Last month’s NetHope Member Global Summit was a fantastic success. Many, many thanks to all of our sponsors for their support, and a special thank you to Cisco for being such a generous and accommodating host.

The Summit was a great event for NetHope – the largest yet in terms of attendance and sponsors – and we are deeply grateful for the ideas, energy, and spirit of collaboration that attendees brought to make the week a memorable one.

And it was a busy week! 30 breakouts, 8 member showcases, 15 plenary sessions, and 5 workshops kept us engaged and helped us learn from one another, while the birds-of-a-feather dinners, opening reception, and our plenary dinner kept us entertained and provided great opportunities for rich networking and collaboration. A couple of highlights:

• David Yarnold, President of The National Audubon Society, gave a great keynote outlining how Audubon has put technology at the center of their work, using GIS to support program operations, marketing, and constituent engagement. Yarnold noted, “we’ve put technology at the heart of our reinvention… Our investment in technology [has directly impacted] our core mission.”

• Aaron Levie, CEO of Box, was entertaining and insightful as he shared his perspectives on a wide variety of topics in a fireside chat. He confirmed Box’s commitment to the nonprofit space and highlighted the partnership between NetHope and Box, noting that cloud services could potentially hold strong value for NGOs.

• Randy Pond, EVP of Cisco, always able to share more ideas and energy in 30 minutes than one would think possible, reiterated Cisco’s longstanding support of NetHope and its members. With a focus on solutions deployment, supporting sector transformation, and ongoing technology leadership, Cisco is committed to remaining a leader in corporate social responsibility.

• Lori Harnick of Microsoft reiterated Microsoft’s longstanding commitment to enabling NGOs and partnership with NetHope. Lori highlighted YouthSpark, support for Emergency Response, and making Office365 available to NGOs around the world as evidence of Microsoft’s strong commitment to the sector.

Of course, we spent a good amount of time focused on NetHope, too. We paused to look at the progress we’ve made through the strategic direction discussions. After several months of reflection and conversation, we’re ready to write our next chapter. As I said in my keynote, NetHope remains committed to serving our members’ respective missions while simultaneously helping our member organizations recognize, understand, and thrive in the face of the rapid changes happening throughout our sector. To do so, we’ll both refine our current program offerings and add new ones. We’ll share more in the coming weeks and months, so stay tuned for details.

As we wrap up this year’s Summit, I want to thank all Summit attendees again for making my first Summit such a fabulous experience. NetHope is what we make it, and if the energy and commitment we observed at the Summit is any indication, we’re in great shape to make our next chapter the best yet.

On the final day of the Member Summit last month, 22 NetHope members participated in a 4-hour workshop devoted to the elusive skill of influence. The first course in the new NetHope Leadership Institute, "The Art of Influence" tackled the challenges faced by participants seeking to lead teams, win buy-in, drive initiatives, and convince audiences to lend support. A facilitation team from The Frontier Project introduced various tools and offered an assortment of models for rethinking the way we seek to grow our powers of persuasion. Herewith, three of the biggest takeaways from the workshop -- take them to heart, put them to work, and kickstart your own influence strategies ahead of a new year of fresh challenges.

1. Map Stakeholders.

The strength of one's influence is linked directly to the intentionality of one's preparation. In other words, if you want to win support, you'd better plan ahead.

Here's a way to begin: block the time to sit down and list the individuals or groups that have a stake in your whether your idea or effort will find the support it needs to be successful. Think of all players across your organization and outside it that will at some point touch the project. Then be honest about where they fall on the spectrum:

• are they likely to help advance the project?
• Or are they likely to block it?
• Or are they likely to be neutral?

If you know who matters, and identify how they're likely to feel, you'll be able to start tracking who to approach, when to approach them, and how best to do it. A robust stakeholder map will help spotlight possible roadblocks, surface potential allies, and inform every move you make from here on. A weak map -- or no map at all -- means your blind spots remain, guaranteeing you'll be surprised by a speedbump at some point in the process, and miss out on opportunities along the way.

