Projects

Organizations, tools, research

A working portfolio of organizations founded, tools shipped, and research and convenings led over the past twenty-five years.

Social enterprises and initiatives I founded

Data & AI tools I co-developed

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Zoltner Consulting Group

DatAgro

A multiple-award-winning mobile and SMS market-information service that raised the productivity of Chilean smallholder farmers and cooperatives, delivering crop prices and agronomic guidance straight to farmers' phones. The short animation explains how it worked – switch between English and Spanish narration below.

Zoltner Consulting GroupChileAward-winning
WISE – Wireless Solutions for Fisheries in Senegal
FHI 360 · TechLab

WISE – Wireless Solutions for Fisheries in Senegal

Senegal's fisheries employ more than 600,000 people, yet artisanal fishers and the women who process their catch are squeezed by a lack of timely price information, credit, and best-practice know-how. WISE, funded by Qualcomm Wireless Reach, put advanced wireless technology to work for them: an electronic fish-market price system over a 3G network, mobile-money loans through local microfinance institutions, mobile video on processing best practices, and health and HIV-prevention education – with a deliberate focus on closing the gender gap. A collaboration of FHI 360, Qualcomm Wireless Reach, the Senegalese Food Security Commission, Intermondes, and TIGO-Senegal.

FHI 360Qualcomm Wireless ReachSenegal 2014–2016
FHI 360 · IDRC

CHAI – Enabling Farmers to Adapt to Climate Change

In Uganda, where farming is mostly rainfed, drought and erratic weather hit hard and farmers get little information to cope. CHAI, implemented by FHI 360 and funded by Canada's IDRC, turned weather and market data into action: more than 120,000 farmers receive seasonal and short-term forecasts, agricultural advisories in their own languages, weekly crop and livestock prices, and low-cost rainwater-harvesting guidance – over SMS, interactive FM radio, community loudspeakers, and print, and two-way, so farmers text or call in questions and hear answers live on air. The project cut crop loss and damage by as much as 65% – worth $474–573 more per household each year – and won the 2023 UN Global Climate Action Awards for Information and Communications Technology Solutions.

FHI 360IDRCUganda120,000+ farmers

Research & convenings I led

Publications & recognition