Kampala has also moved to a new center, by the way. We need to remember that we have two locations. perhaps Gulu sounds much poorer (needier?) than Kampala, but the majority of ned Uganda members in Kampala are displaced people really hoping to leave the IDP camp. Ideally - as I understand from the communities - they would like to mirror each other as much as possible.

You bet. To the degree we can mirror products and services between Gulu and Kampala, we should. 100% agree. Was not meaning to overlook Kampala.

The new site is beautiful and promising.Its compound can do lots of good things and I believe all that Mark as stated above is really interesting.

Internet cafe in Gulu are not all that very performing, We have nearly three to four with poor internet connection and when the power is off, the nearly all this cafe are shut down,So I believe if we could advance our cafe include some, printer ,photocopier, and coffee or tea for the cliants this would be interesting and a quick it could attract lots of this University students and others around.

If we could get a standby generator and have to a good service provider I believe this could be of advantage over other cafe in the district and in addition to that I believe if we could set up a restaurant with varieties of international food this could attract lots of the white and others working for this NGO's in Gulu and the hostels around could provide us some income. A well stock gallery with variaties of fahions could be of a source of attraction to to our site and making it known to many.

Funny i may call it.How about getting a mini bus which carries 16-17 people to provide transport in the name of ned Uganda from campus to town and town to campus,it can be staff van but in the real sense it could help in transporting university students to and fro.on a subsidized fair.this could provide employment to some of our members who are drivers with no cars as well as bringing income to the organisation.here I mean having each of amember do something which could bring income to other members too.this students uses boda boda cycles which are pretty much expensive when you compare to no van or mini bus.

my thoughts and suggestions

So I believe that when all this team up it could really work out.

[Deleted by author on 18 Sep 2007 07:33 PDT: duplicate - sorry]

In Gulu - the lower portion of the building is available to the community, and includes a webcafe space, an office, a gallery space, and a large group meeting/production space, as well as 3 extra rooms whose purpose has not yet been defined, and a large outdoor space.

The landlord plans to be opening a restaurant on top, and a volunteer hostel in the back. While this is likely to provide some employment and attract a wider audience to the community activities, those portions of the building will be under separate management.

Thanks Mark for starting this thread and Munnu for the detailed explanation of what can be done at the new center in Gulu.Here in Kampala, we are also situated at a location which is very close to the University which also gives an opportunity for a good cafe which has good connectivity meaning maybe a dish and changing the line from MTN to UTL which is accepted as faster and maybe a photocopier and a new printer as the old one is no longer working , because most students always have they work printed from wherever they work from, so a printer would also earn extra money.We may also need four new computers to accommodate as many as possible.

As for the other projects, we have also have the soap project as one , though we have agreed that we shall have Gulu begin with that as we look at other things to begin with , Like the most immediate one will be the candles. e also have Jezi (a cleansing liquid detergent),making tie and die , making and packing fruit powder,and milk powder , bar soap , school chalks and confectioneries ( biscuits), fruit juice making and packing, cakes . These are the selection of things that we have come out with from among very many others. these are easy to make items and with not so mu7ch capital . Once the members get themselves into the different groups, they will be coming out with the kind of budget that each will need to start up with. However , I don't think I have quite understood the 4-5 model well. Members of 4-5 come together , start up the business and will this then permanently be theirs or other people can then take over and operate it ? Otherwise the model really sounds great and manageable.

I think you are well on track, and it's great to see everyone is thinking about such a variety of products within Ned/Uganda/Gulu & Ned/Uganda/Kampala. All very local based things, very nice indeed. Will it be theirs to permanently or could others take it over to operate it? Depends on that the members want in each case I guess.

From looking at this some business units of 3-5 people may do a combination of things. For instance, fuit powder, milk powder, fruit juice and biscuits may be done by the same business unit (group of people) as it appears to be all food related and working with similar materials.

Once the working business units are selected, members in each, and budgets started we'll have a pretty clear idea about getting funding in place. Once there is a genereal agreement between Ned/Uganda members that buiness unit is ready to operate and would "likely" be cash flow positive in 90 days or less...then <Ned> can get it funded.

edit: spelling

as we left our planning in July/August, there were 4 lifeinafrica program areas that the members wanted to continue:

microfinance, group production, internet4change and children's programs.

Does the 4-5 person business unit idea supplant the idea of the community working together in all of those areas, or are we only talking about the group production part so far. In other words, would you have different "business units" when it comes to the childrens programs or internet training?

Would the Gulu community soap project fall under this plan?

Here are a couple one page flow charts that may be helpful when seeing how it all fits together. I would print these out, though still need explanations and answers, they give a good albeit brief overview of the big picture.

Ned.com Flowchart V8

Ned Coop Flowchart V5

>>program areas that the members wanted to continue: microfinance, group production, internet4change and children's programs. Does the 4-5 person business unit idea supplant the idea of the community working together in all of those areas, or are we only talking about the group production part so far. In other words, would you have different "business units" when it comes to the childrens programs or internet training?<<

I think all of those areas should definitely be kept going and are a part of Ned Uganda for certain. Now looking at the Coop Flowchart it seems to me that microfinance and group product fall on the right side of the chart, and maybe internet4change, and children's programs falls on the right side of the chart. The left side being revenue generating business units all under the umbrella of the local coop, and the left side being the social services side where members decide important local issues to focus on and are not intended to be revenue generating but financing help comes from overall finances from the revenue generating units on the other side.

