By Will Chester, TechChange Chief Technology Officer

Much like the lifelong learners that our signature TechChange platform supports, we never stop learning and working to improve our offerings. This year our development team has added numerous capabilities to our platform–the backbone of so many of our education and event programs– so that it will work even better for our partners. As the Chief Technology Officer at TechChange for the last thirteen years, I can say that it’s never been better.

Improved multilingual capabilities make it easier to communicate

One of the truly special aspects of our work is how many people from all over the world our partners reach, often using our platform to do it. We want to ensure that participants can experience TechChange courses, workshops, and conferences in their language of choice. The changes that we’ve made recently ensure that the platform now provides a fully multi-lingual experience from end to end.

From a user perspective, platform users can now select the language they are most comfortable receiving content in and that’s what they will see, in the course and on the platform itself. And it’s not just that. For our blended and synchronous learning courses, cohort members can now communicate with other participants who are taking the course…in different languages! Real-time bi-directional AI-powered translation enables dialogue across 100+ languages, bridging the gap between people who don’t share the same linguistic profile. We’ve made it easier for administrators too, who can now create and maintain multilingual content in one dedicated space.

In the future, we’re going to go even further to reduce the cost of translation of elearning content. Our team is working to incorporate Lokalise, which will result in a process that is 1/1000th the cost of manual translation.

Enhanced media integration for optimal integration of content

Our partners’ courses incorporate many different types of content, including outside videos. The TechChange platform now enables seamless integration of content through Mux–a developer friendly version of Youtube. Administrators can now directly upload videos from their computer and stream videos straight to the platform. Event participants get a new benefit too of a new mini player view so they can click around elsewhere on the site– I know our multi-taskers will appreciate this. Live captioning on video and live streams add an extra layer of accessibility.

Social sharing of accomplishments on LinkedIn

Course participants will have a new way to show off their credentials from TechChange. Once they have completed a course on our platform, participants can easily add the course completion certificate directly to their LinkedIn profile. In this hiring climate, anything that makes you stand out as an employee or job candidate helps and we’re happy to be a part of that.

Streamlined login option

Finally, we’ve made it easier to log into the platform by adding single sign on, a passwordless login option. The email link to access the platform supports an easier login experience for our repeat users.

To read more about these changes, check out our TechChange 2024 Platform Updates.

TechChange-Platform-Updates-1-2 Download

Or…head to the platform and see for yourself!

By Jessica Swann, TechChange Director of Partnerships, Education

Not everyone thrives on being in a crowded room full of people, frantically networking from one handshake to another. Some of us are introverted, more comfortable in small groups or even alone. That said, even introverted folks want to connect, building relationships and knowledge within their professional spheres. Sometimes that means putting aside our discomfort and attending large conferences or events. And I’m not just saying that–this week I’m traveling from my home in Mexico City to Washington D.C. to join the in-person component of the Global Digital Development Forum.

So I thought I’d take the opportunity to share with you my tips for attending events as a self-declared introvert.

Plan Your Attack

First things first, you’ll want to review the agenda ahead of time and select the sessions you definitely want to attend. This helps remove any anxiety you may have around what the day will look like– and make the most of the event. Of course, you can always change your mind day-of, but it’s good to have a plan to fall back on. I also like to try and book some meetings with folks I know will be there in around those sessions. Having set meetings that you can prepare for and walk into confidently is a great way to balance the more anxiety-inducing free flowing moments of networking.

Quality Over Quantity

Networking is not a numbers game where the more people you meet, the better you will do. In my professional life, I’ve found that it’s very much a question of quality over quantity. One single in-depth conversation that leads to a meaningful connection or follow-up opportunity means more than trying to meet and greet a huge number of people. So focus on the genuine conversations, and give them time to blossom into something truly exciting. Also, take a few notes on your phone after promising conversations, so you know what to follow up with via email after the conference!

Don’t Forget Your Tools

Sometimes it’s helpful to keep your hands busy when you’re feeling nervous. During a session, take notes. This will serve two functions–making you look busy and making sure that you remember the key takeaways from the session. If mealtimes with strangers cause you stress, then use those windows to catch up on your emails. Grab a to-go lunch and your computer, then take the time to recharge your battery before diving into the next learning/ networking session.If you have any new resources you want to share, bring a stack, as these can be great conversation starters. I’ll be decked out with our new cape sheet and information about our new offers: ImpactSource and ImpactCoach.

