A Loss for the UN

RiOS recently received this email from a Silicon Valley social entrepreneur, with whom we had engaged in discussions about the possibilities of the UN and Silicon Valley working togther:
"I think I've invested a little bit of time in the UN so far, but it's not clear that it's worth more time. I think you've heard what I've had to say, and I'd rather move on to working on making real things happen. There are good people in the ... movement who invest tons of time in this work, and I don't think it adds anything to have me burn my limited cycles."

This is coming from somebody who is deeply rooted in the Silicon Valley culture of entrepreneurship and getting things done through real, grounded project. At the same time, he saw the importance of bringing the moral and social focus of the UN to Silicon Valley, in order to balance some of the region's zeal for profit. He was committed to working with the UN's Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID) in his particular area of specialization.

No longer. Part of his disillusionment came from the dynamics at the UN meets Silicon Valley Event in February at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View (See our blog in late FEbruary for a summary of the event). Here are his thoughts on the day:
"The lobbyists from the tech companies (who wrote the action items that came out of the day - see our blog entry)struggled with anything that isn't on the lobbying agenda. You see lots of mentions of creating an environment where SV can compete.
Open ICT ecosystems. Best practices (read: light regulation, no telecom monopolies).
Take the session I attended: We ended up fighting a long time to move the summary a bit. Example: "Identifying local resources to support local content and delivery of devices - taking a bottoms up approach." We got the bottoms up in there, but the initial version of this bullet gave you the feeling they were looking for local sales and support of their products.
Sorry to be so cynical, but I didn't see much commitment to the MDGs or poor people in these recommendations. It really read more like the American Electronics Association global lobbying talking points."

So the UN-GAID seems to be stuck between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, in order to work with (read: receive funds from) Silicon Valley institutions (read companies mainly), it needs to embrace more of the corporate values and ways of doing things. If it does so too much, it looses the people who are more socially committed and have the interests of people in developing countries at heart first and foremost, rather than developing new markets or products.

RiOS is committed to helping the UN-GAID learn to walk this tightrobe, and while we regret the loss of a fellow traveler, we take from it the need for more action and for greater attention to the needs of those the GAID was created to serve.