I am Nancy Neelley Hicks – I go by Neelley – and I am Director of ICT4D Church Initiatives at United Methodist Communications – the global communications agency of The United Methodist Church. We have over 13 million members worldwide – many of them in low-resource parts of the world. We cannot wait until we have millions of dollars for high-end solutions, so we focus on working with what is appropriate for the context, accessible to those already living in low-resource areas, and affordable, so that we can usher in a new world of communications each and every day. Working with appropriate, affordable and accessible tools – our ultimate goal is sustainability – so that the human spirit can flourish – not just in some parts of the world – but especially in the margins – where people are so often forgotten and ignored.

We do research through secular organizations already finding success in this field, and have compiled a discussion paper on these best practices, called Using Technology for Social Good. It is a free, downloadable document through umcom.org/global.

Many of those featured in the guide will be part of our September conference on ICT4D called Game Changers Summit in Nashville, Tennessee. We welcome you to register now, and be part of this 2.5 day event.

Today, you get a sneak peek of some of the conference's content. I'd like to introduce you to some in our team of experts who will each share from their own areas: Sean McDonald, CEO of FrontlineSMS and Marc Abbyad, Program Manager for MedicMobile.

Introducing: Bruce Baikie, CEO of Inveneo;

Introducing Sean McDonald, CEO of FrontlineSMS

And introducing Marc Abbyad, freshly back from Nepal, Program Manager for Medic Mobile