Technology & innovation to the rescue

Focus of NGOs should be to automate; digitise, so as to accelerate change in overcoming society’s colossal...

The human condition in the 21^st century harkens for grand ideas. The global security architecture will change exponentially over the next decade. The one factor that we’ll see playing a huge role in the development sector in 2016 is the use of technology and innovation in closing the gap between the rich and the poor. The opportunities offered by science and technology to reduce unemployment and bridge the economic divide rest, essentially, within the domain of the political realm. It is imperative for the international development sector to demonstrate the ability to discover and construct new metaphors challenging the muddled thinking of the status quo. A singular approach to the problem would be insufficient. The focus of NGOs should be to automate and digitise, so as to accelerate change in overcoming society’s colossal challenges, such as conflict, education and health.

The efforts of individuals such as Dr Adib Rizvi and Abdul Sattar Edhi are commendable. When we compare their value-based development models to the models of Islamabad, we see shocking disappointments in the latter. Despite the fact that children die every day in Thar, there is no visible government-led intervention in this area. The horrific response of the PML-N to the Kasur child sexual abuse incident last year is yet another example of the sheer inability of the government to deal with high-profile disasters. The media coverage of socioeconomic constraints and inhumane conditions in Sindh and southern Punjab is meagre at best, and the impression one gets from the conduct of the judicial system is that of a state instrument which has looked the other way, capitulating to its own inefficiencies.

The donor community is usually driven by strategic and economic interests. The capacity of the development sector in Pakistan to institutionalise public sector service delivery is limited despite an influx of foreign funding being funnelled into the country. This has not helped the market expand to its full potential; therefore the impact of the projects initiated by the donor community has been narrow as they are not integrated in the national economic grid. There is a disconnect amongst the ministries of planning and finance, and the economic affairs division.

The diminishing trust between state and society is resulting in weakening societal norms which are challenging economic and political stability. This is leading to social unrest and violence. While governments globally are eager to embrace the Sustainable Development Goals, at the same time, several have failed to meet the benchmarks set forth by the Millennium Development Goals — Pakistan being one of them. Progress has been insufficient to meet the mounting needs of a growing population.

The responsibility-accountability arc remains on the back burner for Pakistan. This void is often overcome by the non-profit sector or civil society organisations. However, these segments of society need to become even more dynamic and resilient than they already are as the silos within which they usually function is usually off the government agencies’ grid.

In order to function in these highly uncertain circumstances, development organisations in Pakistan need to become futures-centric, i.e., explore various alternative scenarios that may evolve in the future depending on how things pan out in the present. The components leading to such a framework are based on three pillars: 1) openness; 2) values-based; and 3) transformative. Development futurists need to explore the adoption of emerging technologies, keeping a close eye on social trends, anticipating change and effectively dealing with the unforeseen by reformulating responses towards complex setbacks in a precipitously changing environment. Those not incorporating futures studies and continuing to photo-shop reality will prove ineffective. Knowledge entrepreneurs will have a critical role in drawing up the reality of the world in the future and it is the development of such entrepreneurs that we need to focus on in Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 9^th,  2016.

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