Links to Proposal Discussions

• Current discussion link: http://www.omidyar.net/group/fp06/news/11/
• Previous discussion link: http://www.omidyar.net/group/fp06/news/6/

Other proposal links:

• GeekCorps http://www.geekcorps.org
• Mbaki's links: http://www.omidyar.net/group/africa/file/2170710/
• Internet World Stats: http://internetworldstats.com
• SimTeach: http://www.simteach.com

Proposal questions

1. Why is it important to select this funding area?

Digital access is the gateway to information for regions that currently have limited or no access to libraries, schools or cybercafes. Only 1 in 6 currently can access a computer and far fewer know how to use this tool for positive change. This initiative supports pilot programs to provide new digital access alternatives to previously underserved areas, while developing ICT infrastructure, training curricula, and content creation to connect online communities with remote regions around the world.

2. How could the success of this funding area help the omidyar.net community connect with other groups, attract new members, and encourage the ongoing use of omidyar.net to collaborate?

The Comprehensive Connectivity Initiative represents an integrated investment in some of the Onet Community's most cutting edge member-led developments for connectivity management and better world building content creation. 3 of the 5 organizations nominated for funding represent growing communities of users from around the world who are already engaged in some form with the Onet community. Funding this initiative will strengthen those communities' respective capacities to deepen and strengthen those relationships, and to develop cross-cutting ways for the Onet community at large to connect with remote populations in need. By bringing together resources from around the web and pointing grassroots leaders to easy technical solutions and education tools, we hope to empower countless organizations to join us here and around the web as better world scouts.

Our goal for those in need of improved digital access is to create documented trials of scalable models for cost-effective community connectivity and training that any group can adapt and sustainably deploy. To this end, part of this initiative represents the fruition of collaborative ideas that have been discussed among team members on Onet and at Onet gatherings for more than a year. Participation in online communities (including Onet) is part and parcel of the training model we are working to spread.

3. What plans do team members have for ongoing involvement in the funding area via omidyar.net if the proposal is selected?

Our team is already embedded in this work at Onet and will continue to build infrastructure and link to new tools in all of our initiative areas, from providing access channels in Africa to modeling best practices on Better World Island. Discussions in the Life in Africa group will document the development and implementation of the WE Cafe plan and Uzalendo/Internet4change software trial.

Team members

The powerhouse Connectivity Team !

Member #1: Evonne Heyning

Member #2: Michael Maranda

Member #3: Mbaki Mutahaba

Member #4: Debbie Gleason

Member #5: Christina Jordan

Summary of nonprofit nominations

1. Uzalendo
2. Homowo (for Life in Africa’s Internet4Change program)
3. Kiva Microfunds
4. International Humanities Center (for Better World Island)
5. CUWiN Foundation

Group 1: Uzalendo

• Project - Subsidizing/purchasing internet hours for those who can least afford it
• Name of 501(c)(3) organization to receive check if selected - Umoja wa Kizalendo (Tanzania Community Organization)
• Patriot Act check completed on 11/13/06 by Evonne Heyning
• Tax ID number - 94-3274515
• Address - 612 Mariposa Avenue, #106, Oakland CA 94610
• Contact name - Mwesigwa Blandesi
• email address - mblandesi/uzalendo/org
• Phone number - 510 590 6509
• "What value will be created with the proposed award money?" -

Uzalendo will use these funds to continue pursuing the implementation of a proposal that sets out to provide internet access to those who can least afford it in a systematic way. Most of the award will be used to hire a developer to build a software tool that is designed to manage and administer access to sponsored online training time. We intend to work with Life in Africa’s Internet4Change program to develop a functioning proof of concept trial in two i4c WE Café locations in Uganda, that can then be refined for replication with partner webcafes in Tanzania and other parts of Africa.

Any funds remaining after developer services are paid will go toward experimenting with the mobilization of additional PCs for partner webcafes in Tanzania, in exchange for free internet time to Uzalendo community members/students. As an organization founded in the diaspora, it is only recently that we have been in the position to reach out and build a bridge with the communities back home. This award will make it possible to start realizing a long-held dream in concrete ways.

