Bridging the development gap & the tech fix SYNOPTIC LINKS

Signs of hope in Africa
1. M-Pesa
  1. acts as a 'mobile wallet'
  2. 41% of Kenyans use this service
  3. transfers 39% of the GDP per year
2. Silicon savannah - Konza Technology City (Kenya)
  1. $14.5bn project to build a new city, intended to be an IT business hub
  2. take 20 years to build
  3. only 60km from the capital Nairobi
  4. more than 20,000 IT jobs created by 2015 and more than 200,000 by 2030
India car sales boom - the Tata Nano
1. £1250, making it the cheapest new car in the world
2. car ownership to top 140 per 1,000 by 2030
3. what makes it so cheap?
  1. manual steering with no air bag
  2. plastic adhesives replace welding
  3. max speed of 43mph
GM foods/crops
1. present a number of benefits such as producing disease-reisitant seeds, higher yeilding crops and herbicide tolerant varieties
2. golden rice - 1999 (not currently available)
  1. contains added vitamin A in an attempt to reduce deficiency
    1. many children why are deficient depend on rice for a substantial part of their diet
  2. Problems
    1. contaminate non GE rice - affect traditional farmers
    2. not approved for commercial use
    3. does not contain enough V.A
    4. should be encouraged to eat a balanced diet
mobile phones in Afghanistan
1. 72% are covered by a mobile phone signal whereas 1% have a fixed landline
  1. laying and maintaining fixed lines would be dangerous
2. 2008: Roshan had 2m mobile phone subscribers
Solar homes in Afghanistan
1. 2003: Alternative Energy Development Board launched the first of its solar homes in Islamabad
2. AEDB fitted 100 homes with solar panels - provide the locals with lighting, cooking and water disinfection through solar-energy technologies
3. each householder was responsible for operating and maintaining their own solar panel
4. goal to have 10% of its national electricity generation come from alternative sources by 2010
India's solar engineers
1. Social Work research Center, NGO, trains people to build, operate and maintain their own solar power systems
2. over 500 people are trained each year
3. serve over 100 villages and more than 100,000 people
4. majority are illiterate/semi-literate
5. empowered women by freeing them from the need to search for wood
Kenitra - Tanger high speed rail line (Morocco)
1. 350km rail line that will cut the journey time between the two cities to 2h 10m rather than the current 5h 45m
2. currently under construction, will open in 2016
Booming Bangalore
1. 40% of India's 1.3 million workers in the IT industry are based in Bangalore
2. large number of out-sourced operations are based in Bangalore, including technical support for BT broadband
  1. more than 500
3. large cost advantage for TNCs
  1. English speaking and highly educated workforce
4. employment to nearly 10m people
5. more attractive to TNCs and labour and workforce is generally cheaper in India than in silicon valley - allows companies to make a bigger risk
6. heavy investment in the public sector industries
EASSy
1. E Africa Submarine Cable System
2. first in use July 16th 2010
3. partially funded by the world bank
Mongolia internet
1. Sparsely populated, with GDP of £1,360 pa and more than 1/3 of people living in poverty
2. Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme APDIP
  1. created citizen information centers which have computer workstations, printer and a small library. using the facilities are free

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Bridging the development gap & the tech fix SYNOPTIC LINKS

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	Created by kaystaarr about 9 years ago