TimeDesk Africa

E.Africa job adverts

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 05:17:52 -0400

East Africa Jobs and Career Job Hunting Blog

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:45:35 -0400

East Africa Jobs and Career Job Hunting Blog

"The “One Laptop per Child” scheme, which has sent over a million US$100 laptops to children in the..."

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 14:45:19 -0400

“The “One Laptop per Child” scheme, which has sent over a million US$100 laptops to children in the developing world, has been criticised by researchers who found that, unless they are introduced with care, they become little more than distracting toys in the classroom. The study, conducted in Ethiopia, revealed that students wanted more content on the laptops and teachers were not adequately trained on how to make use of them. The OLPC scheme was launched in 2005 to provide each child in the developing world with a low-cost laptop to encourage “self-empowered” learning. More than one million laptops have been distributed.”

- Monitor Online | Business & Technology | Study criticises laptops for distracting children in developing countries

Africa's upwardly mobile money - Yahoo! Singapore News

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 08:56:34 -0400

Africa's upwardly mobile money - Yahoo! Singapore News:

To 28-year-old Kenyan Mary Wanjiku, her cell phone is not just a cell phone. It is also a cheap, safe and easy way of sending her mother $40. But by using it to ping cash to friends and family she and millions of Africans are joining Japan in breaking a technology barrier that remains in Europe and the United States, and paving the way to what could be the cash of the future.

The Wonderful World of Bamboo (Slideshow) : TreeHugger

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 06:06:09 -0400

The Wonderful World of Bamboo (Slideshow) : TreeHugger:

Bamboo has been back and forth across our radar ever since TreeHugger was but a sprout, and we’ve seen the wonder-grass used for just about everything. And, while bamboo isn’t always super-green, there’s no denying its utilitarian handiness. Take a spin through the wonderful world of bamboo, in pictures.

Mobile Movement

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:33:36 -0400

Mobile Movement:

Mobile Movement has partnered with the United Nations agency UN-HABITAT and Environmental Youth Alliance - a Canadian non-profit organization - for our first initiative in Nairobi, Kenya. All of the 15 youth groups have been chosen by UN-HABITAT as part of the “Urban Entrepreneurship Program”.

Questioning Old Traditions

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:46:03 -0400

Questioning Old Traditions :

Thousands of smallholder farmers produce over one million bags of top quality, organic coffee beans for export every year, he said. But he stressed that there was a need for processing plants to be set up to increase export revenue and create more jobs for the local population. He said investors were even welcome to come and grow the coffee themselves. However, he indicated that Uganda would not allow wholesale land purchases by foreign states or investors and local farmers would not be forced to sell.

Katine lesson activity: How much water do we use?

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:03:09 -0400

Katine lesson activity: How much water do we use?

Corporate Africa Wenze 2.0 -- for a safe and trusthworthy African Business Portal

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 17:47:48 -0400

Corporate Africa Wenze 2.0 -- for a safe and trusthworthy African Business Portal :

Over the last 3 to 4 decades, there have been (and there still continues to be) numerous migrating activities where Africans have found their way out of the continent in pursuit of higher level of education and living standards. Many countries have experienced and continue to experience these life changing movements due to the poor or non-developing conditions of almost all parts of the African continent. Out of the many people that migrated out, most if not all of them settled down overseas where they started their own businesses and became involved in the social-economical and political affairs of their respective new countries.

Michelle Obama on education

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 16:01:10 -0400

Michelle Obama on education

Web 2.0 in Africa - Agriculture and New Technologies - Web2forDev - 6 Translation(s) | dotSUB

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 04:27:08 -0400

Web 2.0 in Africa - Agriculture and New Technologies - Web2forDev - 6 Translation(s) | dotSUB:

An eight minute Business Africa/CTA video production documenting actual cases on the use of Web 2.0 applications in the development sector, specifically among farmers in Africa.

How to talk about Africa

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 04:17:48 -0400

How to talk about Africa:

Kenyan author Binyavanga Wainaina discusses why he wrote How to Write About Africa in these YouTube videos. I especially like his idea that too many villages are in “NGO receivership” and the unusual (and unaccountable) power that international organizations wield.

Milestones Clean Water Now! in Bunabumali

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 10:02:00 -0400

From Naiade Uganda

In March this year Norman received 2 Naiade waterpurifier and solar energy units. Thiis event marked the start of the real development of Bunabumali. The experiences gained getting the units there and how they have impacted the progress of project are very exiting. They have already led to interesting changes in the overall concept creating important added value.

This article describes the consequences of having Naiade in a rural areas where until last month no utility services existed. It also explains how the folks at Clean Water Now! rappidly reacted to rewquests from the community and came up with creative additional services to increae the effectiveness.

Cleanwaternow provides the hardware to Bunabumali on a 5 year lease contract. This is a pilot project for Africa.after 5 years the community is legal owner of the infrastructure, that wil last for at least another 10 years.

We will be introducing an upgrade soon with more surprising features which will make it easy to provide any rural community with clean water, internet connection, LED light and mobile phone battery recharging service.

