Key Quote
“There’s no way we could do any of what we do without the innovative potential of technology or the accountable incentives of democracy…They are both important to our mission and I’m optimistic about the ways each will continue to influence our work, and each other, as we continue helping every city become more livable in a more digital future.”
We make many decisions in our lives, but there’s one thing we don’t get to choose: where we are born. Delfina Irazusta is on a mission to make everyone’s hometown their favorite town—or at least one they never feel they have to leave—by unleashing the untapped potential of cities in today’s digital age. The technology-driven nonprofit she founded furthers this mission by connecting more than 500 cities to one another globally. Its aim is to equip public officials with the inspiration, technological resources, and digital tools they need to make every city more livable—and empower citizens to ensure accountability at the polls if they don’t.
Growing up in the rural interior of Buenos Aires province, Irazusta was always aware of the vast disparities between where she was born and the identically named metropolis to the east of the region. It didn’t bother her. But this was a lonely opinion, and she watched helplessly as many of her friends and neighbors moved away in search of greater opportunity and quality of life elsewhere. “I know that the things my hometown lacked compared to larger cities—such as diverse cultural experiences and high-quality educational opportunities—were far from unique, and that with the right approach we could make any city, big or small, the kind of place where people would want to stay and raise a family,” Irazusta recalls. “And yet, no one in the public sector was leading that conversation.”
So, she did it herself.
In 2014, Irazusta launched a nonprofit civil association called Red de Innovación Local (RIL). The organization, whose name translates to Local Innovation Network, is focused on achieving Irazusta’s ‘good enough anywhere’ mission of maximizing the potential of every city. She does this by working with municipal government teams to promote the democratic development of their localities by building collaborative networks to spark new ideas, developing innovative public policies based on those ideas, and improving their own management capabilities to implement them.
“The model is simple,” Irazusta explains. “RIL creates connective networks between municipal officials, provides them with tools and knowledge, and then works with them individually as they solve the particular challenges in their own respective cities.”
One of RIL’s most impactful initiatives, Collaborative Cities, is often where this journey begins. It helps cities learn from one another and solve problems together through virtual knowledge-sharing communities that RIL creates on platforms like WhatsApp. Irazusta’s team also created a platform called PORTAL that helps more than 5,000 users from cities across Latin America and Africa work together to solve public challenges in municipalities globally. Altogether, RIL helps connect more than 1,800 mayors and other local officials from more than 300 cities, including over 60 from Latin America and 20 from Africa.
After these local officials have been sufficiently inspired with the political will to move forward, RIL’s Efficient Cities program helps them plan out how to turn good ideas into data-informed realities with a range of resources including self-diagnosis tools, management toolkits, and systematized plans. Other RIL initiatives that help facilitate this process include Sustainable Cities and Innovative Cities—which includes a platform called http://www.i-Marketplace.org for local officials to upload concepts for new programs and then connect to impact funds and others who can actually fund them—to the Digital Cities initiative which helps cities take maximum advantage of technology for the benefit of their citizens. For example, RIL’s Human Development Dashboard uses the power of data to help public servants better understand and respond to the needs of their citizens proactively.
In short, RIL’s programs and tools allow cities to evaluate where they are, decide where they want to go, and map out how to get there—plus access the tools, resources, and funding opportunities they need to actually make it all happen. And technology is clearly at the heart of it all. It’s the driving force behind everything from the evaluation tools and management software RIL disseminates to the platforms it builds and the knowledge-sharing communities it maintains.
“Technology allows us to provide innovative tools and resources and it gives everyone access to information,” Irazusta explains. “It breaks down silos and it puts a lot of power in the palm of people’s hands.” And this is crucial, she says, because if you want to solve public challenges you need people to act; and if you want them to act, you have to provide them with the right information—such as what RIL does for city officials through its collaborative networks.
“Technology is also what gives us the power to inspire governments to make innovative changes,” Irazusta continues.
Irazusta believes technology is key for democratic governments today and knows it will only become more important in the future. The possibilities that excite her most include new tools for community-based collaboration and improved translation technologies that can help everyone understand each other better no matter where they live or what language they speak.
“Private businesses already drive so many of the important innovations that help us unlock the true potential of cities,” Irazusta explains. “At that same time, there is a huge need for tools that are designed specifically to take on public policy challenges. That’s why I always urge our friends in the private sector to work closely with the public sector to understand its logic and help it do the thing it does worst: innovate.”
Innovation is at the heart of realizing Irazusta’s goal of a world of livable hometowns. That’s why it’s in the name of her nonprofit. And that’s why it will continue to drive her work every day.
“There’s no way we could do any of what we do without the innovative potential of technology or the accountable incentives of democracy,” Irazusta explains. “They are both important to our mission and I’m optimistic about the ways each will continue to influence our work, and each other, as we continue helping every city become more livable in a more digital future.”
Key Takeaways
- RIL creates connective networks between municipal officials, provides them with tools and knowledge, and then works with them individually as they solve the particular challenges in their own respective cities.
- One of RIL’s most impactful initiatives, Collaborative Cities, is often where this journey begins. It helps cities learn from one another and solve problems together through virtual knowledge-sharing communities that RIL creates on platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Microsoft Teams..
- Other RIL initiatives that help facilitate this process include Sustainable Cities and Innovative Cities—which includes a platform for local officials to upload concepts for new programs and then connect to impact funds and others who can actually fund them—to the Digital Cities initiative which helps cities take maximum advantage of technology for the benefit of their citizens.
