Re: [GKD] RFI: How Can A Grassroots Project Obtain Financing From Private Donors In Rich Countries?
Dear Colleagues, As some of you know, I am working on a project aimed at: Providing to District Governments, village governments, NGOs, communities, cooperatives, even individual entrepreneurs, in poor and developing countries, knowledge, information, contacts, etc., to help them: 1) dialog with Central Government on which services to start, and how to manage them; 2) analyze their local economy, to select, then (find the money to) finance and set-up, their own, viable, projects. I intend to publish a book on all this, and of course, I will inform this List. After some experiences in Africa, I will be working in Pakistan in September, to implement this project in a selected rural area, where I have been introduced by local friends. I would like to be able to do a similar experience in India, either in Tamil Nadu (Madras / Chennai), or in Karnataka (Bangalore). If anyone on the List has connections there, please kindly contact me directly. I will explain to you better my background and what it's all about, so that you may, if you wish, introduce me to your contacts there. I can be in those two States, from Aug. 10 to Aug. 30. I sincerely hope to hear from some of you, and I send to all of you my best regards, Arrigo della Gherardesca Managing Director ItAfrica - Italian African Alliance srl (denomination in process of being changed) Milano, Italy ***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/
[GKD] RFI: How Can A Grassroots Project Obtain Financing From Private Donors In Rich Countries?
Dear Colleagues, Lee Thorn, Peter Burgess, Ursula Huws, Gena Fleming, Vickram Crishna, Andy Lieberman and others have all given useful contributions to the issue of how to finance grassroots projects. The current debate on more Aid (Jeffrey Sachs and the UN, Tony Blair's Commission for Africa, the recent decisions by the EU and the expected ones by the coming G8) is all nice and well. But as you probably know, some people believe that aid (especially official aid from Government - or the World Bank - to Government), the way it is given, has little benefits and could even do harm (William Easterly, etc.). Personally, I have been wondering if there could be a more productive form of aid, both official and private. More effective and less distorting (dependency, corruption, waste, etc.) After all, aren't economies - throughout history - driven more by entrepreneurial drive than by Governments? At least, I believe so (having been both a Government bureaucrat and an entrepreneur). I have nothing against good Governments. But it is VERY GOOD to talk about how to develop forms of support that could reach DIRECTLY to the people and their own projects, as we are doing. Channeling A LOT MORE MONEY to viable, sustainable, projects by communities and small private entities, in a poor country, makes a lot of sense. In addition, empowering local (poor) people to do their own development, doesen't necessarily include only entities such as CBOs, cooperatives or micro-enterprises; it could extend to (poor!) Local Governments too. And it wouldn't have to cut out NGOs just that the projects or businesses would be started, owned and managed directly by the people. Of course, the NGOs would help, could provide credibility, etc. But I am under the impression that most big private donors (principally Private Foundations and Corporations in the US), are not donating that much, overall, internationally (where are the numbers?); and, in any case, they give primarily to big, established NGOs, not directly to single grassroots projects. Isn't this so? Again, where are the numbers? I don't think they would even bother checking out (forget financing...) some project by some small entity, say in rural India, even if they produced a full, well documented, business plan and grant proposal. Or would they? If this is the case, would Showcasing projects on the Internet (with simple descriptions, some photos, etc.) bring us far? Do you think people would donate much? Maybe some individuals could. There are web sites doing this... But I wouldn't think the big donors would, and one wouldn't be able to determine a SIGNIFICANT flow of money. Am I wrong? For one, what would prevent silly, wrong projects, or even downright scams and frauds, from being posted? My impression is that credibility, reliability and transparency issues may be the most important, here. If so, how can they be addressed? I hope that some other GKD Members that know this world (of fundraising + donors, etc.) better, will dwell on the matter. Best regards to you all, Arrigo della Gherardesca ItAfrica - Italian African Alliance srl Milano ***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/
Re: [GKD] A Nigerian Farmer Using ICTs to Seek Information
at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Best regards, Dr. Arrigo della Gherardesca Managing Director ItAfrica - Italian African Alliance srl Milano On 1/14/05, Pamela McLean [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Dear GKD Members, A Nigerian farmer has asked for advice (because he knows I can get information from the Internet and he is now in a position to exchange emails with me). I am directing this request for information to the GKD List for two reasons: 1) Because it is a practical example of the kind of thing the GKD List addresses - the use of ICTs for development, access to and use of information resources by the poor in rural areas, access to information and knowledge throughout developing countries. 2) Because someone might genuinely be able to help by pointing me in the direction of the information that the farmer needs. ..snip... ***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/
[GKD-DOTCOM] Is Profitability Essential for Sustainability?