>>Would the Gulu community soap project fall under this plan?<<

Absolutely yes.

Where do you see an organization like Life in Africa -USA fitting into the big picture?

Great question.

If you look at the ned.com flowchart you will see LiA, and TEN, and Atlas in circles in the upper left. They operate as wholly separate orgs fitting in the over structure as they want to operate. Scott is bringing all his Atlas Fellows to ned.com to participate...I hope there will cross pollination between them and Ned Uganda. LiA-USA could be a fundraising arm. It could be an eco-tourism partner. It could as a loose or as tight of a connection as the LiA board and staff want it to be. I think the deeper collaborations and cross pollination is going to afford the most interesting opportunities.

At the end of the day, both orgs and people must do what they are good at, and what they really enjoy, to stay engaged, excited and moving forward. People by nature tend to over-project what they can do in the short term, and under-project what can be accomplished in the long term. Many very interesting people are very excited by those two goofy little flowcharts. I see the puzzle pieces (kind of) and I see the overall picture (kind of), but I know that we all need to work together as we piece it together. I do think this is we not me, us not I. We are all in this together. At the same time, I think each holds an accountability and responsibility to take ownership for ideas into action and the roles we each play within that. Each of us holds a piece of the answer, and yet no one has the whole thing.

>>Would the Gulu community soap project fall under this plan?<<

Absolutely yes.

There are a couple of issues here that I would like us to please consider in very practical terms.

1. ned Uganda does not yet officially exist anywhere but in spoken words and here online. At this point in time, the community members are still members of Life in Africa, which is registered to operate and trade in Gulu District. If we do not start the soap project until ned Uganda is registered to operate, that means waiting until December.
2. The LiA community members in Gulu have already been involved in discussions about the soap project. Expectations have been established through some form of group consensus that will now be changed (by an externally imposed model). Not only will it change, but it changes in a way that adds yet another delay, and involves and rewards only a few. In my experience with the community in Gulu, they ALWAYS push for an equal spread of participation and benefits - mainly because they detest the politics that arise when some are chosen to participate and others aren't. Letting them know now that the long awaited soap project is only going to involve 3-5 members after all will wreak predictable havoc on the community spirit there. For the sake of community building I think it's a bad decision to change the community's involvement in the soap plan now, and another bad decision to delay it any further.
3. As ned Uganda continues to take shape as a plan and eventually a real life operational organization, Life in Africa is also morphing into a new format/brand for providing support to communities like the communities we've built, that are now becoming part of this global ned brand. In the context of developing the kind of support that LiA would like to provide to communities like these, one of our plans is to offer fundraising for projects like the soap project that we've been actively guiding the development of this year. Significant effort has gone into this already that I would sincerely appreciate the opportunity for Life in Africa to see through as long as the community is still registered as Life in Africa. The soap project idea was conceived and grew to this point with the community as Life in Africa, and we still have the time to see it through to the next step without endangering the successful transition to nedUganda in any way, in my view. In fact, if we can get going on this sooner rather than later, I think we'll have a lot more members at both centers sticking around to see this transition period through.
4. We are ready to go with a fundraising plan today or tomorrow, and if all goes well this Life in Africa project could actually be off the ground and benefiting our members who really need the income by the time the transition to nedUganda is complete in December. At that time, all Life in Africa community assets and programs will be transferred to the nedUganda entity anyway. By then we'll have been operating the soap project for a couple of months and started candlemaking. nedUganda will inherit all that and can reorganize it however you all want according to the new systems you're just starting to actively plan for nedUganda right now. By the time NedUganda inherits these products, there will also be some real life market experience to grow on.

Sorry for all the words, but basically Life in Africa is not dead yet... Nor are we ned yet :) I just don't see that it would be good for the communities to wait on diversifying their group production activities until neduganda begins, when we've now come far enough that we can get it going as the LiA community right away.

I'm easy like a Sunday morning as they say. All this is great news, a wonderful update, and all 100% fine. Didn't mean to get too far ahead of the curve and do anything premature where LiA is concerned. Please let me know where Ned.com, Ned members, and well all can best help between now and the December transition time...and beyond. As they also say... It's all good.

I think it would be horrible to throttle the activity in Kampala and Gulu back BUT that said, I think that it is important to see how it is going to fit into the overall picture come January. I am concerned that there has been no talk here of cash flows and how ned is funded and how the group AS A WHOLE benefits from each of the projects not just the one that they are involved in.

Thanks for dicussing in this space , I surgest candle making as one of the income generating act in the new center for Lia.

Here you can see a welder at Lias` new center being very busy with his work to make sure he finished it within few days.

Lia s` new center will be self contain building. This is a part of flash toilet system , it is about to be finished. You can view

WOULD THIS SOLVE THE CONNECTION PROBLEM?