Jumpstart the Conversation

If you are feeling brave, join a lunch table of folks you don’t know and turn to the person next to you. I like to have a few pre-prepared questions to jumpstart the conversation beyond the usual, boring ‘What do you do?’? Here are some of my favorites to allow you to get to the next level beyond exchanging pleasantries and job titles:

What’s the best session you’ve seen so far?
What are you working on right now that you’re most excited about?
How do you think this conference will look different in five years?

That last one’s just for fun, since the Global Digital Development Forum is all about technology in international development, and I love to hear people’s predictions for frontier tech and how everything will change with the advent of AI, the Internet of Things, and other fast-moving areas.

Hybrid is Your Best Friend

This is probably the best piece of advice I have. Take advantage of the hybrid options! This partly-in person, partly-online format will allow you to decide which parts of the conference you actually want to be physically there for, and which would be more comfortable in front of your computer at home– or in your hotel room, in my case. For example, maybe you want to come to the in-person portion for the plenary and morning sessions, and do the afternoon workshops virtually. GDDF is fully hybrid, with virtual sessions running for 20+ hours across all time zones, and I like knowing that I can pop back to my room (or even a quiet corner of the conference venue!) to watch a session if I need a break.

Lean on Your Team

Don’t forget about your allies. It’s easier to talk with folks we know and trust, and it can refresh your spirits if you’re feeling worn out from meeting new people. For me, that’s my TechChange colleagues, who I work with regularly to envision courses and workshops on social impact topics that matter. Since TechChange is hosting GDDF- both in person and on our state of the art convening platform– there will be plenty of team members for me to reconnect with. That’ll be one of the best parts of the event for me, since I work remotely from another country from my coworkers most of the time.

And, Last But Not Least, Remember to Recover

One of the main differences between introverts and extroverts is that time around large groups of people tends to drain our energy, whereas extroverts get jazzed from it. So it’s important to plan time for self-care after an event (or even during, if it’s multiple days), whether that’s a quiet meal by yourself (hooray for room service!), or listening to a podcast on the way home. The day after a conference, make sure that your calendar is pretty open, so you’re not having to go right from a busy event to a day chock-full of meetings. That way, you can also follow up in a super timely manner with your new connections, staying top of mind and keeping the conversation going. After all, we’re here to connect!

By Nick Martin, TechChange Founder and CEO

As the leader of a tech company that helps social impact organizations deliver rocking virtual events, you might be surprised that one of my favorite things to do is to mingle. IN person. To get out there and meet people who are working on the world’s most pressing issues, and hear how things are going and what trends that they’re seeing. At last week’s Society of International Development US annual conference, themed ‘World in Crisis: Sparks of Hope’, I had the opportunity to do just that, and those energizing conversations have me reflecting on the evolving talent landscape in our industry.

With the launch of our Impact Coach program to pair social impact professionals with leadership and career coaches, this is admittedly something I’ve been thinking about a fair amount already. But talking with a wide range of people, all with different backgrounds and specialties within international development, made clear to me three basic truths of talent right now.

#1. Everyone is looking for a job, even if they aren’t.

The flyers for our free, social-impact centered Job Board positively flew off the table at the TechChange booth, into the hands of people who were explicitly on the hunt, along with those who already have decent roles at development organizations. It may be a marker of the economic uncertainty of the times, the always-changing funding landscape, or a generational shift in so-called company loyalty, but it’s clear that folks are keeping an eye out for open opportunities. From a talent perspective, this openness to competitive offerings can widen your list of prospects when you’re head-hunting to fill a key role.

#2. Hiring needs exist outside of HR–and people want help.

Especially when it comes to hiring entry- and mid-level positions, many managers and senior leaders are tasked with finding their own candidates. Depending on the organization, there can be a variety of help coming from HR for this…or not. With slashed budgets in many contexts, this issue is only going to get worse. Managers need help finding and recruiting quality people, whether or not hiring and firing is their full time job.

