United Kingdom
Loren has worked at Executive level in a range of organisations in the charity sector including at Indigo Trust and as CEO of L'Arche. She is now CEO of the Sam and Bella Sebba Charitable Foundation. She is also a senior consultant for charities and grant-making bodies and a journalist. She has extensive expertise in international development, transparency and accountability, human rights, social justice, entrepreneurship/innovation, migration, violence against women and girls, health and well-being and the use of new technologies to stimulate social change.
She holds a PhD from Cambridge University and completed the Executive Programme for Not for Profit Leaders at Stanford University’s business school. She was recognised as one of 2014’s Powerful Women to Watch in the Huffington Post and regularly writes in the international Press including Al Jazeera, the Guardian, Huffington Post and CNN.
She was a non-executive director at Praekelt Foundation, which develops open source, scalable social tech solutions for emerging economies. She independently consults (or has consulted) for a range of organisations including Comic Relief, OpenOwnership, Oxford Insights, Yoti, John Brown Media and the ONE Campaign.
Loren was Executive of Indigo Trust for 8 years, a foundation specialising in supporting tech innovation for social change across sub-Saharan Africa. Before her role at Indigo Trust, Loren held various senior positions in the third sector including a role as a research associate at Demos, managing a £2.6 million health and well-being programme for the Foyer Federation and working as both a consultant and employee on a range of international development programmes across sub-Saharan Africa.
She is also an internationally renowned public speaker, facilitates sessions at international conferences, provides training and coaching and has worked and travelled extensively in sub-Saharan Africa. She works internationally, having resided in the UK, South Africa, Uganda and Tanzania.
She is passionate about social justice, cycling, hiking, well-being, innovative and collaborative ways to address social issues, travel and parenting (she is a mother of twin boys). She enjoys writing about these issues and actively participating in projects and activities involving them.
In recent decades we've seen the emergence of a new generation of giant non-profit foundations funnelling billions into global development efforts, from education and culture to technology and public health. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is one of the largest, with an endowment of almost $40bn (£24bn).
With all the excitement about the role of technology in contributing to social change and improved development outcomes across Africa, it is easy to forget that only 7% of the continent's inhabitants are online. While mobile phone usage is widespread at 72%, this masks regional differences.
The stakes are high in Nigeria's presidential election on March 28. Ethnic tensions, Boko Haram's violent attacks, and the "north-south divide" have spurred speculation about a post-election crisis. Citizens are watching closely and they want to be heard. Simple new technologies are giving them a chance to scrutinise their candidates and parliament more closely and to have their say.
At times people may wonder why charitable foundations would consider funding projects within the information technology and communications (ICT) sector in Africa, when there is already significant private sector investment.
Over the last few years, there's been significant progress towards making beneficial ownership transparency (BOT) a global norm, with 18 countries making beneficial ownership-related commitments in their Open Government Partnership (OGP) National Actions Plans.
On December 30 2007, incumbent President Mwai Kibaki was announced the winner of Kenya's highly contested presidential elections. Against a backdrop of decades of economic frustration and simmering ethnic tensions, the violence that ensued, largely along ethnic lines, shocked both the nation and the world, threatening to set progress of the development community's golden child back by decades.
There's a lot of talk about bringing the bottom billion out of poverty and rightly so; this should be the aim of most development initiatives. But sometimes we have to think outside the box when devising programs to achieve this goal.
It's hard to trust our leaders. Across the globe, the gap between rich and poor is widening while seldom a week passes without a political figure or big brand being exposed for avoiding tax, involvement in corrupt practices or making decisions that blatantly work against the public good.
Technology innovation hubs have sprung up across Africa. These spaces provide tailored support to their communities and create a collaborative environment which can spark innovation, stimulate economic growth and help them tackle societal challenges in novel ways. Despite their potential, many hubs are struggling to become financially sustainable and it's taking time for their members to create social impact or build profitable businesses.
At the opening ceremony of the OGP Summit, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau highlighted some of the challenges involved in regulating social media giants like Facebook and Google. Scandals from Cambridge Analytica and beyond have raised genuine concerns around privacy and data protection that are spilling over into the transparency movement.
