In Sierra Leone, Yapo is working hard to solidify and generate opportunities and logistical arrangements for the two aforementioned plans. We have been working on schematic plans for the office location and design as well as the possibility of renting a space. In New York we are working on organizing our registration and fundraising strategy and finding private and institutional partners. Please check back for periodic updates as to our progress.
The goal of this project
is to create a sustainable office/internet collaborative and/or
incubator style environment for local NGO's in Makeni, Sierra Leone.
Concept:
Option 1: aibia will
obtain a building or use an existing building to house both office
space and public internet facilities. The “common” room will
house approximately 5 computers to be rented to the public on an
hourly basis (internet cafe), the income from this facility will go
towards paying for the rent, upkeep of computers, and the facility.
Option 2: aibia will
operate a typical collaborative incubator where any number of
companies/ngo's/individuals pay a monthly/daily/hourly rate for
internet access and/or wireless, etc.
Logistics:
Computing: aibia will
source netbooks, a wireless router, and a satellite internet modem,
as well as the ancillary networking needs to set up wireless
facilitation.
Facilities: aibia will
either use an existing building that is currently housing NGOs, or
rent/buy a separate one. Secure, tables, chairs, generator,
electrical facilities, etc.
Rationale:
West Africa is isolated
and unconnected in many ways. Sierra Leone in particular is by many
measures the poorest per capita country in the world, and recovering
from a terrible civil war. There is no reliable internet
connectivity, there is no power in most of the country, and thus
there is no easy way to do business. The local NGO's have very few
outlets or ways of being connected to the outside world or foreign
donors. They need to be connected. This facilitation is a first
step in getting several of these NGO's set up with a solid
foundation.
Earlier this week Yapo sent me a whole bunch of info on a possible funding stream through the UK government that he wants to apply for. It's a stretch at best. All of a sudden we are going to switch gears and apply for funding for a girls/women's education program. We have till June 8th to get in a concept proposal. Now believe me, I am ALL for
this type of work. It was something always in the back of my head
while I was there. Both education and gender issues are very important
to me. But as I was there talking to people and assessing the root
causes of many issues I was hearing about, it all seemed to come back to
income and capacity to sustain one's self and family first.
Education is free through sixth grade and then following that everyone must pay
for middle school and high school tuition if they attend. Yet still
there are many children that may have to drop out even of primary
school, or work before and after, just to help their families stay
afloat. Seven and eight year olds working dawn till dusk and then
trying to do homework with no electricity. 12 and 15 year old kids
working before and after school to be able just to go to middle school
and high school because their families can't afford it.
It
is a huge problem with roots that go far deeper than pedagogy,
curriculum, or a teacher; its systemic and courses through the whole of
society. So no matter how important education is to me to, getting
girls to school is far more complex. Both the national and local
economy has to provide economic opportunities allowing households enough
to be able to have extra money to send kids to school with. This is of
course a simplified picture of the country's issues. Woman are far
more likely not to be in school as early pregnancy, stereotypes,
cultural issues, and trafficking issues all play in in very different
ways than with boys. On the whole Sierra Leone is a long way away from
sorting out this issue (nevermind us in two weeks) as getting these kids
in school is SO much bigger than one or two development programs.
Not
only that, but our focus has been on hybrid styled non-profit revenue
generating business models that give back to the community and local
populace through jobs and public works. Education is a change of gears
and thinking for us. One I'd like to do, but am not sure I can get my
head around in two weeks that quickly. (help is always greatly
appreciated!). As it is though, I've got time to think about it and
plenty of time with a young impressionable little lady to brainstorm
with!
Of course on a side note we also have to be
able to qualify for the funding stream. That is where a good deal of my
attention went today. I know that on US government funded projects the
principle organization should have three years of solid revenue, which
we do not. So if the UK is similar, we may not even be eligible unless
we apply through another organization. Which we then have to find and
convince to do this in two weeks. Sigh.... So yeah, what all this
Africa work really needs is a concerted, undistracted effort at picking a
project, designing it, and making it happen. We are a ways away from
there right now. Like another entire person (yes, please join!). But,
no matter, I just want so badly to make something work. It has been too
long in the works. A plan and funding is all we need. It has to
happen.
So after almost two years of trying we finally got the aibia.org domain name! So with that in mind We are setting up a temporary blog to hold the domain space until we get something more concrete up.
