Global Development Initiatives: USAID’s Experience in Africa

Global development initiatives are increasingly becoming prominent in improving technology, especially, in the African ecosystem. I recently had a chat with Jill Moss, the Technical Adviser, Global Development Lab of USAID and she shared what the GDL is doing in West Africa, the impact of these deeds as well as what it intends to do to further assist Nigeria in 2017.

On the Global Development Lab’s, (GDL), role in the development of the African ecosystem, she stated that she works for USAID that provides donor assistance and is currently in charge of the West African operations.

The GDL, according to Jill, tries to stimulate and nudge its various Bureaus and Missions around the world, to utilise Science and Technology, innovations and partnerships more. This is because of the recognition of Science, research and data-driven evidence helps in pushing the impact of their efforts.

Jill maintained that technology is a way of the future and we are currently experiencing a lot of technological advances that we should be adopting in our various development works.

The Global Development Lab, she says, also works to promote partnerships, such as public-private partnership and government to government partnerships because, the organisation recognises that global development dollars goes a lot further when it works in partnership.

She further stressed that she visits West Africa regularly to meet innovators working with the Mission to nudge for rapid development enterprise, using Science, technology, innovations and partnership.

Speaking on the receptiveness of the West African governments to innovation and technology, Jill claims that all the governments in West Africa are eager to embrace innovations as a means to stimulate economic growth. Most of them also partner with the USA in creating an environment for stability in development advancement such as with Liberia in health issues during the Ebola crisis. Sierra Leone, Guinea and Ghana are also doing well in this regards. According to her, Ghana has made significant and rapid interest in the use of Digital Financial Payments and Mobile Money.

On Nigeria, Jill stated that she is impressed with what the country is doing in the regulatory aspect of the ecosystem to encourage innovation as well as to convene and create ecosystems that allows for entrepreneurs to identify economic opportunities. In summary, she stressed that she has been impressed with the marked improvement she has noticed in these West African countries every time she comes around.

On why she is interested in Security and privacy issues, Jill stated that the interest was borne out of the fact that she was a former employee of the Voice of America, (VOA). VOA, she opined, falls under the control of a government agency known as the Broadcasting Board of Governors, (BBG).

The BBG has an internet censorship, internet freedom program which she worked on for a number of years. The BBG, she stressed, provides tools in technology to deliver content to denied cyber environment due to blockages and censorship. This means that the BBG provides users proxy networks or VPN to areas where there are blockages on certain portals such as it was with Facebook in China.

The import of this is that BBG gives users access by circumventing blockages and censorships where there are blocks or censorship around content as the USA believes that people should have access to content.

On her experiences with the start-ups she has met, Jill said that since 2013 when she last came to Nigeria and did an assessment of the ICT environment, she has seen considerable improvement in the Nigerian ecosystem. Such changes that she has noticed include more ubiquitous connectivity in certain urban environments, and the presence of more ICT incubators that are necessary for innovations to grow.

Jill was particularly fascinated to meet the innovators at GE Garage, an incubation outfit leveraging 3D printing for the manufacture of goods that could ultimately, over time, replace imports to Nigeria.

She was also fascinated to meet a female content innovator to provide a better user-experience, using Augmented Reality or Virtual Reality Content. This, she sees as a growth space in Nigeria.

Speaking on the prospects of partnerships between USAID and Nigerian government coming up any time soon, Jill disclosed that an initiative called “Geeks on the plane” will be coming up in Lagos in March 2017.

It is an initiative that came from President Obama’s Global Entrepreneurship Summit event. The “Geeks” coming to Lagos are Silicon Valley-based investors, venture capitalists, high-valued individuals. She, however, maintained that these sets of people will want to know more about the Nigerian ecosystem, what kind of innovations are generating and percolating in Nigeria as well as where there are opportunities and potentials for them to invest in.

I must say that my discussion with Jill Moss was quite an interesting one and I assure you all that I will bring the activities of the “Geeks” from Silicon Valley to you when they arrive at the shores Nigeria in March 2017.

CFA is the Founder, www.CFAtech.ng & Co-producer/Presenter, Tech Trends on Channels Television