W4RA’s action research program, together with Réseau MARP, with support of Nuffic in the Orange Knowledge Program help a workshop from 7 to 11 February 2022 in Réo, Sanguié province, Burkina Faso. The workshop participants were 18 women, all producers of non-timber forest products. Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are defined as “any good of biological […]
The closure of the Global Community Service Learning course “ICT4D in the Field” was an official ceremony in which six student groups presented their projects — in which students from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, University for Development Studies (UDS) Ghana, University of Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) and Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Spain worked together — on […]
Lecture by Prof Saa Dittoh, 11 June 2021 for “ICT4D in the Field” This lecture was part of the ICT4D in the Field course, coordinated by VU Amsterdam, UDS Ghana and UNIMAS. The course was partially supported by the ERASMUS+ program in the KA 107 Call 2018.
The field of ICT4D (Information and Communication Technologies for Development) generally addresses problems of, and solutions for, the “unconnected people in the world”. Currently, this is close to half of the world’s population, the majority of whom live in poor, remote, often rural, regions of the world, often in so-called developing low/middle-income countries. The central […]
The Open International Webinar Artificial Intelligence in & for the Global South – What is AI and what can it be used for? took place online, from 02-04 June 2021, with 145 participants from Asia, Africa and Europe, including master students from VU Amsterdam (Netherlands), UDS (Ghana) and UNIMAS (Malaysia) and Aurora European universities. This […]
Community service learning (CSL) is an educational approach that we have further developed in collaboration with universities and stakeholders in the Global South into a research and education model dubbed: ICT4D 3.0. This model combines problem-solving and situational learning with meaningful service to communities and society. In computer science and artificial intelligence education – traditionally […]
Thesis defence Anna Bon Maastricht 15 December 2020 – a promotion in Corona times The Pro-Rector, Prof. Dr. Christine Neuhold chairs the public defence, and opens the reunion at 13h. After Anna’s presentation of 15 minutes, the opposition is opened. Prof. Wiebe Bijker, emeritus professor of Technology and Society at Maastricht University. Prof. Dr. Wiebe […]
“Sustainability assessment and ethical considerations are not commonly included as subtasks in the development of digital systems and services and receive less attention in the design process than business and technical aspects. When developing digital systems/services or platforms for people in resource-constrained environments, it is important to take a wider scope and include more aspects […]
Shuqi Yan did her master research project on an “AI for Sustainable Development in Africa” project. Machine learning for the interpretation of land use and object recognition on satellite images is a technique which is already widely used, given the large availability of open access satellite imaging and the popularity of data science and artificial […]
Since 2011 Anna Bon, and other researchers in the W4RA team (VU Network Institute, Computer Science Department, Centre for International Cooperation, DISE team) have worked with farmer organizations in Mali to help improve the efficiency of the seed value chain, to support local smallholder farmers and contribute to food security in this country. The seed value chain […]
