As USAID Appears at MIT Build Peace, Cuban Twitter
UNaddressed
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, April
5 -- Behind
the presenters
at the "Build
Peace" conference
at MIT on
April 5 was a
screen listing
the sponsors,
including not
only the UN Development
Program but also
the US Agency
for
International
Development.
Amid the talk
of using
technology for
peace it was
impossible not
to ponder USAID's
role in
developing a
faux /
parallel
"Cuban
Twitter," exposed
by the AP
-- and the
United Nations
connection
Inner City
Press reported
on two days
ago, but which
the UN's
cut-off noon
briefing on
April 4
did not allow
inquiry into.
The MIT Media
Lab / Center
for Civic
Media event
highlighted
project like
one on the
Haitian -
Dominican
border, a
website called
Israel Loves
Iran, and a
project on Cyprus.
The World Bank
was present
(though on the
screen with
USAID it was
identified by
its project's
name, The
Hive). But who
would ask
about Cuban
Twitter?
USAID's Office
of Transition
Initiatives lists
the Cuban
project as
closed -- but
still has a
project in
Syria, for
example. The
website says that
"USAID's
framework
legislation,
the Foreign
Assistance Act
of 1961, as
amended,
section 641,
requires that
all programs
under the
Foreign
Assistance Act
be identified
appropriately
overseas as 'American
Aid.'"
Was that done
with Cuban
Twitter?
USAID
spokesperson
Matt Herrick's
statement,
also on the
website, did
not address
the
United Nations
link, on which
UN deputy
spokesperson
Farhan Haq
declined to
comment on
April 3 -- and
did not take
questions on
at the truncated
April 4
briefing, video here.
James
Eberhard
worked on and
with the US
strategy since
at least July
2010. But he
is also
described
as "James
Eberhard, CEO
and founder of
GeoPoll...
GeoPoll was
recently used
by the United
Nations to
complete its
MY World
global survey,
bringing in 13
percent of
total
responses in
weeks. It is
also being
used by the
World Food
Programme
on an ongoing
basis to
assess
nutrition
access in
specific
regions
within the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo."
Of
this last, the
UN itself
said:
"In
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo, a
partnership
with GeoPoll
is
helping us to
conduct the
poll via
mobile
surveys, so we
will be able
to gather data
from large
numbers of
respondents
who are
otherwise
unreachable in
a country with
limited
internet
connectivity.We
expect
to reach
approximately
15,000-18,000
people in the
DRC in the
coming
weeks."
Eberhard
has
spoken
at the UN:
Forty-Ninth
Session
of the
Commission for
Social
Development, 9
to 18 February
2011
Tuesday
8
February 2.
Conference
Room: D, NLB
Organizers:
Division
for Social
Policy and
Development,
co-sponsored
with Search
for Common
Ground
Theme:
Youth-led
Social
Development
and Young
Philanthropy
Speakers:
Mr.
Ryan Allis,
co-founded
“iContact”;
Mr. James
Eberhard,
Founder and
Chairman,
Mobile Accord.
, 
