Mobile (for) development: When digital giants take care of the poor

Troisième atelier du séminaire "Innovations for Résilience" organisé par l'institut Risk de l'Université Grenoble Alpes et la FR Innovacs avec Marine AL DAHDAH (CNRS, CEMS, French Institute of Pondichery-India).

From September 2022 to July 2023, one Monday/month during lunch break, the Risk Institute proposes with INNOVACS a research workshop cycle opened to all academics and professionals to address the issue of citizens’ involvement in vulnerability reduction and risk management through easy-to-use, and light technologies.

The idea of using low technologies to provide access to essential goods was developed in the South, perhaps even before in industrialized countries. In contexts of structural weakness of infrastructures, these solutions quickly appeared as low-cost and easy to implement answers in line with the concept of empowerment cherished by developers. But the stakes in terms of economic model are essential and the use more disturbing than it seems.

Marine Al Dahdah ( (CNRS, CEMS, French Institute of Pondichery-India) will present her book: Mobile (for) Development: When Digital Giants Take Care of Poor Women. Elements in Global Development. Cambridge University Press, 2022.