Technology That Doesn’t Help Everyone Helps No One

Originally published on Forbes.com

Written by Sid Wiesner, CTO, myAgro

This week marks National Coding Week, which focuses on coding and digital literacy. This year’s theme centers on learning new digital skills that “help you, help others or help society.”

As CTO of myAgro, a social enterprise that helps farmers increase their harvest and income, I am constantly thinking about the digital literacy of those we serve, as well as how technology can be a force for good. Technology has undeniably transformed the face of society and helped tackle some of the world’s biggest issues.

However, despite the incredible increase in access to technology, that impact is not equally distributed throughout the world. This is partly a need for more infrastructure and investment, and this is partly because many technological innovations weren’t developed with rural, remote, and disconnected communities in mind. Before an app, website, or tool is introduced, organizations need to ensure that it is designed for the users it aims to serve.

At myAgro, we have developed a tool called myAgro Connect, which is used by our team of Village Entrepreneurs, Field Coordinators, and others, to track the number of enrolled farmers, plan and target farmer outreach, and measure goals—all with offline access to account for connectivity issues.

We designed this tool—and all of our technical training—with a spectrum of users in mind, from “power users” to those who have never used a smartphone before. By considering design constraints such as technical literacy and connectivity, we can build for all of our users thereby strengthening our team, their skills, and their future opportunities for success.

Some organizations have seen impact by centering their design around users who face the most barriers. Wave, an Africa-focused mobile money application that enables users to send funds instantly without account fees, is addressing the fact that two billion people remain unbanked—meaning they lack access to safe, secure financial products. Mobile money is a way to address this problem and increase financial inclusion, economic empowerment, and economic growth.

Much of the unbanked population are located in rural areas. Since 4G coverage in rural areas is four times lower than the coverage in urban areas, most tech is focused on these easier-to-access urban areas. If we are only ever designing for urban populations—and assuming connectivity and a level of digital literacy—rural communities get left even further behind.

Knowing that designing for rural users is key to making a dent in the problem of underbanked populations, Wave designed for rural areas first to ensure that the very essence of their tool would circumvent the barriers to connectivity and banking that rural communities face. The result was a more connected market and even faster adoption of the technology since those in urban areas naturally had a much easier time with adoption. With this approach, Wave became the dominant platform and has become a model for low-cost, simple, and accessible technology.

In addition to designing for users, social enterprises like myAgro are well served to think about how to harness tech and data to ensure they are making progress toward their mission. For example, through a partnership with Atlas AI—an organization that uses artificial intelligence to measure socioeconomic conditions in emerging markets to offer insights into organizations that can grow most successfully—myAgro has ramped up our ability to gather data that serves many purposes. First, we get access to data that demonstrates the existing mobile connectivity of people in particular areas—areas that we already work in and areas targeted for expansion. This allows us to tailor our outreach and programs to ensure what we offer suits the realities of the farmers we are trying to reach.

Our partnership with Atlas AI also gives us access to satellite imagery that can display the presence of infrastructure in communities. Satellite imagery means we do not have to travel to hard-to-reach communities to obtain this information. It also allows us to customize our outreach to farmers and measure our long-term, indirect impact. For example, if many farmers in a village begin to plant with myAgro we can capture satellite imagery on a particular date—a “before” image. We can then look at how that community changes over time, when increased harvests and income have brought more prosperity to the community, and we see satellite images that depict better infrastructure—more paved roads, more durable housing, larger agricultural fields that are lush and green.

Satellite data also helps our supply chain work—showing where roads allow for easiest access. Our partners at Humanitarian Open Street Maps support our work in similar ways, helping us find the best delivery routes.

Designing tech solutions and programs, especially for those in the Global South, should not only acknowledge users’ realities, but should help them learn new digital skills as well. Similarly, organizations have to constantly be thinking about and deepening their technical know-how and sharpening their ability to collect and use data.

As we think about National Coding Week, I am bullish on the future of our organization and the social sector writ large. There are countless new ways that technology will help organizations realize their important missions.