• Relevant links -

http://www.uzalendo.org

http://internet4change.com

• Team members should disclose clearly their affiliation with the organization and any financial benefit they might receive as a result of this funding. - Team Member Mbaki Mutahaba, is an active member of Umoja wa Kizalendo. He is in the board of directors and has held some few positions in the past, including the organization secretary. He currently serves under various committees. He is the person who initiated the main proposal and approached Uzalendo for their support. All the current costs up to this point have been his personal, due to Uzalendo not being in the position to financially support the project. Team Member Christina Jordan is the Founder of Life in Africa and co-developer of the Internet4Change program to implement the software trial.

Group 2: Homowo (for LiA)

• Project - Internet4Change WE Cafe (Life in Africa)
• Name of 501(c)(3) organization to receive check if selected - Homowo
• Patriot Act check completed on 11/11/06 by Mark Grimes
• Founders: Susan Addy & Obo Addy (Patriot check 12/1/06 MG)
• Tax ID number - 93-0919492
• Address - 4839 NE MLK Suite 209 Portland, OR 97211
• Contact name - Susan Addy
• email address – susan/homowo/org
• Phone number - 503-288-3025
• Name of group nominated for funding *if different from 501(c)(3) organization - Life in Africa , (Internet4Change program)
• Contact name - David Ewaku ~ Christina Jordan
• Email address - ewaku4lia/yahoo/com
• "What value will be created with the proposed award money?"

Looking forward to several more years of power rationing in Uganda, $4,000 of this award will enable the purchase of 5 low power terminals for Life in Africa's Webbed Empowerment Center Kampala. Webtime on the WE Cafe computers will be sold to the public during morning hours to generate income for the Center; in the afternoon the WE Cafe becomes the Internet4Change training classroom, where Life in Africa members learn to connect themselves and each other to communities, opportunities and resources online. The remaining $1,000 of the Onet award will be used to sponsor webtime for i4c trainees in Kampala and Gulu, as part of Uzalendo's sponsored webtime management software trial. Developing a viable model for a low-power community webcafe that can offset costs through a combination of paid and sponsored webtime will result in a very valuable demonstration effect for how other African communities can manage the costs of connectingb to the Internet, particularly in remote areas.

Having cost effective connectivity available during power-off times at WE Center Kampala means that internet4change training can take place on a regular schedule, thereby increasing the number of i4c Agents who can serve as a human bridge to the Internet for our mostly illiterate community. The i4c agent curriculum includes participation in the Onet, as well as the preparation of loan applications for Kiva.org. The award will thus add significant value to both of those Life in Africa relationships, both of which are vital to our WE strategy for lifting LiA community members out of poverty, once and for all.

• Relevant links -

http://LifeInAfrica.com

http://Internet4Change.com

WE Center Kampala photos

• Team members should disclose clearly their affiliation with the organization and any financial benefit they might receive as a result of this funding. - Team Member Christina Jordan founded LiA but does not stand to financially benefit from this award; resources to be used for computer equipment and i4c training for LiA members. Team member Mbaki Mutahaba's software development project financed by Uzalendo will benefit from the i4c user trial, but he also does not stand to gain financially from this award.

Group 3: Kiva Microfunds

• Name of 501(c)(3) organization to receive check if selected - Kiva Microfunds
• Project - Miracle Mobile Solution
• Patriot Act check completed on 9 November 2006 by Christina Jordan
• Founders: Matthew Flannery, Jessica Flannery
• Tax ID number - 71-0992446
• Address - 2180 Bryant Street Suite 106, San Francisco, CA 94110-2141
• Contact name - Olana Khan ~ Matt Flannery
• email address - olana/kiva/org
• Phone number - (415) 641-KIVA
• "What value will be created with the proposed award money?" -

Kiva has developed a unique peer-to-peer microfnancing platform that connects individual micro-lenders online to micro-borrowers in poor countries around the world. Kiva partner organizations' ability to upload content about their borrowers is a critical element to making the platform work effectively. Africa's lack of reliable connectivity is a bottleneck that is urgent for Kiva to solve.

The Onet award will enable Kiva to build upon outcomes of an earlier Microsoft funded research project on easing Kiva partner connectivity constraints, and further develop a mobile phone platform for online microfinance, that will allow their partner Microfinance Institutions to connect to Internet lenders instantly from the field. The research was carried out June-Aug 2006 in Uganda and Kenya, where a pilot platform is now functioning. This award will pay for more camera enabled cell phones for mfi field partner staff, and 1 month of Kiva developer time to understand the MMS format of different countries / telco providers and develop parsing capabilities for each country.