In addition to mid-level folks, our booth at SID was visited by a ton of amazing students, many of whom are about to graduate and facing uncertain prospects. They’re eager to work in development, but many will struggle to find positions without relevant experience. On-the-job learning programs and coaching can help young, up-and-coming leaders to find their footing. Bonus: their tech skills may wind up an unexpected asset for the organization.

#3. There’s an evolving need for just-in-time expertise for project implementation.

This is true whether you’re compiling CVs for a proposal or staffing a new country roll-out of a global program. Your team’s hiring needs can go from zero to sixty with one email, and often, require an infusion of particular skill sets such as digital development fluency, local languages, and other forms of technical expertise. TechChange’s targeted country specific recruitment drives for staffing projects can help you to quickly meet localization objectives, along with our executive search offerings, which focus on placing DEI, senior leaders, and technical candidates.

Pathways for diversity are essential

As the technical event partner for the SID conference, we ran our signature Pop-Up studio, where we broadcast interviews with speakers and in-person attendees out to virtual participants of the hybrid event. In an interview with one of my favorite development professionals, Ryan Ubuntu-Olson, the current Global Manager for Diversity, Equity, Engagement & Inclusion at DAI and up-and-coming author, had this to say about diversity and talent.

“Just like you, we work in a mission driven industry. A lot of people really care. They want to know how to do diversity better, how to be more inclusive. We haven’t done a good enough job of showing them pathways to do so.”

You can watch the full interview video here.

Providing democratized and open access to job opportunities within the industry is part of providing those pathways to and for diversity. So is curating lists of qualified job seekers based on expertise, location, and other demographic attributes in order to ensure the widest possible swath of people get to work in making the world a better place. And offering on-the-job coaching to allow folks to grow into those dream roles can be a big help too.

Want to learn more about the TechChange talent offerings? Schedule a call with me or contact our team for one free curated list of qualified candidates for any position.

Over the past twenty years, it’s estimated that the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has saved twenty-five million lives in more than fifty countries through a wide variety of efforts to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic. This vital, complex work requires an immense amount of data tracking and analysis, much of which is made possible by the Interagency Collaborative for Program Improvement, or ICPI. For the last three years, TechChange has partnered with ICPI and DigitalSquare to support the dedicated professionals responsible for the data crucial to the realization of PEPFAR’s mission.

TechChange uses our community building and knowledge sharing expertise to provide PEPFAR’s data synergy hub at ICPI with four main ways of connecting and collaborating.

Learning Collaboratives that Bring Agencies Together

Learning Collaboratives are 2-hour monthly virtual forums hosted on the TechChange platform that bring together field and headquarters staff from USAID, US Department of State, Peace Corps, US Health Resources and Services Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These forums serve as a key touch point for sharing, learning, and identifying areas for technical assistance and tailored follow up. TechChange uses digital whiteboard tools such as Miro to facilitate interactive activities and knowledge sharing, but it’s the expertise within the community that takes center stage in these sessions. For example, in January 2023, an interagency team from Côte d’Ivoire shared how they were doing data quality assessments, including best practices for using a newly updated tool. This allowed the ICPI team to see what the new assessment looked like in practice, and highlighted valuable local expertise in implementation.

Onboarding Trainings to Bring New Hires Up to Speed

Detailed onboarding to the tools and policies of PEPFAR is critical for data professionals joining the relevant agencies. TechChange provides twice-annual virtual training to support the capacity building of new PEPFAR staff. These multi-day sessions involve roughly a dozen configured breakout rooms, 30+ facilitators, 16-20 learning presentations, 5 government agencies, multiple Zoom links, and nearly 100 participants from PEPFAR-supported countries around the world. The training prepares new staff from the five related agencies for success in achieving PEPFAR’s important mission. One participant from the May ‘23 training shared that “the interactive exercises were great and helpful in understanding the content, while another termed their session “well-paced, informative, and empowering.”

Strategic Meeting for Goal Setting and Visioning

TechChange also provided technical support for a hybrid event hosted by ICPI where leaders from each of the PEPFAR-involved agencies shared their priorities and concerns for the year. Attendees communicated elements of the learning initiatives that were working well, such as the white-boarding exercises during onboarding, and those that need further support in the future, such as guidance for volunteer facilitators to take on more sessions. This convening allowed for goal setting and visioning for 2024, including planning for future Learning Collaboratives, Onboarding Training and a Strategic Retreat.

