A while back, I had the chance to sit in on a phone call with Karin von Hippel and two members of her team, Justine and Guy about what role crowdsourcing and mobile can play in the development of post-conflict reconstruction projects. The concepts and ideas they talk about are pretty mind-blowing. Obviously, I’m a novice and really can only tell you that I know there’s a lot I don’t know, but here’s what got me excited about how crowdsourcing might be able to help post-conflict development:

Personalize it. The idea of living in a conflict zone doesn’t seem real to us (or at least, not me!). With crowdsourcing, there’s the opportunity to make it very personal. If people sent out pictures and told their stories, it would help us understand what it is like. It also engages the community there to try and protect their victims and to empower their heroes.

Understand the real requirements of the community. One of the problems with the current aid system is that by the time a proposal is submitted, funding is approved and aid is sent, it is often a couple of years late. A possible solution to this is getting real time data on what challenges aid should be addressing. Where’s the money supposed to get to and are those needs shifting? Another solution is to cut through the noise. Are the people talking the loudest not representative of what the average person needs?

Verify the information we currently have. Aggregate security information or potentially get information on suicide bomb attacks from bystanders. On a practical level, crowdsourcing and mobile can be used for gathering information as basic as, “How many sick people do you have?” or “How much food do you have for the coming year?” Imagine how this would change the look of foreign aid as we work with people to address specific needs.

This is a new frontier for crowdsourcing in many ways. Courageous discovery is required to bring value to open development. It is important to realize that we’ll need to try things and then slowly adjust as we figure out what’s working and what isn’t. We know the current system needs to be fixed and while we don’t have all of the answers, we can take steps in the right direction. It would be great to hear thoughts on how to improve strategies from a variety of people – in true crowdsourcing fashion.

Photo by: The US Army …on Flickr!