The champion parade

Often during ICT4D conferences one can witness a modern version of a traditional circus act. I call it ‘The champion parade’. In the desperate battle for Success stories and Best Practices on ICT4D, donors and ICT related NGO’s like to put forward ‘their’ champions during the international conference and boast about how – thanks to their project or programme - these originally underprivileged poor bastards were lifted to new heights and unlimited opportunities. Once discovered and highlighted by a well-known ICT4D institution, the champion in question can be assured of receiving invitations for numerous other conferences – where other organizers on their turn can boast about their discovery.

During the ICT Best Practice Forum in Ouagadougou, there were numerous of these parades and attempts of appropriation of other’s successes. One that particularly struck me was the following one, which occurred during a conversation I had with a UNECA-official. We were talking about Mali, and I mentioned an IICD project partner who works on telemedicine. “Ah”, said the official, “Yes I know him very well - what’s his name… We from UNECA nurtured him!”
Nice nurturing relationship that must have been – hey, what’s your name again?