1412 - a rich-poor partnership

1412 - a rich-poor partnership

(note the numbering of areas has now changed - see bold below)

This is a thread that will offer a chance to collaborate in a real-life WCC simulation, by looking at the kind of information people need to have in order to get started in their role as active participanta in a List B connection or partner area.

The World Connectory Project is all about this:

Each place listed as part of a List B (economically developed or 'richer') country will be allocated a place listed as a List A (economically less-developed, developing or 'poorer') country as a partner for five years to see how the two partners might be of mutual benefit.

The project needs to be about specifics: what specific people in one area might do in relation to specific people in another area. So we need a specific area to discuss, in order to see what the WCP challenge will actually amount to in an actual, real case.

Hence the title of the thread: I went to a RNG (Random Number Generator) site, customised one of the options on offer so that I would be given a single random number between 1 and 2,400. This would then give me a way of focusing on just one partner area, the one with the corresponding number to one of the List A connection areas.

And the number given to me was 1412.

This, I then discovered, corresponds to:

Niger - Niamey capital district: communes 1 & 2

The numbering of areas has now changed so that WWC Area #1412 is now in Nicaragua. But at the time I started this thread, the area now listed as WWC Area #1420 was then #1412. Sorry if this causes any confusion!

So the task is - I hope some of you might join in with this - what information can we find out about WWC area #1412 that may be of use to the List B partner area to which it will randomly be linked when the WCP is eventually launched?

I'll post back in an hour's time with whatever I can find out....

Last comment added: Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:58:38 PDT

Comment 1 on 1412 - a rich-poor partnership

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:

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

Comment 2 on 1412 - a rich-poor partnership

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!

Comment 3 on 1412 - a rich-poor partnership

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?

Comment 4 on 1412 - a rich-poor partnership

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

Comment 5 on 1412 - a rich-poor partnership

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

Comment 6 on 1412 - a rich-poor partnership

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

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?

UNDP's work in Niger

UNDP : New information technology to combat urban poverty through the UNDP’s World Alliance of Cities Against Poverty.

This project falls within the pilot programme Web cities concerning the use of new information and microfinance technology to reduce poverty.

It has enabled the towns of Cotonou, Dakar, Essaouira and Niamey to be linked via the Internet and to exchange information about their experiences in the field of poverty reduction (in particular microfinance).

In 2003, Niamey joined the towns of Cotonou, Dakar and Essaouira, which started the project in 2001. Monaco’s contribution is essentially to provide the funds for developing microfinance, which reduces poverty within the cities’ most vulnerable groups, particularly women, by promoting self-managed loans, and to cover the cost of basic computer equipment.

In 2004, given the success of microfinance in stimulating the development of a base economy, Monaco continued to commit funds to this project :

one part was used to finance the running of the UNDP’s focal point, which takes care of microlending activities,
the other part was allocated to providing the working capital for microlending in the four towns benefiting from the project.

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?

How many Kiva loans are made to people from Niger?
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

Keep Googling

Comment 7 on 1412 - a rich-poor partnership

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.

Comment 8 on 1412 - a rich-poor partnership

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.

WHO: World Health Organization

edit: clarity

Comment 9 on 1412 - a rich-poor partnership

Travel

Comment 10 on 1412 - a rich-poor partnership

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.

Comment 11 on 1412 - a rich-poor partnership

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.

Comment 12 on 1412 - a rich-poor partnership

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

Comment 13 on 1412 - a rich-poor partnership

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.

Comment 14 on 1412 - a rich-poor partnership

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)

Comment 15 on 1412 - a rich-poor partnership

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

Comment 16 on 1412 - a rich-poor partnership

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.

Comment 17 on 1412 - a rich-poor partnership

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.

Comment 18 on 1412 - a rich-poor partnership

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?

Comment 19 on 1412 - a rich-poor partnership

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)

Comment 20 on 1412 - a rich-poor partnership

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.

Comment 21 on 1412 - a rich-poor partnership

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?

Comment 22 on 1412 - a rich-poor partnership

>>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?

Comment 23 on 1412 - a rich-poor partnership

Would these be Simpler versions of the 5 suggested approaches

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
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.
still thinking
need to make it easy to become a reseacher/join a research group & need to simplify the research process
find ways of making it simple to showcase aspiring projects in List A countriues

Still thinking....

Comment 24 on 1412 - a rich-poor partnership

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?

Comment 25 on 1412 - a rich-poor partnership

>>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.

Comment 26 on 1412 - a rich-poor partnership

I think an important part of the answer probably comes from the other end of the equation.