Dear GKD List Members, On Friday, November 26, 2004, Shahid Uddin Akbar wrote: Still we didn't find any single project which can claim itself as Sustainable in terms of being financially viable and serving the local rural communities anywhere in the world. ..snip... Why are the organizations rushing for financial sustainability in the case of rural ICT projects? It also must have some donor driven ideology to make the development initiatives Commercially viable, which is not possible in a realistic approach. ..snip... So, can we put the idea aside to make all rural ICT for Development projects commercially viable? I would say yes and no. We have developed a viable model for financing the initial investment to set up rural TeleCenters/kiosks, with Donor money, on a wide scale. But thereafter, Telecenters HAVE to be able to pay for maintenance, amortization of equipment and operating costs, by themselves! In fact, a lot of Donor money DEPENDS on providing credible forecasts about this. One year's costs can be as much as the whole initial investment and the Donors we work with don't want to have to come in year after year, or see the projects fail. Therefore, we have developed (and are close to marketing even in Bangladesh) a system called VillagE-volution, a Knowledge, Information, Commercial and Consultancy system, aimed at rural communities wordwide, that should greatly help villagers in their development process and therefore even in paying for the Telecenters. We are even putting together a good, sustainable, Telecenter business model, based on VillagE-volution and the best services that can be provided with today's most up-to-date technology (VSAT, wireless and all), to be presented very soon to the Donors and then implemented locally, through NGOs and other entities with which we are connected. Therefore, we are analyzing all the information that we can find on rural Telecenter profitability (the main sources of revenue in the more successful examples until today and the reasons for failure of the ones that did not succeed). From your first sentence, it looks like you have some knowledge on the matter, or you may know someone that does. Or other List Members may. If so, could you kindly provide us with such information? Thanks for your support and the enlightening contributions that List Members and the Organizers have provided us. Arrigo della Gherardesca Managing Director ItAfrica - Italian African Alliance srl Milano, Italy This DOT-COM Discussion is funded by USAID's dot-ORG Cooperative Agreement with AED, in partnership with World Resources Institute's Digital Dividend Project, and hosted by GKD. http://www.dot-com-alliance.org and http://www.digitaldividend.org provide 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 Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: http://www.dot-com-alliance.org/archive.html
Re: [GKD-DOTCOM] Win-Win Business Models
Dear GKD List Members, This is a very interesting conversation. Thanks for your interesting opinions! I refer to writings by Pam McLean and others on providing knowledge, information, networking and other services to poor rural communities, through ICT. Let's assume one had developed an ICT product (or system), that could be very helpful to rural communities. Aside from its local distribution, another problem arises: the lack of TeleCentres (Community Digital Information Centres, Access Centres; they are called with many names. Basically a PC + telephone, Fax, printer, plus Internet connection, in their initial structure). If this problem was solved, it could be a Win-Win situation. Rural communities would greatly benefit by using the system, and local NGOs by distributing and supporting it. Now, how could one go about financing the TeleCentres, on a reasonably wide scale? A mix of donor-grant and debt financing? Does anyone on this List have any experience in this and would like to share it? Thanks, Dr. Arrigo della Gherardesca Managing Director ItAfrica - Italian African Alliance srl Milano - Italy This DOT-COM Discussion is funded by USAID's dot-ORG Cooperative Agreement with AED, in partnership with World Resources Institute's Digital Dividend Project, and hosted by GKD. http://www.dot-com-alliance.org and http://www.digitaldividend.org provide 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 Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: http://www.dot-com-alliance.org/archive.html
