As many of you already know, InSTEDD was created as a result of Larry Brilliant’s TED prize back in 2006. The founders’ vision was to build an organization that would help make the world safer by making technological innovations accessible to humanitarian and public health organizations to help them do their work better, faster and smarter.
Over the last 5 years, we have significantly expanded this vision to incorporate a very important element of capacity building to ensure long term sustainability. We believe our value as an organization is not to just help people use technology, but rather to help them develop the skills and access the resources needed to design and evolve technologies. Local capacity building is essential for this process.
Channe Suy, our Product Manager at the iLab recently spoke at the TEDxPhnom Penh event. Channe emphasized to the audience that no one knows a problem better than the local people who experience it and therefore are the best people to lead the design and development of building solutions. Channe said:
I think Cambodians have a lot to share with the world and the TEDxPhnom Penh event was an important opportunity, not only for me, but for all Cambodians to come together to share knowledge and build support for each other.
This event is a step forward for Cambodians to share their ideas and knowledge with the world. Unfortunately, under TEDxPhnomPenh license were only accommodate 100 people, but I think people were inspired by the idea that TEDx represented. The Cambodians I spoke to were so passionate about sharing their ideas because they felt it was supporting both the individual and national development process. I will be volunteering to be part of organizing Khmer Talks, an event similar to TEDxPP that takes place in the local language to specifically target Khmer audiences. The first event will be taking place in May and I’m honored to participate!
If you can take a moment to watch Channe’s presentation, you won’t be sorry!
