Focuss.Info and the future of development aid
Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 9:32AM Last week I was able to follow all of the TEDxAmsterdam presentations via its own website. As the presentations were running on the background of my desktop, I was being triggered by the presentation from Mark Kamau.
Mark Kamau (1980) grew up in the slums of Nairobi. As he was dreaming of a better future he had the energy to take every new opportunity. As a result, he successfully registered himself at a web design school called NairoBits in 2000. NairoBits is founded by the Dutch foundation Butterfly Works.
The thing that strugged me most, was his view on development aid. He drew a parallel between how he could get out of slums (his personal development) and how development aid should also look like the same. NairoBits challenged him by giving him respect and support, and over time, gave him more and more responsibility. Therefore he is arguing that development aid should use a new model and that is 'Intelligent Engagement' with the cornerstones respect, challenge, support and responsibility. Unfortunately, his presentation is not yet online. However, I will embed his presentation to Focuss.Info as soon as it is online
The reason why I give notice to this interesting analysis is that it also has parallels with the Focuss.Info Initiative. This Initiative is giving information professionals Africa, Asia and South-America the opportunity to host a workshop about the latest information sharing and collaboration tools on the Internet. Focuss.Info invites these information professionals to submit a workshop proposal. We give a limited set of requirements, because Focuss.Info believes that the development cooperation field should learn from how all these people from all over the world make their case clear. After evaluating the workshop proposal, Focuss.Info supports the information professional with the fee he or she requested for in the proposal. This is a beginning of collaboration and Focuss.Info gives these information professional the responsibility. As Focuss.Info asks the information professionals to document everything on the dedicated weblogs on www.focuss.info related to the workshop before, during and after, they get a global platform where they can show their expertise.
Isn't this a perfect example of 'Intelligent Engagement'?