How I Built an Open Source Digital Marketplace for Women in Costa Rica
Honest ICT4D case studies are the ones that admit which technology choices were forced on us by the people we were trying to serve.
I was the technical lead at...
Wow! Open Source Costs NGOs More Than Commercial Software
For 15 years, open source has functioned as something close to scripture in ICT4D.
Principles for Digital Development enshrined it as Principle 6.
Digital Public...
Hidden Climate Crisis Destroying Software Developer Productivity
The development community is obsessing over the wrong climate threat.
While everyone debates if data centers are causing rising temperatures, a groundbreaking study...
Borrow the Ceiling While Building Africa’s Artificial Intelligence Floor
On June 9, an American company shipped its most capable artificial intelligence model. Three days later, a letter from the US Commerce Department forced it offline...
Built by User: $250,000 NGO Software Procurements Are Dead
In May, two researchers at the University of Southern California published a paper describing a tool I have wanted for fifteen years: a conversational AI agent...
Apply Now: €400,000 for Digital Energy Innovations Across Africa
Around 600 million Africans still live without electricity, and sub-Saharan Africa accounts for eight out of every ten people globally without access. Progress...
Apply Now: $500,000 for Inclusive Internet Research Projects
About 2.2 billion people remain offline in 2025, and 96 percent of them live in low- and middle-income countries. Even among those who are connected, mobile broadband...
Apply Now: $200,000 for Community-Centered Internet Connectivity
Over 2 billion people remain offline, roughly a quarter of the world’s population. Most live in rural, remote, or low-income communities where commercial...
Surprise! Blocking Mobile Internet Access Makes People Happier, Healthier, and More Focused
I’ve spent over a decade advocating for mobile phone access as a pathway to development. Like many in our community, I firmly believed that connecting everyone...
Direct-to-Cell Satellite Internet Is a Key Humanitarian Connectivity Tool
The ICT4D community continuously debates how to connect the unconnected. We’ve argued about spectrum allocation, community networks, and whether Starlink...
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