Addressing Race & Inclusion in ICT4D

Ronda dives into how the gap in digital literacy could be addressed and who should take responsibility. Overall, bridging the digital literacy gap is not just about capacity building and tech innovation, but more of a structural, organizational, and behavioral change that must take place.

On the topic of increased focus on diversity, equity and inclusion, Ronda feels that this increased focus is not coming from development agencies themselves; but rather, is coming from the people throughout the majority world – bottom-up pressures for change. There is a need for more diverse representation in humanitarian organizations who have lived through the development issues that we seek to address with technology, rather than rich elites from the areas we work. People creating the solutions are out of touch with the reality for those we serve.

Ronda stresses the need to exercise courage, the need to be fearless when it comes to pushing back against the structural, behavioral, and organizational status-quo. So many of the common issues and development challenges in the world today are linked to the very things that diversity, equity, and inclusion seek to address.

Ronda states quite poignantly, “I think as we continue to ignore the elephant in the room the elephant is just going to get bigger and bigger, and then hopefully eventually crowds out people’s desire to be ignorant of what that means for them as a development professional”.

 

Tune in and listen to full podcast recording below to really get to know Ronda’s thoughts about Digital Literacy and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion! Happy Black History Month!

Dr. Ronda Zelezny-Green is the Global Head of Training and e-Learning at The Internet Society, which is a global non-profit organization that works to ensure that the internet of opportunity benefits everyone; and is also Co-founder & Director of Panoply Digital, which is a woman owned consultancy outfit working to develop and implement sustainable solutions to development challenges particularly in the ed-tech, gender, and M&E space.