Oke-Ogun Community Development Agenda 2000 Plus is a grass-roots digital bridge project. It was initiated through CAWD (Committee for African Welfare and Development http://www.cawd.info/content/cawd/introduction.html).
The project is about bringing new opportunities for health, education and sustainable development to rural areas - starting with Oke-Ogun. The project began through the work of the late Peter Adetunji Oyawale founding director of CAWD (for details of his life and work see http://www.cawd.info/content/cawd/our_founder.html ) For details of the structure the project aims to put into place see http://www.cawd.info/content/highway/about.html and http://www.cawd.info/content/news/infohighway_news.html For details of the initial information we are exchanging across the digital divide see http://www.cawd.info/content/traffic/about.html and http://www.cawd.info/content/news/infotraffic_news.html For the ways we are currently exchanging information between rural Nigeria and the connected side of the digital divide see http://www.cawd.info/content/cawd/digital_bridge.html For details of the people involved in Oke-Ogun see http://www.cawd.info/content/aboutus/football_coordinating_cttee.html This is a community development project with a wealth of human contacts reaching into the heart of rural Nigeria. It aims to be completely inclusive http://www.cawd.info/content/cawd/participation.html Some evidence of our strong community links is that one of our key committee members is being made a chief by the Oba (king) of Oke-Ogun on November 9th in Ago-Are. Two other committee members are also chiefs. Someone who is a chief has the authority to speak on behalf of their community in various situations. Ago-Are is the town where it is planned to have a community radio station, and the co-ordinating centre of the Community Digital Information Centres. These CDICs are planned for ten key locations in Oke-Ogun. At present there is no telephone service. A satellite link to Ago-Are is planned as soon as funds allow. Meanwhile the OOCD committee are trying to set up an office, in a location where there are already telephone lines, so that they can go on-line to forward the aims of the project. This office will be in the State capital near to the university. The location is close to where the committee hold their main meetings, near to technical expertise, and in a location where many people want access to email and other computer facilities. By setting up the office there, as a telecentre, they aim to establish a self-funding office. They will gain valuable experience ready for establishing the CDICs out in the rural areas, and, given the committee members' positions within the ten local government areas of Oke-Ogun covered by the project, the committee members will be able to take the first steps in serving the information needs of those communities, through the main office. http://www.cawd.info/content/news/oke_ogun_news/Ibadan_office.html The office/telecentre venture should be sustainable if they can raise the initial finance, and it will be the jumping off point for other sustainable initiatives. They need to find two years advance rent totalling 150,000 Naira (between �800 and �900 depending on the exchange rate). They also need computers, and they estimate they will need a further 250,000 Naira, to cover the cost of furniture, air conditioners, partitioning, steel cabine etc. To date the foundations for the project have been laid by volunteers with no external funding. They need pump-priming resources to get their wide-reaching project for sustainable development, education and health, up and running. Can list members provide any help or guidance towards sources of help? Please contact me: Pamela McLean (CAWD UK co-ordinator and acting director) Email <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ------------ ***GKD is an initiative of the Global Knowledge Partnership*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.globalknowledge.org>
