She calls herself lucky, being born in a so-called developed country, and therefore decided to choose a career that would enable her to make a meaningful contribution to the world. Being an engineer by origin it is no wonder her heart lies in applying technical solutions such as ICT to stimulate development.

It is only a few weeks since Ms Caroline Figuerès (47) took on the position of Managing Director of IICD, but she already has a pretty good idea of the ‘ICT4D’ niche and the future that lies ahead for IICD.

It’s all about innovation

“The way I see it, ICT can help to improve the development of existing activities within social sectors such as education, health and livelihoods, for example. It is all about innovation; introducing something new and useful that makes a difference. For example, applying new methodologies and techniques, developing new practices, improving or combining existing products and services. But innovation should only be applied when it is useful and improves people’s lives. Today, the question is no longer ‘if’ ICT should be part of existing development activities, but ‘how’ we can best integrate it”, says Caroline Figuères.

In February, she visited Zambia together with members of the Board of Trustees to see IICD’s work on the ground with her own eyes. Having worked in Europe and various developing countries in Africa as a water engineer for both private consulting companies and non-profit organisations such as the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, it came as no surprise to her that the strength of IICD lies in its approach in which local ownership and multiple stakeholder partnership play a key role.  

Caroline Figuères: “In Zambia I saw how IICD and its partners are working towards integrating technical solutions to solve human problems. One of IICD’s unique qualities is its ability to combine technical expertise with an understanding of development and link these with the needs of local people and organisations. In so doing, it helps its partners to develop a solution that is appropriate for the local situation. This is IICD’s strength: facilitating the creation of practical, affordable and sustainable solutions that are carried out and owned by local people”.

ICT is sometimes misunderstood

She also notices that there is still some misunderstanding about applying technology. It is not technology itself that is questioned, but whether technology needs to be high-tech, like ICT. In developing countries the human capacity to handle these technologies is often scarce and therefore it is often considered to be unsustainable.

Caroline Figuères: “It is often said, that ICT is too high-tech and there is no capacity in developing countries to absorb the technology. The first thing one should realize is that ICT is not only high-tech: traditional means of communication such as community radio are also part of ICT. The second and more interesting thing to know is that some of the new technologies are already making a difference, and in most of the cases this is in combination with the some of the older technologies. You just need to see the opportunity and, when possible, take a short-cut to it. For example, setting up a 'blood bank' in Zambia using high-tech equipment and ensuring WHO standards might well be questioned and criticized as being an inadaptable, top-down development. Too high-tech! Indeed, doesn't such a poor country have more pressing needs for this kind of expenditure? However, when you consider that 16% of Zambia’s adult population lives with HIV/AIDS and that due to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, 10% of the population has been orphaned, it would be foolhardy and perhaps short-sighted to pursue a low-tech alternative and not invest fully in the protection of the workforce and future generations. Conversely, using low-tech sanitation solutions can considerably improve the health situation of the population and should be favoured as they are also low-cost”.

Shortcuts to success

“The experience is that technological shortcuts which 'leap-frog' to a high-tech solution can be absorbed effectively. The human mind is very creative when it comes to survival. Our priority should be to identify and support those open-minded, creative individuals who will make any useful leap-frog possible. For this reason, it is extremely important that people continue to be exposed to technologies and in developing countries, ICTs should be mainstreamed across the different sectors (health, education, agriculture, governance, water, etc) making it possible for shortcuts to be identified and exploited, taking into account local human capacity and local priorities. In this way, development can truly be fostered. Let's not assume that people always need to be exposed to low-tech and medium-tech solutions first before they can cope with high-tech solutions”.

Placing ICT at the top of the development agenda again

It is her ambition to put ICT for development firmly at the top of the development agenda once again and to keep IICD at the forefront of innovative solutions for the development sector and for developing countries. IICD should maintain its position as a ‘broker’ between partners with specific knowledge, expertise and resources that can meet the needs of local partners.  As ICT can accelerate the development process, let those who set the development agenda benefit from our experience and expertise.

Becoming a true learning organisation

Caroline Figuères: “IICD is in many ways a unique organisation: we know from experience how to work with partners from the private, public and non-profit sector. We understand what it takes to create a true partnership involving the strengths of each partner, and we are able to create a setting in which local partners benefit from this wealth of expertise and resources. IICD creates a setting where local people take responsibility for their own problems, where they develop their own solutions and where there is room for mistakes, but where people also learn from their mistakes. IICD too! In ten years time we have built up comprehensive ICT4D programmes in nine different countries, which entail ICT4D projects on the ground integrating capacity building, knowledge sharing, advocacy, policy-making and monitoring and evaluation activities. It is now time to transform the lessons learned into concrete large-scale actions with national and international partners. It will be a challenge in the coming years to maintain this role and to become a true learning organisation. Another challenge will be to define the extent to which we respond to the political and rapidly changing objectives of donors and how far we set our own priorities”.