Mobile Disconnect: Can Mobile Solutions Really Combat Global Poverty?

Mobile Disconnect:
Can Mobile Solutions Really Combat Global Poverty?

New America Foundation
Thursday, February 9, 2012
3:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Mobile connectivity is the critical infrastructure of the information age and, as the Arab Spring has exemplified, a solid foundation for a more empowered, connected, and inclusive society. Nearly 6 billion mobile-cellular subscriptions exist worldwide, and mobile penetration has reached 87 percent globally, according to the International Telecommunications Union.

However, mobile growth alone does not automatically translate into social or political progress, and behind the mobile hype is a human and technological reality that is rarely addressed. The case of mobile money and the oft-glamorized example of Kenya's M-PESA provides a cautionary exemplar of both the potential and the limitations of mobile solutions. At root, we must ask one central question concerning mobile solutions to the growing ICT4D field, one that we ignore at our own peril: what does it really take to combat global poverty?

Co-hosted by Global Assets Project Director Jamie Zimmerman and Open Technology Initiative Director Sascha Meinrath.

Agenda

3:30 p.m. - Welcome & Introduction
Jamie Zimmerman (@GlobalAssetsNAF)
Director, Global Assets Project
New America Foundation

3:45 p.m. - Panel Discussion
Maura O'Neill (@MauraAtUSAID)
Chief Innovation Officer and Senior Counselor to the Administrator
U.S. Agency for International Development

Ed Al-Hussainy (@Ealhussainy)
Financial Sector Specialist, Africa Region
The World Bank

Kentaro Toyama (@Kentarotoyama)
Researcher, School of Information
University of California, Berkeley

Katrin Verclas (@Katrinskaya)
Co-Founder and Editor
MobileActive

Moderator
Sascha Meinrath (@Saschameinrath)
Director, Open Technology Initiative
New America Foundation

To RSVP for the event:
http://newamerica.net/events/2012/mobile_disconnect

For questions, contact Stephanie Gunter at New America at (202) 596-3367 or gunter@newamerica.net