2. Measure Hopes and Fears.

While most of us like to believe that logic is the most powerful tool in our professional kit, it registers at a distant second to its unreasonable cousin: emotion. Rich logic is fundamental: your pitch, your project, and your program have to make sense in the context of the problem you're trying to solve. But stakeholders don't make decisions to support or dismantle based only on the logic of your plan. They're human beings, which means they make every decision inside a messy thicket of hopes and fears.

Return to your stakeholder map and ask of each person and party that made the list:

• What are they hoping for right now, in the context of their personal and professional lives?
• What are they fearful of?
• And how does my plan or approach engender greater hope -- or prompt greater fear?

Your approach to those you wish to influence has to run through both these gates. And you'll greatly increase your likelihood of winning support for your efforts if you speak directly to the hopes of fears of your audience. That's something you can only do if you've done the pre-work to get inside their world, walk in their shoes, and imagine the world as they see it.

3. Frame.

You've mapped the terrain of possible partners and potential detractors. You've done the necessary work of seeing your work the way they might see it. Now it's time to shape your message and pace your approach. To do it well, you'll choose the words and references that will raise their hopes and lessen their fears. You'll leave out the words and phrases that will do the opposite. And you'll tell a powerful story that places your audience in a role of protagonist, empowering them to bring about positive change by participating in the work you're presenting.

Of course, expanding your powers of influence isn't as simple as three steps, but the preparation and intentionality required to move through these steps ensures you'll be in a position to persuade more effectively.

Want more? Connect with the NetHope office to learn more about upcoming workshops like this one, where you'll get an opportunity to work on real issues you're facing, receive relevant resources, and find hands-on support in an engaging, collaborative environment.

In this edition's NETFIVE: Lego phones, a neutral net, and the new stratospheric ISPs. Plus, an argument over innovation's stamina.

1. Modular Mobiles

The Brief:

Named after their lead mechanical designer, Google’s Project Ara launched their latest prototype of the modular smartphone: the Spiral One allows users to customize almost any aspect of the phone, from camera to battery to RAM to Bluetooth and beyond. You name it.

NetHope Take:

“The phone designed exclusively for 6 billion people.” That's a bold but technically correct claim. Project Ara recently launched the most advanced prototype of a modular smartphone to date, containing components or modules that can be interchanged or replaced, allowing complete customizability for users to truly make a smartphone theirs. Check out the video below.

Since its initial release, techies have been geeking out about Spiral One, which has proven much more functional than its predecessor. The previous prototype introduced at Google I/O in June received rave reviews from the audience and created a large fan base--despite failing to fully load.

With the development of modular smartphones, users can not only upgrade their ram, camera, and battery, but also add various other modules capable of an array of functions -- like, say, read a user's blood oxygen levels. Google’s technical lead for Project Ara demonstrated the use of a pulse oximeter module, which measures oxygen content simply by touching the sensor.

“Our goal is to drive a more thoughtful, expressive, and open relationship between users, developers, and their phones,” says Paul Ermenko. “To give you the power to decide what your phones does, how it looks, where and what it’s made of, how much it costs, and how long you’ll keep it.”

Why does this matter? According to BI Intelligence, nearly one in every 5 people in the world owns a smartphone. As component technology advances, the customizable functions made possible by such advances enable organizations to build for their needs. While Ermenko's angle is toward consumer markets, the same vision applies to those working in the field.

Read More:

Wired / Mashable

2. Net Neutrality

The Brief:

In the battle over net neutrality, advocates have won a big supporter: the President of the United States.

NetHope Take:

Internet users should be treated equally, and therefore, Internet service providers cannot discriminate and provide different Internet speeds to households or companies. In short, an ISP should give you the bits you asked it for, and as quickly as it can. Deliberately slowing down that data should not be an option.

When earlier this year, the FCC proposed rules for regulating the Internet, Verizon challenged the move in court, and the DC Circuit Appeals Court dismissed the rules and ruled in favor of Verizon. This month, we saw President Obama advocate for net neutrality, stating that the FCC should reclassify the Internet under Title II of the Telecommunications Act. Doing so would classify internet service as a utility, similar to water: both have invested in laying down the piping and groundwork to provide homes with their services. “I’m asking [the FCC] to recognize that for most Americans, the Internet has become an essential part of everyday communication and everyday life.”

Hear President Obama’s stance on net-neutrality: watch the video behind the icon below.

