Building Communication Opportunities (BCO) Alliance

The Building Digital Opportunities (BDO) Programme comes to an official close at the end of March 2004. In this time frame, many achievements have been realised. These are documented in both the BDO Learning Study - supported by SDC, DFID, DGIS and CIDA - as well as in an Output to Purpose Review (OPR) conducted by DFID. At the big picture level, ICT impacts poverty as a tool mainstreamed in development sectors.

But the work of the BDO has not gone as far as it can. This also came out in the Learning Study. There is still insufficient volume of evidence of mixed technologies on-the-ground. Another point is the bringing together of partner networks in countries. Though this networking of in-country networks has started, there is still much progress to be made.

At the international level, the five NGOs and their partner networks met and consulted frequently. As a result, many spin-offs to the programme have organically arisen. These include CATIA, which stemmed from a radio days workshop. Another example is the e-brain network in Zambia, comprised of the local networks of three NGO partners.

The partners

There is room for a follow-up to BDO; to take the work done so far to the next level. And the follow-up to the BDO is the Building Communications Opportunities (BCO) Alliance (2004-2007). Five bilateral agency partners and five NGOs support the BCO. The former include: the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the Dutch Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS), the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DMFA) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). NGO partners are: the Association for Progressive Communication (APC), Bellanet, IICD, OneWorld International (OWI) and Panos.

The primary reason that brought this particular group of partners together in an Alliance is a sense of “like-mindedness” in development approaches and priorities. What is that “like-mindedness?” In the context of the BCO Alliance, it is the:

• Understanding that consultation and learning adds value to ICT4D strategy and effectiveness on the ground;
• Realisation that finding synergies and avoiding duplication increase the levels of success of the work;
• Awareness that as a group, there is a critical mass of civil society and public sector experience and voice that enriches the quality of ICT4D debate and action; and,
• Recognition that a common framework - with joint goals, mechanisms and meetings - stimulate consultation and thus, collaboration and learning.

The BCO Alliance

What is the BCO Alliance more specifically? The following pinpoints the key elements:

1. Name

In the three years of BDO, it has become clear that the term “digital” was not optimal. ICT for development is about development, not about technology. Including the word “digital” in the name has proven to place too much emphasis on the technology. The new name addresses this shortcoming: Building Communication Opportunities - or BCO. Also, the new name reflects the changed nature of the cooperation between and among the donor and NGO partners. It has moved from a programme to an alliance. Alliance has been selected because it reflects the sense of like-mindedness described previously.

2. Guiding Principles

The bilateral agencies and NGO partners behind the BDO programme had expressed points in development approaches that they find important. These points can be called guiding principles. The BDO Learning Study reiterated the importance of many of these principles to effective development and to sustainability. These guiding principles are listed below and are to form an important foundation in the work to be done as part of the BCO alliance:

• Poverty alleviation is the overall purpose of the programme;
• Development is the priority, not technology;
• Mixed technologies are the target, old and new combined;
• Mainstreamed ICTs are the focus, meaning development sectors (e.g. health) supported by ICTs;
• Networks are an organisational form that must be stimulated;
• Local ownership is a means to sustainable impact on poverty;
• Collaboration among international and national organisations is a means to strengthen impact; and,
• Learning and accountability for ICT4D are continuous processes.

3. Purpose

The purpose of BCO is:

• To investigate, mobilise and support key ICT4D opportunities that impact poverty.

It is important to note that dialogue, networking, sharing and learning are important means to more effectively achieve this purpose.

4. Geographical Scope

The BCO Alliance is a global initiative. Each of the five donors has an official list of countries to receive bilateral aid. These priority countries combined, is quite broad. The BCO Alliance is too small in scope to address all these countries. Given this, DGIS, DFID, SDC, CIDA and the DMFA have put together a list of countries they would like to have addressed in the BCO Alliance context.

