Introducing the Digital Principles first Advisory Council
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As the stewards of the Principles for Digital Development (Digital Principles), the Digital Impact Alliance (DIAL) continuously seeks ways to include diverse voices, thoughts, and opinions heard within the community into the tools and resources we create. Last month, we opened a nomination period to create the first Digital Principles Advisory Council – an eight-person council comprised of the experts in the ICT4D field hailing from different geographies, sectors, and organizational types, and each nominated by members in the community.
Throughout the six-week nomination period, DIAL collected 46 nomination letters and resumes from the Digital Principles Forum and the confidential online form and shared them with a pre-selected five-person Selection Committee for review.
The nomination period closed on November 9th and the Selection Committee spent three weeks reviewing applications before identifying eight primary candidates and seven alternate candidates for the Council. Selection Committee choices were based on criteria primarily looking at experience working with technology-enabled development programming and specialized skills within digital development. In addition, the diversity of gender, geographic location, sector representation, and organization type were also considered. With these parameters in mind, the Selection Committee was pleased to see the candidate breakdown as follows:
- Gender: 16 females and 30 males
- Geography: 12 from Africa; 4 from Asia; 11 from Europe; 1 from Latin America; 17 from North America (US and Canada); and 1 Global (multiple continents)
- Organization Type: 3 Donors, 29 Implementers, and 14 Others (independent contractors, private sector, governments, etc.)
The Selection Committee held a conference call on Thursday, November 29 to discuss personal choices for the Council and came to an agreement on final selections the following day, settling on the eight finalists. As soon as final selections were set, primary candidates were notified and it was exciting to have each accept the invitation to serve!
We are pleased to introduce the Digital Principles first Advisory Council:
Jaclyn Carlsen – USAID (US)
Stefan Germann – Fondation Botnar (EU)
Henry Mwanyika – PATH (Africa)
Channe Suy Lan – InSTEDD (Asia)
Sandra Aluoch-Simbiri – UNHCR (Africa)-
Nora Lindstrom – PLAN International (EU)
- Lilian Nduati – independent/co-founder of Akirachix (Africa)
Josh Mandell – IBM Global Affairs (US)
Each appointed member holds strong credibility and reputation within the digital development community and a firm commitment to promoting and adhering to the Digital Principles. We are confident that together, we will be able to provide clear input and thoughtful strategy into our future projects and investments as we deepen engagement with the broader ICT4D community.
