Iman Bibars, PhD Regional Director, Ashoka Arab World Vice President, Ashoka: Innovators for the Public

Did technology advancement play a role in the Arab awakening and the major social changes that took place in Egypt?

To answer this question; we need to address four major points:

What do we mean by technology advancement?
How did the democratization of technology lead to a

sweeping, significant and successful social change; the case of the Egyptian revolution? What were the positive and negative effects of this new technology after the revolution? How does the power of technology leading to social change relate to social entrepreneurship ? The case of Ashoka Arab World and our fellows?

What do we mean by technology advancement in Egypts context?

Technology in its various

forms shapes behavior. In our context the internet and social media are our focus and were a major tool and force leading to the social uprising of the youth and other Egyptians.

Democratization of this new technology: the growth of internet access

Internet penetration has grown in Egypt from 12.6% in 2006 to 35.7% in 2011 Mobile phone penetration rate grew from 24% in 2006 to almost 102% in 2011.

High speed internet users reached 18 million households with an increase of 33% monthly

Democratization of this new technology; the spread of internet access

Approximately two million Egyptians joined Facebook between January and April 2011. 17.16% of the population (63.67% of the online population) have an active presence there currently
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How did social

media and internet lead to the sweeping social change in Egypt? THE CASE OF THE EGPYPTIAN REVOLUTION

The spark of revolution

Cries for social reform

in the Arab world would not have been possible without the technology that was available to us. While the old regime was sleeping, a revolution was forming due to the power of social media and its accessibility.
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The growing power of the social media

With the development of 2.0 technologies more bloggers and civic advocates used social networking websites and face book groups to expose government acts of violence and the brutality of social security

The growing power of the

social media
Social media called on all Egyptians to join protests prior to first day of protests 85000 pledged on FB to attend Revolution day

Social media spread ideas of discontent -- by the first 2 days of

the protests Egyptians created 32,000 FB groups and 14,000 FB pages

Creation of a revolutionary citizen media

The use of online

forums and websites gave young, tech-savvy protestors a sense of self empowerment The use of camera phones and video technology gave a visual immediacy to events on the ground.
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Social media was lifeline to protestors

Bloggers in Midan al

Tahrir followed up on and challenged what was being written by state media and also addressed rumors spread by the regime They circumvented government ban using satellite mobile, landline phones were used for voice tweet also

After revolution : social networking the new political playground

All political parties, SCAF

and the govt created and participated in on line forums # of FB users reached 10.6 million by end of 2011. (Egypt among top 20 countries) Youtube users reached 8 million MB, Freedom and justice and SCAF established armies of micro bloggers to influence discussions, defame opponents and spread rumors
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Empowering the regular citizen through social media: creation of ordinary citizen media
Ordinary, impassioned

citizens without a background in activism can now speak their minds and be heard. Mothers with Custody Facebook group is one example of this Egypts Jon Stewart, Bassem Youssef, is another.

Between 2010-2011 ; 13,500 active citizen news journalism websites were created

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The Aftermath
What are the positive and negative impact of this new technology in Egypt during and after the revolution?

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The new IT and social media changed paradigms of social change

It circumvented class, gender and religion and unified

people across and in spite of traditional divide It allowed everyone who had access to have a voice, interact and participate on an equal basis and in a democratic way Gave youth a virtual identity that is an extension of their reality based identity. It de-territorialized ones conception of a nation; nationalism became decentralized- it reflected a decentralized mobilization movement of a group that shared the same goals Unlike traditional political movements the use of internet and ICT tools helped Egyptian revolution be leaderless or leader rich..
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Social media: a new social divide

With the poverty rate

standing at 25.2% in 2011 and illiteracy rates of young women in Upper Egypt standing at 24%, a social and gender IT divide was created. Politically, the MB political campaigning that has taken place in Egypt in the last two years has been on the ground not using technology, creating an ideological divide.
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IT and social entrepreneurship : The case of Ashoka Arab World

Technology for social

change is a major tool used by SE and our fellows to have impact on the lives of millions of people in a significant and innovative way. It was used by SE for womens empowerment and for economic empowerment

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IT, social media and womens empowerment

Call to repeal all laws supporting women

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Ashoka Fellow Amani el Tunsi

Amani el Tunsi (Banat

wa Bas): using technology to educate and empower women, a platform to discuss sensitive and taboo subjects.

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Ashoka Fellow Amani el Tunsi

Created a virtual space for women to

freely exchange personal experiences, overcoming impediments to open communication.

Five million people from across the Arab region have accessed her website and listened to her 25 radio programs.
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IT, social media and economic empowerment: Palestine

Mohamed al Kilanys

Souktel Inc. utilizes mobile phone technology to make the job market more accessible for jobseekers He addresses one of the biggest causes of regional instability unemployment
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Ashokas work with ICT

Identify and invest in

social entrepreneurs (Ashoka Fellows) who are using IT, social media and other technological innovations to address new and emerging social and economic challenges. Create online networks through our ICT Fellows to mentor and encourage young startup social entrepreneurs.
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The future
IT, social media and citizen

media enabled people to express their ideas, share their views and promote democratization and social change. The change is sustainable on the economic, social and political fronts and we now have an increasing number of people with access to these tools.
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What is needed?
To reach out to our most vulnerable

and marginalized rural communities and uneducated women and find more userfriendly and appropriate tools in order to address the social divide. Social entrepreneurs and innovators working to do this should be supported, as their system-changing initiatives pave the way for a genuinely democratizing and accessible use of technology for empowerment.
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