1. Crowd-programmed initiatives:
Facilitating the development of
beneficiary-led aid programmes
Dr. Adrian Flint Chris Meyer zu Natrup, CA, MSc
Lecturer in Development Politics Director
University of Bristol MzN | International

2. Setting the scene
• Participation has conceptual & operational limits and has not delivered all it
promised.
• A lot of hype about how ICT can address this.
• Advances in ICT now permit beneficiaries to potentially define responses &
interventions

3. Beneficiary determined
programmes
• Beneficiary defined programmes: The idea that affected people materially
design a response/intervention.
• Attributes of beneficiary determined programmes
• Establish feedback and open listening processes receptive for all comments
• Analyse and correlate non-interaction data (migration, use, frequency)
• In addition, not instead: mobile, web & traditional forms of data gathering
• Open source and open use
• Different from participation as there is no upfront design of the listening process
(‚crowd driven‛) and donors/agencies are called to act upon what is heard

4. Problems with Participation
• Accusations of ‚Quick & Dirty‛ needs assessments (R. Chambers 1981: p.95)
• Riddled with problems
• logistical challenges (late, narrow spotlight (local and few voices)
• too few voices (gender hierarchy, local power structures, age bias
• too inefficient
• too narrow thematically
• legitimizing agendas?
• institutionally facilitated/managed
• Crowd sourced information designed to capture more, quicker, broader.

5. The good news…
• There are approximately 6 billion mobile-cellular subscriptions in the world
today.
• More people have mobiles than electricity.
• By the end of 2011, nearly one third of the world’s population had access to
the internet (2.3 billion people).
• Basic handsets now cost as little as US$20.

6. The bad news…
• Harnessing the ‚wisdom‛ of crowds is about more than improved mobile
technology & roll-out
• Questions infrequently asked:
o What power structures needs to be considered?
o ‚Do no harm‛ (social fabric, data security)
o What donor and agency agendas need to be considered?
o To what extent can the crowd be ‚trusted‛ (needs vs. wants?)
o Issues of data ownership, protection, privacy and security

7. Is this ‚game changing‛?
• We now have the tools to be more needs and beneficiary led than ever.
• If structural and political challenges are addressed, a genuine, direct and
more democratic form of designing interventions and responses can be
developed.
• If applied effectively…
o It is needs driven as opposed to agency driven
o It should increase impact and value for money
o It’s more ‚unmanaged‛, helping to overcome the agenda-led problem
o Democratizing force
o Generates better data (automatic baseline, constant feedback loop, etc)
Yes, CAN be a “game changer”, if done right

8. Let’s do it right…
• It’s too easy for ICT-led strategies to become an end rather than a means to an end
(‘technovelty’).
o Drive towards VfM and more Impact channels investments into
technology, but….
• Key questions are not technological in nature:
o True beneficiary engagement works on trust only.
o Beneficiaries need to feel they are not just listened to, but acted upon.
o Donors/Agencies need to be willing to accept outcomes
o This is more of a political, then technological issue
• We think this is a game changer, because it requires a change in the way we assess
needs (and wants)
• Listen without designing the listening process…
• …and accept the outcomes.

9. Let’s do it right…
• Better needs assessment includes
o Constant listening
o Open access and Open use
o Not agency facilitated/managed
o larger spotlight
…leading to…
• Crowd programmes initiatives done right can help towards
o Better, more robust, needs assessment
o Overcomes the agenda-bias as listening process is totally undesigned
o Cost effective way to establish baseline and build an open body of knowledge
o Leads to more effective programmes

10. Let’s do it!
• 12 month long concept phase to:-
o Underpin theoretical concept
o address in detail political and sector structure questions,
o use MzN Development Experts in over 15 countries to consider local
differences and harness knowledge network
o Involve political decision makers where possible
o Start a pilot project in needs assessment
Join us & keep up to date. Register by email to office@mzninternational.com
Thank you!