• News
    • Latest news
    • News search
    • Health
    • Finance
    • Food
    • Career news
    • Content series
    • Try Devex Pro
  • Jobs
    • Job search
    • Post a job
    • Employer search
    • CV Writing
    • Upcoming career events
    • Try Career Account
  • Funding
    • Funding search
    • Funding news
  • Talent
    • Candidate search
    • Devex Talent Solutions
  • Events
    • Upcoming and past events
    • Partner on an event
  • Post a job
  • About
      • About us
      • Membership
      • Newsletters
      • Advertising partnerships
      • Devex Talent Solutions
      • Contact us
Join DevexSign in
Join DevexSign in

News

  • Latest news
  • News search
  • Health
  • Finance
  • Food
  • Career news
  • Content series
  • Try Devex Pro

Jobs

  • Job search
  • Post a job
  • Employer search
  • CV Writing
  • Upcoming career events
  • Try Career Account

Funding

  • Funding search
  • Funding news

Talent

  • Candidate search
  • Devex Talent Solutions

Events

  • Upcoming and past events
  • Partner on an event
Post a job

About

  • About us
  • Membership
  • Newsletters
  • Advertising partnerships
  • Devex Talent Solutions
  • Contact us
  • My Devex
  • Update my profile % complete
  • Account & privacy settings
  • My saved jobs
  • Manage newsletters
  • Support
  • Sign out
Latest newsNews searchHealthFinanceFoodCareer newsContent seriesTry Devex Pro
    • News
    • Davos 2019

    Why WEF is working with NGOs on the Fourth Industrial Revolution

    A new initiative launched in Davos will bring civil society organizations together to identify ways they can balance the potential of technologies such as big data and AI with the challenge of consumer trust.

    By Catherine Cheney // 01 February 2019
    WEF Executive Chairman and Founder Klaus Schwab presents his book, 'The Fourth Industrial Revolution' during a news conference in Cologny in January 2016. Photo by: REUTERS / Denis Balibouse

    DAVOS, Switzerland — For international NGOs, many of the technologies on the agenda at the World Economic Forum annual meetings in Davos, Switzerland, last week will require them to rethink the way they work.

    “Historically, INGOs have not had to transform in the face of radically evolving external circumstances,” said Mark Viso, CEO at Pact. “We could continue with business as usual, implementing projects based on donor-identified needs, and continue to do some good in the world. But, at Pact, we believe that this isn’t sufficient to end poverty, so we’re challenging ourselves to adapt — to transform— from the organization’s governance to the way we program.”

    “We’re at a point in time where we must take bold, transformative action if we are to ensure the advances of the Fourth Industrial Revolution benefit everyone,” he added.

    NGOs are increasingly aware of the fact that they cannot navigate this period of rapid technological change if they remain in their silos. That was part of the motivation for Preparing Civil Society for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, a new initiative launched in Davos last week, which Pact and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation are supporting.

    Over the next three years, the more than 25 organizations that have joined the effort will identify ways to pursue the benefits of technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence, while also addressing the challenge of consumer trust and protecting the people they aim to serve.

    Neal Keny-Guyer, CEO at Mercy Corps, speaks with Devex about the NGO of the future at the WEF meetings in 2018. Via YouTube

    A new report from WEF and Pact, published last week to coincide with the launch of the new civil society platform, highlights the importance of partnerships between civil society organizations and other sectors.

    “Our sector isn’t currently designed to be nimble, responsive to community needs or comfortable with a higher tolerance for failure that is necessary for iterative testing,” Viso said. “These are deep-seated challenges that we must work together as a sector with our community, government and business partners to tackle head-on.”

    Policy conversations around emerging technology don’t engage civil society organizations as much as they could or as much as they should, said Silvia Magnoni, head of civil society communities at WEF.

    She acknowledged some of the challenges this platform will face. It must figure out how to stand out among the growing number of technology and innovation initiatives in international development, how to involve smaller civil society organizations and not just large INGOs in this effort, and how best to convince these groups to invest in technology when they have scarce resources and must consider other competing priorities.

    In addition to its work with civil society organizations, WEF is also working closely with governments on what it describes as 4IR technologies, largely through its Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which launched in San Francisco but has since expanded globally.

    For example, at the annual meetings last year, WEF announced that Rwanda would be the first country to adopt performance-based regulations for all drones. Last week in Davos, WEF announced a new partnership with the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, which will pilot a newly launched drone toolkit for governments.