By André Petheram, Scarlet George, Walter Pasquarelli, Natalia Carfi, Loren Treisman, Richard Stirling Oxford Insights conducted a midterm evaluation of the Open Contracting Partnership's work under the Translating Resource Revenues Into Effective Services & Infrastructure project. This is a project funded by the BHP Foundation, running from the end of 2017 until 2022.
This year has seen a record number of protests across South Africa. People are taking to the streets to vent their frustrations with corruption, poor service delivery and broken promises. But in the digital age, are there better ways for citizens to get their voices heard?
The country is hailed as Africa's Silicon Savannah and when citizens head to the polls again on August 8, they will be using technology to make sure these elections are free and credible. A game-changing court ruling recently declared that results announced by constituency tallying centers must be regarded as final and a transparent system to transmit results has been created to prevent rigging.
Here's a copy of the latest article written by Fran Perrin and Loren Treisman. It appears in the latest edition of Trust and Foundation News, the publication of the Association of Charitable Foundations. It's reproduced here with their kind permission.
On May 7 in South Africa the "born frees" - those born after the apartheid era - will be voting for the first time. Twenty years since the start of democracy, the country has transformed beyond recognition. But the sun has set on Mandela's golden era and progress since has been patchy.
At the recent Open Government Partnership summit in London, Sierra Leone applied for membership and participating governments made fresh announcements, such as Tanzania's President Kikwete committing to enact a freedom of information law.
Over the last few years, there's been significant progress towards making beneficial ownership transparency (BOT) a global norm, with 18 countries making beneficial ownership-related commitments in their Open Government Partnership (OGP) National Actions Plans.
(Loren Treisman, PhD, serves as Trust Executive for the Indigo Trust in London. A version of this post originally appeared on the Indigo Trust's blog on July 1st, 2013.) Last month, The Indigo Trust hosted a working lunch which brought together data experts and civil society representatives to explore how we could encourage UK Foundations to publish their data in an open format in order to make grant giving more effective.
Three days after finishing her PhD, Loren Treisman went to East Africa and her life started to take a different turn. Now she is Executive of Indigo Trust, a philanthropic fund that awards mostly small grants to small, community-driven projects in Africa that use technology for social change.
We're delighted that today the UK Anti-Corruption Champion John Penrose is launching a new Beneficial Ownership Leadership Group at the [Open Government Partnership Summit in Ottawa](http://ogpsummit.org). This transnational coalition of governments will drive a global policy shift towards free, open beneficial ownership data and set ambitious best practice.
Open journalism has turned all of us into experts, each with our own unique experience, skills and perspective that contribute to the global story. Guardian Activate Johannesburg was the first of its kind in Africa, focusing specifically on how innovations in technology can enhance journalism, increase transparency and make activism more effective.
With a focus on innovation, transparency and citizen empowerment, The Indigo Trust also supports development outcomes in health, education and other arenas. Established in 1999, The Indigo Trust is a UK-based grant-making foundation that funds technology-driven projects to bring about social change in Africa.
For many, the Panama Papers merely confirmed what they'd long since suspected. A large industry has flourished to help the rich and powerful exploit tax havens to avoid paying legitimate taxes on the bulk of their profits. Over 11 million leaked files also reminded us how very intertwined the worlds of business and politics have become.
In recent years, innovation, entrepreneurship and private sector involvement has emerged as a favoured route out of poverty for many development organisations and funders. Its potential to reduce unemployment, tackle societal challenges and stimulate economic growth has sparked significant interest and investment. The tech sector is amenable to this approach.
There's been a lot of hype around digital citizen feedback platforms. The lure of using mobile phones to receive reports from citizens anywhere across the globe, neatly documented on a digital map has led to a flurry of applications. The Kenyan mapping platform Ushahidi has over 10,000 implementations.
They say video killed the radio star but this is far from the truth. According to the UN, around 44,000 radio stations broadcast to at least five billion people-that's 70 percent of the population worldwide.
