UK: Alberto Masetti-Zannini, social researcher and entrepreneur

Alberto Masetti-Zannini, 32, defines himself as a consultant and social entrepreneur, and believes that international development NGOs are missing out on a great opportunity by not launching fully into the technology era. He has, in fact, just published a paper that analyses the interplay between international development activities and the ?Web 2.0 revolution? . His conclusion? If NGOs want to maintain their leading role in a globally networked world they have to learn to adapt to the new knowledge ? management practices?

For how long have you had an interest in the non profit sector?
I began my career in international development from the moment I left university, aged 23. International development was, and still is, my true passion. At the time, I firmly believed profit-making in international development to be an aberration, but my position has somewhat changed now!

Have you always worked in the non profit sector?
Yes, following university I worked for a number of international development NGOs in programme funding and capacity building: Christian Aid, International Alert and a community-based organisation in the Dominican Republic called One? Respe? that deals with human rights, education, community empowerment and healthcare. About two years ago though I took a break from the NGO world and joined acevo, the UK-based network of third sector leaders.

What is it about the third sector that particularly interests you?
I am particularly interested in the capacity it has to generate social change and to find solutions to social problems not engendered by market-driven ideology but by a strong sense of social justice. On the other hand, the initiatives that I have found myself becoming more attracted to over the last few years are those that seem to merge market incentives with a social conscience.

Do you think this logic can be applied to international development?
Yes. Ithink that the old ?charity? model is antiquated. Developing nations need, first and foremost, socio-economic growth. Take China or India, for example, it is not thanks to NGOs that they are managing to lift themselves out of poverty. Social enterprises, cooperatives, micro-finance and social innovation incubators are all initiatives that are trying to carve a space between the profit and non-profit worlds. They trigger growth by prioritising social and environmental objectives. It?s a tricky game but one that has proven to be extremely successful and that I think has the most potential in the future.

When and why did you decide to go back to school?
I left full time employment about a year ago to do an MSc at the London School of Economics and Political Science. At acevo I had become aware of the different European non-profit sectors and I began to wonder why national and international third sectors ignore each other so much. It seemed to me that they would benefit from each other?s experience. During my MSc, in Gloal Politics, I focused on international non-profit sectors and on the dynamics of globalisation – in particular I was interested in the deep changes triggered by the information revolution and its impact on the third sector.

Why are you curious about technology, activism and development?
Something extraordinary is happening out there and I think we are just beginning to scratch the surface; we can only guess how much our lives will change with the diffusion of information-communication technologies around the world. The network society is emerging ? people are no longer willing to be passive recipients of knowledge. People want to be part of the debate and want to connect with each other and are using a huge array of tools to do this: wikis, social networking sites, discussion groups, and most of all blogs. Did you know there are over 70 million blogs out there?! Some last only a day, others become opinion-makers. Others ? and this brings me to the areas that really interest me ? are becoming vehicles for political activism and social change.

How exactly do you suggest that blogs become vehicles for political and social change?
To cite a recent example, until the military closed down the Internet blogs were instrumental in providing us with information about the situation in Burma. And this has been the case for many years: blogs are an incredibly powerful tool to gather information about areas of the world which are traditionally ignored by the mainstream media. Today there are scores of individual bloggers who act as a global editorial team, deciding which news are worth propagating and which aren?t.

In your paper you argue that the biggest challenge that development NGOs face is redefining their claims to legitimacy as today?s internet technology is a new channel that can be readily accessed by activists in the South, who you say are more ?radical? than Northern NGOs would have us think ?
I don?t think that NGOs are purposefully unaccountable but that they are inevitably dependent on donor priorities. This dependency mechanism they are locked into forces them to put fundraising above any other priority. At the same time, all these Web 2.0 tools are giving a voice to their partners in the South, which they might not be able to control so easily. Many African activists and academics, for example, believe that it is not war, famine or corruption that causes poverty but the unfair global political and economic structures controlled by a handful of powerful governments and multinational corporations. In the South the Make Poverty History campaign was perceived to be misguided and patronising. Northern NGOs failed to consult adequately with their Southern counterparts about the political stance of the campaign, and this resulted in a deeper rift between them.

How do you suggest that NGOs go about changing this?
If Northern NGOs want to continue claiming to speak on behalf of the South, they have to come to terms with this transformed reality, and they have to start realising that their intermediary position has to change into a facilitative one.

Do you think that Southern civil society will be able to find a voice among the many on the internet, especially due to the northern bias of internet language and technology?
Interestingly, while English is the most diffused language on the Internet, it is only the 3rd across the blogosphere, after Chinese and Japanese. Increasingly, Web 2.0 ? because they are user-led and generated ? are speaking in their native languages. If we look at Wikipedia, for example, we can see tens of languages represented alongside the usual suspects. At the end of the day, it?s content that matters. If you are inputting interesting, relevant information, and if you are doing this regularly and professionally, you can be sure your voice will be heard loud and clear. The important thing is that we help Southern NGOs overcome the limitations that are preventing them from doing this.

Do you think it is realistic to assume that the south will be able to overcome the digital divide to the extent that internet technology will really take hold in LDCs?
The digital divide is often reduced to a debate over infrastructure: you either have it or you don?t have it. I am confident the South (or most of it) will catch-up with the North. By integrating, for example, the Internet with current mobile technology infrastructure, especially in Africa, many least developed countries can skip intermediate technological stages and move to wireless connections, more effective in areas with dispersed populations. Web tools integrated with mobile phone systems have been used to conduct advocacy campaigns, to inform farmers about correct market prices, to connect fishermen searching for large fish schools, and even to conduct remote training in rural areas. In some cases, developing countries are even ahead of us: in several African countries, people can pre-pay gasoline through mobile phones, and even do bank transfers. Yet, the digital divide is more than just infrastructure. It?s about access and entitlements. Simply giving computers to people won?t overcome those socio-economic barriers that prevent them from getting on line in the first place.

Do you have a particularly interesting or favourite website to suggest to our readers?
Plenty! There is, of course my own blog: http://globalab.wordpress.com. Another favorite of mine from the blogosphere is www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog. On international development I suggest http://rodrik.typepad.com.

If you would like to contact Alberto Masetti-Zannini please write to staff@vitaeurope.org