ICTworks

Recently, I took a sabbatical and traveled around the globe to see what ICT4D looks like in East Africa, Southeast Asia, and South America.

Every place I went, I would try to meet the local social-tech players and attend technology for development gatherings and events. I was surprised at how few there were. Or perhaps just at how difficult they are to find.

Help Build a List of ICT4D Meetings

It should not be that hard to find ICT4D meetings. You probably know of a few in your area – we’re just missing a central list. So let’s build one!

Here are the meetings I know of. Please add more in the comments and we’ll update this page as we find more.

ICT4D Meetings and Networking Opportunities

United Kingdom

• London ICT4D Meetup
  Vibrant and well-attended monthly meetup – alternates between facilitated sessions with speakers, and general networking in a central London bar.
• Brighton Technology for Social Change Meetup
  Broader than just ICT4D, focusing on domestic and international tech.
• BOND NGOs group on Technology for Development
  Bond is the UK’s network for NGOs – this group meets quarterly and brings together NGO staff with an interested in technology.
• Citizen Beta (London)
  Monthly civic tech get together in East London.
• Digital Charities
  Group of people working in UK charities with digital technologies – not just International Development charities but lots of overlap.  Monthly meets.
• Communication 4 Development Network meet-ups.

United States of America

• ICT4Drinks
  The largest happy hour for ICT4D professionals, with regular events in Washington DC, and occasional drinks in New York, San Francisco, Seattle.
• Tech4Dem Happy Hour
  Informal happy hour focused on using technology to improve the quality of democracy. Quarterly meetings in Washington, DC.
• ICT4D Boston
  Regular meetup for ICT4D practitioners in Boston.

Kenya

• Nairobi ICT4D Group
  Relatively new group seeking to bring together the vibrant tech and NGO communities in Nairobi.

Zambia

• Zambia ICT4D Meetup
  Join the Facebook group to find out more.

Global Meetings

• Technology Salon
  Intimate events with extremely interesting attendees – take place regularly in Accra, Amman, Bangkok, Denver, Helsinki, London, Lusaka, Nairobi, New York, San Francisco, Toronto and Washington DC.

ICT4D-related Conferences

• ICTD Conference
  Primarily academic ICTD conference (some practitioners) held every 18 months or so.  The 2017 conference will be in Pakistan in November.
• ICT4D Conference
  The other big annual conference for the sector – typically more practitioner, NGO and private-sector focused (with some academia).  In 2017 it will be held in India in May.
• International Conference on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries
  More formally academic annual conference, for 2017 the venue is in Indonesia in May
• Participatory Design Conference
  Broader than just development but of significant interest to anyone developing technology for or with local communities.  Bi-annual, next is 2018 in Belgium.
• TICTeC
  Annual conference from mySociety exploring the impacts of civic technology – 2017 sees it in Italy in April.
• WSIS Forum
  World Summit on the Information Society forum organised by the major multi-lateral donors.  In 2017 it will focus on the SDGs, in Switzerland in June.

(More conferences here)

Do you know of other digital development groups, meets or networking opportunities? Please add them in the comments so we can add them to this list.