Perhaps it’s time to come together

by | Sep 7, 2021 | Change, ICT4D |

time to meet

Yemen, Myanmar, Afghanistan. | Biometrics. Identity. Disaster. Harms. |

For many of us, Billy Joel was right -> We didn’t start the fire | It was always burning, since the world’s been turning | We didn’t start the fire | No, we didn’t light it, but we tried to fight it.

But now the fire raging on. And there seems to be both an acknowledgement that it is a problem (in some circles) and a bit of momentum. It’s hard to know what exactly to do and it is likely true there are multiple things that we, as a collective community, can do. However, change we must. There are countless other places where a repeat of Yemen, Myanmar, or Afghanistan is not only likely, but just a matter of time. Our data management, data governance, data portability practices need to change. And change urgently. Across the entire humanitarian system.

As a start, let’s come together on a call to both define the ‘problem’ and discuss ideas of different ways forward. For some of us this will be about making change in the organisations we work with. For others it will about policies, standards, regulations, research, or the software we build and use. The angle you come at this with matters not, the greater diversity we have, the richer the potential discussion and action.

We’ll hold a call next Wednesday (15th) at 1400 UK time. We won’t record it so everyone can feel more free to speak their minds. And depending on how the call goes, it may be a one off or be more regular. So if you are interesting in joining please sign up:

Photo by Cullan Smith

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