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.

So Much Food. So Much Hunger.

How can so many people be hungry when farmers produce enough food, at least in theory, to feed every person on the planet?

The answers are complex and involve everything from American farm politics and African corruption to war, poverty, climate change and drought, which is now the single most common cause of food shortages on the planet. more

The Power of Study Abroad: An Interview with Wangari Maathai

If anyone's into Dr. Wangari Maathai, the Nobel Peace prize winner "tree lady" from Africa, i just did a little side gig for WorldLearning editing and putting up a good interview their president got last time she was here in Brattleboro. She's a great talker, I didn't even need any edits (at least not on their budget) except the beginning and end!
Interview on channel: http://www.youtube.com/worldlearning
Video source, with YouTube's new "call to action" lower third popup 10 seconds in: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOnYVeaETps

- Caleb Clark
~ Wk: http://gradcenter.marlboro.edu/academics/mat/faculty
~ Hm: http://www.plocktau.com

How I built my family a windmill

See William Kamkwamba in an acclaimed TED talk here. Visit the project web site.

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)

Assistance to Africa – aiding or abetting?

'Africa has new trading partners. It doesn’t have to grovel to the west' more

Photovoice event 4 Dec 08

Sale of PhotoVoice Photographs

London International Development Centre, 36 Gordon Square, London, WC1H 0PD

Thursday 4 December 2008

5pm-with wine and nibbles
You are invited to attend a sale of photographs by UK NGO, PhotoVoice currently exhibited at LIDC. Representatives from PhotoVoice will explain more about how their award-winning international charity (www.photovoice.org) empowers some of the most disadvantaged groups in the world with photographic skills and equipment. Through establishing in-field photojournalism workshops, its projects enable those who are traditionally the subjects of photography to become its creator. Through photography these individuals find confidence in their voices and are enabled to speak out about their challenges, concerns, hopes and fears.

PhotoVoice projects span four continents, assisting refugees, street children, orphans, HIV/ AIDS sufferers and special needs groups. Internationally the organisation provides the platform for these photographers to exhibit and market their work . It also provides long-term support for individuals to pursue careers in their local photographic industries.

Raffle prize
A 12"x 16" print of your choice from one of the images online at http://picasaweb.google.com/projectsphotovoice/LIDCFinalEdit?authkey=PEvRtWMchSs# will be raffled off at the event (tickets £1 each).

Discounted photos
PhotoVoice will be selling heavily discounted copies of the pictures exhibited inside LIDC's building at 36 Gordon Square (pictures online at http://picasaweb.google.com/projectsphotovoice/LIDCFinalEdit?authkey=PEvRtWMchSs# ). A couple of the pictures are also attached.
8" x 10": £25
12" x 16": £50 (usual price £125)
Framed 12"x 16" (as per exhibition): £85

PhotoVoice have guaranteed delivery in time for Christmas so we hope that these pictures may make good Christmas presents!

I hope you are able to join us.

Best wishes
Abby

Election

Mobile Planet provided up-to-the-minute results by text message.

U.S.$13 Million Grant Boosts Women in Agriculture

Gates Foundation funds jobs for women scientists, details here.

Katine: Improving income generating opportunities

Guardian series on development project in agricultural African village, includes information about dry land farming [video | article], good examples of dissemination/stories, and a comprehensive plan. Also good examples of maps.

Workshop on Ubiquitous Sustainability: Technologies for Green Values

Workshop in Conjunction with the Ninth International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing (Ubicomp 2007)

Flood, famine and mobile phones

Technology is altering humanitarian work and now 'the first people on the ground are often computer geeks'. Donors can track shipments, workers on the ground can coordinate with each other, messages can be more easily sent to communities.

This has implications for non-emergency aid. 'The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation draws vast detailed maps showing who is vulnerable to food shortages (“poverty mapping”).' Computers can keep public health records and identify early-warning signs.

Mukuru lets people in the developed world send cash and fuel to developing countries (soon to include Kenya).

Complete story here.

Hole in the Wall

Here is a description of this project, which introduced ICT into an Indian village in an interesting way.

Mobiles and market prices

For many years, anecdotes have abounded about the ways in which mobile phones promote more efficient markets and encourage economic activity. One particularly popular tale is that of the fisherman who is able to call several nearby markets from his boat to establish where his catch will fetch the highest price.

A new paper, described here, fills in the details of this story.

Drying up and flooding out

Temperatures in Africa are expected to increase by at least 2.5 degrees Celsius by 2030, according to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. It places Kenya in the area most at risk from climate change.

Mount Kenya, near Kiangwachi (one of the villages VeSeL is working with) may disappear as its glaciers melt; only 7 of the 18 recorded in 1900 still remain.

The World Meteorological Organisation says that the collection of weather data in Africa has gotten worse as many of the automatic weather stations it helped set up have fallen into disrepair.

Source: Economist story, 12 May 2007

Nature's Benefits in Kenya: An Atlas of Ecosystems and Human Well-Being

This report provides a new approach to integrating spatial data on poverty and ecosystems in Kenya. It is endorsed by five Permanent Secretaries in Kenya and with a Foreword by Wangari Maathai (recipient of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize).

A billion trees

Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai joins a campaign to plant trees to offset climate change - which especially affects African countries like her native Kenya. "In Kenya for example, if the Government directs every farmer to plant 25 trees in every acre of land, our forest cover would increase from the current 1.7 per cent to 10 per cent which is the globally accepted minimum." Full story here.

Kenyan farming - historical perspective

This article by agriculture expert Eusebius J Mukhwana contains a good summary of the current problems, challenges and opportunities for Kenyan farmers, with historical perspective.

Technology 4 Social Change

A few links that may be worth following:

NetSquared - "Remixing the web for social change - Our mission is to spur responsible adoption of social web tools by social benefit organizations. There's a whole new generation of online tools available – tools that make it easier than ever before to collaborate, share information and mobilize support." NetSquared are brining together funders, thinkers, tech experts and social change projects at their 2007 conference.

Fahamu - "Networks for social justice - Fahamu has a vision of the world where people organise to emancipate themselves from all forms of oppression, recognise their social responsibilities, respect each other’s differences, and realise their full potential." Publishers of Pambazuka - weekly forum for social justice in Africa.

Mobiles4Good - who we mentioned before. n independent Kenyan company called Mobile for Good Kenya. - "A project designed to use mobile phone technology to help alleviate poverty and improve the lives of people in the developing world. It delivers vital health, employment and community content via SMS on mobile phones in order to inform and empower disadvantaged individuals."