We are at this moment redesigning our on-line presence and are working on a realy smart order process, accounting and payment service and business development package that will be of great benefit to rural communities.

The local community is in charge
Naiade Netherlands only acts as facilitator. it’s up to the community to figure out how to make best use of the technology. When adjustments are needed we’ll try to answer to those requsts to the best of our ablity.
We don’t give aid, Naiade means business, for the community as wel as for us. The Bunabumali pilot will show how this could work for your area as well.

In the pipeline….

Naiade Kenya

"The HAPV is a twist on the ‘horse and buggy’ mode of transportation, making this a donkey, cart,..."

Sun, 31 May 2009 16:55:00 -0400

“The HAPV is a twist on the ‘horse and buggy’ mode of transportation, making this a donkey, cart, solar panel on a canopy Farm Utility Vehicle.”

- A donkey drawn carriage is commonplace in many countries in Africa, and this retrofit by the organization Water and Wheel adds more functionality and utility especially suited for rural Africa.

AfriGadget » Blog Archive » HAPV - Human and Animal Powered Vehicle in South Africa (via bunabp)

"Employing a combination of conduction and convection, the refrigerator requires no electricity and..."

Sun, 31 May 2009 16:20:07 -0400

“Employing a combination of conduction and convection, the refrigerator requires no electricity and can be made from commonly available materials like cardboard, sand, and recycled metal.”

- Inhabitat » Student Invents Solar-Powered Fridge for Developing Countries

"Learning Landscape, a playground that teaches elementary math concepts using ten interactive games."

Sun, 31 May 2009 16:18:00 -0400

“Learning Landscape, a playground that teaches elementary math concepts using ten interactive games.”

- Built from reclaimed tires in a simple sandbox structure, the pilot installation was built at the Kutamba AIDS Orphans School in southern Uganda by Project H design fellows Dan Grossman and Heleen de Goey. The grid system facilitates games that teach addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, along with spatial and logical reasoning.

Inhabitat » Project H builds their first Learning Landscape in Uganda

Photo

Tue, 26 May 2009 18:28:00 -0400

History

Fri, 22 May 2009 19:26:00 -0400

How a party at the Ministery of Development Aid in the Hague, Netherlands leads to the launch of a village banking system in Sub Shara Africa.

CWN’s goal is to contribute towards solving clean drinkwater issues in developping counties,

TimeDesk’s ambition is to jumpstart (rural) communities in Sub Sahara Africa out of an existance under $.2,00 per day by facilitating change instead of donating aid.

We met in November 2006. Clean Water Now (CWN) allready had the Naiade water purification system and TimeDek was about to start a unique chat session with a small group of African enterpreneurs.

TimeDesk Africa started with this picture of a makeshift bridge. After almost 2 years chatting with Norman Nakhokoe resulted in an ambitious approach to rural development in Africa due to kickoff with the installation of 2 Naiade solar powered drinkwater and energy systems in Bunabumali, Eastern Uganda

The systems are provided on a 5 year lease basis at a monthly utility service fee the local community will able to cover them selves. The idea is that having this essential infrastructure new economic activities will emerge and facilitate the local people to increase their average daily income, stimulate education, improve healthcare and generaly help create a better and sustainable future.

Challenges

CWN was looking for communities that would benefit from their invention, which proved to a much larger challenge than anticipated, given the global need for clean water and the impact their system would have.

TimeDesk started without capital, learning while chatting about ideas put to us by folks in Africa that had grown up with the idea development aid would be essential to solve their problems. We learned the hard way that model is not sustainable but over time worked out the concept we are now launching.

It’s not the technology, it’s not the lack of money, it’s not the local culture, it’s not aid that prevents the BOP market from moving to the next level. It’s lack of cohesion and helicopter view that causes bottlenecks in unexpected parts of the full chain of events that cripples sustainable development.

The role of the Villagebank is to eliminate those bottlenecks wherever possible, without burocratic bariers, logistical overhead and Western style neo colonisation as a hidden agenda.

BVB Bottleneck Fund

Fri, 22 May 2009 19:02:00 -0400

BVB Bottleneck Fund

Note from Corry

Fri, 22 May 2009 18:56:45 -0400

Tomorrow, $500 is being sent via Western Union from Stitch Uganda Together to Norman in Kampala to buy three rolls of fabric and rope to start the hammock sewing project again in Bunabumali. The orphanage needs funds for food due to poor growing conditions. If they sew and sell 60 hammocks, they can triple that seed money and make $1500.

The best thing I can suggest is to keep buying fabric and using the sewing machines we donated last year. We also need to figure out how to make sure they don’t suffer the same fate again next year with their garden, so online permaculture resources you can recommend will be helpful.

I am focused on being back in Bunabumali, Uganda for the months of October and November to develop projects associated with the Good Samaritan Orphan & Needy school, and want to others to join in the fun. Please feel free to share this opportunity with friends.

Corry Richardson. Stich Uganda Together