High-Impact Growth: From Extractive Data Collection to Inclusive Data Sharing
Episode Summary: Nora Lindström on the Evolution of ICT4D
Released: November 27, 2024
Main Theme & Purpose
This episode explores the shifting role of international NGOs (INGOs) in digitizing global development work, focusing on the movement from extractive to inclusive data practices and the complex intersections of technology, localization, and local leadership. Guest Nora Lindström, Senior Director of ICT4D at Catholic Relief Services (CRS), brings her deep industry experience to discuss how technology can empower communities, the importance of context-specific solutions, and how INGOs can foster true local ownership and leadership in development projects.
Key Discussion Points and Insights
1. Nora’s Path to ICT4D and Early Lessons
[02:54 – 05:44]
- Nora began her global development career in Cambodia, working with a local anti-addiction group.
- Her entry into digital solutions was grassroots: community mapping and embracing early mobile data collection (ODK), despite technical limitations.
- Through expanding Internet access, she saw technology catalyze societal transformation — not just efficiency, but activism and expectations.
- “What I saw there was just the power of technology and connectivity and how that can change and that can contribute to change.” (Nora, 05:17)
2. CRS’s Digital Portfolio: Balancing Scale, Priority, and Local Need
[06:02 – 10:26]
- CRS supports 300-400 projects daily using CommCare, serving over 10,000 active mobile users.
- Nora’s ICT4D team (20-25 people) supports all 100+ CRS countries across sectors: health, education, social services, peacebuilding, and humanitarian response.
- Current priorities include:
- Food security—leveraging data for impactful interventions.
- Digital health—maturing from digitizing (e.g., malaria campaigns) to digitalizing campaigns and expanding digital supply chain management.
- Tackling systemic inefficiencies, e.g., double data entry for multiple partner systems in emergencies.
- On double entry: “When we have people working on acute emergencies on the ground, I don’t think that’s a good use of their time.” (Nora, 09:55)
3. The Localization Challenge: Standardized Tools vs. Local Reality
[10:26 – 15:31]
- Tension exists between global efficiency (standardized tools/shared services) and local adaptation (partner/unfunded requirements).
- Reflection at CRS led to a strategic shift: starting from partner needs, not just CRS needs, especially for government partners and digital health.
- Approach is context-dependent: sometimes pre-positioned tools are appropriate (e.g., rapid humanitarian responses); sometimes local systems (e.g., DHIS2) are paramount in sustainable health programs.
- “There are other times where it makes more sense to align with whatever is happening locally... to build off of that.” (Nora, 14:18)
4. Multiple Approaches to Equitable Tech Partnerships
[17:56 – 21:36] (Erin Quinn)
- Three common INGO strategies:
- Bring technical toolkits: "Here’s our customizable application, let’s adapt it for you."
- Mandate tool use but invest in long-term local capacity: “If you like it, we’ll build your skills to use it post-project.”
- Offer menus of recommended digital public goods: “Pick the safe tools, here are some options we trust.”
- No universal right answer—approach shifts with the partner (e.g., government vs. community-based) and project context.
- “We can deploy all three options… differentiate between partner and partner.” (Nora, 21:36)
5. Evolving INGO Role in Localization
[23:42 – 26:42]
- CRS’s vision: “People should be able to lead their own development.”
- Emphasis on holistic partner capacity strengthening and preparing local organizations (e.g., government ministries) to be “high performing implementers” and prime grantees.
- The INGO role is evolving from prime implementer to knowledge-sharing, capacity-building, and technical accompaniment.
- “We're not there yet…but that's kind of where we're going.” (Nora, 26:26)
6. From Extractive Collection to Inclusive Data Sharing
[28:45 – 35:04]
- Traditional data practices in development have been extractive—data is collected for donors, rarely returned meaningfully to subjects.
- CRS runs programs where:
- Community embedded enumerators collect resilience data.
- Data—and insights—are brought back to communities, enabling them to act (e.g., successful advocacy over livestock issues in Malawi).
- Power dynamics diminish when community members handle data, and their agency is prioritized.
- “What I would like for us to do as a sector is to center those data subjects and really recognize their agency.” (Nora, 28:55)
7. Data Literacy: The Next Frontier
[33:56 – 35:20]
- Data dashboards alone aren’t enough; communities often need targeted support and visualization innovations to interpret and act on data.
