemployed, or working in low-wage, low-skilled jobs in Massachusetts alone. Imagine the statistics in the Middle East, which shelters the vast majority of Syrian and Middle Eastern conflict-affected refugees.”
AUTOMATED AGRICULTURE: CAN ROBOTS, DRONES, AND AI SAVE US FROM STARVATION?
At the rate the global population is growing, our current agricultural efforts will never be able to keep up. Fortunately, with new innovations in agricultural technologies, researchers are hoping to help farmers more efficiently and sustainably produce food. By automating things like picking cherries, milking cows, and plowing, not only will it be possible to efficiently produce more food, but it will also help reduce the number of injuries many farmers face while performing these physically-demanding jobs.
Agriculture has come a long way in the past century. We produce more food than ever before — but our current model is unsustainable, and as the world’s population rapidly approaches the 8 billion mark, modern food production methods will need a radical transformation if they’re going to keep up. But luckily, there’s a range of new technologies that might make it possible.”
CommCare is currently used in a number of agriculture projects that help farmers and agricultural researchers more efficiently and accurately collect and use data. Read this blog post about how Researchers in Agriculture for International Development (RAID) is using mobile apps.
WHY WE NEED MORE WOMEN TAKING PART IN THE AI REVOLUTION
As we continue to talk about the role technology plays in healthcare, agriculture, and international development, it is also important to talk about how these new innovations are created. This interview is with Lolita Taub, a cognitive computing & artificial intelligence researcher and a UN Women’s Empower Women Global Champion for Women’s Economic Empowerment. Hear from her on why she thinks more women don’t go into tech, and why it is detrimental to the future of Artificial Intelligence.
AI will pass on the biases of its creators and the data its creators feed it. If we want there to be a woman’s perspective in the new world of AI, we need women to be part of it – and women of diverse backgrounds at that.”
LAUNCHING A MOBILE DATA COLLECTION PLATFORM? 7 TRAINING TIPS
Running an upcoming tech training session? We have a guide for you! After a recent training session, Jordan Lerner, Dimagi Field Manager, put together his takeaways on what makes a training successful, and how these trainings will set your users up for success in the long-term.
Data management systems require ongoing maintenance updates. Without a deep understanding of how the technology works it can be difficult for an organization to manage and sustain the solution overtime.”
Need help training your staff? We offer implementation packages. Learn more here.
FORD FOUNDATION IS AN UNLIKELY CONVERT TO ‘IMPACT’ INVESTING
We’ve spent the past 50 years trying to maximize the impact of 5 percent of our assets, but what about the other 95 percent.”
P.S. Dimagi is a certified Benefit Corporation, reflecting our commitment to making an impact. Our 2016 Benefit Report is available here.
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