It’s Blog Action Day and the topic is poverty. I thought I would talk about two things I’m passionate about– social action and technology– and how they relate.
The digital divide is getting smaller. More people around the world have internet and mobile access. Africa alone now has 280M mobile subscribers. In the words of Jeffrey Sachs, “Extreme poverty is almost synonymous with extreme isolation… But mobile phones and wireless internet end isolation, and will therefore prove to be the most transformative technology of economic development of our time”.
Information is now more abundant than ever, bringing with it a revolution in society. Knowledge is power: five minutes on the internet can help a homeless woman in the US find the location of the nearest free clinic. A cell-phone call between two business partners in India can save an entire day of travel. Here are two tech-driven products eliminating poverty around the world:
1. This wouldn’t be my blog if I didn’t mention kiva.org, which connects developing-nation entrepreneurs with micro-loans. Loans can be far more powerful than handouts. They empower the entrepreneur and help break the poverty cycle.
2. Kiwanja.net is a text messaging platform in Africa that allows non-profits to mass-text entire communities about everything from health monitoring, agricultural information, disease treatment, and the movement of elephants and poachers.
In the words of Nelson Mandela: Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life . . .