Ideation Sessions Refresh and Reorient Work

In a multi-year partnership, it’s easy to continue business as usual. But in the fast moving field of international development and public health, its crucial to continually align stakeholders to ensure that community building and knowledge sharing initiatives– such as those provided by TechChange to ICPI and Digital Square– meet new needs and demands, as well as continuously bring in new formats and engagement strategies to keep things fresh. In 2024, TechChange will host a series of in-person and virtual Ideation Sessions and Strategic Workshops and/or Retreats with key ICPI and other agency stakeholders to plan for the future of these learning and collaboration initiatives, as well as to support their teams to connect with one another.

By Gabrielle Hayashi Santos, TechChange contributor and Social Impact Professional

‘Inherently inadequate as an employee’ is the phrase that I would repeat to myself in my head over and over again when I started to work formally at age 15. Things that were common sense to colleagues did not come easily to me, and this led to a lot of self-criticism and self-doubt. I began masking–a coping mechanism where individuals camouflage their autistic traits to fit societal expectations. By the time I entered university, I had upgraded my overall performance to the exterior world, but internally I was struggling. The sensory overload and constant social interactions were overwhelming, and despite my efforts to adapt, I often found myself feeling isolated and misunderstood.

Then, with the help of professionals, I discovered my place on the autism spectrum and began to unmask. Even now, I am still learning about what it means for me to be autistic. However, I can confidently say that working remotely has been a game-changer for me. As we celebrate World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD), established by the United Nations General Assembly to raise awareness about autism spectrum disorder (ASD), I want to share how working remotely has offered me a platform to thrive professionally.

No Commute Means Less Sensory Overload

The allure of saving time on the daily commute is powerful. Who wouldn’t relish the chance to reclaim those precious hours spent in traffic or crammed onto public transportation? Beyond the obvious time-saving benefits, the elimination of the daily commute holds even greater significance for me. Navigating public transportation or driving exposes me to sensory overload and social demands that can be overwhelming, particularly during times of heightened stress or anxiety. The prospect of facing these challenges day in and day out adds additional strain to my mental health. Remote work offers a welcome alternative. Without the stress of commuting weighing me down, I am free to focus on my work and prioritize my well-being in an environment I can control.

Flexible Communication Minimizes Stress and Misunderstandings

Have you ever reflected on how much of work is just communicating? But what if the conventional channels of communication leave you feeling drained? That’s where the beauty of remote work comes in. It accommodates my specific needs and preferences in ways that traditional office settings never could.

Flexible communication allows me to engage with colleagues on my own terms. Written communication, such as emails and instant messages, allows me to process information at my own pace and express myself more clearly, reducing misunderstandings and social anxiety. I have been lucky enough to work with kind people who do not enforce turning cameras on, so on days where I don’t feel like I can perform facial expressions, I don’t have to.

Autonomy and Routine Means More Productivity

Another huge plus for me is the autonomy. Working remotely, I can structure my day in a predictable schedule that minimizes surprises and helps me maintain focus. This helps me implement strategies to address the specific challenges associated with my condition, such as setting realistic goals and deadlines, communicating expectations effectively, and defining roles and responsibilities. I can reduce ambiguity and confusion, which are common triggers for oppositional behavior or anxiety. Clarity around what is expected of me and what I can expect from others fosters a sense of predictability and accountability, promoting a more harmonious work environment.

Space to Employ Coping Strategies

There are still challenges in working remotely. I over prepare for meetings; I second guess my own contributions. I hyper focus on facial expressions in meetings if cameras are on. All of this can lead to anxiety that gets in the way of productivity. But I can recalibrate. In between meetings, I reach into my toolbox of coping strategies, which can vary from sensory comfort items to connecting with my support network. On particularly hard days, I can schedule a session with professionals in the comfort of my home without worrying about the logistics of squeezing that in from a traditional office job. Moreover, remote work reduces the pressure of constant social interactions, enabling me to conserve energy and allocate it more effectively to tasks that require concentration and problem-solving. Without the need to navigate complex social dynamics, I can focus on delivering my work to the best of my abilities.

