Philanthropic multimedia

Interview with Ed Granger-Happ, innovative founder of NetHope

This post is also available in Spanish

Ed Granger-Happ, founder and current Chairman of NetHope, spends each day providing dozens of the largest non-profits with cutting-edge technology so that they can, in turn, successfully connect with their respective networks. His job also entails partnering and collaborating with many tech companies who are promoting interactive capacities along with infrastructure support and linkages. I strongly believe that Ed is truly filling a niche in the interactive/IT “supply chain” in the world of development and relief!

NetHope is a unique collaboration of 29 of the world’s leading international humanitarian organizations working together to solve common problems in the developing world. Their mission is “to be a catalyst for collaboration among international humanitarian organizations. By working together to solve problems and share knowledge, we help ensure that our members have access to the best information and communication technology and practices when serving people in the developing world.”

Ed also served for many years as CIO at Save the Children, where he grappled with complex preparedness and response to emergencies connectivity as well as the more general IT support systems for the agency’s worldwide field program delivery structure.

Q) Can you describe how the inspiration or original idea for creating NetHope came about?

A) During my first few weeks at Save the Children, I was trying to get a handle on how information moved from donor to child and back again in our sponsorship program. The key bottleneck was the lack of good communication connections with our field offices, what I called our data “red zone.” When I began comparing notes with other NGOs, I heard a common problem: how were we going to get technology out those last 100 kilometers to where it could do the most good? It seemed to me that we could do this better,faster and cheaper if we did it together rather than each of us reinventing the wheel. This was the first compelling hypothesis that led to NetHope. The other was that we would be a lot more interesting partner to technology companies if we came as a group rather than continued with the one-off grant requests.

Q) Would you please share a bit of your education and background?

A) I’m a liberal arts person by training; a believer that education is not as much about the accumulation of facts than the exercise of the mind — something I read while in grad school. I’ve been a mental jogger ever since. My business and technology education has been through three careers to-date, a decade each on wall street, management consulting, and nonprofit work.

Q) You are known as a great storyteller when explaining what interactive technology offers, in this case, the world of development and emergency action, in understandable terms. Could you share a story here with us?

A) My favorite story is about the mother and child in Bangladesh waiting in line for a food ration. Rather than retell it, I’ll refer your readers to the YouTube video.

Q) How might you describe how innovation is working within or as a result of the collaboration and network of NetHope?

A) Most NGO IT departments have been reduced to a “light-on” only operations as a result of the recession. During this same time NetHope has moved strongly “up the pyramid” to “mission moving” IT, running a half dozen promising IT4D (Information Technology for Development) initiatives for and with our members. That’s a strong example of how a collaboration can accomplish innovative pilots when individual organizations are constrained.

Q) What factors do you think are key in determining the success of such innovation and collaborative action in your work, and in particular, in emergencies?

A) For innovation to flourish, you have to experiment, and this means having a high tolerance for failure. That’s not an option for most donor-supported organizations. A membership organization like NetHope can provide a mutual fund-like avenue for innovation, moving risk to the collective. During emergency response, there is even less tolerance for experimenting, and rightfully so. The objective is to move as fast as possible with what has been pre-tested. Preparedness is paramount, so the innovation must come before a disaster ever hits.

We will have more specific examples May 13th of NetHope’s work in the field and its innovative collaboration model!

Other posts that might interest you:

• NetHope’s “Network Relief Kit” fits in a backpack!
• “A Developing Story” aggregates international philanthropic multimedia
• The philanthropic use of innovative media to fight donor fatigue

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