This is where Niger lies within Africa

And this is where Niamey lies within Niger

Niamey is the capital city in a very large country, much of which lies within the Sahara Desert.

Niamey is divided into three communes, two of which (Communes 1 & 2) make up the WWC area #1412.

This map shows the exact shape of Commune 1

And this, the exact shape of Commune 2

Commune 3 (to the south and west) is small and is also worth investigating if only to find out what bits of Niamey are not included in 1412. (BTW Commune 3 forms part of WWC area #1413:

1413. Niger - Niamey capital district: commune 3 & Tillabery department: Kollo and Tillabery arrondissements

Also, once we know which List B area it is that is to be WWC area #1413's partner, it may well be important for WWC area #1412's partner to try and make a lateral link, so that the two List B partner areas might share their ideas and possibly share in planning some projects.

When we look at a map of the Tillaberi subdivision of Niger, we can see what a very tiny area WWC area 1412 actually covers. It is not even the whole of the tiny landlocked area inside Tillaberri arrondissement, which itself makes up only about one tenth of Niger's land area.

But though small, 1412 is very densely populated. It has to be, since one of the basic conditions for the WCP is to have WWC connection areas of a similar population size.

I now see that I've spent 50 minutes getting this far.

Now just a few more facts before I post this on Ned.

The wikipedia entry is useful in providing all the basic information - a francophone country on the border of Saharan and Sub-Saharan Africa. Often the native language entries in Wikipedia are much more informative. So here is the French-speaking version of the Wikipedia main entry on Niger. On the surface, it doesn't seem to be quite so thorough - certainly less graphic - but the pictures may be contained in the many, many links.

That will have to do to get us started.

Ideally, after the WCP is launched, WWC areas might each form their own CARG (Connection Area Research Group) to undertake work like this.

:)

edited to fix link

Let's suppose the online community here at <Ned.com> are the CARG (Connection Area Research Group) for the WWC area partnered with WWC area #1412 (which contains most of Niamey, capital of Niger)

The WWC Users Manual is intended as the starting for every area. Some of links in my last post should ideally be contained in a brief section for Area #1412, along with a brief section for every other WWC area.

But even with brief sections, the project risks growing a little unmanagable and the date of a likely launch delayed.

So, instead, each area's CARG will need to do more of the legwork themselves.

As a aid to these endeavours, I've been filling out the Nonprofitslist. So much so that I've now exceeded 2000 lines and have had to relocate a large section of the listings there to a new workspace: Non-profits, country by country

A CARG might find this a suitable starting point for finding out what development aid activity is already happening in their particular partner area.

In the next few posts, I'll explore how that might work out in the case of partner area 1412

But please chip in with comments of your own too!

The first agency listed for Niger in the Non-profits, country by country is Action against Hunger UK

This is an extract from their website about their work in Niger:

Capital: Niamey
Number of inhabitants: 12 million
Size: 1,267,000 km²
Language: French 
Political regime: Parliamentary Republic
Life expectancy at birth: 45.6
Infant mortality: 156%
Literacy rate: 16.5 %
GDP per capita (in dollars, calculated according to purchasing power): 0.890
Human Development Index: 0.292 (174 out of 175) 
Population living in poverty (<$2 per day): 65.3%
Population living in absolute poverty (<$1 per day): 81.4%
Population without access to drinking water: 41%
Rate of malnutrition: 36%
Population without access to basic health services: 80%



HUMANITARIAN CONTEXT IN NIGER

* Niger ranks second lowest on the UNDP's Human Development Index 
 (see indicators above) despite having significant uranium deposits. 
 In recent years oilfields have been discovered in the north and 
 southeast of the country. 

* The harsh environmental conditions of the Sahel desert, with 
  continuous droughts, create an almost permanent state of food 
  insecurity. Less than 12% of the country's land is arable. 

* Frequent strikes in the educational and health services as a 
  result of political and social instability pose a significant
  obstacle to development. 

* The loss of competitiveness of commodities such as dates and salt  
  on the international market has reduced the already scarce    
  opportunities for trade in the country. 

* Despite the peace accord with the Tuareg armed groups at the end 
  of the 90s, there are still few international organisations that 
  are prepared to enter the Sahel desert. 

* The uncontrolled growth of some urban centres has gone hand in 
  hand with the increase in problems like prostitution and AIDS. 

ACTION AGAINST HUNGER IN NIGER

* Guarantee access to drinking water in the district. 
* Diversification of local production and improvement in 
  agricultural yield. 
* minimise the depletion of natural resources and initiate 
  reforestation. 
* Reduce dependence on imported cereals. 
* Strenghten participation in Bilma via progressive integration of 
  local structures into the programme structures. 
* Support the restructuring of the rural environment by creating and 
  supporting agricultural cooperatives. 
* Develop new lines of action such as risk prevention (improving 
  information networks and early warning systems), support to 
  populations in underprivileged sections of urban areas and the 
  fight against HIV/ AIDS. 

Emergency Objectives 

* Setting up therapeutic and supplementary feeding centres 
* Food security: Livestock support; water and sanitation programmes 

---

Of course, some of these problems may feature in Area 1412 more than others (HIV/AIDS perhaps?) and Action Against Hunger may or may not already be involved in projects there.

Perhaps, the next step for the CARG might be contact the agency to find out.

Any other observations?

Now some images of Niamey (may or may not be within the Area 1412's boundaries). All were found on picture gallery websites where photographers have claimed copyright. Can anyone tell me whether I'm right to assume that this extends to reproducing these images here on Ned (always supposing I could discover the correct url for posting each image!)

Anyway, I think these links will take you to a range of pictures, each of which tells us a bit more about the capital city of Niger.

I think I'll re-edit the intro to this thread and try to make it appeal to a wider range of interests.

So far there have been very few readers of this thread - so few, even Liam hasn't posted to point out that I'm the only one posting here and ask whether I like talking to myself!

edited to remove pictures - links to these pictures (with titles) have been re-posted in the next entry

Now for some pictures of WWC #1412 - what the partner area may now choose to refer to locally as the Niger Connection or the the Niamey Connection. It would certainly sound more user-friendly.

A little surfing of picture gallery sites has yielded these, most of which appear likely to have been taken within the boundaries of Area 1412. Others would know better than I whether it is possible to post the images themselves, but the photographer himself asserts his copyright and I assume that extends to all uses elsewhere for any purpose.

Anyway, can you follow these links? It works for me.

Garbage filled ditch, Niamey

Law Courts, Niamey

Camel in the streets of Niamey

Squatter huts outside the Grand Mosque

Evangelical Baptist Church, Niamey

Small Market, Niamey

Downtown Niamey

Kids from Niger visiting the National Museum in Niamey

Abdou Moumouni University, Niamey

UNICEF project against female circumcision

Corruption must stop here

Mosque near the Grand Hotel, Niamey

Internet cafe? Well, a bar & private telecentre at least

Herd of goats in street in Niamey

Rue du Togo, Niamey

Mudbrick buildings, Rue du Cameroon, Niamey

Teenager boys, Niamey

Street in Niamey

American School Niamey

Welcome to Niamey sign

Wadata Market, Niamey

Shantytown in Niamey

Mark asked me in the WWC Users Manual thread:

So now I'm interested and involved in microfinance and following along how to bring that into any meaningful action/collaboration with area 1412?

So here goes:

MICROFINANCE IN WWC #1412 (NIAMEY)

Possible ideas to pursue

1. Find out more about the United Nations Development Programme's work in Niamey

• who is benefitting?
• who falls outside the programme, but still needs microfinance?

2. Which of the agencies listed in the non-profits, country-by-country list as currently working in Niger offer help through a microfinance project?

• How can individuals get involved in supporting such a project?
• How could a group of people work in collaboration with that agency's project?

3. How many Kiva loans are made to people from Niger?
4. Contact people in Niamey who may know how best to contact community based organisations with which to work

• Based just on the photos in my last post, this might include people at Universite Abdou Moumouni, American School Niamey and the Evangelical Baptist Church.
• There are likely to be students from Niger living in your own partner area who could put you in touch with the right people and CBO's in Niamey
• Contacts via the non-profits already working there

5. Keep Googling

David Bale said...

>>a. interested in microfinance primarily in just one setting (only in a particular country (e.g.Uganda), or via a particular organisation (e.g. Kiva etc)<<

>>b. interested in the provision of microfinance in whatever setting it's needed by whatever method is best<<

>>If (a), that's fine. You probably won't be offering any direct support to Area 1412. On the other hand, the WCP won't work if people simply switch their efforts to projects in 1412 and away from whatever other anti-poverty strategies they have been supporting elsewhere. The net effect will be nil.<<

Well, I'm not tied into any particular country, though will always look at Uganda due to so many Ned members that reside there. Not tied 100% into Kiva, though funds cannot be pulled out of My-C4, and eBay's Microplace does not allow for peer-to-peer loans, or any kind of real targeting...so Kiva is by far best of breed for now.

So far there are no Niger MFI partners in Kiva, so no Kiva loans have been done in that country.

Looking at Mix Market, Mutuelle d'Epargne et de Crédit des Femmes is locaed in Naimey, Niger and is the highest rated MFI of the three listed there.

Here are 6 possible (starting) sources of data that could be done for each country in the WCP. In this case, each specifically related to Niger.

World Factbook

BBC Country Profile

Flickr Photos

YouTube Video

Google News

WHO: World Health Organization

edit: clarity

Travel

Thanks for the suggested data sources, Mark.

I didn't realise quite how extensive an information base could be produced for each country by a judicious selection of standard information websites. As you say, this would make a good starting point for any individual or group wishing to research a particular WWC area.

I also like the fact that you've highlighted microfinance, since it is only when you start looking in detail on the ground that you begin to see the apparent scarcity of decent microfinance schemes.

I've now checked them individually, but none of the non-profits in the non-profits, country by country list appear to be offering a ready-made microfinance operation in #1412, which List B partner area participants could simply support (though the list is still not complete and more may yet be uncovered).

Several of the listed agencies are working with community based organisations elsewhere in Niger with microfinance schemes and I suppose one approach that could be adopted could be an exploratory dialogue with them about the scope for similar schemes within #1412.

Schemes like this one in neighbouring WWC area #1413:

Project Information
Title: Micro-credit projects for women
Global Objective: Improvement of living conditions for women
Location: Village of Goroubi
Department: Say
Region: Tillabery
Country: Niger
Budget: 9,630,000 F cfa (14,705 Euros)
Number of Beneficiaries: 20 women
Duration: 14 months
Expected Start Date: January 2006
Project End Date: March 2007
Organization Name: Association Tin Hinan
Official Contact: Mme Habsatou Aboubacar 
Tel: (00227) 88 42 04 
BP 11470 Niamey Niger 
E-Mail: tinhinanniger@yahoo.fr

I'm also beginning to appreciate in a more specific sense exactly how discerning we need to be in choosing microfinance operations to support.

Five bullet-pointed case studies were given in one piece I read (only the last one actually relates to Area #1412) to illustrate how the making of very small loans can often help reduce poverty, but not always quite in the way that proponents of microfinance may lead us to expect.

• A lady in rural Malawi, age 35 with three children, breaks rocks into smaller pieces using a small hammer. She sets out the piles of small rocks on the roadside hoping to sell to construction crews as aggregate for concrete. She sells a few piles a week to contractors working on a nearby aid agency sponsored road project. Once the road is finished, she will have no more market.
• A woman in Nairobi who buys 150 gram packets of spice and re-packages them in tiny plastic bags of 5 to 10 grams. Her 'capital' investment is a stapler. She works from a stall that is actually a one square metre space in her house, with the goods displayed in a window that faces the street. The packets are stapled to strips of cardboard, 10 to a strip, cut with scissors from whatever she can find. Lately she's been using old cigarette cartons. I look at the wall of her space and see perhaps 20 strips with 6 to 8 packs per strip hanging there. Why is she adding stock if these have not sold yet? She doesn't answer the question. She tells me that more and more women in the neighbourhood are doing this; there are other microcredit NGOs besides the one she is associated with and people see that all they need is a pair of scissors and a stapler, which they can buy with their microcredit. In addition her expenses have gone up. Because of competition she now has to scrounge more to get old cigarette cartons or other sources of cardboard strips. Now she is paying someone to scout pieces of cardboard for her. Within a radius of 300 metres there are 20 baggers and sellers of spices, all women, and all using the same kinds of plastic and staplers.
• A lady in Mamou, Guinea selling small piles of dried chilli peppers, and red pepper paste. She has been in business for eight years. Her main turnover comes from buying a 1 kilogram can of red pepper paste for 12,000 Guinea Francs (about $3.63 in March 2005) and then bagging it into tablespoon size bags which she sells at 100 GF each. By midday on the day I speak to her she had sold 60% of one can, and if she sells the whole can she'll gross 14,000 GF. After deducting the price of the plastic bags which come in several sizes, her profit is about 1,500 GF ($0.45) or about 12.5% on her investment. She does not count the 'opportunity cost' of her time or labour.
• A woman in a peri-urban market outside Kampala selling rice by the cup from a 50 kilo bag. She is in the same area as a dozen other women rice sellers and her rice is no different than that sold by the others; the price is basically the same. How does she get customers? She allows them to buy on 'credit'.
• A man who patches bicycle tires in the 'mechanics' section of the main Niamey (Niger) market place. He is located in the open, and squats on the ground. He has a hand pump, a small can of rubber cement, some patches, a few wrenches and two screwdrivers.

These microcredit clients are all in a sense 'helped' by microcredit. But as one delves into the details of their 'business activity,' as I have done many times, it emerges that the clients with the most experience got started using their own resources, and though they have not progressed very far - they cannot because the market is just too limited - they have enough turnover to keep buying and selling, and probably would have with or without the microcredit.

For them the loans are often diverted to consumption since they can use the relatively large lump sum of the loan to pay for food, medicine, etc. during a time of crisis. Since the mid-1990s much research on microcredit use has found that it often goes to 'help the poor smooth consumption over periods of cyclical or unexpected crises.

Again, there is no question that such a use of credit helps the poor, but this is fundamentally not what the majority of microcredit enthusiasts claim it can do - start or expand a viable business activity.

I think a uniformed "dashboard" of country driven information from other sources could be great value added content. At one time I'd built a similar thing at o/net in the Ned group, but it was related to category/keywords...such as AIDS, microfinance, malaria...etc.

WRT to microfinance, yes it is not the panacea many others think it is. I think it's a great tool, and like many of the things it has to offer both lenders and borrowers.

I've drafted for inclusion in the WWC: User's Manual, a blueprint for a fivefold plan of action that any individual might follow in getting started in working at the World Connectory Project.

I've linked it to this thread, where I shall try to apply the blueprint in as far as it relates to microfinance. I shall do this in five separate entries to facilitate clear linkage to the cells in this table

Approach #1

Support the international development aid organisations you already support, but focus particularly on the work they are doing in your List A partner area

On the evidence so far, applying this approach with respect to microfinance in WWC Area #1412, has proved difficult: no-one has posted here to say that they are active supporters of any non-profit or NGO known to be engaged in any microfinance operation in Niamey.

Looking the country-by-country section of the nonprofitslist, none of the non-profits listed seem to be both engaged in microfinance projects and operating in Niamey. Moreover, even if we had found evidence that work of this kind was going on, we would also need to be sure that it was happening in Communes 1 or 2. For example, it was a while before I discovered that the University in Niamey is located in Commune 3 (i.e. SW of the River Niger)

It is too early to say that there are no microfinance schemes to support in Communes 1 & 2, just that we haven't found them yet. The list of non-profits currently in the country-by-country section is limited in that it:

• so far covers non-profits only from A to S
• consists primarily of UK based non-profits registered with CAF (the Charities Aid Foundation) and therefore only a small percentage of the world's non-profits so far feature in the WWC listings.

However, it seems significant that, as Mark reported earlier, KIVA, one of the best providers of microfinance, does not have any partners in Niger at the present time.

Perhaps one role an individual could play within the WCP might be to help find KIVA partners in Niamey, although this would come under a different heading: more like a Type 5 than a Type 1 Approach.

Approach #2

Contact people and organisations in your List A partner area to help identify CBOs worth supporting

My draft thinking in general for Approach #2 (to be included in the WWC: User's Manual) is as follows:

• If you belong to any worldwide organisations (e.g. Rotary, Scouts, YWCA, faith groups etc) that may have branches in your partner area, consider contacting them directly or via their national structure. This can be done simply to elicit information or part of a proposed twinning arrangement between two groups sharing common beliefs, interests or experiences.
• If there are international students or local residents with family members living in or near your partner area, consider approaching them about how best to make useful contacts there.
• Use the internet or members of the international community to find out how to contact the local media in your partner area. Send messages to explain what you are trying to do and ask for help in contacting CBOs in your Partner area that need support.
• Use the local media in your own List B area to publicise your aim of supporting projects in your partner area and to recruit others to your cause.

I think all of these versions of "Establishing contact points between partner areas (Approach #2)" can be considered as feasible options when applied to those whose interest is primarily in supporting microfinance schemes in WWC area #1412.