Digital technology is enabling them to access, share and create information at a lower cost, greater speed and scale than ever before. If citizens harness this power effectively, they can monitor and track election results and irregularities, make informed choices and mobilise young people to vote and vet their leaders.
Bridgetown on the Cape Flats in Cape Town isn't where you'd immediately head to seek out social innovation. High unemployment and poverty have left communities plagued by drug addiction and gang crime; the lack of opportunity leaving many feeling hopeless.
Loren Treisman is Executive of Indigo Trust, a grant making foundation which supports technology-driven projects in Africa. She shares her thoughts ahead of her participation to AfricaCom, where she will speak on the role of foundations in supporting technology innovation hubs, and on innovative mobile services for rural communities.
Technology innovation hubs have been celebrated for their potential to spark innovation, stimulate economic growth and tackle societal challenges in novel ways. These hubs vary dramatically according to their objectives and country context, but all help to build, galvanise and upskill tech communities in-country.
It's almost indisputable that a free, independent and professional media plays a crucial role in democratic societies. The media holds governments accountable to the electorate as well as investigating important issues, fostering active debate and enabling people to express different points of view.
Corruption isn't the exclusive preserve of governments and multinational corporations. It affects all of us. Transparency International estimates that 75 million Africans paid a bribe last year. And most surveyed believed corruption is on the rise. The poor are worst affected, as those who rely on public services are twice as likely to have paid a bribe.
It's hard to trust our leaders. Across the globe, the gap between rich and poor is widening while seldom a week passes without a political figure or big brand being exposed for avoiding tax, involvement in corrupt practices or making decisions that blatantly work against the public good.
You may wonder how social media could possibly be used to improve access to critical services like healthcare in Africa, a continent where only 8.6% of the population are online. Activists in Nigeria are doing just that. They're utilising its power to amplify the voices of the marginalised and ensure government responds to their needs.
Risk is an important part of my job. I'm the executive of Indigo Trust, a UK based grant-making foundation that provides small grants (usually £10 000 to £15 000) to organisations using web- and mobile-based technologies in innovative ways to bring about social change in Africa.
Corruption is rife in Africa, costing the continent $148 billion each year - money that could be better spent on improving education, health services or infrastructure. Citizens are demanding better. Last year, mobile penetration rose above 80% in Africa and an increasingly tech savvy citizenry are beginning to utilise this technology to hold their governments to account.
With hundreds of millions of Africans owning mobile phones, citizens are becoming increasingly well connected. This is providing a powerful opportunity for citizens to access critical information about their parliaments and to report on human rights violations, corruption and poor service delivery.
Here's a copy of the latest article written by Fran Perrin and Loren Treisman. It appears in the latest edition of Trust and Foundation News, the publication of the Association of Charitable Foundations. It's reproduced here with their kind permission.
As Ghanaians head to the polls in presidential elections, the debate over the country's leadership has been going on for at least a year. Helping to frame that debate is Kinna Likimani. She heads Ghana Decides, a group of Ghanaian bloggers using social media to discuss the elections.
Next year, South African citizens will take part in their fifth democratic election. While the African National Congress will undoubtedly triumph, it can no longer rest on its laurels. In a country with a long history of civil action, people are getting tired of waiting for the improved living conditions they've long been promised.
By Loren Treisman All across Africa, social entrepreneurs are using mobile and web-based technology to hold government to account and demand the changes they need. It's a powerful medium with a lot of potential to contribute towards social change. However, there is much to be done to ensure local ownership and maximise impact.
With hundreds of millions of Africans owning mobile phones, citizens are becoming increasingly well connected. This is providing a powerful opportunity for citizens to access critical information about their parliaments and to report on human rights violations, corruption and poor service delivery.
Following the recent Open Government Partnership Summit in London, there's a lot of excitement about opening up government data. What's really interesting is how this data can be utilised by citizens to enable them to make more informed choices and demand improved services in sectors such as health.
Last week, on 20th June 2013, The Indigo Trust hosted a working lunch which brought together data experts and civil society representatives to explore the how we could encourage UK Foundations to publish their data in an open format in order to make grant giving more effective.