It's people from List A countries who may well have the most to gain from the WCP. So we need to facility their participation. It is they who can best drive this process forward.

How can we make it simple enough for List A participants to get involved and formulate supportable proposals for themselves and others in their WWC area, without the limitations of poor connectivity, language differences and unfamiliarity with how List B areas like to operate undermining the process?

Comment 27 on 1412 - a rich-poor partnership

Mark, I think you are right about Kiva.

But I don't think all problems can be sorted out quite so simply. Nor that there will always be a balance between demand and supply.

Comment 28 on 1412 - a rich-poor partnership

While Ned has been down, I've taken Mark's earlier posts to heart and have been doing some more poking and prodding around.

The crucial difficulty we've been facing in Area #1412 has been a sure means of accessing Niamey's community based organisations (communautés locales). The usual route would be via international non-profits operating in the city. But of the ones listed so far in the WWC, none appears to be involved in microfinance.

I've now found two NGO/non-profits that are operating in Niamey and operating microfinance initiatives: the Belgian international development aid organisation Aquadev and LWR (Lutheran World Relief). Both have offices in Niamey.

Aquadev is working with ANIP-MF (Association Nigeriene des Institutions Professionnelles de la Microfinance) with a series of projects throughout Niger that I think are backed by ADFinance, a Senegal-based company, that appears to be one of the largest backers of microfinance schemes in West Africa. Niger XII is the one Aquadev project that, it states, is based in Niamey. I've still to establish exactly where it is operating and exactly what it is about but it appears to be a water project of some kind.

LWR has a regional office in Niamey headed by a Projects Officer called Abdallah Ben Mabrouk. One of their projects is a microfinance project for women entrepreneurs whose purpose is "To build peace and justice by:

Providing women with access to training and credit for income-generating activities and small-business management in order to increase economic growth and alliances among women, in turn giving them a greater role in household and community decision making."

In addition there is another NGO based in Niamey that is running a further microfinance programme. This one is called Actions pour le développement rural intégré. It is listed at WiserEarth.

As this is just a simulation, its hard to proceed beyond this point. But if this was an actual allocated partner area, it would be worthwhile contacting a number of these individuals and organisations for further information about CBOs in Niamey who might be interested in possible interactions with a List B partner area.

While 5 minute interventions (like lending at KIVA) are models of neat efficiency and have a capacity to attract large numbers of new investors, it is doubtful whether 5 minute microfinance transactions can provide all the answers to every country's development needs. That's why I think the WWC can have a role to play in offering some 5 year processes as well.

Of course, far fewer people in List B areas are going to be interested in committing themselves to long-term undertakings. But that's one reason why WWC areas are so large (half a million people on average). If only five committed individuals were to get deeply involved in each area (that's 0.00001%) by forming a team to research its partner area's development needs, to mount awareness events and mobilise support, an enormous amount could be achieved - especially if that were to happen in a high percentage of areas.

Comment 29 on 1412 - a rich-poor partnership

This is going to be a bit of a ramble, so please bear with me. I agree five people deeply involved could achieve an enormous amount, but that's the rub in many ways...how to get them together.

Let's take Razoo/WiserEarth/Ned/etc as an example of a social network for good. New members walk in the "front door" and what do they find (in most cases)? Organizations they don’t know about, and other users and members they don’t know. How do they best engage? What do they have? What do they do? What do they want?

I suppose many people have things they like. I like education, the arts, microfinance, the environment...so people might find connections to members/orgs thru the topics and things they are interested in. Some people might not like the topic/category approach so much as connecting thru what they like to do learn, share, donate, make connections, volunteer, brainstorm, collaborate, research, etc. Some people don't want to connect or do anything real deeply online, these are FTF people and must have that real face-to-face connection to then move on and really make things happen.

In a social network article recently I read for every 100 members, 90 lurk, 9 participate now and then, and one is really active. I believe our numbers are a little better than that as ned.com was born from another network. Though in theory from this article's POV, it would take 500 people from one area to get the five really engaged people.

Regarding the five minute idea, that was like a gateway experience from the way I was thinking about it. People wanting to dip their toe in a bit first so to speak. Truly money is a renewable resource, the one thing that we are all so limited on is of course time and attention. We all have the same 24 hours a day. Getting people to commit a few minutes to then see a result would seem to be a way to get them to do something more meaningful and for a longer period of time...the next time.

Comment 30 on 1412 - a rich-poor partnership

I feel really bad about not following this thread. Amazing really to look at the dates of the posts and to imagine that time has just flown by. LOL today I see that it's the 25th anniversary of Michael Jackson's "Thriller." Time does fly.

