Prospects for e-Advocacy in the Global South A Res Publica Report for the Gates Foundation 1 Project Director Ricken Patel Lead Researcher and Writer Mary Joyce Expert Advisors Katrin Verclas Alan Rosenblatt, Ph.D. Case Study Writers Rishi Chawla, LLB Atieno Ndomo Priscila Néri Gbenga Sesan Idris F Sulaiman, Ph.D. Reviewers Bev Clark, Kubatana.net Rob Faris, OpenNet Initiative Stephanie Hankey, Tactical Technology Collective Janet Haven, Open Society Institute Helen King, Shuttleworth Foundation Paul Maassen, Hivos Sascha Meinrath, IndyMedia Russell Southwood, Balancing Act Africa Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 2.5 License Version 1.0 - January, 2007 2 Table of Contents Executive Summary . 4 Outline of Key Concepts . 6 Introduction . 9 Methodology . 11 I) e-Advocacy in the Global South . 12 Access . 12 Getting Online . 13 The Politics of Access . 14 Censoring ICT . 15 The Digital Divide in Context . 16 The Cellular Savior . 18 Implementation . 22 A Conceptual Framework for e-Advocacy . 22 Data Integration: Collecting Information and Making it Work . 24 Info-Hub: An Online Brochure. 25 CRM: A Dynamic Hub and Spokes . 26 Network-Centric Activism: A Communication Spider Web . 28 Technology Culture. 30 Political Culture . 31 Innovation . 32 Expanding Access: No Technology Succeeds in Isolation . 32 Hybridization: Making Old Technologies New . 33 Peer-to-Peer Mobile Networks . 34 Leapfrogging Borders: Thinking Outside the Geographic Box . 34 II) Funding the Future of Social Change . 36 Values for Funding e-Advocacy in the Global South . 36 Recommendations . 36 Access: End-User Solutions and Policy Change . 38 Implementation: Building e-Advocacy Capacity . 44 Innovation: Shaping the Future . 48 III) Back Matter . 52 Glossary of Abbreviation . 52 Actor Map . 54 Literature Summary . 61 e-Advocacy Case Study Summaries (Brazil, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria) . 64 3 Executive Summary Social change is driven by communication, coordination, and collective action by groups of citizens who wish to change the institutions and policies that govern them. This change is vital to the progress of the global south, and it can only be led by the citizens of that region. This paper suggests that the rapid spread of information and communications technology (ICT) in the global south offers possibilities for democratic and social change unmatched since decolonization. The internet and other communications technologies are revolutionizing the way individuals communicate, coordinate, and act across the world. Websites, SMS ("short message service", or "text messages"), and mobile phones are democratizing the production and consumption of information, and allowing the possibility of new forms of flexible, rapid citizen organizing outside existing power structures. Despite a persistent digital divide, this communications revolution is not limited to the global north. In two years, a quarter of a billion Indians will have mobile phones. Last year, one million Indonesians voted via text message in the Indonesian Idol contest. Thirteen million Brazilians have joined Orkut, a social networking website. Moreover, penetration of these technologies can revolutionize advocacy long before they reach substantial percentages of the population. The President of the Philippines was deposed in 2001 in an SMS-organized mobilization he called a "coup de t ext" when just 15% of Filipinos had mobile phones. However, there are formidable barriers to the realization of this opportunity. The digital divide is felt most acutely in sub-Saharan and South/Central Africa. While mobile phone penetration is growing rapidly even in this region, the promise of the internet and other ICTs is dimmed by regressive telecommunications policies and poor infrastructure. Across the global south, censorship and intimidation have shut off the internet as a source for social change in nations most in need of reform. Despite these structural and political limitations, lack of knowledge is the greatest obstacle to the realization of the promise of ICT in the global south. In most countries, the political and technological environments necessary to begin e-advocacy efforts already exist. All that is missing is the technical training necessary to realize creative and effective campaigns. This report provides a primer in the methods and applications of e-advocacy and surveys the current applications, constraints, and opportunities in the global south. It focuses on the problem of access, the need to nurture the knowledge and tools necessary to realize the promise of e-advocacy, and outlines a few cutting edge initiatives that could further expand the realm of possibility for ICT to drive change in the global south. Our focus is on developing concrete recommendations for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to help catalyze this social change. Our key recommendations are: 1) Increase Access in Africa – Fund a social enterprise model, pioneered in India, that allows entrepreneurs to use solar powered wireless access points to set up internet access and telephony in underprivileged communities. 