Tempered Enthusiasm for Digitally Enabled Networks in International Development

night, but they number in the hundreds of millions. Malnutrition contributes to the deaths of more than 3.1 million children annually; more than 350 children die every hour. One fifth of our global population does not have access to electricity, one in ten people on earth live without clean drinking water, and nearly half a billion women cannot read or write. While we have made tremendous progress in the fight against poverty, these numbers are still too high. Moreover, those who work to reduce hunger know that the years ahead will test the mettle of our global food system, with increased climate variability, strained natural resource systems, and expanding populations. In the complex fight against global poverty, we rarely come across a gamechanger, but we have one now. The digital connectedness that has enveloped our planet is proving transformative for those working in international development. New ways of collecting data, sharing knowledge, exchanging money, and connecting people have created the potential for radical change in how we work to improve the lives of the poor. From crowdfunding microfinance, to SMS-enabled crop disease mapping, to citizen journalists broadcasting from conflict zones, digitally enabled networks offer opportunities to address old problems in new ways. The widespread use of mobile phones by the poor has brought greater access to information and services, as well as important efficiencies through improvements in communication. In the past we often have failed, however, to employ information and communication technologies (ICTs) in ways that have sustainable, scalable impacts on the poor. The ICT for Development (ICTD) field has been steered by a combination of technophilic fervor and academic analysis, with insufficient attention to on-theground realities, business models, and an understanding of how people in developing countries value and use technology. Now a growing number of skeptics caution that the enormous potential for ICT-driven change that excites those working in international development may be far from the reality that materializes among