A little English-language googling has revealed no obvious links via worldwide organisations. There appear to be two branches of Rotary International in Niger, one of which is not in Niamey and the other I've failed to locate. There is a Scouting movement in Niger but I cannot easliy find any details. Faith group links might offer the best hope for making useful contacts, though bear in mind that 80% of the population is Muslim.

Even if contacts are made, knowledge about microfinance in Niger seems a pretty rare commodity. I came across this letter (albeit five years old now) in 'Grameen Dialogue - Issue 55` that suggests that even when people seem to be fairly well placed to know about any microfinance developments, either little information is circulating or little microfinance is actually being undertaken:

Curious About Microcredit in Niger

Hi, my name is Yoshihito Kawakami. I am now working in Niger as community development facilitator as a member of the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV)).

I just wanted to know if there is a micro credit program or any organization in Niger. If you send me any information about microcredit program in Niger, I would really appreciate it.

I just finished reading autobiography of Prof Yunus today. I was really moved. I can say it was one of the best books I ever read in my life.

Yoshihito Kawakami

Email: happybackpacker@hotmail.com

May 10, 2003

All in all, I wonder whether Approach #2 (Making direct contacts to discover information) might work better in places more remote than Niamey (when other approaches might be complete non-starters) or in places much less remote (where the web is awash with possible microfinance schemes to support, but where it is hard to "see the wood for the trees" and discern those most deserving of or needing support)

[Deleted by author on 01 Jun 2008 12:34 PDT: posted twice]

Approach #3

Identify nonprofits/NGOs currently engaged on projects within your partner area. Find ways to support their work.

• find others to work with you on this (since initially this could involve contacting a large number of different organisations)
• if you are more interested in focusing on one particular area of development (e.g. education rather than agriculture or water supply) pass on any information that might be of greater interest to others. (Each WWC connection area will need to develop its own local structures, but initially at least information of this kind might be passed to the WWC area’s Acting Correspondent)
• where the information is about areas of development of particular concern to you, try to contact the agency to find out in greater detail what work is being done and in what way(s) might you be able to offer any help.

Usually, in practice, the process involved in Approach #3 might be rather different from that involved in Approach #1 (Supporting agencies you already support), but in the case of this Area #1412 simulated exercise, the country-by-country non-profits list was used as if its contents listed a WCP participant's own favourite agencies, the ones that the participant would usually choose to support.

Check link1 to see the results for this Approach. By definition, the results for Approach #3 will be exactly the same

So, as far as microfinance is concerned, not very promising.

Approach #4

Join a local team of people interested in researching specific development issues in the List A partner area

• you may need to recruit others to join you to form your own Connection Area Research Group (CARG). This could cover all development issues that affect your partner area or it could specialise
• if you belong to an organisation with a special interest in one particular aspect of development aid (e.g. an educational establishment and literacy; a medical facility and health, a young farmers club and agriculture) you could start a WWC research group centred on that organisation
• the CARG could then run awareness events to highlight projects that are trying to tackle particular issues
• the CARG could try to develop possible exchanges (of information, images, videos, peace tiles, and people) with your List A partner area not only to raise awareness, but to promote existing or emerging projects

Earlier in this thread I said:

Ideally, after the WCP is launched, WWC areas might each form their own CARG (Connection Area Research Group) to undertake work like this.

And I expanded on the idea in my following post

The first three types of approach (see earlier posts) do not seem to hold out great hope of imminent success: there appears to be a lack of microfinance initiatives in Niamey. Perhaps that's what one might expect of any area in Niger, the world's second poorest country.

To make further headway with finding out more about microfinance projects to support in Area #1412, a team of keen individuals in the List B partner area (working in collaboration, ideally, with individuals and perhaps with eduational establishments from the List A partner area) might undertake a leadership role in seeking out and focusing upon programmes that merit support.

Although this would beyond the scope of the combined readership of this #1412 thread, were this for real - and not merely a simulated exercise - a coordinated attempt to gather information systematically about all the development problem areas would seem to be the obvious next step forward next step forward.

It could be seen as a coordinated attempt to tackle each cell in the fivefold model and to try to provide information relating to the subject matter of that cell that would help the partner areas to collaborate or combine in finding good solutions.

See also

I see the logic and possibility in the four step approach David. While I get it, it makes sense, but I still want to poke and prod around a bit more, (if that's okay).