WE CENTER KAMPALA INTERNET CONNECTION PLAN

The computers and Internet have been the best and probably the cheapest means of communication tool to link the world together. People learn what is in the next world Just by mere computer and Internet! There has been reading, writing, seeing and even hearing because of this Internet and computer technology, this every body needs it but it is expensive to own, though it is the best way to communicate.

Among the activities at WE Center Kampala, members are to be trained how to use the computers and the internet which has been contacted but not fully perhaps few members were interested and computers are not enough and at the same time poor connection! The few people who took interest much as there are few computers and Poor connections, have managed to gain some skills and have ploughed back to the community through online loan applications to ” Kiva” and other correspondences.

With the growing interests of members in the computers and Internet, there is need for Our community to acquire more computers and get good connection so that we can run our programs smoothly. What we shall emphasize on is community Internet for change training and setting up a web café that shall supplement community’s income. And at one point may breed customers for the community’s art and craft activities.

The idea of web café has been sleeping in my mind for over two years and indeed at one point we started but there was no proper arrangement and was limited to only members. But much as we could publish to the public, the connection has never been good and computers have never been enough, this would mean disappointing the customers. What if we had good connection and enough computers? Our location was not so strategic for the web café users and other activities like crafts.

At the new location in Acholi quarters – Kireka – Kampala, if we put up a web café and a secretarial bureau, we shall have customers for these activities including crafts because two secondary schools, three primary schools, a university and hostels surround us!

What do we have to make this happen? There is enough space in our office, five computers, tables, chairs and a standby generator. This leaves us with needs of more ten computers, a printer, photocopier and good Internet connection. Views, comments, questions, additions, subtractions are the only way to make this a reality.

How about a workspace with a business plan, Peter?

Is it okay is if I do business plan here or need a workspace? I would appraciate any help on workspace.

A workspace will be much easier for a business plan...have you ever made a workspace?

Yes I do know and have ever created. so let me creat and move every thing there. thanks

Thanks so much Peter for the detailed explanation of how our upgraded connections will work. It has brought light to the real situations here. We are now left with the practcal part of it to see it move forward. Thanks for such beautiful language that you used for framing all these.

Oh wow,this is real.i personally believe 100% that this will work very very well.The connection using the dish here in Kampala's a few people have internet cafes with the dish connection.it is very fast and if working on it,you are sure that you will have your work done.I really believe that in case the we center Kampala gets this kind of connection,many people around the new location will come to use the net and of course they will pay for using the net and if so ,this means that,then the we center Kampala will be able to earn some money from it to even create or fund other projects within.We have the craft shop/gallery set up but where we are there are no people to buy just like at list it was at the old place we were in,so i believe that if the connection is done(of the dish)people will come many and then they will even get to the craft shop to get something like a gift for themselves and here i mean them buying.

WHY WILL THE PEOPLE COME WHEN THE DISH INTERNET CONNECTION IS PUT IN PLACE?

in the area we are in,the connection is very poor in all the internet cafes around there.They use either the MTN or the UTL dail up connection.With this type of connection,you have to take something like 2 to 4 or even 5 minutes to open the page so if people get to know about the new internet connection some where which is very fast they will just run over there and for since the new location is near the university and many student live just near it,lia will earn income from the internet cafe more than the craft shop/gallery if put in place.peter,thanks for that good idea.With me i can see it work.wow what a good idea,man keep it up

Ezra,

some background information on this type of technology here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ver y_small_aperture_terminal

For the past 4 years I've been researching what you describe, revenue earning community VSAT for a project plan in Eastern Europe and from that, I know that the potential is there as a profit-for-purpose approach.

I've got advice from Cisco with regard to linking this up as a community wireless service using Mesh or Wimax technology for greater distance and a network of 10 concurrent workstations is well within the capability of this equipment

With the addition of what's know as back channel streaming, essentially off peak traffic, it will also be possible to download and store educational and entertainment content on a local server for community sharing at no additional bandwidth costs.

Oh wow,this is real.i personally believe 100% that this will work very very well.The connection using the dish here in Kampala's a few people have internet cafes with the dish connection.it is very fast and if working on it,you are sure that you will have your work done.I really believe that in case the we center Kampala gets this kind of connection,many people around the new location will come to use the net and of course they will pay for using the net and if so ,this means that,then the we center Kampala will be able to earn some money from it to even create or fund other projects within.We have the craft shop/gallery set up but where we are there are no people to buy just like at list it was at the old place we were in,so i believe that if the connection is done(of the dish)people will come many and then they will even get to the craft shop to get something like a gift for themselves and here i mean them buying.

WHY WILL THE PEOPLE COME WHEN THE DISH INTERNET CONNECTION IS PUT IN PLACE?

in the area we are in,the connection is very poor in all the internet cafes around there.They use either the MTN or the UTL dail up connection.With this type of connection,you have to take something like 2 to 4 or even 5 minutes to open the page so if people get to know about the new internet connection some where which is very fast they will just run over there and for since the new location is near the university and many student live just near it,lia will earn income from the internet cafe more than the craft shop/gallery if put in place.peter,thanks for that good idea.With me i can see it work.wow what a good idea,man keep it up