Tech for Good by Glean - Tech for Good - Issue 59 - Apr 5th 2021
News
Happy Monday!
It's a new week and a new opportunity to achieve something amazing. I hope your week is off to a great start. This week I'm featuring three new funding opportunities for those working in innovation areas. I also found an amazing podcast by Aid Evolved featuring an interview with Ken Banks on his time creating Frontline SMS. It was a brilliant interview and Ken brings up a lot of interesting points for practitioners to consider when building technology for good.
As always, please let me know if you have a job, event, or funding opportunity you'd like featured!
Have a great week,
Jesse Orndorff
Tech for Good
ICT4D
Facebook and Google partner on undersea cables to link North America with Southeast Asia
Facebook said today it is planning two new undersea cables to connect Singapore, Indonesia, and North America in a project with Google and regional telecommunication companies to boost internet connection capacity between the regions.
“Named Echo and Bifrost, those will be the first two cables to go through a new diverse route crossing the Java Sea, and they will increase overall subsea capacity in the trans-pacific by about 70%,” Facebook VP of Network Investments Kevin Salvadori told Reuters.
When Government Goes Digital, What Happens to the Unbanked?
Experts, vendors and local government officials on designing online services in an accessible way while at the same time working toward community-wide banking equity.
Five Fresh Tips to Make Digital Safety Cool Again: A Case Study from Thailand
Southeast Asia is one of the world’s fastest-growing regions for digital connectivity. Thai people, for example, spend on average nine hours a day using the internet on their mobile phones. That’s the second highest in the world! And 95 percent of all Thais connected to the internet use Facebook.
Economy
Circular Economy: A Shareable Explainer
In 2013, people around the globe bought more than 1.8 billion mobile phones. But now, nearly half of them are most likely in landfills or at homes, sitting there without any use, as their owners upgrade to newer versions. Imagine, however, if these devices went back to the manufacturers once their lifespan came to an end in order to be turned into new mobile phones. How much would that save the manufacturer in terms of raw materials and time? Or what would be the result if these devices didn’t have to be replaced because they were easily repairable and upgradable?
Podcast
Strategies for Avoiding Tech Burnout
We already relied on technology to communicate before the pandemic, but over the past year we’ve become even more dependent on video and digital communications to live and work. So, how can you make use of the tech you need to navigate the world without succumbing to burnout?
If What You Need Doesn't Exist, Go Build It - Ken Banks of FrontlineSMS : Aid, Evolved
Ken Banks built the first version of FrontlineSMS over 5 weeks while unemployed at the home of his in-laws. Just a few years later, it was in use by development and conservation organizations in more than half of the countries in the world. He’s described himself as a “scrappy” man who enjoys building his own websites and living out of a camper van for two years. And yet the world knows him as an authority on mobile technology for positive social and environmental change, as an adventurer and National Geographic Emerging Explorer, and as someone who’s brushed shoulders with and won the support of people as diverse as Desmond Tutu and Peter Gabriel.
Events
2021 Solution Challenge - Google Developers
The 2021 Solution Challenge mission is to solve for one or more of the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals using Google technology. Google is inviting university students around the world to join the competition with Google Developer Student Clubs.
Funding
Call for EOI: Women’s Economic Empowerment in a Low-Carbon COVID-19 Recovery
IDRC seeks short proposals for projects that will support the generation and use of nationally and locally relevant evidence on women’s economic empowerment in a low-carbon COVID-19 recovery in the Global South. Lasting up to 30 months, the research projects can either be single- or multi-country studies led by organizations in one country or across countries.
Cambodia Influencing Grant - Oxfam Voice
Voice Cambodia is opening a call for proposals for Influencing Grants focused on responding to discriminatory laws and policies that affect women across Voice rightsholder groups. We invite civil society organisations to help shape local to national discussions on strengthening voice of women across rightsholder groups to pursue an inclusive society in the current context of Covid-19 pandemic.
Habitat for Humanity Challenge: Malaria Prevention through Innovations in Home Design or Home Life
Habitat for Humanity is searching for solutions to significantly reduce the number of mosquito bites inside the home, thus lowering disease transmission. Solutions should aim to reduce the number of mosquitoes that enter the home and/or affect the behavior of the mosquitoes while inside the home so they can’t or don’t bite the residents.
2nd Annual SanTech Hackathon: Innovating in safely managed sanitation solutions for flood-prone & high-water table areas – FINISH Mondial
Finish is opening applications for their San Tech Hackathon. The challenge: During rainy seasons, ground water tables rise. This may lead to flooding/waterlogging destructive to sanitation infrastructure. Sludge from pit latrines gets mixed with and contaminates ground and surface water (used for household consumption and agricultural activities) at great expense to public health.
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