My Experience as a TechChange Contributor

Working at TechChange has truly been a transformative experience for me in my journey of working remotely. From day one, I’ve felt welcomed and embraced for who I am, neurodiversity and all. The team fosters an inclusive environment where diversity is celebrated and individual differences are valued. This sense of belonging empowers me to bring my authentic self to work each day, knowing that my unique perspective is not only respected but encouraged, and that my voice is heard. It means a lot to me to be part of a social enterprise that creates courses and events that are always trying to find new ways to make the programs accessible to a diverse range of individuals, including those across the autism spectrum.

All Workplaces Can Create Supportive Environments

While remote work has been instrumental in my professional development, it’s essential to recognize that in-person work environments also have the potential to be accommodating. By fostering understanding, implementing flexible policies, and cultivating a culture of acceptance, traditional workplaces can create environments where individuals with autism feel valued and supported. As we commemorate World Autism Awareness Day, my hope is to continue raising awareness and promoting understanding of neurodiversity in the workplace and beyond. This day serves as a reminder of the progress we’ve made in advocating for the rights of autistic individuals and the importance of embracing diversity in all its forms. However, it also highlights the ongoing challenges and barriers that many autistic individuals still face.

In recognition of these challenges, I am committed to aiding individuals with autism in their search for remote work opportunities. If you are within the spectrum and need support finding a remote job and feel like I can help you, feel free to reach out to me by my Linkedin, and also check out the TechChange Talent Network. By connecting them with valuable resources and fostering a sense of community, we can empower autistic individuals to thrive in the global workforce.

Together, let us work towards creating a more inclusive and supportive environment where every individual, regardless of neurotype, has the opportunity to reach their full potential.

As we settle into 2018 and launch a variety of new courses, workshops, and ways to innovate our approach to online learning, we’re thankful to you, our TechChange community, for your unwavering support! In the last year, we’ve trained over 7,000 people from 155 countries on our platform alone.

Check out a few of the cool things we were able to do in 2017.

We’ve released new features on our online learning platform!

Frontend editing: Course administrators can now type directly into the platform section that you would like to update or add information to. The new inline editing feature means easy access to editing/updating content, a cleaner design, and a direct way to see real-time updates of changes that you’re making to your course content.

Completion tracking: Course administrators can now track module completion with our new rules feature. By simply setting “rules” for each slide, submodule, and module, learners will be alerted with a green check mark if they have completed the appropriate section.

Progress view: Course administrators can now view the progress of their students holistically with the new progress view. Based upon the rules of each course, the progress view details where students are in relation to course completion, when they were last active, and which modules have been completed.

We’ve developed informative interactive modules!

IFC Gender Course: TechChange partnered with IFC (International Finance Corporation) to create a multi-module course on the business case for gender smart solutions. The course is customized with three different industry tracts that users can choose between depending on what is most relevant to their work.
Jhpiego MCSP: The Faculty Development Program represents a major accomplishment for the Instructional Design team over the summer and fall seasons. The program is centered around best practices for medical practitioners and is meant to improve educational quality and teaching skills for practitioners in Liberia and beyond.
CCAP: TechChange built a self-paced course for the Coastal Cities Adaptation Project of Mozambique that focused on the basics of climate change, adaptation, disaster risk reduction, and urban resilience. The course featured many video interviews (filmed by TC staff) with important stakeholders involved in climate change management in Mozambique.

We’ve created some beautiful content!

Making Cents International Report: An exciting collaboration between the Instructional Design and Creative Teams for The Rockefeller Foundation & Making Cents resulting in a youth-oriented toolkit for demand-driven training. Click here to view the report and here to view the interactive website!
DCA animation and pamphlet: USAID’s Development Credit Authority (DCA) uses loan guarantees to increase access to finance and promote growth in developing countries. The creative team was tasked to create multiple short animations to explain how the Development Credit Authority works and its benefits to those in developing countries. Click here to view our whiteboard style explainer video and click here to view our mobilizing local wealth for entrepreneurs around the world animation .
DIAL animation: We had the pleasure of working with DIAL (Digital Impact Alliance) to explain the Principles for Digital Development and its importance to the digital development community. The team was tasked with creating a 2 minute explainer animation that is both attractive and informative. Assets and animation was spearheaded by our senior illustrator & animator John Kim. Click here to watch the video.
mPowering animation: The Creative Team worked on a beautiful animation for mPowering’s OpenDeliver, a mobile-enabled delivery system for health resources that includes a feedback loop to supply analytics. Click here to watch the video!

