Bringing Clean Water to Africa

Case Foundation report about project to bring clean water to 10 million people throughout sub-saharan africa.

Mentions the PlayPump water system "water system is a children's merry-go-round attached to a water pump that provides easy access to clean drinking water for schools and communities in Africa. This innovative design operates like a windmill turned on its side. As children play and the merry-go-round turns, the water is pumped into an above-ground storage tank and later accessed by means of a simple tap. " Click for more.

Also, the Kickstart hand/hip pumps and a link to the "Innovations in Water, Sanitation and Energy Services for Poor People" webcast, which includes video presentations of new water projects and interviews with developers of innovative water solutions.

Kenyan Mobile Phone Operators

See the Celtel Kenya and Safaricom for details about coverage (ck sc) and data services (ck sc).

See here for visitors to Kenya info Safaricom.

It is possible to buy a Kenyan SIM card before arriving but is perhaps easier to do on arrival.

Celtel dealers Safaricom dealers

BBC World Class - School Linking

See BBC World Class for information about linked (several in Kenya) schools, experiences of school linking, resources fro linking schools etc...

Wider Horizons - 4 go to Kenya

"Four British teachers embark on a trip to gain first-hand experience of life at the Moro High School in Kisumu, Kenya."

Watch the video about 4 UK school teachers and their experience in a rural school in Kenya.

UNDP Kenya's Growing Sustainable Business

"The GSB initiative in Kenya is actively facilitating innovative enterprise solutions to poverty in a variety of sectors. " For an up-to-date list of projects see the GSB Kenya page.

This site has been updated recently and the Freeplay sustainable energy and Farmer Information DRUMNET projects are now listed as past projects.

A current project of potential interest is the Celtel Kenya project: "With only 5 million out of 36 million Kenyans on a cellphone network, there is a vast potential market of Bottom of the Pyramid consumers who still lack telephony. By creating a broad network of independent community payphone entrepreneurs, Celtel can tap into this as yet unreached market". Download project document

KickStart - developing & marketing new technologies in Africa

"KickStart, established 1991 in Nairobi, is a non-profit organization that develops and markets new technologies in Africa. These low-cost technologies are bought by local entrepreneurs and used to establish highly profitable new small businesses." Website includes information on the technologies and business model. The technologies are not currently ICT based but they are "always searching for new profitable small business models for Africa, and as we find them we will continue to develop and promote the required new technologies. Although only thorough market research will tell, we see the potential for many new small business models including everything from low-cost well drilling or improved milk transport services, to the generation and sale of electricity or the low-cost provision of communication and business services in small towns".

Automated Data Collection in Western Kenya

From the CODATA 2002: Frontiers of Scientific and Technical Data conference

A presentation about field data collection for an anti-malaria project in Western Kenya using GPS, pda and solar powered battery chargers (for more...).

And another about "The Role of IT and Data Management in Expansion and Change at a Remote Research Unit in Kenya".

CODATA is the International Council for Science : Committee on Data for Science and Technology

KARI - Kenya Agricultural Research Institute

The Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) "is a premier national institution bringing together research programmes in food crops, horticultural and industrial crops, livestock and range management, land and water management, and socio-economics. KARI promotes sound agricultural research, technology generation and dissemination tre food security through improved productivity and environmental conservation".

KARI publications

Rural Finance Learning Centre - Marketing for small-scale producers

A book (pdf available online) on marketing intended for small-scale producers, contains an interesting anecdote about Kibrigiwi farmers' experience with marketing of tomatoes and the history of the current switch to French Beans, sweet potatoes and maize.

The Rural Finance Learning Centre "is about providing financial services for people living in rural areas. This Learning Centre aims to assist organisations in developing countries to build their capacity to deliver improved financial services which meet the needs of rural households and businesses." A variety of training, online lessons and publications are available.

DrumNet

DrumNet, "a project of PRIDE AFRICA, was launched in late 2002 to deliver a set of critical business support services directly to the African smallholder farmers. It is designed as marketing, financial and information services for mainstreaming resource-poor farmers. It combines information, commodity transaction services and financial linkages into a single business service model that provides access to markets, market information and credit for the rural poor to support sustainable agriculture and rural development. "

CAB International

CABI - "Our mission is to improve people’s lives worldwide by providing information and applying scientific expertise to solve problems in agriculture and the environment. CABI-Africa Regional Centre (Nairobi) focuses its activities on six themes that impact on the livelihoods of the rural poor in Africa.

• Rural knowledge systems
• Smallholder commodity chains
• Sustainable pest management
• Alien invasive species
• Conservation and utilisation of biodiversity
• Information and communication technologies"

Kenyan Agriculture Commodity Exchange

Kenya Agricultural Commodity Exchange (KACE)

"The KACE website, www.kacekenya.com, has been developed to serve as a virtual library of agricultural information and also as a virtual trading floor or platform for commodities.

Virtual library
The content is developed to include information on major farmers' organizations and their commodity interests, input suppliers, commodity traders / brokers, other marketing services (e.g. storage, transport, credit) providers, trade policies and tariffs, export quality requirements for different markets, etc. The content is continuously reviewed, updated and expanded to keep it most current and relevant.

Virtual trading floor
This is an electronic trading platform developed to enable clients to place commodity offers to sell and bids to buy. KACE IT staff facilitate trade transactions between client sellers and buyers in an e-commerce fashion.

Through RECOTIS and the website, KACE clients are linked into Kenyan, regional (Eastern Africa) and international markets, enabling them to transact export and import trade most efficiently."

Macs Join the Masai

"The new school in the Masai village of Oloolaimutia in East Africa runs day and night now, even though the majestic tribe lives without electricity or running water in its nearby compound of mud houses."

The story of building a school and using Macs in a Masai village. Not much about how the Macs are being used though...

"The Masai Power and Education Project is dedicated to building schools, installing electric power and providing computers and other educational equipment for children in Africa. For more information, visit www.buildafricanschools.org."