Read More:

The Verge / Wired

3. SpaceX: Your New ISP

The Brief:

The first privately-funded company to reach orbit and the first privately funded company to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station, SpaceX is on to another first: they’re in the early stages of developing 700 micro-satellites that can deliver unregulated and cheap Internet access around the world.

NetHope Take:

Private entrepreneurs are occasionally high-minded enough to tackle major global challenges. Elon Musk is one of them. Widely known for co-founding PayPal and Tesla Motors, his other little endeavor has been generating a lot of attention: SpaceX, an experimental space transport services company. It recently confirmed it's in the early stages of developing micro-satellites which would provide cheap, unregulated Internet access across the globe.

The proposed micro-satellite army will cost SpaceX over $1 billion to develop and create, and they also face large technical and regulatory hurdles as well. However, all that hasn’t stood in the way of SpaceX's previous plans, and it doesn't seem to have deterred their pursuit of this project.

Currently, 2 out of every 5 people are connected to the Internet: the astonishing number of connected humans is exceeded only by the number who aren't yet on the grid. If SpaceX succeeds, it will contribute to the invention of the future of connectivity, bringing online tens of millions of future beneficiaries of humanitarian work.

Read More:

The Verge / WSJ

4. Internet. Via Balloon.

The Brief:

What SpaceX is attempting via micro-satellites, Google is attempting via balloon: blanket the world’s poor, remote, and rural regions with Internet beamed down from the skies.

NetHope Take:

If this is the new space race, we're happy to be cheering on the runners. Be it by drone, balloon, or laser, leading technology firms are determined to get Internet where it's never been before. It's been a year since Google announced its balloon Internet idea--Project Loon--courtesy of its researchers at Google X Labs. And despite early skepticism, there are now 30 balloons in the stratosphere, testing a system that could transform many of NetHope's member's efforts--from disaster relief to education to healthcare.

According to Google, each balloon could provide coverage for an area of around 780 square miles, or about twice the size of New York City. While expanding reach, Google's aiming to drive down costs: fiber is expensive, and while balloons are cheap, if the technology being tested at this moment twelve miles above the earth is proven reliable, beaming down from above will be spectacularly cheaper than piping in from tubes below.

Watch the video behind the icon below to see Project Loon's self-description.

Read more:

Technology Review. Slate.

5. What We've Done. What Are We Doing?

Every now and then a media institution celebrates an anniversary, and in its looking back, we all benefit from some self-reflection. BusinessWeek marked 85 years of publishing recently, and to celebrate, they named their picks for the most disruptive ideas since their founding. You can read the whole list here, and we promise it's worth perusing.

From GDP as a measurement of national capital to the VCR, from the bar code to Information Theory, from email to open source to the Pill. It's a survey of all we've done to and for ourselves. We'll make you read it to see the top 10.

But there's more than nostalgia at work here. There's also a call to courage and invention. Just as BusinessWeek was unveiling its epic list, Aeon magazine was investigating whether we've lost the urge to reinvent. Has innovation stalled? Has our Golden era come to a close so quickly?

We think not, but it's worth taking the criticism as fuel to keep pushing further, faster. As Michael Hanlon writes,

"If the pace of change had continued, we could be living in a world where Alzheimer’s was treatable, where clean nuclear power had ended the threat of climate change, where the brilliance of genetics was used to bring the benefits of cheap and healthy food to the bottom billion, and where cancer really was on the back foot. Forget colonies on the Moon; if the Golden Quarter had become the Golden Century, the battery in your magic smartphone might even last more than a day."

Let's get there.

by Gisli Olafsson

Communications capacity and tools are the lifeline of any major emergency response effort such as the fight to combat the ongoing Ebola crisis in West Africa. And quality information, made accessible to key decision makers, is paramount in enabling responders to make timely, informed decisions that save lives and ease human suffering.

When a large emergency strikes anywhere in the world, emergency responders spring into action with essential services like health care, food, water, shelter, psychosocial support and much more. But what is it that enables the effective and efficient distribution of these services? Its emergency telecommunications. For those of us in the Western world we might ask two questions that illustrate the importance of communications capacity:

• How would you reach the health and safety resources in your community if you did not have a telephone or some other communication device?
• How would your health and safety agencies respond to a large scale emergency without an entire suite of communications and collaboration tools to coordinate their response?

