Using technology to drive impacts in remote areas, against unique development challenges, often constitutes new territory and sometimes requires new solutions and breakthroughs. That is why NetHope created its I4D initiative.
I4D launched in January 2008 to design replicable and scalable ICT solutions for NetHope member organizations’ field programs. Through NetHope collaboration, innovative projects can be created to meet needs in agriculture, healthcare, education, conservation, microfinance and monitoring and evaluation.
The overall goal of the I4D initiative is to aid collaboration among NetHope members in an effort to deliver sustainable ICT solutions for positive impact. This is achieved by sharing existing best practices, aggregating common needs, designing solutions, conducting proofs of concept and taking these to scale across our membership.
NetHope’s successes in I4D highlight the benefits of ICT and scalable approaches to corporate partners and donors. Along with the support from The Rockefeller Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID, NetHope’s key partners — including Intel, Cisco, Microsoft, HP, Accenture, ESRI and Adobe — are all making significant contributions to the design, deployment and sustainability of the new ICT solutions.
Advancements in ICT technology — such as the increased availability of cloud-based services — allow for a significant acceleration in the use of ICT across development sectors.
The Benefit to the End Beneficiary
Innovative, useful and appropriate application of ICT has been used to improve the quality of lives and raise the economic well-being of community members. Overall, such solutions for end beneficiaries positively affect the following:
