Inter-American Development Bank
facebook
twitter
youtube
linkedin
instagram
Abierto al públicoBeyond BordersCaribbean Development TrendsCiudades SosteniblesEnergía para el FuturoEnfoque EducaciónFactor TrabajoGente SaludableGestión fiscalGobernarteIdeas MatterIdeas que CuentanIdeaçãoImpactoIndustrias CreativasLa Maleta AbiertaMoviliblogMás Allá de las FronterasNegocios SosteniblesPrimeros PasosPuntos sobre la iSeguridad CiudadanaSostenibilidadVolvamos a la fuente¿Y si hablamos de igualdad?Home
Citizen Security and Justice Creative Industries Development Effectiveness Early Childhood Development Education Energy Envirnment. Climate Change and Safeguards Fiscal policy and management Gender and Diversity Health Labor and pensions Open Knowledge Public management Science, Technology and Innovation  Trade and Regional Integration Urban Development and Housing Water and Sanitation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Abierto al público

  • HOME
    • About this blog 
    • Editorial guidelines
  • CATEGORIES
    • Knowledge Management
    • Open Data
    • Open Learning
    • Open Source
    • Open Systems
  • Authors
  • English
    • Español

Open-source Solutions to Improve Children’s Lives

June 1, 2017 by Autor invitado Leave a Comment


Leer blogpost en español

By Cynthia Jaggi, Founder, GatherWell

The term open source refers to the process of developing software and making it free and available for everyone to contribute on writing its code or adapt it for reuse in a different context. As some developers argue, the “open source way” is all about exchanging ideas and collaborating with others who can improve your code. In the International Development field, “open-source solutions” mean that a technological approach to a development challenge has the possibility to be transferred to another part of the world with a similar issue and the same tool can be adapted to local context.

From my work on impact investing and the impact of open source initiatives in communities around the world, I found out about the UNICEF innovation fund, a bold experiment investing in technology start-ups from new and emerging markets focused on open-sourced solutions to improves children’s lives.

One of the benefits of the approach is that UNICEF can partner with the portfolio companies to test and expand their products and services. In this way, they are combining pursuit of their organizational mission, impact investing, and supporting the growth of disruptive companies doing good.

Let’s take a look at a few examples of the open source solutions the portfolio is deploying:

1 U-Report

U-Report is a social messaging tool. It empowers people anywhere in the world to engage as positive change agents. They are expanding their reach and last year integrated Facebook messenger. This multi-channel approach enables people to engage through SMS, twitter, telegram, and App in addition to Facebook messenger. Deployed in 34 countries including Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico, U-Report has 3.2 Million members.

Each national deployment can have a different focus. For example, in Guatemala it is the “main platform for adolescents to link on-going advocacy activities at local level with national policies, including on issues around child marriage, adolescent pregnancy and sexual violence against girls”

Mexico was the first country to launch U-Report in Latin America and has a strong membership base:

It is actively used to gather and share information, with the possibility of understanding responses with demographic depth as in this regional visualization of responses to a question on being a victim of violence:

 

2 Maternal Health Interventions

Two examples of maternal health interventions working along similar lines are IPAL (Innovation for Poverty Alleviation Lab) in Pakistan and MomConnect in South Africa. In both cases, the projects look at how to connect new parents to knowledge and services using mobile:

 

IPAL’s model uses interactive storytelling. The aim of their current work is to engage mothers during pregnancy and delivery to avoid maternal deaths due to lack of information or misinformation related to health and healthcare during pregnancy. In their foundational work, they have been able to show statistically significant changes in knowledge.

 

There was also a slight tendency (not statistically significant) towards increased follow-up visits. One of the ongoing challenges of these efforts is to deliver the content in ways that both reach new parents and encourage interaction, as well as helping guide them to deeper services when necessary.

3 Cellular Networks in Nicaragua

A final example of open source projects in the fund is in the Infrastructure category. These are investments designed to improve the underlying resources which allow for connectivity, power and transport – which ultimately result in greater access. This kind of access means greater resources when children are in need of medical or emergency services. It also means access to information and social support networks that support the families, and as a result, the children in these communities.

SayCel, which is working in Nicaragua on communications in poor rural communities, is among the investments. “SayCel enables developing communities with non-existent, inadequate, or exorbitantly expensive cellular networks the opportunity to have their own cellular utility and local 911 service.”