We’ve hosted interesting workshops and traveled to many places!

Mozambique for CCAP: In January 2017, Shannon, Emily, and John traveled to Maputo and Pemba, Mozambique to record interviews with key stakeholders involved in climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction efforts across the country. The interviews were incorporated into the four-module self-paced course built to empower individuals with the fundamentals of climate change, preparedness, and urban resilience.
Maine for PopTech: In October, the TechChange team headed to Camden, Maine for the 2017 PopTech Conference: Instigate, where we provided tech support, photography, and conference marketing support.
Boston for Connected Health Conference: In October, Chris, Yohan, and Meronne went to Boston, Massachusetts to provide event support with photography and video interviews.
Qatar for WISE: Chris and Austin traveled to Doha, Qatar for the World Innovation Summit on Education (WISE Summit) for a series of plenaries and workshops on the future of education.
Washington, D.C. for the World Bank Youth Summit: Nick gave an interactive workshop on blockchain for international development.
Instructional Design Workshops: Throughout the year at TechChange Headquarters, Isabel lead different instructional design with Articulate 360 workshops. Click here to sign up for the next one!
TechGirls 2017: For the fifth year in a row, we’ve had the honor of hosting two brilliant young leaders from the TechGirls State Department program. This year, Passant Abu-el-Gheit and Reem Saado shadowed the various teams hard at work making online courses in the TechChange office, and contributed a few creations of their own. Read the full blog post here!

We’re launching new online courses!

TC116 Blockchain for International Development: This four-week online certificate course will attempt to cut through the hype and evaluate the potential of this technology on everything from remittances to supply chain management, voting practices, smart contracts, land titling, educational credentialing, health record storage, and more. Learn about the course here!
TC310 The Future of Digital Health: This four-week online certificate course will explore how a range of emerging technologies — blockchain, artificial intelligence, drones, sensors and Internet of things, wearable devices, and more — are contributing to patient care and management, disease tracking, point-of-care support, health education, remote monitoring, diagnostics, supply chain management, and logistics.The course will also take a hard look at complexities surrounding patient privacy and security, limits to access, training and capacity building challenges, interoperability issues, regulation and policy hurdles, and more. Learn about the course here!
TC301 Artificial Intelligence for International Development: This four-week online certificate course will cover the basics of artificial intelligence from natural language processing and object differentiation, to comparative facial recognition and more. It will draw from a variety of case studies, particularly in financial services, education, and healthcare. It will also explore challenges to adoption that exist around automation, hype cycles, ethical concerns, security, sustainability, and more. We will also explore machine learning, a narrower subset of AI that focuses on data analysis and building algorithms that reduce the need for human intervention. Learn more about the course here!
TC101 Online Learning for International Development: This four-week course will include a number of innovative case studies as well as demos of our favorite emerging technologies to support and enhance learning. Over the past 8 years, TechChange has built 500+ online courses on all kinds of topics for a variety of audiences and in a range of formats. In that time, we have had to contend with every imaginable hurdle: diminished attention spans, bandwidth constraints, translation issues, security challenges, and more. This is why we’ve decided to package all of this experience into an online certificate course. Learn more about the course here!

As we continue to build and create beautiful courses, we’re excited to start licensing our online learning platform to organizations and continue building our expertise in online learning. A recent study on capacity building done by the Global Knowledge Initiative listed TechChange as the number one cited source individuals and organizations used most to improve curriculum design, further teaching pedagogy, develop online modules, and build presentation and facilitation skills. We look forward to continue building our online learning skill sets.

We hope to see you online, in person, or in a course!

