Dear Colleagues, I was interested in the post by Daniel F. Bassill in large part because his goal is similar to my own and his accomplishments rather modest. The opportunity to use modern ICT to achieve a breakthrough in the use of knowledge to improve development performance is huge, but it is not happening.
There are two big problems: (1) the important information is fragmented and difficult to use in a coherent manner, and (2) there is no organization that is willing to put itself on the line to get accounting and accountability and to use information to improve development performance. Accordingly, our group is now trying to build a useful database, in part using a WiKi technology so that text can be more easily shared, and in part using MySQL for numbers. The goal is to let people who are doing worthwhile things to have a way to put their work "on the record". Related, but not directly linked, is a goal to show how development resources are flowing, and to highlight excellence in the use of resources. This is the beginning of a system for universal accounting and accountability. A third part of this is to arrange for the database and the information to be a foundation for fund raising. Obviously this requires a strong information system so that a good idea does not disintegrate into a scam. I liked what the "tutormentor" was writing. And I want to reach out to people around the world so that the information system is driven by the SOUTH and not the NORTH. Sincerely Peter Burgess ____________ Peter Burgess ATCnet in New York Tel: 212 772 6918 Fax: 707 371 7805 [EMAIL PROTECTED] for secure messages www.afrifund.com www.ryze.com/go/PeterBurgess Daniel F. Bassill <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > For several years I've been searching out partnerships in US business > schools aimed at researching for-profit sector organizations with the > purpose of building internet-based databases with the information > collected. So far, no luck. > > However, I keep looking. Why? Because if I can point to a list of > examples that show how specific for-profits use their assets (people, > philanthropy, facilities, technology, etc.) to PULL youth and families > from poverty to self-sufficiency, anyone can use those examples to > motivate other businesses to duplicate those actions in their own > community. At the same time, any for-profit can borrow from the > good-work of others to innovate even more effective ways to help the > poor. ------------ This DOT-COM Discussion is funded by the dot-ORG USAID Cooperative Agreement, and hosted by GKD. http://www.dot-com-alliance.org provides more information. 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 For the GKD database, with past messages: http://www.GKDknowledge.org
