Social Innovation Can Help Sub-Saharan Africa

Social innovation, defined as “people’s participation from all walks of life in order to benefit society”, can definitely help Sub-Saharan Africa in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. And it does not even have to be digital!

This was the unambiguous response of Taiwan’s Digital Minister Audrey Tang to the question, “Can Digital Social Innovation Work in Sub-Saharan Africa?”  The question served as the focal point of the discussion in the webinar organized by the Africa Liberal Network (ALN), Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) and Liberal International (LI), in close cooperation with Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF) for Freedom Sub-Saharan Africa. Held on 27 May 2020, the webinar was broadcasted live on the Facebook pages of all the organizers.

“Social innovation — any new way for organizations in civil society to contribute to the public good — is essential for anything, not only to counter coronavirus”, said Tang.  Drawing from the experience of Taiwan, she said that the digital level of bandwidth in all the social innovations they introduced is “very, very small.” “You can power all the technology we used by WhatsApp, SMS, phone calls or television level of bandwidth.”

The issue of applicability of digital social innovation to Sub-Saharan Africa was raised because the region’s internet penetration and mobile phone use, while rapidly increasing, are still lower than global average.  This, as ALN President Gilbert Ouédraogo observed, citing the report of Alliance of Affordable Internet, could be due to the fact that, “African consumers are paying some of the highest rates in the world for internet access as a proportion of income.”

In her intervention, LI President Hakima el Haite heralded Taiwan’s effective response to the pandemic, noting in particular the country’s successful contact-tracing and quarantine procedures which were undertaken without resorting to state of emergency or widescale lockdowns.  For this reason, Taiwan was able to avoid what she termed as the “second crisis.” She said: “(W)e have to deal with the health crisis while relaunching our economy. And this is such a mess because to relaunch the economy is more complicated than we imagine.”

Considering Taiwan’s success in containing the pandemic, FNF Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Director Jules Maaten, who also served as the webinar’s moderator, opined that the country’s exclusion in the World Health Organization (WHO) is “one of the enduring scandals of our time.” El Haite agreed, noting that: “This is why Liberal International is a big defender of the participation… of the seat… of Taiwan within the WHO. We at the Liberal International believe that the help of any country is of value for all. We are also fighting against any political machinations which can deprive any member or human being of his right to health.”

The webinar ended with a pledge from Tang to be an “advocate” for Sub-Saharan Africa’s social innovation.  She said that Taiwan’s willingness to extend assistance could be best seen in the launch of the website TaiwanCanHelp.Us, and its participation in conference briefings and bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the World Health Assembly (WHA).

With the support of Tang, Sub-Saharan Africa’s embrace of digital social innovation could be sooner than expected.