Bridging the development gap & the tech fix SYNOPTIC LINKS

Bridging the development gap & the tech fix SYNOPTIC LINKS

1. Signs of hope in Africa

   • M-Pesa
     • acts as a 'mobile wallet'
     • 41% of Kenyans use this service
     • transfers 39% of the GDP per year
   • Silicon savannah - Konza Technology City (Kenya)
     • $14.5bn project to build a new city, intended to be an IT business hub
     • take 20 years to build
     • only 60km from the capital Nairobi
     • more than 20,000 IT jobs created by 2015 and more than 200,000 by 2030

2. India car sales boom - the Tata Nano

   • £1250, making it the cheapest new car in the world
   • car ownership to top 140 per 1,000 by 2030
   • what makes it so cheap?
     • manual steering with no air bag
     • plastic adhesives replace welding
     • max speed of 43mph

3. GM foods/crops

   • present a number of benefits such as producing disease-reisitant seeds, higher yeilding crops and herbicide tolerant varieties
   • golden rice - 1999 (not currently available)
     • contains added vitamin A in an attempt to reduce deficiency
       • many children why are deficient depend on rice for a substantial part of their diet
     • Problems
       • contaminate non GE rice - affect traditional farmers
       • not approved for commercial use
       • does not contain enough V.A
       • should be encouraged to eat a balanced diet

4. mobile phones in Afghanistan

   • 72% are covered by a mobile phone signal whereas 1% have a fixed landline
     • laying and maintaining fixed lines would be dangerous
   • 2008: Roshan had 2m mobile phone subscribers

5. Solar homes in Afghanistan

   • 2003: Alternative Energy Development Board launched the first of its solar homes in Islamabad
   • AEDB fitted 100 homes with solar panels - provide the locals with lighting, cooking and water disinfection through solar-energy technologies
   • each householder was responsible for operating and maintaining their own solar panel
   • goal to have 10% of its national electricity generation come from alternative sources by 2010

6. India's solar engineers

   • Social Work research Center, NGO, trains people to build, operate and maintain their own solar power systems
   • over 500 people are trained each year
   • serve over 100 villages and more than 100,000 people
   • majority are illiterate/semi-literate
   • empowered women by freeing them from the need to search for wood

7. Kenitra - Tanger high speed rail line (Morocco)

   • 350km rail line that will cut the journey time between the two cities to 2h 10m rather than the current 5h 45m
   • currently under construction, will open in 2016

8. Booming Bangalore

   • 40% of India's 1.3 million workers in the IT industry are based in Bangalore
   • large number of out-sourced operations are based in Bangalore, including technical support for BT broadband
     • more than 500
   • large cost advantage for TNCs
     • English speaking and highly educated workforce
   • employment to nearly 10m people
   • more attractive to TNCs and labour and workforce is generally cheaper in India than in silicon valley - allows companies to make a bigger risk
   • heavy investment in the public sector industries

9. EASSy

   • E Africa Submarine Cable System
   • first in use July 16th 2010
   • partially funded by the world bank

10. Mongolia internet

    • Sparsely populated, with GDP of £1,360 pa and more than 1/3 of people living in poverty
    • Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme APDIP
      • created citizen information centers which have computer workstations, printer and a small library. using the facilities are free