I may be more typical an Internet user, or not, but surely I'm much less systematic than you are David. My first search on Niger was Wikipedia and the second was YouTube. Mark talking about Web sites proposed something like a 5-minute rule. In a way that's the logic of searching Wikipedia and YouTube. First is to get an overview, and second a "hook" looking for something to make me care to find out more. Music is often a good hook and YouTube is a surprisingly good place for music videos.

In the case of Niger I think that a lot of the interest for people in the West is in the Nomadic people of Niger. That's not completely relevant to area 1412. The other route to Niger is through Mali, and that is a bit more relevant. One of the videos up at YouTube is a brief video about Leonard Pitts who is a newspaper columnist. Pitts writes for the Miami Herald but is syndicated too. Too many of American newspaper columnist just seem insane to me, whereas Pitts seem down to earth. He was in Niger because he did a DNA test to see where his ancestors probably came from. On his maternal side the results suggested the Songhi people of Mali and Niger--a common ethnic group in Naimey. So that video provided a "hook" for me.

As always my posts are a ramble! I guess my point is that my feeble 5 minute approach might be something like what others might do. David with his vast and expansive heart and sharp intellect proceeds from the premise: How can I help? That's great and I wish for a million more just like David Bale! But I think many people are going to be less directed and begin with a premise perhaps something like: Is there anything about this which might interest or engage me?

While at YouTube of course I checked into what Ned has put up. The number of views maybe aren't all that impressive, four dozen or so for the videos of 1-ACT, but I really think those videos are important. YouTube can really amplify messages. I think it is a good place for people to "stick their toe in" as Mark suggests. The same goes for Flickr.

Of course people want to help. But part of the lurker to activity ratio is that people are properly modest about their intentions. So while I'm obviously a fan of sites like Razoo, Ned, Wiser Earth, etc. I do think that the established and popular networks like YouTube and Flickr are important gateways. I suspect that if this were not a simulation that those two sites would be places I would would engage in the process. Mark's use of YouTube for Ned is one model of how, of course I'm not that together and would probably do something mush less ;-)

Comment 31 on 1412 - a rich-poor partnership

John, I'm glad you took the trouble to ramble a bit round Niamey. And as always you always have something thought-provoking to say!

I think you're right in saying that most internet users are looking for 5 minute interactions at the longest. We need to engage with as many people as possible and will ignore YouTube and Flickr at our peril.

At the same time, I think we are looking for differential levels of engagement. This is from a version of the current competition pitch that I've now dropped:

How to do this

Keep scaling x 100

5 committed individuals will get at least 10 organisations to host annual MDG events: 
500 will help with events 
50,000 will hear about them 
500,000 will benefit from them

Finding 5 people like me in every area will prove difficult, but we are talking about 5 people in a population of half a million (0.001%). So that's far from impossible, surely.

The 50,000 may well be the 5 minute lurkers. Some may be tempted to convert into one of the 500 event activists, but I suspect that most of the 500 are likely to be recruited through existing social networks.

And WWC doesn't need to be an entirel internet activity. If the 5 committed individuals are to work to best effect I'd guess that they will interact f2f much of the time.

Comment 32 on 1412 - a rich-poor partnership

Yes I think you're right about how the 5 minute lurkers can become activists. I also think it's hard to predict who those people will be. One of the things about people who frequent social networks for good is they are often already quite involved in one project or another. That's not to say that these sorts of social networks are unimportant because they are very important. The information that people have gleaned from their activities is very useful and the sharing is too. But people you might least expect can get hooked too. That's why it's good to expose the WWC through multiple networks.

As I've said before one of the great features of this project is that it is community centered, so I think you're right that as people become aware and begin to work with the project and their partner areas, face time and other ways of communicating will become important. Still the Internet is a very good way to help to build and promote the WWC. And the Internet is new with strange sorts of logic that I'm very far from understanding.

Comment 33 on 1412 - a rich-poor partnership

Am in Nairobi and i cant leave the city without getting m,y self a copy Of Muhamed Yunusu stoping the poverty he talks very well about the Micocredit and it is achallange to groups like Kiva i see Kiva passes gropu of people who leter becomes more big microcredit and ends up puttin much securities I wish every one could read this book of Prof. Yonusu.

Comment 34 on 1412 - a rich-poor partnership

WWC Areas have been renumbered so that Area #1412 is now:

Nicaragua - Region Autonoma del Atlantico Norte & Region Autonoma del Atlantico Sur

The Area in Niger that has formed the subject of this thread, previously listed as WWC Area #1412, is now WWC Area #1420

Rather than edit the title and entire thread to reflect this change, I shall instead put an explanatory note at the beginning.