- “You can't just…show it to a village development committee, for example…there needs to be much more to it.” (Nora, 33:56)
- Investment in data literacy is essential to avoid perpetuating power imbalances with technology.
8. Building Data Capacity from the Ground Up
[39:02 – 42:05]
- Practical example: In Senegal, CRS worked with marginalized youth, letting them design, collect, and analyze data about employment opportunities in their community.
- Project goal: Build youth data skills for advocacy and self-empowerment—removing the INGO from centrality.
- “There’s power in kind of building that data literacy and building that capacity to use data.” (Nora, 41:46)
9. Lessons Learned in ICT4D Leadership
[42:43 – 44:56]
- Active listening over tech-first solutions: Understand problems before deploying technology; tech is not always the answer.
- “The importance of listening. Don’t come in tech first…focus in on that starting point.” (Nora, 42:51)
- Team diversity: CRS values a multinational, multidisciplinary team for better ‘translation’ between technology and programs.
- “For me, ICT4D is all about translation…about being an interlocutor between program folks and tech folks.” (Nora, 44:37)
10. Partnerships with Tech Vendors
[53:12 – 55:56]
- CRS seeks true partnership with tech vendors—not just a transactional customer-vendor relationship, but cocreation in product evolution.
- Sector needs cannot be met by off-the-shelf enterprise platforms—collaboration with mission-focused vendors is essential.
- “There’s been a lot of co-creation along the way, and that is something that I really value…collaboratively create products for our sector.” (Nora, 53:16)
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
-
On the transformative potential of connectivity:
“Through this access to technology and to connectivity, that changed how people saw themselves and what they wanted from society… Just the power of technology and connectivity and how that can contribute to change.”
(Nora, 05:17) -
On extractive data practices:
“I feel like we often forget the data subject—that the data comes from someone, from individuals on the ground who we're serving.”
(Nora, 28:54) -
On centering local agency:
“What I would like for us to do as a sector is to center those, those data subjects and really recognize their agency.”
(Nora, 28:55) -
On evolving the INGO role:
“There’s a lot of discussion around what is the changing role of INGOs, what future role are we going to play in the context of advancing localization and local leadership?”
(Nora, 24:54) -
On the need for diverse teams:
“For me, ICT4D is all about translation, right? It’s about being an interlocutor between sort of program folks, tech folks, and sort of understanding both sides.”
(Nora, 44:36) -
On the reflex to deploy tech:
“Don’t come in tech first… sometimes tech is not the solution. It's the people and the process and the politics and the power that are the real issues.”
(Nora, 42:51) -
On partnerships with tech vendors:
“You've been more than vendors and we're more than customers… There's been a lot of co-creation along the way and that is something that I really value.”
(Nora, 53:13) -
On sustainable value and upfront investment:
“The cost of not doing [human-centered design] is—there’s really no benefit to deploying the tech in the first place.”
(Jonathan, 48:35) -
On listening and problem definition:
“If I were given one hour to save the planet, I’d spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute resolving it.”
(Amy quoting Einstein, 52:38)
Timestamps for Important Segments
- 02:54 – Nora’s origin story in Cambodia and early ICT4D
- 06:02 – CRS’s portfolio and priorities in digital development
- 10:26 – Tensions in standardization vs. local needs
- 15:31 – Three different models of tech partnership (Erin)
- 21:36 – Differentiating approach by partner type and context
- 23:42 – CRS’s philosophy and localization agenda
- 28:45 – Tackling extractive data collection and empowering communities
- 33:56 – Visualizing insights and building data literacy
- 39:02 – Example: Data capacity building with youth in Senegal
- 42:43 – Two lessons: Listen first, and build diverse teams
- 53:12 – True partnership between INGOs and tech vendors
Tone & Intent
This conversation is candid, insightful, and collaborative—blending optimism and realism about the sector’s challenges. Nora, Jonathan, Amy, and Erin speak with humility, curiosity, and a strong bias for learning over “selling.” They share successes and tensions honestly while centering the purpose: empowering communities and elevating local leadership through thoughtful, people-centered technology.