African Collaboration Goes Global

by Nathaniel Whittemore · 2009-08-24 09:57:00 UTC
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Collaboration is a complicated thing. We increasingly recognize that the complexity of global problems suggests that no one individual or even organization is likely to have the expertise and experience necessary to provide the solution. Even more exciting, we're starting to see that the internet might provide the architecture for global collaboration that has in the past held us back. Enter Africa Rural Connect.

Africa Rural Connect began as an answer to how to better channel the ideas, expertise and experiences of more than 200,000 current and former Peace Corps volunteers, and connect all of that to the dense network of diaspora actors, scholars, and local citizens working for change.

The recently launched site allows anyone to submit ideas which can then be endorsed or improved by the community. The goal is not necessarily for people to post ideas which have been fully figured out, but to put something into a public space where other people who have the assets one might need to successfully complete their projects.

To provide some momentum, each month there is a cash prize for the community's favorite projects. Right now the project in the lead is "Zittnet - harnessing information to make rural markets work better," a project to combine electronic information about farm prices with data centers easily accessible to rural farmers.

The history of development has shown us that long-term solutions have to include a diverse array of actors, and successfully harness the talents, capacities and resources of everyone involved - from local participants to international institutions. Africa Rural Connect is one of the most creative platforms I've yet seen to do that, and I highly recommend everyone go check it out.

(Photocredit: http://www.odcap.com/)

Nathaniel Whittemore is the founder of Assetmap. Previously he was the founding director of the Northwestern University Center for Global Engagement.
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