When Moldovan diplomat and Muskie fellow [10] Radu Cucos first accessed the internet as a teenager, he wasn’t thinking about technology as a tool for increasing government transparency. “I wanted to get more information about sports,” says Cucos, “I was very much involved in sports at that time.” Over time, Cucos’ initial curiosity in the Internet as a form of entertainment developed into a professional interest in communications technology as a tool for development. He and other Muskie fellows are now carrying out innovative projects that utilize technology to make improvements in key sectors, including government, business and education. Through these professional experiences, fellows are gaining new technology-related skills and knowledge that they will use in the future to promote development in their home countries.
Government Transparency and Technology
Cucos, a public policy fellow studying at the Harris School at the University of Chicago [11], is gaining expertise in public sector applications for information and communication technologies (ICT). As a summer intern in the joint IFC/World Bank Global Information and Communication Technologies Department, Cucos played a key role in launching activities of the e-Transform Initiative in Moldova. Moldova was the first country to join the e-Transform Initiative, which seeks to encourage the use of ICT to promote development and improve government services.
According to Cucos, ICT helps citizens by providing them with better access to public services and by making government more efficient and transparent. While Cucos is optimistic about short-term prospects for online public service requests and electronic government records, he also has big ideas about the future of citizen to government interaction through ICT. “Government 2.0 is about involving citizens in providing services,” comments Cucos. He imagines competitions for the best solutions to public challenges and for the development of applications that government agencies can use to communicate with citizens, with business, and with other government agencies.
In his position at the World Bank, Cucos conducted research and communicated with Moldovan officials about the implementation of ICT innovations. He also traveled to Chisinau as a member of the World Bank delegation to a major forum on e-governance and ICT. During the Moldova e-Transformation Forum [12], Cucos participated in meetings with high-level officials including Moldovan Prime Minister Vlad Filat and World Bank President Robert Zoellick. Cucos noted that the internship helped him to work towards his overall goal of “getting as many tools as possible to improve how my government works in the future.”
Technology in the Healthcare Industry
Other Muskie fellows are developing expertise in the use of technology to improve efficiency and communication in the private sector. As a marketing specialist in Moscow prior to her fellowship, Kamilla Gazieva worked in a professional environment that included access to advanced technology. She also saw that many of her colleagues were not using that technology effectively. “We had access and the budget,” says Gazieva, “I think the real problem isn’t lack of technology but lack of motivation to use it.”
Gazieva, a business fellow at Boise State University [13], is striving to learn more about promoting the use of technology in business. This summer, Gazieva had an opportunity to put her knowledge to practical use as an intern in the Global Marketing Department at Roche Diagnostics. Gazieva developed the plan for an internal website that would serve as a clearinghouse for information on internet marketing. “The goal was to distribute information on best practices to affiliates in fifty countries,” explains Gazieva.
When developing content for the site, Gazieva strove to encourage collaboration and to make information easy to access. She hopes to facilitate the use of similar technology-based knowledge sharing in the Russian healthcare industry. She also plans to incorporate educational technology in a marketing curriculum that she is developing for use in Russian universities.
Social Media in Education
Muskie fellows are also finding innovative ways to utilize new technologies in the field of education. An education fellow at the University of Harford [14], Ibragimdzhon Rustamov was previously featured for his community service project [15], which used educational technology to help Connecticut students communicate with youth in Rustamov’s native Tajikistan. Building on that project and on his previous professional experience, Rustamov interned at Relief International where he worked in the education and information technology departments.
As an intern, Rustamov used the Ning social networking platform to connect youth and educators from Bangladesh, Azerbaijan, and the US. Rustamov also trained a group of exchange students from the Middle East who came to the US to learn about social media. He believes similar technology will have a role in future work in Tajikistan, where web-based technologies and mobile learning can connect youth in remote areas.
Rustamov sees information technology as a tool for creating understanding and promoting cross-cultural connections at all levels of society. In his view, “the value of ICT literacy is only realized when all of the stakeholders benefit. This begins at the student level with increased knowledge about the world community and moves through his or her family to the local society and business community and up through the levels of government and into international businesses.”
Recent innovations in technology can be used to increase government to citizen interaction, promote transparency, spread best practices in business, and connect students across borders. Returning Muskie fellows are well-poised to use their knowledge of technology to promote positive changes in society.