At NetHope, we have been working with the international development community since the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia to provide essential communications capabilities to response organizations. We don’t do this alone and certainly can’t take credit for all the good work that has been done. We are a proud member of the UN’s Emergency Telecommunication Cluster and get invaluable technical, financial, and product support from technology companies all over the world. And the response organizations themselves are the real heroes as they carry out incredibly challenging rescue and relief work on the frontlines.

While every emergency is different, we have learned from the patterns and common challenges. The tools we use - and how they’re utilized - are remarkably similar from one emergency to the next. The core scenarios - and tools to meet those needs - include:

• Secure Communications (Two Way Radios) – Emergency responders are often deployed to insecure environments that have no reliable means for communications. Two way radios, with communication channels that are dedicated to communications between field responders and home base operations, are the primary means for staying in contact and operating safely.
• Synchronous Phone Conversations (Telephones mobile and fixed line) – Mobile phone penetration and expanded mobile network coverage makes mobile phones an ever increasingly popular tool of choice for one to one voice communications. When it comes to simple voice communications between two individuals, most emergency responders will turn to mobile phones (assuming the local networks are operational). If local networks are not in working order, emergency responders will often use satellite phones for their one to one voice communications needs.
• Field Assessments, Information Sharing, Data Driven Decision Support, Logistics and myriad other data solutions (Computers, Laptops, Smart Phones and More) – The emergence of the internet and various technical approaches to connecting one user to many others has created many opportunities for much more efficient and timely response. Whenever possible, response organizations utilize internet connections enabled by local providers as they are the most readily available and the most cost effective. When local mobile network operators or internet service providers cannot offer internet access a host of other satellite solutions such as satellite broadband terminals (e.g. BGANs and IP ) as well as larger satellite ground stations (e.g. VSATs) are brought in.
• Mass Messaging to the General Public (Telephones) – The proliferation of mobile phones has meant that important messages can be sent to the general public. These messages can alert the communities about status of response efforts, warning signs for disease outbreak, and directions to local services. These are powerful tools as “word travels fast” so even communities that have low mobile penetration rates and, in some cases low literacy rates, can be helped.

Those foundational technology and communications needs are largely consistent, while the specific use and application of those tools varies based on the scope, scale and nature of the emergency. Likewise, the local context - the existing infrastructure and resources of the impacted communities and populations - impacts the use and efficacy of these different tools.

When emergencies strike developing countries, the decisions on which tools to use are influenced by two factors – local providers may not have services that reach the affected areas and in areas where they can provide local services, they may not stand up to the usage requirements by the surge of emergency responders entering the region. Those cases are hardly one size fits all and effective strategies must be based on thoughtful collaboration with governments and other local stakeholders.

For NetHope and virtually every response organization we work with, the approach is grounded in three core principles:

1. Utilize the services provided by local mobile network operators and internet service providers whenever possible.
2. Where local services cannot be provided in the short term, look to satellite based solutions to address the crisis at hand in the interim
3. Work with local providers and governments to “build back better” after the initial crisis has been addressed.

The role of telecommunications in every emergency setting is fundamental. With a thoughtful, strategic and collaborative approach it can be an ever more effective enabler of timely, lifesaving response and sustainable, lasting recovery.

Gisli Olafsson is the Emergency Response Director for NetHope. A former ICE-SAR Team Leader and UNDAC Member, he is the author of The Crisis Leader. Want to know more about Gisli's work? Follow him on Twitter by clicking the icon below.

The Stories Among Us

What triggers your insight? What motivates you to do your best work? What pushes you to excel? If you took notice of the conversations happening at the Member Summit last month, you'd have seen ideas spark, realizations strike, and plans get made -- all due to the steady stream of stories pouring from members to fellow members. The more a community shares what it's doing, the more we'll encourage and inspire each other to do more.

In the coming weeks, we'll be profiling a series of CIOs from across the industry, highlighting the vision and leadership that's driving their companies to succeed, and motivating the rest of us to do our best work. In these pages, you'll hear their stories, see them answer questions about their professional strategies and personal practices of innovation, and learn what opportunities and challenges they see coming next.