In total, Latin America, Africa and Asia are covered. In the BCO Alliance, new countries in Asia will be added to the focus. The individual countries where BCO complementarity, synergy and collaboration are most likely, are:

• Latin America: Bolivia and Ecuador
• Africa: Uganda, Ghana, Mali, Burkina Faso, Zambia and Tanzania
• Asia: India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Vietnam

5. Outputs

The combined group of donors behind the BCO Alliance, have identified the following as outputs to be achieved through the BCO Alliance:

• ICT4D mainstreamed in development sectors (including PRSP, SWAP, etc.);
• Stronger voice and debate, enabled through ICT4D;
• Demonstrated impact of ICT4D on poverty.

The BCO Alliance will focus on the role of ICT4D in helping to achieve poverty focused development outputs in the following areas: livelihoods; health; education; governance; environment; water; gender equality; capacity development and human rights.

During the initial months of the BCO Alliance, the group will seek to focus on three to four of these areas.

6. Organisations

A number of organisations expressed interest and sought participation in the BCO Alliance. Five organisations have been selected to be part of the core BCO Alliance, and will join the five donors already mentioned. The numbers are small. This is because both NGOs and donors expressed a strong value for the familiar and open dialogue that characterised the first BDO programme.

In selecting the organisations, a number of criteria were used. These appear in the list below, and the BDO Learning Study confirmed many as important qualities to effective ICT4D. They include an organisation’s:

• recognition as a player in the field of ICT4D, internationally;
• core competence(s): complementarity as a group;
• alignment with the guiding principles mentioned above;
• vision on sustainability;
• approach to local ownership;
• structure, including an active network of local partners and/or offices;
• existing relationship with two or more of the BCO Alliance donors; and,
• understanding of mixed technologies.

The organisations selected to be part of the core BCO Alliance are:

• Association for Progressive Communication (APC)
• Bellanet
• International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD)
• One World International (OWI)
• Panos
  

It is important to note that while some organisations are not part of this BCO “core” they can still play a key role as part of a wider network of BCO Alliance (there are already many working relationships between BCO core members and a wider network of actors in ICT4D). The guiding principles emphasise the need to strengthen these networks, in countries and internationally and to pull in “traditional” development stakeholders, rather than trying to re-invent the wheel. For example, while Panos (a core BCO member) would logically take the lead in co-ordinating BCO’s work on HIV/AIDS, similar roles for co-ordinating BCO’s activities in priority areas such as rural livelihoods or health might more logically be taken by other actors outside the BCO Alliance.

It is envisaged that regular BCO Alliance meetings (to which the core members would attend) will focus on key sectors and issues of common interest, and that key non-core BCO organisations would be invited to take an active part in any meeting that was relevant to that wider network.

7. Financial relationships

The BCO Alliance, like the BDO Programme, is not a legal entity. Rather, it is a framework by which donors and NGOs can coordinate their work more effectively and realise useful partnerships. Frequent consultation and learning will strengthen coordination and limit duplication of content and activities as well as funding. In the previous BDO Programme, the transparency of funding relationships between the donors and the NGO partners was not optimal.

As part of the BCO Alliance, more concerted effort will be made between the donors to coordinate funding flows among the NGO partners. Joint financing of some organisations and activities will likely be the result. Legal relationships between NGOs and donors remain at the bilateral level. There will be no “pooling” of donor funds behind the BCO Alliance, as it is not a legal entity.

8. BCO Alliance coordination

In the many review sessions on the BDO programme held in 2003, both donor and NGO partners have pointed to qualities that were considered as having contributed to the programme’s success. These qualities include openness and flexibility among non-profit and public sector stakeholders. It can be said that such qualities bettered the learning and collaboration achieved as part of the programme.

The BCO Alliance will be structured in a way to ensure that these qualities continue to define the working environment. Towards this end, the BCO Alliance will continue to be coordinated by IICD and IICD will work together with partners to promote:

• Learning and exchange;
• Multi-stakeholder open dialogue;
• Flexibility; and,
• Coordination and synergies.

The specific mechanisms to coordinate the BCO Alliance will become clear at the start of the new phase of BCO - which is targeted to be April 1, 2004. In this role, IICD will strive to support the “like-mindedness” outlined at the start of this document. Specifically,

• Increase learning and knowledge sharing among BCO Alliance participants;
• Enhance cooperation and understanding on content and financing among donor members and among NGO partners; and
• Promote collaboration among all BCO Alliance partners and their networks.