I truly enjoyed the four-week TechChange course on Agriculture, Innovation and Technology thanks to Nick, wonderful guest speakers and brilliant classmates. I grasped the understanding of the current status in utilizing information and communication technologies (ICTs) for agriculture (ICT4Ag) and challenges and opportunities that lie ahead to facilitate the effectiveness of ICT4Ag. As part of my final project, I interviewed Mr. Vikas Choudhary, Senior Economist in the Global Food and Agriculture Practice (GFADR) at the World Bank.

Q: What do you consider the primary role of ICTs for agricultural processes?

ICTs play a significant role primarily in helping farmers and other stakeholders make effective decisions, and therefore are effective information delivery tools when used in agriculture. Agricultural processes are a sequence of decision making for farmers: what kind of seeds to grow, when and where to grow them, how and where to store commodity, at what price to sell, etc. These decisions have largely been based on farmers’ past experiences and their own interpretation of agricultural conditions. However, farmers increasingly face difficult decision making situations due to irregular seasonal and weather patterns caused by climate change. Therefore, through real-time data collected on various decision factors such as weather, soil quality, and crop maturity, not only can agricultural processes be more efficient, but also the farmers can make better and timely decisions in each process. ICTs also enable farmers make informed decisions in agricultural products transport and marketing by providing information on market prices and reducing transaction cost.

Q: What is the process through which this information delivered to farmers? How does it lead farmers to take right actions?

There are four steps in information delivery that we need to keep in mind for ICT4Ag: data generation, analysis, synthesis and dissemination. Each step, then, requires different considerations to take in designing ICT4Ag (summarized in Table 1). The key to successful ICT4Ag is to provide data in a consistent and integrated manner so that all aspects of information delivery are taken into account.

Table 1. Steps to ICT-led Information Delivery in Agriculture

Steps	Considerations
Data Generation	Data should be high-quality and localized
Data Analysis	Analyze data that is necessary and relevant to farmers (implications)
Data Synthesis	Scientific data need to be communicated in a language or format that is easily comprehensible for farmers
Data Dissemination	Data need to be coupled with recommendation of actions farmers could take; Collaboration among stakeholders is especially important

Q: How is the private sector participating in information delivery in ICT4Ag?

While there are various types of the private sector involved in the ICT4Ag, one of them would be the companies that have been engaging in information selling, such as Reuters and Bloomberg Terminal. These companies now serve as business platforms for agricultural information delivery and are making efforts to provide much more reliable information to their client base. One example is Reuters Market Light service in India, which is a SMS subscription service to sell agricultural information for farmers. Also, there are businesses that buy commodity and seasonal forecast at higher rates. Therefore, there is a market formed among different business actors in information delivery.

In addition, there are new businesses that are trying to come up with different business models. For example, a company would generate big data from the weather infrastructure that the company has set up and makes profits by selling the information to different types of companies with different interests such as FMCG and logistics companies. There are various sectors of the economy for whom the access to reliable, relevant, topical and high quality data is key. The realm that was traditionally considered as public sector is becoming more private sector as businesses set up their own mechanisms for the on-ground weather data gathering, the utilization of satellite data or the combination of both. However, the private sector participation is still in the trial-and-error stage as business models continue to evolve.

Q: What do you consider are the greatest innovation implementation challenges?

Some of the biggest challenges are lack of hard and soft capacities, customization of data and accuracy of information. First of all, not only the current level of infrastructure, but also lack of human capability of understanding, analyzing and interpreting data is the first hurdle to fully unlock the benefits of ICT4Ag. We need to make substantial efforts to build capacity of the local implementing agencies to disseminate data necessary to farmers. Secondly, customization is critical. The provision of information needs to be tailored to specific regions. However, it is still difficult to figure out how to customize certain information to a particular target level. Next, the accuracy of information is another challenge. The predictive tools for collecting data are usually based on the predictive models, which sometimes do not work accurately. And when information is not accurate, the financial loss of farmers can be thousands of dollars. Therefore, ensuring reliability and accuracy of the prediction is very critical as it builds confidence among people. The good news is the accuracy of information is gradually improving as information is validated from more and more data sources, especially through machine learning, which helps refine the predictive models. In addition to overcoming these challenges, providing relevant, not just any, information is also important.