Let us know who you see doing outstanding work, providing excellent leadership, and shaping the conversations in their companies and outside them. We want to tell their stories, too. Send an email to hello@magazine-nethope.org with your suggestions.

Winter in Davos.

At the end of January, NetHope CEO Lauren Woodman will be traveling to the snow-packed slopes of Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, to attend the 2015 World Economic Forum. The annual meeting gathers thought leaders and innovators from around the world and hosts a string of collaborative meetings to explore problem-solving strategies for the most urgent problems we're facing now -- and the ones to come.

The full programme, listed here, highlights ongoing workshops like the “Debates of Tomorrow” series, which focuses on the interplay between technology and society, geopolitics and economics. Exploring what societal, geopolitical and economic contexts might look like in the future as a result of technological revolutions and which questions we need to debate now to be able to shape the way technology will impact us in the future. That's a place of work and thought where NetHope and its members are right at home.

As the conference nears, Lauren will be contributing to the World Economic Forum's online publication, discussing the new “strategies of collaboration” that activate the potential of emerging technologies to buttress the efforts of humanitarian organizations who are working to address our most exigent global dilemmas. Her argument: if NGOs are to broaden their relevance, enhance their responsiveness, and deepen their impact, they must actively embrace technology as central to achieving their missions.

Reach out to Lauren and the NetHope team in advance of Davos with thoughts or insights, or meeting requests or introductions. Write: hello@magazine-nethope.org. And follow the World Economic Forum by tapping the icon below.

If you've not visited the NetHope Solutions Center in a while, it's time to stop by.

A teeming station of resources, products, services, conversations and events, there's really no other place like it. Recently relaunched, it offers a friendlier, simplified look and feel, and brand-new features and tools.

Below, we highlight a few of the upcoming connection opportunities, and hope you'll take advantage of what best serves you. And if you have something you'd like to invite the community to benefit from, don't hesitate to let us know: hello@magazine-nethope.org.

Dec 16, 2014: WEBINAR with World Vision: Developing Economies of Scale in mHealth

In November, we kicked off a three-part webinar series on the MOTECH Suite. In this second installment, World Vision will highlight these mechanisms as well as current challenges to scaling sustainable mobile health solutions within the context of developing countries.

In the first session, Jonathan Jackson, Dimagi CEO, discussed three specific pathways to achieving economies of scale in mHealth: user expansion, program expansion and vertical expansion. To see the recap, click here.

The community of NetHope members continues to expand this year, and we're delighted to welcome five new organizations to our growing alliance. In the coming weeks, you're invited to reach out to them, welcome them to our global team, and offer your guidance for how to make the most of the consortium we build together.

Welcome to the NetHope community!

Ipas

Founded in 1973, Ipas is a global nongovernmental organization dedicated to ending preventable deaths and disabilities from unsafe abortion. Through local, national and global partnerships, Ipas works to ensure that women can obtain safe, respectful and comprehensive abortion care, including counseling and contraception to prevent future unintended pregnancies.

Management Sciences for Health (MSH)

Saving lives and improving the health of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people by closing the gap between knowledge and action in public health, MSH believes health is a human right, realized progressively through access to health care for all and healthy living conditions. Healthy people and communities contribute to economic vitality and political stability.

Medical Teams International

Medical Teams International provides medical and dental care, humanitarian aid, and holistic development programs to all people in need, regardless of religion, nationality, sex, or race. We respond to disasters around the world—and here at home—by sending teams of volunteer medical professionals and medical supplies to care for the sick and injured. We also mobilize long-term health promotion initiatives, collaborating with established partners within each community to ensure that our programs have a sustainable impact.

Mercy Ships

Mercy Ships, a global charity, has operated a fleet of hospital ships in developing nations since 1978. Following the 2000-year-old model of Jesus, Mercy Ships brings hope and healing to the poor, mobilizing people and resources worldwide. Mercy Ships uses hospital ships to transform lives and serve nations one at a time.

Samaritan’s Purse

Samaritan’s Purse is a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world. Since 1970, Samaritan’s Purse has helped meet needs of people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine with the purpose of sharing God’s love through His Son, Jesus Christ.