The Tensions of Technology

The pressing concern of much development work is harnessing the power of technology to accelerate development. Records can be kept more accurately if they are digitized; transactions can be done more speedily with computers; more people can be reached through mobile phone services. Like all things, however, technology does not exist in a vacuum, but instead in a web of other countervailing circumstances. Digital devices are prime targets for theft; computer literacy education can hardly keep up with ever-changing operating systems and software packages; prevalent dust is incompatible with delicate computers designed to sit in offices rather than be toted around villages on a motorcycle. But most of all, how do you harness computer technology for running a business when electricity sources are reliably unreliable?

Batteries on phones, computers, and modems can last a few hours or even a couple of conservative days. If power outages extend any further, though, things begin to collapse. Suddenly, digital records of customers’ bank balances can’t be reached, mobile phone transactions can’t be processed, and e-mail access is out of the question. When these are tertiary aspects of an organization, life goes on. When they are central, business grinds to a halt. Load shedding—planned power outages to decrease the strain of electricity demand on the grid—is prevalent and long in Nkokonjeru, an obstacle no American business would have to plan around these days.

Advocating digitization of records, as we’ve been doing with the SACCO for years now, is a worthwhile goal. It has all the advantages listed above, and the added benefit of allowing the DMLI to continue to work with and monitor progress at the SACCO from far away Durham during the long months of August through April. There’s a lot, though, to take into consideration. Should we downgrade the OS on the new computer to be the same as the other one, or would that cause more problems later on? It’s harder to go through paper records than digital ones, but how quickly would digital ledgers be abandoned after July? We can formulate plans for all kinds of new digital services, ranging from mobile banking to internet cafes, but each new ambition must include room for a generator in its budget.

It’s important to remember that the obstacles to development can’t be encapsulated by a simple word like “poverty.” The systems in which societies, individuals, and organizations operate both limit and give opportunity for innovation. People working in sustainable development, where there is emphasis on non-electric innovations like local solar power, biogas stoves, and reed filtration systems, might know this best. Whatever the sector, though, innovative solutions must be tailored to the places in which they’ll be enacted.

And yes, this post is inspired by the fact that the power is out just as we’re thinking about digitizing records.