What's interesting this week...

Develop Impact - Issue 159

Hello Develop Impact readers!

Good morning and happy Monday! I hope you had a great weekend and are ready for another week of exciting updates and news.

Today, I am back sharing with you another five articles that I found informative and thought-provoking. I hope that you find value in this newsletter for your current or future projects.

This community is all about learning, sharing, and growing together. Please let us know if you have any interesting resources or thoughts to share. Let's continue to use technology for the greater good.

Let's dive in!

Jesse

What’s interesting…

Bridging the gender digital divide: A way out of crisis

In the Asia-Pacific region, UNDP-supported initiative ExtremeLives uses digital technology to challenge gender stereotypes and promote gender empowerment. The video series shares young girls’ perspectives and experiences in dealing with hate speech, marginalization, and inequalities. 

Implemented by UNDP and supported by the European Union, the project uses the power of personal testimonies to drive change in the digital space. Artificial Intelligence and behavioral insights methodologies are used to target multiple audiences and gamified formats stimulate stronger audience engagement.   

The Perils of Tech-Utopian Thinking

Discussions of technological innovation are often limited to accounts of how a technology makes human life easier, more efficient, comfortable, and safe. Few discussions investigate the differences between exactly who benefits, and who pays the costs, of technological innovation. Tech-utopians believe that technology has led to a more connected, interdependent, and prosperous world, and even declare that plenty brings peace.

How Agriculture and Technology are Driving Development Forward

Agriculture is the backbone of many economies, but traditional farming methods are inefficient and unsustainable. Innovative, technology-driven solutions are needed to enhance agricultural productivity. Technology has revolutionized agriculture by increasing yields, reducing waste, and minimizing the use of chemicals. Precision agriculture uses sensors, drones, and GPS technology to collect data on crop health, soil moisture, and nutrient levels.

The blog discusses how the power of innovation in agriculture is driving development forward. It highlights how technological advancements have enabled farmers to optimize crop yields, reduce waste, and minimize the use of chemicals, leading to sustainable development.

How to unlock women’s potential in the digital economy

Digital entrepreneurship can be a powerful avenue for women's inclusion in the digital economy with new business opportunities, efficiency gains and better access to markets and global value chains. E-commerce offers women entrepreneurs three key advantages. The first is that it offers lower barriers to entry than traditional brick-and-mortar businesses, which means that women entrepreneurs can start their businesses with lower start-up costs.

We Need to Make Machine Learning Sustainable. Here’s How

Machine learning will alter our lifestyles, work environments, and interactions with the world, but how it will impact sustainability cannot be ignored. Machine learning models can help healthcare organizations provide more accurate medical diagnoses, conduct high-precision surgeries, or design personalized treatment plans. However, models trained on biased data can perpetuate and even amplify existing inequalities, leading to unfair and discriminatory outcomes.