On Wednesday, 25 May 2005, Janice Brodman wrote: > Regarding Ed Cherlin's suggestion about a Sears-type local government -- > I'm not sure I understand the suggestion, but I *think* he means that we > strengthen local enterprises, and then have local governments support an > infrastructure that facilitates e-commerce.
Spot on. We install a national wireless network reaching to the villages, and one computer per village to get things moving. This allows local farmers to access world prices and increase their revenues, as in the ICT e-choupal project. Then, again as with ICT, we or somebody creates an e-commerce portal to sell to the villages. What the villagers need is essentially everything, in the same way that the first Sears catalog offered everything that a household needed to everybody in the US within buggy or cart range of a railroad station. We would include farming equipment and supplies, clothing, home furnishings, furniture, appliances, educational materials, health care equipment and supplies, and a good deal more. As much as possible should be locally produced, giving a further boost to the local economy. Would any existing organizations taking part in this discussion like to create a piece of this project? Since it can be done at a profit, it is not conventional aid, so you might have to rethink how you operate or even create new entities. On the other hand, since it is profitable, we don't have to wait for government funding or donations to get started. I am working on setting up e-commerce in Nigeria through an organization that provides computer training, health care, agricultural training and supplies, and much more, and have had queries from other countries in Africa already. We will also work with Partners in Health (Haiti) and Sarvodaya (Sri Lanka). > If so, it's an interesting application of the ideas in my previous > message. But to make that happen, local governments have to realize that > they must be part of the overall effort to make their communities > competitive and, eventually, more prosperous. It is not actually required that governments understand ahead of time. Staying out of the way and allowing someone else to do it is sufficient. However, if we can convince local government that it is in their interest to be civic boosters (another 19th century concept) and to grow the local economy, and thus get their cooperation, we can do many things better, faster, and cheaper. -- Edward Cherlin Generalist & activist--Linux, languages, literacy and more "A knot! Oh, do let me help to undo it!" --Alice in Wonderland http://cherlin.blogspot.com ------------ ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, a Non-Profit Organization*** 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.edc.org/GLG/gkd/>
