Between the presentations, panels, site visits and plenary dinner, I don’t think any of our Summit participants could have easily chosen a favorite moment of today.
What piques your interest from our highlights below?
After a morning recap delivered by NetHope Chief Executive Officer William Brindley, Accenture’s Donors and Emerging Governments Group Lead Jessica Long started the day with an introduction to the ICT trends of international development. Jessica moderated the discussion as panelists took turn sharing their experiences and thoughts on the direction of future development.
NetHope Senior Global Program Director Frank Schott took the stage after the panel to talk about the NetHope Academy and the Cornerstone Learning Management System. NetHope’s Opokua Oduro walked the members through a demo that shared the functionality and depth of the Cornerstone tool.
Afterwards, our newest member organization WWF made its first Summit debut in a short spotlight session, which was delivered by WWF’s Global ICT Services Director Linda Humphrey.
Before going to break, the plenary enjoyed a presentation that celebrates the collective impact of NetHope. Summit attendees can find it on the NetHope Summit Hub.
When the plenary reconvened, USAID Director of Mobile Solutions Priya Jaisinghani gave a brief introduction before her colleague USAID AAAS Fellow for the Mobile Solutions Division Teressa Trusty began leading a panel on mData.
Next up was Esri’s Account Executive for Nonprofit, Native American and International Development Communities David Gadsden, who gave a fantastic presentation on the rise of the geospatial cloud.
Before breaking for lunch, Blackbaud’s President and Chief Executive Officer Marc Chardon approached defining the user experience of the Cloud in a refreshing way, which included compiling attributes with audience participation and a projected version of the list.
After lunch, the Summit took its activity off Microsoft’s Redmond campus and moved things to the beautiful Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation building in downtown Seattle. With an introduction by Bill Brindley, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Chief Information Officer Dale Christian kicked things off with an overview of the information and communication technologies that play in their programs. Dale then invited two BMGF program officers – David Bergvinson of Research and Development and Siri Oswald of Global Libraries – to speak about their projects and the role ICT plays in them. Afterwards, our members and guests were split into three groups that rotated to visit the Data Center, Visitors Center and Foundation Tour.
Once back together as one plenary, the group transitioned into a session focused on taking global health and development innovation to scale and presented by our member organization PATH. PATH’s President and Chief Executive Officer Steve Davis gave us a glimpse into PATH’s vision for healthcare and technology. PATH program leads — Pat Lennon (Technology Portfolio Leader, Safe Water Project), Kate Wilson (Senior Program Officer, Health Management Information Systems), Debra Kristensen (Group Leader, Vaccine Technologies) — gathered to participate in a panel to discuss the challenges in designing lasting solutions, which was moderated by PATH’s Chief Information Officer Erik Arnold. To finish the session, Erik Arnold spoke about how to support creativity across programs and across the globe.
After such an action-packed day, our members and guests were hungry for food and the opportunity to talk over all these new ideas with their colleagues. The plenary dinner was the perfect ending to the day. The food was delicious and we were thrilled to spend it at FareStart – a non-profit, social entrepreneurial organization that operates a unique job placement and training program benefiting homeless and disadvantaged men, women, and youth.
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