2) Make SMS Cheaper – Text messages are the medium of choice for activism in the global south, but their cost limits their mass appeal. Establish a global architecture of cheap or free SMS codes that civil society organizations can apply to use in e-advocacy campaigns. 3) Fund the Ecosystem that Grows Good e-Advocates – Through a fellows programs, conferences, trainings, and a global network of e-advocacy centers, give citizens and activists in the global south the opportunity to learn and exchange, allowing them to fulfill the promise of ICT in their own advocacy. 4 4) Pilot Test Online Organizing in Nigeria – Support a first rate e-campaigning organization in Nigeria, to demonstrate the possibilities for e-advocacy, even in such a challenging environment as West Africa. 5) Fund Visionary Technology – Enable exciting new technologies to reach scale, such as a technology that allows mobile phones to communicate directly with each other, without the need for a carrier phone company. The Gates Foundation has the unique ability to lead this new front of social change. The foundation's distinctive experience in providing access to technology and challenging inequality in the global south, combined with resources that rival many nations, make it an ideal trailblazer in the global promotion of e-advocacy. We the researchers, writers, advisors, and reviewers of this report urge the Gates Foundation to take on this historic role. 5 Outline of Key Concepts INTRODUCTION • E-advocacy is the strategic use of ICT by individuals or movements to press for policy change METHODOLOGY • The study of e-advocacy in the global south is a new field and as such this report is based on the synthesis of different fields of expertise rather than the summarizing of existing research. PART I: E -ADVOCACY IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH ACCESS • Despite the positive impact of shared computers at telecenters, the nations of the global south have low internet penetration rates that frequently drop below 10%. • Low internet penetration is primarily due to high costs , lack of telecommunications infrastructure , and illiteracy (digital and traditional). • In many countries, particularly those in sub-Saharan Africa, internet prices are kept artificially high by government-sanctioned telecommunications monopolies . • Under repressive regimes, the curtailing of freedom of expression and information on the internet through censorship and surveillance discourages e-advocacy and promotes self- censorship by advocates. • The digital divide closely mirrors other social divides. • The remarkable growth of mobile phone use in the global south presents a great opportunity for e-advocates who want to reach a mass audience where internet communication is impractical. • SMS text messaging and IVR automated voice over mobile phone present interesting alternative to computer-based e-mail . • Video , photography , and even ringtones turn mobile phones into tools of political action. • Internet access may be achieved through traditional computer or through third generation (3G) mobile phones . The latter option may be a more practical way to access information in the global south as mobile phone ownership is more accessible than computer ownership and more practical than shared computing as a primary means of communication. 6 IMPLEMENTATION • The best way to think about e-advocacy is as the strategic movement of information within and among organizations, communities, and individuals, an idea pioneered by Tactical Technology Cooperative. • Data integration is the form of e-advocacy whereby organizations collect and organize their information for easy retrieval, dissemination, and sharing. • An info-hub is a brochure website through which organizations can push out information to supporters but usually do not pull in feedback. • CRM (constituent relationship management) is a model wherein the central organization uses ICT to communicate, direct, and receive feedback from a group of activists. • In the network-centric activism model, individuals communicate with each other and organization actions without a central organization guiding their movements. • e-Advocacy suffers from a lack of awareness and appreciation in the global south, where most social change organizations are unaware of e-advocacy techniques or do not see how such techniques would be useful to their cause. • Those who are aware of e-advocacy don't know how to implement or