    More from Davos:

    ► Taking the conversation on ethics and technology beyond Silicon Valley

    ► For global development leaders, Davos is about making deals

    ► Y Analytics aims to bridge gap between research and impact measurement

    WEF is broadening its work on drones in Africa and exploring a pan African platform for drone regulation. At the same time, it is also deepening its work on health, for example by working with partners such as the Asian Development Bank to standardize global health data, and working with Rwanda to pilot precision medicine for cancer treatment.

    As WEF and its NGO partners work with Rwanda and other developing countries to embrace new technologies, the question is how to design these solutions in a way that builds trust for consumers, said Paula Ingabire, Rwanda’s minister of ICT and innovation. She noted that donors are often missing the mark when it comes to aligning with her innovation priorities.

    “Sometimes we’ve seen a disconnect between the priorities we have as a continent and where the money is flowing,” she added.

    Paula Ingabire, Rwanda's minister of ICT and innovation, on the importance of co-creation when developing projects focused on innovation and new technologies. Via YouTube.

    It is essential that private sector partners, development partners, and partners such as WEF help governments choose which innovations make the most sense to implement, said Carla Kriwet, who leads work at Philips on connected care.

    “Technology needs whole-system thinking; a co-creation environment where there’s trust between the participants, where we share the risk if it’s not sustainable or things go wrong,” she said.

    Pact’s Viso said the metrics of success for this new civil society initiative include NGOs dedicating the time and budget necessary to explore the adoption of new technologies, changing the type of talent they are looking for and attracting, and coming up with new governance and business models to take advantage of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

    • Innovation & ICT
    • Trade & Policy
    • Economic Development
    • Davos, Graubünden, Switzerland
    • Rwanda
    • India
    Printing articles to share with others is a breach of our terms and conditions and copyright policy. Please use the sharing options on the left side of the article. Devex Pro members may share up to 10 articles per month using the Pro share tool ( ).

    About the author

    • Catherine Cheney

      Catherine Cheneycatherinecheney

      Catherine Cheney is the Senior Editor for Special Coverage at Devex. She leads the editorial vision of Devex’s news events and editorial coverage of key moments on the global development calendar. Catherine joined Devex as a reporter, focusing on technology and innovation in making progress on the Sustainable Development Goals. Prior to joining Devex, Catherine earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Yale University, and worked as a web producer for POLITICO, a reporter for World Politics Review, and special projects editor at NationSwell. She has reported domestically and internationally for outlets including The Atlantic and the Washington Post. Catherine also works for the Solutions Journalism Network, a non profit organization that supports journalists and news organizations to report on responses to problems.

    Search for articles

    Related Jobs

    • Associate Manager – Remote Sensing and Crop Modelling
      Patancheru, India | India | South Asia
    • Research Fellow – Bioinformatics/Computational Biology
      London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM)
      Gambia | West Africa
    • Individual Consultant: Economist
      Mongolia | East Asia and Pacific
    • See more

    Most Read

    • 1
      Opinion: Mobile credit, savings, and insurance can drive financial health
    • 2
      How low-emissions livestock are transforming dairy farming in Africa
    • 3
      Opinion: India’s bold leadership in turning the tide for TB
    • 4
      Strengthening health systems by measuring what really matters
    • 5
      How AI-powered citizen science can be a catalyst for the SDGs

    Trending

    Financing for Development Conference

    The Trump Effect

    Newsletters

    Related Stories

    Sponsored by UN WomenOpinion: Feminist foreign policy in the digital age

    Opinion: Feminist foreign policy in the digital age

    Devex NewswireDevex Davos Dispatch: And the mountains go quiet

    Devex Davos Dispatch: And the mountains go quiet

    Davos 2025Development at Davos: Here’s what to watch

    Development at Davos: Here’s what to watch

    Devex NewswireDevex Davos Dispatch: Day 1

    Devex Davos Dispatch: Day 1

    • News
    • Jobs
    • Funding
    • Talent
    • Events

    Devex is the media platform for the global development community.

    A social enterprise, we connect and inform over 1.3 million development, health, humanitarian, and sustainability professionals through news, business intelligence, and funding & career opportunities so you can do more good for more people. We invite you to join us.

    • About us
    • Membership
    • Newsletters
    • Advertising partnerships
    • Devex Talent Solutions
    • Post a job
    • Careers at Devex
    • Contact us
    © Copyright 2000 - 2025 Devex|User Agreement|Privacy Statement