Your development initiative needs to pay attention to digital literacy
I live and work in Nigeria. Nigeria is a wonderful place, its people, its spirit, its food, and even its infamous digital communities, cue, Nigerian Twitter. However, it has its share of problems no doubt. It was recently named the poverty capital of the world. This basically means that the largest population of people living on less than a dollar and ninety cents a day live here. There are many reasons why poverty exists, theories from economic, political, and sociological perspectives. There are also all sorts of solutions put forward by these perspectives, theories proposed as a means to end poverty. Goal 1 of the Sustainable Development Goals is to end poverty (in all its forms) everywhere even, and it represents the largest concerted effort to do so, with global, regional and national actors working towards this one goal.
This year’s World Development Report with the theme Data for Better Lives examines the opportunities, lessons and possibilities a data driven world holds, with spotlights from all over the world illustrating how theory is being translated into practice. From working to reduce road accidents to reducing poverty, and even most recently, fighting pandemics like Covid-19, there is almost no problem we face that data cannot contribute to solving. I can attest to this even in my personal experience.
I work as a Research Analyst for a nonprofit that is leveraging development communication in order to empower communities and promote sustainable development. Our work involves using inclusive communication to bridge information gaps that are critical for development to take place in our priority sectors. A lot of what we do is hinged on research therefore, it is the starting point of our innovations and projects. A recurring challenge has revolved around data, accessing and collecting it. In the former case, public sector data in Nigeria is not completely open, many times it is difficult to access, and sometimes, what is available is far from timely. For example, the last census conducted here was in 2006, and even at that, it was plagued with many irregularities. In terms of data collection, as a nonprofit, our ability to collect data is limited by either our capacity or that of the population we need data on to access and use the technologies that would facilitate data collection. The chapter “Ensuring equitable access for poor people and poor countries“ which emphasized the need to connect communities resonated with me deeply.
Universal service policies should incorporate measures designed to ease the demand-side barriers often faced by those who do not seek data services even when they are locally available. These measures include programs to improve the affordability of handsets and data services, while enhancing the digital literacy of excluded groups. (WDR 2021)
This paragraph conveys important lessons that I believe I and other development actors, especially in the third sector can learn from. There are demand side issues that governments and private bodies have the responsibility or capacity, or both, to respond to. This however does not exclude us from rising to the challenge, because the third sector is close to communities, and whatever problem your Civil Society Organisation is aiming to solve, improving connectivity in your community, will be an enabler for your solutions, and could possibly, revolutionise your approach. While most nonprofits will not have the capacity to give out phones or even provide the type of infrastructure that will make the cost of data cheaper or the speed of the internet faster, we can play a critical role in connecting communities.
There is an infrastructure gap, but there is also the question of how target communities will take advantage of these infrastructure when they are made available. A key demand side barrier that will determine the success of ensuring equitable access by improving the availability of infrastructure is digital literacy.
Western Sydney University defines digital literacy as having the skills you need to live, learn, and work in a society where communication and access to information is increasingly through digital technologies like internet platforms, social media, and mobile devices.
Nonprofit organisations, like the one I work at, can and should look inwards to see how they can create or support existing initiatives to improve digital literacy in communities where they work. The COVID 19 pandemic revealed many things, including the need for solutions and systems that can function in the absence of, or in harmony with physical activities. No matter what challenge you are working to solve or what SDG goal aligns with your mission, connectivity, digital inclusion, and digital literacy will shape your ability to achieve your goals. The question then, is whether you will allow it remain an impediment, or you will become intentional about harnessing it as an enabler.
No matter what challenge you are working to solve or what SDG goal aligns with your mission, connectivity, digital inclusion, and digital literacy will shape your ability to achieve your goals. The question then, is whether you will allow it remain an impediment, or you will become intentional about harnessing it as an enabler.