The ICT4D Collective is passionate about partnerships, not only through our research about them, but also through their practical importance in delivering effective empowerment for poor people through ICTs. Over the years, the group has worked with many partners both for research purposes and also in practice, and details of these are listed towards the end of this page. We are currently establishing a new partnership framework following the creation of the Collective out of the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D, and details of this will be made available shortly.
The current partnerships of the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D
Our continuing partnerships, and new partnerships established since 2023 are with the following organisations:
- ACORAB (Association of Community Radio Broadcasters) and CIN (Community Information Network), Nepal – details here
- Gandaki Univeristy, Pokhara, Nepal
- Inter-Islamic Network on Information Technology – working together collaboratively in delivering conferences and workshops, and in developing initiatives in the interest of the poorest and most marginalised
- Jigsaw Consult – especially working together on monitoring and evaluating the use of ICTs in education.
- RC-DISC: Research Cluster for Digital Inequalities and Social Change, University of Canberra
Please use our contact page to enquire about our partnerships.
Partnership publications
Some of our research publications on partnerships include:
- Unwin, T. (2015) Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships in Information and Communication for Development Interventions, in International Encyclopedia of Digital Communication and Society, Chichester: Wiley, 1-10.
- Unwin, T. (2012) Effective partnerships for development, Commonwealth Ministers Reference Book 2012, London: Henley Media Group in association with the Commonwealth Secretariat, 127-129.
- Unwin, T. and Wong, A. (2012) Global Education Initiative: Retrospective on Partnerships for Education Development 2003-2011, Geneva: World Economic Forum, 2012, 60 pp.
- Geldof, M., Grimshaw, D.J., Kleine, D. and Unwin, T. (2011) What are the key lessons of ICT4D partnerships for poverty reduction? Systematic Review Report for DFID.
- Unwin, T. (2005) Partnerships in Development Practice: Evidence from Multi-Stakeholder ICT4D Partnership Practice in Africa, Paris: UNESCO for the World Summit on the Information Society (93 pp.)
Partnerships in which the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D was engaged prior to July 2023
- De La Salle University, Philippines – collaborative research on ICTs, disaster management and sustainable development
- Inter-Islamic Network on Information Technology – working together collaboratively in delivering conferences and workshops, and in developing initiatives in the interest of the poorest and most marginalised
- ICT4D Conference, Zambia, 2017 content partner, co-leading on education stream.
- Jigsaw Consult – especially working together on monitoring and evaluating the use of ICTs in education.
- RC-DISC: Research Cluster for Digital Inequalities and Social Change, University of Canberra
- UNESCO – as the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D, we work closely with the Communications and Information Sector of UNESCO, as for example through helping them develop a new award for the use of ICTs in empowering people with disabilities.
Past Partnerships
The UNESCO Chair in ICT4D (2007-2023) and the ICT4D Collective have had many previous research and practice-based partnerships for all of which we are most grateful. These include the following:
Governments and International Agencies
- Commission on Information and Communication Technologies, the Philippines
- Working together on eSkwela, eLearning centres for out of school youth – this project won a Certificate of Commendation for the Non-Formal Education Category in the UNESCO ICT in Education Innovation Awards, 2007-8
- Workshops in January 2006 on ICT for Teacher Training and on Monitoring and Evaluating ICT for Education initiatives
- Participation in Second National ICTs in Basic Education Congress, Cebu, September 2006
- The Development Gateway’s Open Educational Resources
- the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D was a Cooperating Organization within the OER dgCommunity
- The International Telecommunications Union’s Kaleidoscope academic conference on ICTs for Sustainable Development, Bangkok, 14-17 November 2016 (see also advisory boards above)
- Internationale Weiterbildung und Entiwcklung gGmbh (InWEnt) (Germany)
- The ICT4D Collective helped InWEnt to deliver its fourth e-Learning seminar in Bonn from 4th-5th November 2004.
- InWEnt and the ICT4D Collective led a session at Online Educa in Berlin on 2nd December 2004 on “E-Learning and the Digital Gap: are we selling placebos?”
- Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH
- GTZ participated in RGS-IBG conference in 2005
- GTZ contributed to ICT4D Collective workshop on monitoring and evaluation at eLearning Africa in Nairobi in 2007
- Past collaborative research on monitoring and evaluation of ICT4D activities
- Co-hosting of a pre-conference workshop on the benefits of OER for capacity development in Africa at Online Educa Berlin in 2008, with presentations by Philipp Schmidt, Leonard Mware Oloo and Jorrit Mulder, and workshop discussions led by Günther Osswald, Philip Schmidt, Fred de Vries and Frank Banks (workshop conclusions).
- Tim Unwin moderated the GTZ conference on e-Health held in Berlin, 28-30 October 2009
- Sponsor of ICTD2010 hosted by the Collective
- Tim Unwin moderated the GTZ conference on ICTs and Rural Development held in Berlin, 18-19 November 2010
- SPIDER – the Swedish Program for ICT in Developing Regions
- Postgraduates in SPIDER’s PhD Student Network (IPID) contributed to the Collective’s 2006 Postgraduate Symposium, and the Collective’s postgraduates reciprocated by participating in IPID’s 2007 meeting in Karlstad, Sweden
- Tim Unwin contributed to SPIDER’s short-courses on ICT for development
- SPIDER participated in the Wilton Park conference in October 2005 on the role of new ICTs in development
- Sponsor of ICTD2010 hosted by the Collective
- Wilton Park
- The Collective, together with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the Global Knowledge Partnership, SPIDER and Wilton Park (an academically independent Executive Agency of the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office) convened a conference on “Becoming an Information Society: the Role of New Information Technologies in Development” at Wilton Park from 17th-20th October 2005.
- Workshop on ICT partnerships at Wilton Park and British Council conference on “Higher Education for Development: Challenges, Strategies and Policies” 27th-31st March 2006.
- Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland
- Sponsor of ICTD2010 hosted by the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D
- International Development Research Centre (Canada)
- Sponsor of ICTD2010 hosted by the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D
- The Islamic Develoment Bank
- Sponsor of ICTD2010 hosted by the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D
- FAO and e-agriculture.org
- Convened a session as a partner at ICTD2010 hosted by the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D
- InfoDev
- Convened a session as a partner at ICTD2010 hosted by the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D
- UNCTAD
- Convened a session as a partner at ICTD2010 hosted by the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D
- The UNESCO Chair in ICT4D hosted the launch of UNCTAD’s Information Economy Report 2011
- World Bank ICT Policy Department
- Convened a session as a partner at ICTD2010 hosted by the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D
- WSIS Stocktaking (ITU)
- Shared networking and information updating
- WSIS Forum 2011
- Members of the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D played a major role in moderating sessions, convening a workshop and providing an exhibit
- ITU’s m-Powering Development initiative International Advisory Board
- World Economic Forum’s Internet for All Steering Group
Universities and Research Institutions
- Universitat de Lleida (Catalunya, Spain)
- Developed collaborative GIS initiatives
- Postgraduates from Lleida contributed to Royal Holloway’s undergraduate field course in Spain
- Professor Jordi Marti Henneberg presented a seminar in the Department of Geography at Royal Holloway on “Railways and Population Distribution in Europe (1850-2000)” in October 2006
- Department of Computer Science, University of Joensuu (Finland)
- Collaboration on the Edulink funded Consortium of African and European Higher Education Institutions for ICT4D
- Joint teaching on courses in Geography and Computer Science
- Università della Svizzerra italiana
- New Media in Education Lab – NewMinE Lab
- webatelier.net
- Delivery of ICTD2010 web-site for the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D
- International Literacy Institute (University of Pennsylvania, USA)
- Collaboration on infoDev handbook on monitoring and evaluating ICT for education initiatives in the developing world
- Joint participation in international conferences and workshops (OECD, WSIS)
- Research support for PhD students
- Escola do Futura, (Universidade de São Paulo (Brazil)
- Tbilisi State University (Georgia)
- Collaborative research in geography and land management. Professor Joseph Salkvadze served on PhD supevisory panel.