• Relevant links

http://kiva.org

http://www.intocontext.org/ - research team of Microsoft Fellows who developed the Kiva Miracle Mobile Solution concept

example of a Kiva journal updated from Uganda by cell phone. (Note: kiva recently removed the photos due to temporary server capcity issues that are unrelated to this project and on their way to being solved.)

• Team members should disclose clearly their affiliation with the organization and any financial benefit they might receive as a result of this funding - Life in Africa, of which team member Christina Jordan is the founder, is one of two Kiva partners who participated in the research & pilot phase of the project. This award will help to extend the benefits of what was developed through that process to other Kiva partners. Life in Africa will receive no financial, technical or material benefit from this award to Kiva.

Group 4: International Humanities Center (for BWI)

• Name of 501(c)(3) organization to receive check if selected - International Humanities Center
• Better World Island interactive networking project
• Patriot Act check completed on Monday 11/13/06 by Evonne Heyning
• Address - P.O. Box 923, Malibu, CA 90265
• Contact name - Steve Sugarman
• Tax ID number - 33-0767921
• email address - projects/ihcenter/org
• Phone number - 310-579-2069
• Name of group nominated for funding if different from 501(c)(3) organization - Better World Island
• Contact name - Jackie Brosseuk
• Email address - jbrosseuk/hotmail/com
• "What value will be created with the proposed award money?" -

The award will be used to create and implement a number of interactive improvements to a growing online community where Better World Scouts from all backgrounds gather to share about sustainability, aid and activism, peacebuilding, new media and arts education. Over 60 active participants and thousands of guests from around the world participated in 2006.

Better World Island is the initiative and result of collaboration between a number of Onet members. The award will result in improvements to our entire networked space (including tour guides, better media offerings, web and scripting budget, real world activation keys), and an improved ability to model and connect with content from other Onet partners including Life in Africa and Kiva. Our goal is to leverage enough support to sustain and grow our toolkits and offerings for global grassroots organizers and others seeking to make the most of all spaces.

• Relevant links -

AMO on BWI

Social Edge

Irish Blog

Camp Darfur in Second Life

ManorMeta

• Team members should disclose clearly their affiliation with the organization and any financial benefit they might receive as a result of this funding. - Evonne Heyning, project partner for Better World Island, works with Jackie Brosseuk, Meron Moroz and a handful of Omidyar Network partners on this project (all volunteer). No financial benefit to be received other than improvements to our whole networked space.

Group 5 - CUWiN Foundation

• Name of 501(c)(3) organization to receive check if selected - Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center Foundation
• Patriot Act check completed on November 4, 2006 by Michael Maranda

Names checked:

Brian Hagy Mike Lehman Bob McChesney Molly Stentz Jason Turner

• Tax ID number - 37-1403593
• Address - 202 South Broadway Avenue, Urbana, Illinois, 61803
• Contact name - Molly Stentz
• email address - mollystentz/gmail/com
• Phone number - (217) 278-3933
• Name of group nominated for funding if different from 501(c)(3) organization - CUWiN Foundation
• Contact name - Sascha Meinrath, Executive Director
• Email address - sascha/cuwireless/net
• Phone number - (217) 278-3933
• "What value will be created with the proposed award money?" -

The CUWiN Foundation develops decentralized, community-owned networks that foster democratic cultures and local content. Through advocacy and through our commitment to open source technology, we support organic networks that grow to meet the needs of their community.

CUWiN is the worldwide leader of dynamic wireless mesh networking software. Over the last six years, we have developed software protocols that make wireless mesh networking more efficient and scalable than any other technology that we know of. We have a network of 80 developers world-wide who are involved in various aspects of the CUWiN's research and development.

Onet community members who are active in developing cutting edge solutions to connectivity in remote areas would benefit greatly from CUWiN's engagement in this initiative. Should the community decide to award funds in this area outside of the Onet Community, our team believes that a general contribution to CUWiN's developer budget would serve the team's intended objectives.

• Relevant links -

http://www.cuwireless.net/

http://cuwireless.net/research

• Team members should disclose clearly their affiliation with the organization and any financial benefit they might receive as a result of this funding. - Michael Maranda led a workshop at a CUWiN event in 2006 on community wireless technologies, no benefits pending to be received.