The Bright Continent

There’s a presumption that being behind is bad news for Africa. That immature governments and insufficient infrastructure signify a perpetual lag in development that will take years, if not decades to overcome. Certainly, it will take time for Kampala to look like Hong Kong. But it’s now uncontroversial to talk about “leapfrogging” over these same difficulties, particularly with spreading adoption of mobile and other connective technology.

Of course, you can’t eat a phone, or use a 3G network to dig a well. But you can use technology to ease these and many other aspects of development. The Apps4Africa competition is the logical extension of this concept. The first iteration focused on civic solutions. The second iteration will focus on preparing for and adapting to the threat of climate change.

Jon Gosier, founder of Appfrica Labs and Hive CoLab in Kampala, gave an interview about it:

How is this year different?

Well the first year was called the Civic Challenge because it focused on problems that affected society and engaged leaders who had influence in that area. This year we’re focusing on climate change because it’s timely with COP17 coming up, but also because it’s an area that’s often overlooked. International leaders often decide upon policies with out consulting the people they affect. In a democracy, one can assume that the people have spoken by electing the leaders who make decisions for them. However, in places like emerging countries where democracy is young or stressed, that assumption seems out of place.

This is an opportunity to promote not just the problems people are having, but the potential solutions.

Why the focus on Climate Change?

As discussed, we want to make sure no one can say that there aren’t efforts being made by Africans to address their own problems, to offer opportunities to help them gain attention, and to reward them for their efforts.

Why the focus on mobile apps?

There’s actually no singular focus on mobile apps. Any software application can be entered as long as it attempts to solve a problem related to climate change. This is because technologists often focus on solving problems that appeal to other technologists. So while we want to reward local innovators, we want them to perhaps rethink where they are applying there skills.

Can you give us some examples of apps that are making a difference in this space?

I can’t really because I’m sure a number of the ideas I have will be submitted by participants. But I can say that it isn’t about technical sophistication, it’s about attempting to get people to change their behavior. If you know more about how you are affecting your environment, or how your environment is being affected by others, you can leverrage that as an opportunity to try to change the things that need to be changed.

What do you see as the biggest challenge for more climate change related apps coming into the space?

I generally don’t think a lot of the local public are even aware that climate change is an issue. To them, they see the rainy seasons lasting longer, or they see more droughts, or migrations being disrupted. They may not know the cause, but they see the changes. We want to make sure they have access to tools to make up their own minds about what the causes are and what can be done about it.

Can you talk about the countries being targeted and the environmental issues being targeted?

Apps4Africa is open to 75% of the continent. We wanted to 100% but the resources we have available would have been spread too thin.

Current residents of Africa should enter the appropriate region for their country (East Africa, West Africa/Central, Southern Africa). If you are unsure where your country falls here is a list: West/Central Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, DRC, Equatorial Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone East Africa: Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda Southern Africa: Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe.