Neema Iyer

Neema Iyer
Born1986 or 1987 (age 37–38)
Alma materEmory University (MPH)
Occupation(s)Technologist, artist
Websiteneemaiyer.com

Neema Iyer (born c. 1986 – c. 1987), is a technologist and artist. She is the founder and the former executive director of Pollicy, a civic technology organization based in Kampala, Uganda.

Early life and education

Iyer was raised in Nigeria by parents who are Tanzanian and Indian.[1] She then attended Emory University and completed a Masters in Public Health with a focus on epidemiology and statistics before returning to Africa.[1][2]

Career

After Iyer moved to Uganda in 2013,[3] she worked in information and communications technology, and then founded the civic technology organization Pollicy.[1] Pollicy focuses on the intersection of data design and technology, and has received grant funding from Facebook and Mozilla.[1] In 2014, she was the Text to Change programme coordinator in Uganda, which included work on a program to improve access to clean water.[4]

Pollicy and Iyer have conducted research, including about gender-based violence in Africa, and online safety for women,[5] with reports illustrated by Iyer.[3][6][7] In 2020, after Iyer submitted the concept idea to the Mozilla Creative Awards, Pollicy partnered with Mozilla to create the "Choose Your Own Fake News" game,[8] which her team spent months developing.[9][10] Iyer drew the characters for the game, and emphasized in her designs the target audience of Africans.[9] Other Pollicy projects include a mockumentary about digital security developed with support from the University of California, Berkeley Center for Long-term Cybersecurity,[8][11] and a "Digital safe-tea" game designed with a "choose your own adventure" format to promote online safety awareness for women in Africa.[12]

In July 2021, Iyer was appointed to the Global Women's Safety Advisory Board at Facebook.[3] She was a 2021-2022 Digital Civil Society Lab fellow in the Stanford PACS program of the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society.[13] In 2022, Iyer and Pollicy announced a Digital Ambassadors program to promote the development of skills and access of young women in Africa to online technology.[14]

In 2023, Iyer stepped down from her role as the executive director of Pollicy, and continues as an advisor and board member.[15]

Honors and awards

  • 2021 Quartz Africa Innovator[16]
  • 2021 Digital Equality Award, Research and Knowledge Builder category, Coalition for Digital Equality (CODE)[17]
  • 2021–2022 Digital Civil Society Lab (DCSL) Practitioner Fellow, Stanford University[2][18]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Gangji, Inaara (June 18, 2021). "Driving Feminist Data For Change". Forbes Africa. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Neema Iyer". Stanford Center for Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity. Stanford University. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  3. ^ a b c Balungi, Claire (July 31, 2021). "Neema Iyer: Blazing a trail in technology and data". Daily Monitor. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  4. ^ "Uganda : TEXT FOR CHANGE, AKVO partner to provide clean water to UGANDAN communities". Mena Report. April 5, 2014. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
  5. ^ Taylor, Lin (January 4, 2021). "Love, tech and online abuse of women in the time of coronavirus". Thomson Reuters Foundation News. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  6. ^ "REPORT: 30% of Ugandan women have experienced gender based harassment online". The Independent. August 21, 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  7. ^ Whitehead, Anne (August 20, 2020). "One in three women harassed online - survey". Daily Monitor. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  8. ^ a b Harding, Xavier (June 11, 2020). "Getting to Know Pollicy, the Creators of Choose Your Own Fake News". Mozilla. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  9. ^ a b Salaudeen, Aisha (June 10, 2020). "'Choose Your Own Fake News' game wants to tackle misinformation in East Africa". CNN. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  10. ^ Lichtenstein, Amanda (June 16, 2020). "A new game plays with ideas about how disinformation works in East Africa". Global Voices. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  11. ^ "Fall 2019 Arts Contest Winners". CLTC. University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  12. ^ Fallon, Amy (August 13, 2021). "An innovative game is helping Ugandan women to combat online violence". Quartz. Archived from the original on August 13, 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  13. ^ Kannan, Prabha (August 15, 2022). "Neema Iyer: Digital Extractivism in Africa Mirrors Colonial Practices". Stanford HAI. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
  14. ^ Osuagwu, Prince (March 9, 2022). "Nigeria: Digital Ambassadors - Policy to Elevate Over One Million Young School Girls to Tech Enterpreneurs [sic]". AllAfrica. Retrieved 21 July 2022 – via Gale.
  15. ^ Iyer, Neema (2 Aug 2023). "Reflecting on My Journey as Founder and Leader". neemaiyer.com. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
  16. ^ "Quartz Africa Innovators 2021: Female innovators lead the way". Quartz. Yahoo. September 22, 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  17. ^ Olupot, Nathan Ernest (July 23, 2021). "CODE Announces Winners For The Inaugural Digital Equality Awards". PC Tech Magazine. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  18. ^ "DCSL Names Practitioner Fellows 2021-22". Stanford PACS. January 14, 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.