The point of simplicity is huge for many successful things online. Hotmail. Kiva. Twitter. RSS feeds.

Now, each of the "simple" things can still take up much in the way of time and attention. But the "average" user gets it, and can be in and out in under five minutes.

Candidly, WWC has many of the same challenges as Ned. How to you convert first time visitors to happy, enaged and participating members?

Mark says:

I see the logic and possibility in the four step approach David. While I get it, it makes sense, but I still want to poke and prod around a bit more, (if that's okay).

Me too. There's a lot more poking and prodding around to do.

For a start, there's the FIFTH step. (Scroll down to end)

:D

Approach #5

Help develop a totally new project

• this may be the only option in the absence of any suitable alternative projects in your partner area
• this could be a major undertaking involving many more options or steps in getting started than have been offered for the other four approaches. Exactly what you need to do should be should be governed by the nature of your project itself, rather than by suggestions in this manual
• you are unlikely to complete a totally new project within the five-year span of the WWC cycle, so may need to plan instead to establish a firm foundation on which others may continue to build. Although your own WWC connection area will be allocated a new partner area at the end of the 5 year period, those of you who have got involved in this new project are likely to want to continue with it. Hopefully you will recruit new supporters from your (now) former List A partner area's new List B partner area

For those whose passion is microfinance, this Fifth approach may be the only answer, if the first four approaches yield nothing and there appears to be no microfinance initiatives in the areas of Niamey to the northeast of the river Niger.

An easier alternative might be to see what worthwhile projects are taking place right now in Area #1412 and follow Approaches 1-4 instead, but in relation to other needs such as education, HIV/AIDS and community development programmes.

One of the most emphatic lessons I've learnt from this #1412 simulation exercise, is the "unseen and untouched" extent of poverty in the world.

And that's pretty important for me because the fundamental premise of the World Connectory Project is that most attempts to tackle poverty will follow the most accessible, most tried and tested routes. leaving all the less accessible, more out of the way places at the back of the queue.

And Niger - second poorest country in the world - is pretty much out of the way. As this exercise has demonstrated, even the capital city of Niger appears to have very little in the way of microfinance and it appears that there are relatively few non profits actively working there.

But by giving responsibility to somewhere for seeing what is going on in every poorest place in the world, the WWC makes it possible to see the extent of the problem, even if it may not always be easy to do much about it, especially given the time constraint imposed by the five year window given to each partnership before another round of area re-allocations.

Mark points to the need to aim for simple processes in order to attract enough active participants to get the project off the ground.

I'm sure that's right.

But how to find those simple processes?

>>But how to find those simple processes?<<

I'd say spend some time on Kiva thinking about how easy and streamlined they have made it for people to participate. Simple user interface, and just five loan sorting categories: status, sector, gender, region and sort by.

Assume most people find WWC and know absolutely nothing about it. What's something they could do, actually do... and really feel like they've done something (real and somewhat meaningful), in five minutes or less?

Would these be Simpler versions of the 5 suggested approaches

1. agencies to woo their own supporters in the partner areas of the places where they have active projects, rather than expect would-be supporters to do all the legwork
2. encourage contacts between people in partner areas simply for the sake of having contact rather than for any further purpose. Each partnership to start a Facebook group, for example.
3. still thinking
4. need to make it easy to become a reseacher/join a research group & need to simplify the research process
5. find ways of making it simple to showcase aspiring projects in List A countriues

Still thinking....

Cross posted, so will address Mark's question now:

Mark advises:

Assume most people find WWC and know absolutely nothing about it. What's something they could do, actually do... and really feel like they've done something (real and somewhat meaningful), in five minutes or less?

As an online introduction (for List B people):

• A fun interactive process to find out what their own partner area is
• easy-to-make pledge to
  • seek recruits
  • donate re-usable items
  • support WCP events in their area
  • fund-raise
  • join a research team
  • try to get their workplace, club or faith group involved
• To be sent an email telling them who their partner area will be at soon as this is announced

Beyond this, part of the problem is that people expect to "feel like they've done something (real and somewhat meaningful), in five minutes or less" without actually having done anything much at all. In fact, being realistic, when can you ever get anything significant done in five minutes from start to finish?

>>In fact, being realistic, when can you ever get anything significant done in five minutes from start to finish?<<

Yeah, and that is indeed the beauty of what Kiva pulled off.