- Project funded by The British Academy to help enhance research and teaching in Human Geography in Georgia. Report completed by Tim Unwin in June 2005.
- College of Information Technology, Arab American Univeristy – Jenin, West Bank
- Curriculum development in ICT4D
- Research support in collaboration with The Freedom Theatre
- Agder University College, School of Management (Kristiansund, Norway) and the Norwegian Network on ICT and Development
- Collaborative research focusing particularly on ICT and national development
- The Collective’s and later the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D’s Africa ICT4D university network – this was funded by the UK’s Development Partnerships for Higher Education (DelPHE) scheme supported by DFID and the British Council, and later by EDULINK funding:
- University of Education, Winneba (Ghana)
- Maseno University (Kenya)
- Université Cheick Anta Diop (Sénégal)
- Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (Moçambique)
- Tumainai University, Iringa (Tanzania)
- Carnegie Mellon University (Qatar)
- Sponsor of ICTD2010 hosted by the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D
Private Sector and Consultancy Organisations
- Atticmedia
- Mark Weber contributed teaching on content in ICT4D undergraduate course
- Audiovisual Technologies, Informatics and Telecommunications (@IT) (Belgium)
- Helped shape GriotNet
- Joint support for conference activities (Online Educa Berlin; eLearning Africa)
- Cisco Systems
- Dr. Michelle Selinger (Education Strategy Manager, Corporate Responsibility EMEA) was an Honorary Research Associate
- Cisco provided an internship during the summer of 2005 for a student completing the ICT4D course at Royal Holloway, University of London.
- Cisco and the ICT4D collective gained a prestigious CASE studentship from ESRC in 2005 for a postgraduate research studentship on evaluating the use of ICT for education in Africa
- Joint Cisco-ICT4D annual lecture series
- Education Impact
- Contributed in delivery of ICTD2010 hosted by the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D
- Blankpage (formerly Eduvision)
- Joint research on monitoring and evaluating the impact of digital learning technologies in Ethiopia (Ethiopia Implementation Report; see also GTZ report on OLPC in Ethiopia)
- LearnAbout by EuroTalk
- Worked together on monitoring and evaluating the use of handheld devices for learning in Malawi
- Microsoft Research
- Awarded Marije Geldof a postgraduate research studentship for her work on ICT and low-levels of literacy in Africa
- Sponsor of ICTD2010 hosted by the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D
- Intel
- Sponsor of ICTD2010 hosted by the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D
- e-Learning Africa
- Previous membership of Organising Committee for the eLearning Africa conferences held in Addis Ababa from 24th to 26th May 2006, Nairobi from 28th-30th May 2007, and Accra from 28th-30th May 2008
- Andrea Burris supported the programme for the second eLearning Africa conference
- Report on e-Learning in Africa
- Contributed advice and support for delivery of ICTD2010 hosted by the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D
- LifeLine – seeks to inspire people across the world to realise their full potential and spark sustainable and supportive communities
- Tim Unwin was a panellist in Lifeline Network’s Drivers for Change event held at Portcullis House in the UK on 1st November 2007
- The Collective hosted workshop for LifeLine Network on child headed households,11th June 2010
- IPID (The International Network for postgraduate students in the area of ICT4D)
- The Collective and later the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D hosted the IPID annual conferences in 2006 and 2009, and worked closely in support of IPID’s other postgraduate activities
- Tim Unwin has regularly given keynotes at IPID’s annual conferences
- IPID hosted the postgraduate day at ICTD2010
- The Smile Foundation, India
- Support for Master’s dissertation on the use of ICTs in support of youths in India
- NEDA Knowledge Emporium (The Philippines) – a portal to enhance productivity in industry, farming communities and SMEs
- The UN’s Online Volunteering organisation
- ICT4D students contributed to Online Volunteering activities
- The Freeplay Foundation
- The Collective worked with the Foundation to help evaluate the impact of their provision of radios in Zambia (David Hollow’s report The Lifeline Radio in Zambia: Findings and Recommendations)
- Bangladesh Institute of ICT in Development (BIID)
- Tim Unwin serves as review panellist for BIID’s working paper series
Page updated 27 January 2024
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