Here’s how tech is changing the way NGOs operate in Africa

Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) that provide aid services have a long history of serving the most immediate needs of African communities. Since their inception in the 1980s and 1990s, they have played a critical role in providing disaster relief, food and clothing and, perhaps most relevant to us, much-needed healthcare to Ebola victims in West Africa.

However, if you look at Africa’s goals, such as the 2020 vision of Rwanda, you will see that Africa has a goal to build more sustainable, knowledge-based economies that depend less on aid. If NGOs are to truly help facilitate this goal and respond to the struggles of the regions in which they operate, they need to assist beyond one-way aid.

As Issa G. Shivj, an author and academic from Tanzania, suggests in Silences in NGO Discourse – The Role and Future of NGOs in Africa, NGOs in Africa need to be catalysts for change and not just providers of aid. The NGO sector needs to embrace two-way trade, where healthy, fed and clothed beneficiaries of one-way aid are then empowered with skills and trades necessary to build sustainable and knowledge-based economies.

The story of Nyaogo
The need for two-way trade is best illustrated in the story of Nyaogo. A small village in Western Kenya, this humble fishing town faces challenges such as illiteracy, HIV/AIDS, bilharzia and malaria due to the polluted lake.

There are NGOs in the village assisting with healthcare, basic education and clean water services. However, according to a story published by The Thomas Reuters Foundation, the majority of locals are left feeling more frustrated than empowered by these aid services. Why? The sentiment is that livelihoods improve when NGOs are around, but when funding runs out and NGOs shut shop, people are left in a worse off and more highly dependent state than they were before.

Although there is a need for basic aid services in Nyaogo, there is a bigger need to provide more sustainable and impactful solutions – solutions that the community can implement once the NGO has left. One of the solutions could be for NGOs to integrate more technology into communities, where individuals can use it to read news and information, educate themselves on their rights, connect with government institutions and voice their concerns. That way, even if the NGO has to shut down, they can continue to demand or create the relevant services for themselves.

AfNov, a Rwandan company that recently won a Microsoft 4Afrika Innovation Grant, developed a mobile application that helps communities do exactly this. Known as ‘Ikaye y’umudugudu’, the app gives a digital voice to the conflicts and challenges in remote areas of Rwanda. Users can use the app to report their issues quickly and accurately, as well as track the movement and progress within government institutions, ensuring accountability and enhanced development.

NGOs can teach individuals to use technology such as this. Communities that are empowered do not need to rely on donors as much and will not suffer as much when they close down. As Sarah Ooko, writer of the Thomas Reuters article, so aptly says: “[NGOs] may begin by providing hospitals, schools and water services, but afterwards they should empower communities to demand those services from their governments. An empowered citizenry will fight for its rights rather than forever rely on donors.”

But more than just being taught how to use technology like this, NGOs can also encourage communities to create technology like this. In Nyaogo, for example, instead of donating free malaria testing, NGOs could help communities create an application, such as Matibabu, where they can detect early-stage malaria themselves, or even get information and updates about the disease.

The integration of technology, if done correctly, fosters not only digital literacy, but an environment of innovation and entrepreneurship, where Africa can reduce its dependency on aid and shift from a labour-based to a knowledge economy.

The future of NGOs in Africa
One of the NGOs in Africa focused on providing two-way trade is AIESEC, a Microsoft partner and youth-run NGO with operations in Cote de Ivoire.

“We want to empower young leaders with the right mind-set to change and impact their communities,” says Wilfried Assoko, President of AIESEC in Cote de Ivoire. “We have witnessed what great leaders can do and we want to empower more people to become change-agents.”

Africa needs more NGOs in Africa with this approach. By creating change-agents and transferring skills and knowledge, communities can continue to grow, develop and improve long after NGOs have left. Aid-based NGOs will always be relevant in crisis situations such as wars and famines, but hopefully they can become less relevant in communities that are only currently impoverished, by helping its people to become digitally literate, independent and self-sustaining.