SayCel’s feasibility study shows that the cost to make calls is truly exorbitant when compared to other countries:

Source: SayCel: Feasibility Study: Local Emergency Mobile Communication Networks for Indigenous and Afro-Descendant Communities of Nicaragua’s Caribbean Coast

 

In addition to installing the technology itself, SayCel provides training in network maintenance to allow the communities to have ongoing access. They are also developing an open source web and phone application to provide connectivity to the networks. Together this creates a “community cellular” approach

 

Source: SayCel: Feasibility Study: Local Emergency Mobile Communication Networks for Indigenous and Afro-Descendant Communities of Nicaragua’s Caribbean Coast

 

With additional proof in the Nicaraguan context, SayCel could potentially expand the approach to other rural areas.

 

4 Open Source Business Models

Each of the projects UNICEF’s innovation fund is investing in have the potential to help address challenging issues. In order to survive, however, one of the overarching questions is what open source business models are available and could be truly sustainable?

UNICEF recognized the importance of this deeper question for open source efforts within and outside of the fund with the potential to have a positive impact. In order to address it, they invested in a knowledge product focused entirely on the question of business model. The research, based on surveys of a cross-section of open-source projects, focuses on the SaaS (Software as a Service) model and reviews a number of different approaches to revenue generation on open source projects. This is critical. Even if the projects above are all a success in terms of community outcomes they will need solid businesses if they are to grow and replicate their impact in broader contexts.

 

 

 

 


Filed Under: Open Source Tagged With: Actionable Resources

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Follow Us

Subscribe

About this blog

Open knowledge can be described as information that is usable, reusable, and shareable without restrictions due to its legal and technological attributes, enabling access for anyone, anywhere, and at any time worldwide.

In the blog 'Abierto al Público,' we explore a wide range of topics, resources, and initiatives related to open knowledge on a global scale, with a specific focus on its impact on economic and social development in the Latin American and Caribbean region. Additionally, we highlight the Inter-American Development Bank's efforts to consistently disseminate actionable open knowledge generated by the organization.

Search

Topics

Access to Information Actionable Resources Artificial Intelligence BIDAcademy Big Data Citizen Participation Climate Change Code for Development Coronavirus Creative Commons Crowdsourcing Data Analysis Data Journalism Data Privacy Data Visualization Development projects Digital Badges Digital Economy Digital Inclusion Entrepreneurship Events Gender and Diversity Geospatial Data Hackathons How to Instructional Design Key Concepts Knowledge Products Lessons Learned Methodologies MOOC Most Read Natural Language Processing Numbers for Development Open Access Open Government Open Innovation Open Knowledge Open Science Solidarity Sustainable Development Goals Taxonomy Teamwork Text Analytics The Publication Station

Similar Posts

  • 3 open platforms on how to combine business profit and social impact
  • Code for Development: celebrating two years of opening software to the public
  • Open-Source technology and AI-powered Data to strengthen Urban Planning
  • The visible ally: open data about the network of entrepreneurs responding to COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean
  • An Open Knowledge Maturity Model: 5 Essential Facets to Guide You to the Next Level

Footer

Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo
facebook
twitter
youtube
youtube
youtube

    Blog posts written by Bank employees:

    Copyright © Inter-American Development Bank ("IDB"). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons IGO 3.0 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives. (CC-IGO 3.0 BY-NC-ND) license and may be reproduced with attribution to the IDB and for any non-commercial purpose. No derivative work is allowed. Any dispute related to the use of the works of the IDB that cannot be settled amicably shall be submitted to arbitration pursuant to the UNCITRAL rules. The use of the IDB's name for any purpose other than for attribution, and the use of IDB's logo shall be subject to a separate written license agreement between the IDB and the user and is not authorized as part of this CC- IGO license. Note that link provided above includes additional terms and conditions of the license.


    For blogs written by external parties:

    For questions concerning copyright for authors that are not IADB employees please complete the contact form for this blog.

    The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IDB, its Board of Directors, or the countries they represent.

    Attribution: in addition to giving attribution to the respective author and copyright owner, as appropriate, we would appreciate if you could include a link that remits back the IDB Blogs website.



    Privacy Policy

    Copyright © 2025 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

    Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo

    Aviso Legal

    Las opiniones expresadas en estos blogs son las de los autores y no necesariamente reflejan las opiniones del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, sus directivas, la Asamblea de Gobernadores o sus países miembros.

    facebook
    twitter
    youtube
    This site uses cookies to optimize functionality and give you the best possible experience. If you continue to navigate this website beyond this page, cookies will be placed on your browser.
    To learn more about cookies, click here
    x
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT