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Technology upsetting the aid sector

24 Jun 2010

To protect the billions receiving aid annually, charitable organisations fiercely control the data on the basis that "he who owns the information owns the money". That's now set to change with disruptive technology that's making information more freely available and rewriting the rules for the way global crises are handled.

Meet Erik Hersman and his brainchild, Ushahidi.com.

When an earthquake ripped through Haiti on 12 January 2010, it wasn't long before aid was on its way. When the immediate crisis was over, the world learnt that some 230,000 lives had been lost and more than a million people left homeless. They also found out how badly humanitarian aid to Haiti had been botched.

In a leaked email the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, John Holmes chastised his charges managing relief efforts in Haiti saying they were eroding confidence in the UN. The global aid organisation's failure in Haiti was underscored in a damning report by Refugees International that showed just how ineffectual the UN's on-the-ground team had been.

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Source: Daily Maverick

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Mandy de Waal

About Mandy de Waal

Editor, writer and researcher. *Editor of #TheFutureByDesign & The Africa Annual *Published in Africa's Greatest Entrepreneurs *Published in Rolling Stone Magazine, The Guardian (UK), Daily Maverick, Finweek, Mail & Guardian, City Press, Rapport, Moneyweb, Noseweek; Brainstorm Magazine; ITWeb, and MarkLives. *Before becoming a full time writer, de Waal founded brand agency Idea Engineers, and led the Cape Town office of Text 100.