From registration with biometric verification to mobile communications and to smart device medicine delivery, the Syrian aid effort exemplifies technology’s potential to transform the humanitarian process. Creating technology solutions that benefit refugees was also the topic of a recent “Hack Lunch” at Yahoo, in which I had the opportunity to represent Benetech and speak to a group of engineers and technologists about social impact technology.
The tech industry has been successful at figuring out ways to make things faster, easier, and cheaper, and now it is changing the philanthropy and nonprofit sectors, too. In a story that examines the ways in which wealthy, young tech entrepreneurs are turning to philanthropy and transforming nonprofits, the Chronicle of Philanthropy cites CEO Jim Fruchterman on what he has identified as successful models for engaging tech donors.
In Summer 2013, Benetech Labs set out to create a platform that empowers water and sanitation community managers in Latin America to share best practices and improve their services, and that also enables institutional funders to evaluate investments in the water and sanitation sector. We’ve made excellent progress with this project and built a diagnostic tool to improve community-based water and sanitation providers’ capacity to provide water and sanitation services to their communities. I’m delighted to share that the Paraguayan government is now using our tool in a nationwide project that aims to advance access to clean water in the country. This is a major step forward in a collaborative effort to tackle the challenges that Latin American community water and sanitation organizations face.
Drones, 3D printers, satellite imagery, high-tech sensors, and other advanced technologies that got their start in business, science, or the military are making their way into the world of social good and being put to work for a wide array of causes. In a story that examines how nonprofits are deploying technology tools in exciting new ways, The Chronicle of Philanthropy cites CEO Jim Fruchterman on the promise that ambitious applications of technology hold for the work of nonprofits.
Nominet Trust, a United Kingdom leading social tech funder, selected the Martus Project, an initiative of Benetech’s Human Rights program, among this year’s top 100 innovations using technology to drive social change around the world. The curated listed of these leading innovations, known as the Nominet Trust 100 (NT100), appears in the Nominet Trust’s 2014 Social Tech Guide.