Many times, we are first drawn by flashy and new technologies before thinking about the essence of content. However, content is what matters after all and is key to all processes. We need to be sure about what information we are delivering, how relevant and accurate the information is, how tailored the information is and what the actual benefits that the information can bring to the farmers. Only if these criteria are met, the benefits of the information enabled by ICTs will take off.

Note: You can find Mr. Choudhary’s insights on ICT and Agricultural Market Information more at https://olc.worldbank.org/content/ict-agriculture.

About the author:

Hyea Won Lee works as an ICT Policy and Cybersecurity Researcher at the World Bank, and is a M.A. Candidate at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). She recently completed our TechChange course on Agriculture, Innovation, and Technology.

On Monday, we had the pleasure of hosting TechGirls’s Job Shadow Day for the fourth year in a row! TechGirls is a selective exchange program that encourages and supports the desire of Middle Eastern and North African teenage girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). During the 3 week long exchange program, the girls (ranging from ages 15 – 17) travel around the U.S. getting a taste of the various careers one can have in STEM. One of the ways they experience a STEM career in the U.S. is by spending a day at a tech company during Job Shadow Day.

We were lucky enough to host Nada Abdelaziz Mostafa Abdelaziz and Lydia Ferial Oukid, who have interests in bioengineering and biomedical engineering, this year at our DC office. Both hope to learn more about the technology and engineering fields, and aspire to be leaders in both their local and international communities. We were able to show them a bit about what we do here at TechChange, and hosted workshops with our creative, industrial design, tech, and communication teams.

Nada and Lydia began their day by working with our creative team to create their own animated assets!

Check out what they created below:

Afterwards, they were able to learn about the projects that our tech fellows have been working on this summer.

As per TechChange tradition, we had lunch at a nearby Ethiopian restaurant.

After lunch, Lydia and Nadia worked with our instructional design team, and were able to create their own online course in Articulate! Check out Lydia’s articulate and Nada’s articulate.

Lastly, they learned how to build their own webpage in HTML, with the assets they created throughout the day, from our tech team!

All around, we at TechChange had a great time with the TechGirls! We look forward to hearing more of their future accomplishments — best of luck Nada and Lydia!

Last week, the mobile data collection service Magpi released its latest addition to the platform: data visualizations. We sat down with the founder and CEO, Dr. Joel Selanikio, to talk about the new feature and what Magpi has in store for the future.

Magpi prides itself in taking the programming out of data collection tasks. As a medical doctor concerned with global health, Selanikio is always looking for ways to add more user-friendly features. He would ask himself, “Wow, we keep taking these things that require programming and taking out all the programming. What else is there we can do?”

The obvious answer was to add an intuitive data visualization layer to Magpi, so that users could easily access, understand, and communicate the data they were collecting.

“Before, we thought that if users wanted to visualize the data, we can just let them export the data and enter it into Microsoft Excel. What we didn’t realize was how time consuming a process this can be for our users, so our new release will allow users to generate beautiful reports instantly,” said Selanikio.

For the past year, the programmers at Magpi have been working hard to make user-modifiable data visualizations which can be easily embedded and shared. Some sample outputs from the new data visualization system are shown below – these graphs can be automatically generated whenever a user creates a report from their data.

“I am super excited to show this to people,” said Selanikio. Users familiar with HTML can also further customize the visualizations, and magpi will be adding more data visualization features based on user feedback.

“We’re making it so that if you’re using Google Sheets, you can add triggers so you can enter data in a Google Sheet and it will automatically update your Magpi report.”

In the future, Magpi is hoping to add features such as video, the ability to read barcodes, and more! Stay tuned for more exciting updates to come!

Next Tuesday, July 26, from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM EDT, Magpi will be hosting a free webinar on how to use the new reports feature: click here to register.

Please join us in welcoming Amelia, one of our new summer fellows here at TechChange! Amelia graduated this past May from Yale University with a math major. Some of her most rewarding experiences she had at Yale were focused on teaching computer science: working as a peer tutor and TA for computer science classes, as well as designing a training program for students to learn how to repair computer hardware. She is so excited to be a tech fellow this summer and to continue to work at the intersection of education and technology! She is from NYC, so her free time is primarily spent eating the world’s best bagels, and trying to convince herself that it’s about time to learn how to drive.

Welcome to the TechChange team, Amelia!