Themes & Takeaways from the "Local Content Ecosystem" Roundtable

Over the course of a day and a half in March 2014 in Washington, DC, USAID, Caribou Digital and FHI 360’s mSTAR project brought together a group of 20 thought leaders – including technology providers, UX design firms, content creation organizations, academia, project implementers, donors, and policymakers – to discuss the lack of locally relevant content for mobile and digital technologies around the following: (a) content value chain (creation, curation, localization, packaging and distribution), and (b) rules and responsibilities for different stakeholders in the international development community. One week later, a follow-up roundtable was held at the iHub in Nairobi, Kenya with a group of 12 leaders from NGOs, mobile operators, research firms and technology entrepreneurs. A special thanks to Chris Locke, founder of Caribou Digital, for facilitating the DC roundtable and strengthening the structure of the discussion.

This document provides a high-level synthesis of the major themes addressed at the roundtables and key takeaways for all players involved.