Reflections from the Social Good Summit

I spent the past three days attending the Social Good Summit hosted by Mashable, Ericsson, the Gates Foundation and many other brand name sponsors. I was fortunate to be able to attend in person, but this event was also streamed live to audiences around the world. The event included an impressive collection of well-known names, business leaders, celebrities, innovators, young people and a handful of representatives of local communities. In-between the sessions I met many people, all who had their own big ideas. This was a conference about new ideas, about technology and its incredible power to impact change in our world. I wanted to attend this summit because I do believe that technology can help us do things better. But I do not believe that we can rely on technology alone. In the midst of this massive sea of ideas, all claiming to be new and innovative and better than any that had come before, I found one thing to be blatantly missing, the real problems. Now don’t get me wrong there were an overwhelming number of global challenges discussed over these three days. In fact I don’t think there was any peril left off the list of those mentioned; AIDS, malaria, joblessness, war, gender-based violence, lack of access to education, climate change and of course, poverty. And for each of these massive global problems there was a handy tech-savvy solution. But the last time I checked, a soccer ball with an outlet wasn’t going to bring electricity to the more than 550 million people without access across Africa. The text message I received from Didier Drogba, while delivering an important message, is probably not going to end malaria. While the problems were abundant, a nuanced understanding of these problems, especially from the perspective of those who are suffering, was markedly absent. Hope Through Health is proud to be an organization led by the local community. All of our programs are conceived, designed and implemented by local community members because we believe deeply that they are the experts. We are not saying that they can or should work alone. Our partners yearn for access to the education and technology that can help them do their jobs better. It is our job to connect them to what they need. This idea of practical application by local community members is what made the technological advances discussed at the summit so exciting. The most powerful message that I took away from the summit was that of how committed young people are to enacting positive change in our world. I deeply believe that this is true. If I could offer one piece of advice to these intelligent, ambitious young people it would be this: Please do not start with the solution. Start with the community. Listen to those who have a deep, intimate knowledge of the problems they are facing, garnered through their daily, lived experience, and ask them what they think the solution should be. Then bring all of your resources to the table, your brilliance, resourcefulness, connections, and access, and help them make their solution a reality.