Joyce BARNATHAN, president, International Center for Journalists (ICFJ):  "We need to ask what economic impact a project has – even beyond the political impact.  If your program manages to raise the vaccination rates in a country, what kind of value does that have for society?  What other kinds of experts should be asked – who are not now being talked to – for their assessments of the project's effectiveness?"

Mark WHITEHOUSE, director, Media Development, IREX:  "What can we do in the media field to address some of the problems documented by the indices? ...  A good M&E [monitoring and evaluation] index would actually help you consider how to address some of the concerns identified by the index."  

Troy ETULAIN, senior advisor, Media Development, USAID:  "Often technology is brought into a situation with the goal to create scalability."  The most innovative users of technology "first find a community and use technology to increase the dynamism of that community.  Scalability should not necessarily be our goal, but if we achieve it the project changes – we need to think beyond simple community to the larger public good."