An important part of our mission at ABI is to increase the positive influence of technology on the word’s women. On October 17, at the Grace Hopper Celebration for Women in Computing, ABI will host TechLeaders for Social Innovators, a workshop designed to showcase wonderful amazing technology projects which are improving the lives of women everywhere. We have an amazing lineup of women who will speak about their use of technology for social change – Register now and join this extraordinary group of women:
Jensine Larsen founded WorldPulse Magazine, a media outlet that gives a voice to women from around the world. Those voices are powerful, inspiring, and together life changing. Jensine founded WorldPulse on the belief “that there is a world of untapped knowledge, innovation, and vision held by the women and children of the earth.” Jensine will show us how women around the world are using technology to shift power and empower their communities.
Mari Kuraishi, a former WorldBank executive who speaks 6 languages, is the co-founder of Global Giving – an online “marketplace for goodness” where donors can pick the project they wish to donate to on their website. About the role of technology for social change, the words of their annual report say it best: “Global Giving uses the power of technology to change lives and change the world”.
I checked it out and used their site, and browsed so many incredible projects it was difficult for me to choose which one to donate to… in the end I settled for donating to “Women’s Football for Unity” in Rwanda, where a group led by founder Rwemalika Felicite is working to promote women’s power and reconciliation - the founder’s message was especially powerful: “Genocide left women survivors traumatized and with no more value for life. In 1997, we ladies decided to rub off history and took initiative to encourage women football for unity & reconciliation”. The Global Giving site is very cool – as I become a donor I join an online community of other donors and receive frequent updates on the status of my gift and how the soccer league is doing.
Jessica Jackley Flannery, a former colleague of mine at the Center for Social Innovation of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, is an infinitely smart and generous woman who has nurtured a long time vision to better the lives of others. She is co-founder of Kiva.org, an organization that also uses the power of the web and online communities to connect projects and resources. Kiva focuses on entrepreneurs and micro-credit loans, making them the only peer to peer microcredit system. When you give through Kiva you help the working poor gain economic independence. Since their founding in 2005, Kiva has taken the social innovation world by storm – they have raised $10million dollars from 89,000 online users and dispersed 15,000 loans. 71.3% of their loan recipients are women. My first loan using Kiva was last fall, where I joined a community of lenders who loaned to Teresa Marie, a single mother of 6 from Kenya who used the $1,600 loan to buy 2 dairy cows to improve her dairy farming business.
With this improvement in her business, Teresa has already paid back 30% of the loan to the lenders – once I get my loan back I can immediately give it to another project. Women such as Teresa Marie are teaching me the true meaning of entrepreneurship, courage, and innovation.
Anuradha Vittachi fled her native Sri Lanka at the age of 13, after her journalist family was subjected to political persecution. This attempt to silence truth-telling human rights journalists reinforced her lifelong conviction about the importance of responsible governance and responsible media. In 1994-5, frustrated by the restrictions and values of mainstream media and inspired by the democratic potential of the Internet, she co-founded (with Peter Armstrong) the world’s first - and still favourite - internet portal on human rights and sustainable development: 
OneWorld.net. OneWorld is a global organization uses technology and media to mobilize people globally to take action for social change in all areas: economic development, the environment, health, human rights, information and media, politics, war and peace. Its website covers the issues in 12 languages and has centers across 12 locations. Since I am the mom of a 9 year old who is very concerned about global warming, I started browsing their kids channel – with its character Tiki the Penguin who educates children on the web about the environment. Tiki is one web-savvy penguin – he is on YouTube, blogs, and has a MySpace page.
Anuradha is so passionate about social issues that she wants to avoid traveling by air to curb her carbon emissions. How will she join us on October 17 from the UK without stepping on a plane? Using technology of course… here’s a hint:
Bernardine Dias is the ultimate exemplar of how a hard core technologist can apply her technical chops to solving social problems. She has earned a PhD in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University in 2004 and since then has focused her research as a Research Faculty at CMU on creating culturally appropriate computing technology accessible to developing communities. To extend this vision, she has founded TechBridge World, an organization that innovates and implements technology solutions to meet sustainable development needs around the world. TechBridge World projects cover the areas of Education, Health, Environment, and Disaster Response.
One powerful such technology solution is The Adaptive Braille Writing Tutor. As you can see from their blog, 90% of the world’s bling and visually impaired live in under-developed communities, and their literacy rate is lower than 3%. The Adaptive Braille Tutor technology is a digital stylus that interfaces to a computer, PDA, or SimPuter and provide feedback to the visually impaired student about their progress learning to write Braille. This technology has already changed the lives of many children.
Marnie Webb is the co-CEO of TechSoup – a program of CompuMentor which is a hub of all things technology for social change. TechSoup.org offers nonprofits a one-stop resource for technology needs by providing free information, resources, and support. Marnie is also one of the driving forces behind the NetSquared Initiative, which brings the social Web to nonprofits across the globe. Their community space is very inspiring – thousands of nonprofits have benefited from their expertise in technology implementation.
No matter what you do as a technologist or how far along you are in your career, you can be a part of bettering the lives of women around the world through your work. Don’t you want to change the world? Join us on October 17!