Submissions for the The International Social Innovation Competition for Naples (Naples 2.0) is now welcome! Working in partnership with local organisations and the Unicredit Foundation the Elucid Network has identified 6 challenges in Naples to be turned into a profitable business for the community, and are calling on social innovators from across the world to submit their solutions. All innovators are eligible including public and private, profit and not for profit institutions, organisations and enterprises from across the world. This is an opportunity for everybody if interested to take up the challenge for the good of society. An international jury will evaluate the applications and proclaim 6 winners at the international conference taking place in Naples on 21 – 23 September 2011. The winners will receive €10,000 to transform the idea into a project working in partnership with local partners. The organisers will fundraise for the entire budget to implement the project if they judge it viable.If you are interested click here to apply.
July 4, 2011
June 7, 2011
GuideStar India: An Implementation Partner for the Times of India’s 2011 Social Impact Awards
GuideStar India is one of the 3 implementation partners for India’s leading newspaper group, the Times of India’s Social Impact Awards. They will be helping to shortlist applications from Indian NGOs. As an implementation partner for The Times of India Social Impact Awards, GuideStar India is encouraging Indian NGOs to apply for these awards. More information can be found from these FAQs. A huge response is expected from the nonprofit sector. Read the newspaper article.
You can also find out more about how to apply on the GuideStar India blog.
I N V I T A T I O N
There has been undoubted progress post India’s independence but it is overshadowed today by the persistence of poverty, ignorance and disease among a vast number of our fellow citizens. While most people will agree with this, they despair at the vastness of the problems. Some close their eyes and strive only for personal advance. Others hope that state policies will somehow change the prevailing order. Fortunately for India, there are wonderful and amazing people and organizations who have been battling enormous odds and making great personal sacrifices so that the lives of disadvantaged people are changed for the better. To acknowledge and honor these unsung heroes of India, The Times of India has decided to institute ‘The Times of India Social Impact Awards’. This paper, which has over the past few years launched such initiatives as Teach India, Lead India and Aman ki Asha, believes it has a responsibility towards this nation, and its people, that goes beyond merely reporting the news of the day.
The TOI Awards will help focus greater attention on five critical spheres: education, healthcare, livelihood, environment and advocacy/empowerment. As we want to credit outstanding contributions from different sections of society, there will be three awards in each of the five spheres – a non-governmental organization (NGO); a corporate-backed organization; and a government body at the state or district level. There will also be a Lifetime Achievement Award and a Global Impact Award. Widespread and tangible impact, which has the quality of changing lives forever, is the key criterion for these awards. The applications for each award will be vetted by an esteemed panel of jury members and domain experts.
We encourage organizations like you to send in your application for the awards by logging on to www.timessocialawards.com. Your support and participation will serve as an inspiration to the millions who wish to make a real difference.
The awards will culminate in a final award ceremony which is scheduled for Sunday, October 2nd 2011.
Best Regards,
Team Social Impact Awards
May 18, 2011
Fundacja TechSoup is looking for a Global Community Builder (CEE)
Fundacja TechSoup is currently looking for a veteran community builder with experience growing and managing community-driven projects in central and eastern Europe and around the world.
Here’s a quick summary of the role:
The CDI Global Community Builder will inform and implement the design and ongoing management of all CDI programmatic activities across the region, including grant-supported projects. Specifically, the Community builder is focused on growing participation and connections across TechSoup’s web properties and partner sites via implementing a social media strategy, supporting offline events in the region, facilitating workshops and/or trainings, and managing the launch and development of web-based challenges in the region.
Our dream candidate is naturally curious, inspired by the potential of the social web, and has already demonstrated their ability to bring diverse groups of people together to get things done. Bonus points for previous involvement in the NetSquared or nptech community.
Does this sound like you or someone you trust? Check out the full details including application instructions!
Note: Their team is distributed, but they’re particularly interested in candidates in Poland or elsewhere in central or eastern Europe.
If you are interested please contact us: apeszkowska@techsoupglobal.org.
May 12, 2011
Social Innovation Camp 2011 in Sarajevo
This was first published on the NetSquared Blog
Social Innovation Camp brings together ideas, people, and digital tools to build web-based solutions to social problems — from hacking together software to working out how you’d sustain an idea — all in just 48 hours.
Do you have an idea you want to work on? Or maybe a particular technical solution that could be used for good? Social Innovation Camp Internews in Sarajevo is looking for inspiring ideas and committed people. The call for submissions will be closed Wednesday, May 25, 2011.
