Showing Tag: "tech" (Show all posts)

Technology, Development, and Psychology

Posted by Jenny Stefanotti on Tuesday, February 2, 2010, In : Behavioral Economics 
 
Generally, I argue that access to more information via technology is good for development. Access to information (e.g. prices) improves market efficiency.  Communication flows fostered by the Internet strengthen democracy.  With this information, people are empowered to debate the direction they want their societies to move in.  I've read my Amartya Sen, after all.

But could too much information actually be counterproductive?  Apparently, yes.  As I sat in David King's first lecture in my Cul...

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My Depressing Visit to the University of Liberia

Posted by Jenny Stefanotti on Thursday, July 23, 2009, In : Capacity Building 

I frankly think capacity building needs to rise higher on the agenda of the development community as a whole.  The old proverb says it all “Give a man a fish he’ll eat for a day, teach a man to fish he’ll eat forever.”  All too often we’re so busy feeding people we don’t teach them how to feed themselves once we’re gone.

So it should come as no surprise that a key component of my recommendations for supporting technology in Liberia is capacity building.  Not as sexy as bla...


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Lessons in Aid Inefficiency: Tech in Liberia

Posted by Jenny Stefanotti on Thursday, July 23, 2009, In : Aid Effectiveness 

Part of what drew me to Liberia was my interest in understanding best practices in international aid.   It's no secret that aid is often inefficient at best and ultimately counterproductive at worst.  Unlike others, I do not believe that this unfortunate fact is a justification to throw the baby out with the bath water.  I believe that there is a role for assistance, and if my path takes me in that direction, I want to know how to do it well.  I knew some of the mistakes that these org...


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Aardvark: The Killer SMS App for Emerging Markets We’ve Been Waiting For?

Posted by Jenny Stefanotti on Wednesday, April 29, 2009,

Caveat: My boyfriend is the CEO and I am an investor in Aardvark.  Having said that, I have frustrated him to no end with my (hopefully constructive) criticism from the beginning ;).

There are a total of 3.5+B mobile and 1.6B Internet users worldwide.  These two numbers used to get us very excited about mobile opportunities at Google, especially in the Asia Pacific and Latin America team where I did strategy for two years.

But the fact of the matter is the vast majority of mobile phones are not...
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Developing Jen in Liberia is Born

Posted by Jenny Stefanotti on Sunday, April 26, 2009, In : Development Careers 

I've been blogging when I travel for years now, but I felt it was important for me to have a separate blog dedicated to my experience in Liberia this summer.  Though I won't take off for Monrovia for over a month, there's already a lot to say about why i chose this internship, how it fits into my overall career goals, and what exactly I'll be doing there.  Not to mention the people I'm already connecting to and the meetings I'll be having in San Francisco in the coming weeks.  So with that, D...
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