Africa’s Gift to Silicon Valley: How to Track a Crisis

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/weekinreview/14giridharadas.html?sudsredirect=true

Ushahidi also represents a new frontier of innovation. Silicon Valley has been the reigning paradigm of innovation, with its universities, financiers, mentors, immigrants and robust patents. Ushahidi comes from another world, in which entrepreneurship is born of hardship and innovators focus on doing more with less, rather than on selling you new and improved stuff.

GRND Lab

http://www.grndlab.com/

Built solar system developed and installed in southern Kenya to provide power for the new Living with Lions research camp. (see 'work' link)

Google takes internet to remote Kenyan villages

In recent years the mobile phone has emerged as the main modern communications link for rural areas of Africa. From 2002 to 2007, the number of Kenyans using cellphones grew almost tenfold to reach about a third of the population, many of whom did not have land lines, according to the International Telecommunication Union. more

Dial 'M' for 'Mackerel': Can New Mobile Services Promote Economic Empowerment?

Mobile phones now easily outnumber fixed lines in many developing countries, spurring telecom providers to roll out mobile services tailored to these customers. One of the most striking examples is mobile banking in Africa, particularly after the success of mobile payment services like M-Pesa in Kenya, a country counting some 15 million handsets today compared with only 15,000 ten years ago. more

Kenyans invent bike phone charger

Two Kenyan university students invent a device that allows bicycle riders to charge their mobile phones. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/world/africa/8166196.stm

Boots on the Ground' - The Only Way to Ensure Impact in ICT4D Projects?

The following text formed the base of Avallain's presentation at eLearnig Africa 2009)

In the context of our so-far successful Organic Farming information system "Infonet-Biovision", we have reached the critical phase of ensuring effective dissemination to the target audience, small scale farmers in rural Kenya.

more

East Africa gets broadband

Kenya has abolished sales tax on computers and in last week’s budget ended the sales tax on new mobile phones. more

Microfinancing with mobile phones in Nairobi

I just launched a project called Mobile Movement, a microfinancing website that connects young entrepreneurs in the slums of Nairobi with the rest of the world using mobile technology.

We just launched and would love to get loads of people to log on. The youth in Nairobi are standing by their phones, and answer any and all questions! We also have a Facebook application if anyone is interested.

Mobile Movement is a partnership with a UN agency (UN-HABITAT) and is a winner of the Digital Media and Learning Competition at the MacArthur Foundation.

Cheers,
Leba Haber (ITP)

A Msg of Hope to Farmers

NAIROBI, Apr 10 (IPS) - Mobile phones are being used to diagnose and treat crop diseases that cause massive losses to farmers, presenting an opportunity to increase yields as location-specific information about disease threats is made available. more

Building computer labs in Kenya

YouTube clip

Send a Cow

Send a Cow runs sustainable agricultural programmes in nine countries in Africa to help small-scale farmers overcome poverty and malnutrition. We were founded in 1988 by a group of UK farmers who sent cows to families in post-conflict Uganda.

Google Maps launches in Kenya

As of today, detailed maps of many Kenyan towns including Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, and Nakuru are accessible through any web browser through http://maps.google.co.ke/ or through Google Maps for mobile on data enabled handsets. more

The Numbers Game

In Kenya, about 70 per cent of the handsets come from Chungking Mansions. Mathews leans across the table to check the figure with a rangy Kenyan in his mid-20s sitting down to a curry. "It's more," says the trader. "In Kenya, it's more like 80 per cent of phones come through Chungking Mansions." more

Bringing the Internet to Remote African Villages

In recent years the mobile phone has emerged as the main modern communications link for rural areas of Africa. From 2002 to 2007, the number of Kenyans using cellphones grew almost tenfold to reach about a third of the population... more

Vodafone launches UK-Kenya money transfer service

Vodafone Group Plc, the world's largest mobile phone group by revenue, launched a mobile money transfer pilot scheme between Britain and Kenya, aiming to increase its role in the growing industry and potentially boost customer loyalty.

more

Whole Foods helps fund microfinancing in Kenya

Under the partnership with international nonprofit Unitus, the foundation will lend financial support to Jamii Bora Trust, a microfinance institution in Kenya.

Jamii Bora Trust will use the funding to extend its reach into small farming communities and develop new microfinance products for rural farmers, according to Whole Foods Planet.

more

Kenya Farmers Reap Profits Sown by Joined Hands

Efforts to improve agriculture in Kenya often miss the mark by targeting men instead of women. One woman spent 20 years organizing female farmers to share investments and training. Now men are joining too, and the women's work is paying off.

more

UN using food aid as lever to lift African farmers

The U.N.'s World Food Program will spend $1 billion buying food for the hungry this year, up $230 million from 2007.

Now the organization is trying to reach beyond simply handing out sacks of Western grain to help feed emaciated children. It wants to stimulate farmers to produce more — and replace those shipments from U.S. and other agribusinesses — by providing a reliable market for their local crops.

The WFP is mounting this new effort in 21 countries, mostly in Africa, against the backdrop of a global food crisis with many causes, among them Africa's long-running failure to feed itself. But experts say still more will be needed for a turnaround in African agriculture.

more

Kenya elephants text rangers

Elephants in Kenya are sending text messages to warn wildlife rangers that they are heading for the crops of neighbouring villages. more

Organic farm blossoms in Kenya's largest slum

The unlikely story of Kibera's first "organic" farm - its only farm of any scale - has its roots in the chaos that gripped Kenya at the start of the year. more