This year’s event will be held in Sarejevo on July 9-10, 2011 and organized by Internews and Transitions (TOL). The focus of Social Innovation Camp Internews is to jumpstart a “digital activist” movement across Central and Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and Central Asia that uses information and communication technologies for positive social change.
Anyone from across the world — including people who work for NGOs or the media; who are public employees, web developers, business or marketing types who are enthusiastic about a social cause — is invited to attend the event as experts, volunteers, and developers. Travel grants are available for the priority countries Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Russia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.
To apply for participation fill out this form.
Read more about the Social Innovation Camp Internews in Sarajevo: http://www.sicamp-internews.org
May 3, 2011
May Net2 Think Tank: Improving Lives in Rural Communities with ICTs
This post was originally posted on the NetSquared blog
For this month’s Net2 Think Tank, we’re brainstorming ideas for closing the digital divide for people living in rural areas all around the world. How are you bridging the divide and what are your tips for others who are just getting started? Share your projects and ideas with the NetSquared Community!
Topic:
How can we help improve the lives of people living in rural areas using ICT? What are your tactics and best practices for helping rural communities using web or mobile technology? And, which projects are already doing this well?
Deadline: Saturday, May 21st
How to contribute:
- Post your response online: Leave a comment below, write on your own blog or website, post on the NetSquared Community Blog, or share your feedback on Facebook or Linkedin.
- Tag your post, comment, or tweet with net2thinktank.
- Email Claire Sale the link to your post.
- Have you written about this topic in the past? Great! Simply add the net2thinktank tag to your post and email us the link.
Be sure to get your submission in by emailing Claire the link to your post by Saturday, May 21st.
The roundup of contributions will be posted on the NetSquared blog on Monday, May 23rd.
About Net2 Think Tank:
Net2 Think Tank is a monthly blogging/social networking event open to anyone and is a great way to participate in an exchange of ideas. We post a question or topic to the NetSquared community and participants submit responses either on their own blogs, the NetSquared Community Blog, or using social media. Tag your post with “net2thinktank” and email a link to us to be included. At the end of the month, the entries get pulled together in the Net2 Think Tank Round-Up.
May 17 will mark World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD). To celebrate, we’re using this year’s WTISD theme, “Better Life in Rural Communities with ICTs” to guide our Net2 Think Tank question for May!
About World Telecommunication and Information Society Day:
The purpose of World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) is to help raise awareness of the possibilities that the use of the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICT) can bring to societies and economies, as well as of ways to bridge the digital divide.
17 May marks the anniversary of the signing of the first International Telegraph Convention and the creation of the International Telecommunication Union. Learn more.
March 23, 2011
Civil Society Organisations: Reporting to Communicate
When a civil society organisation (CSO) writes a newsletter, publishes a blog post or updates an entry on a website, they are not only communicating, but they are also reporting. Often this truism goes unacknowledged as the term reporting tends to be reserved for more formal and obligatory communication. However, while the two terms are usually distinguished they can also be linked. According to the Oxford Dictionary reporting means to “give a spoken or written account of something that one has observed, heard, done, or investigated”. It also says that Communication means “the imparting or exchanging of information by speaking, writing, or using some other medium”.
Different reports can serve many different purposes. Case study reports, field study reports, financial reports, research reports, progress reports and even feasibility studies are some of the many types of reports available. However, a report or parts of a report can also be transformed into a more communications friendly publication. This can be as a visual (video or online data visualisation for instance) or as audio (podcast, or radio broadcast). While reports are traditionally considered a one way form of communicating information, today reports are more likely to incorporate of the views of others. Additionally, what is reported, how it is reported, where it is reported, who reports as well as when they report is also very important and can be linked to a CSOs communication efforts. Stay tuned to hear more about the What, the How, the Why, the When and the Where of reporting as it relates to the civil society organisations in a follow up series of blog posts!
March 8, 2011
How Safe is the Cloud?
This is the last of a three part series about Cloud computing as it relates to civil society organisations (CSOs) by Keisha Taylor, Communications Manager, GuideStar International. You can also read the first post TechSoup Global: Teaching CSOs About the Cloud and the second post What is the Value of the Cloud for CSOs in the Developing World?.
Information held by and about a CSO in the Cloud can be requested by governments for a variety of reasons and this can be done without the CSO’s knowledge. As one TechCrunch blogger Paul Carr noted on his post Why I’m Having Second Thoughts About The Wisdom Of The Cloud, a request for information letter can be sent by the government to a provider without any requirement to notify the organisation or person that their data is being accessed. Such stories only serve to heighten CSOs concern about privacy and make them more wary of the use of the Cloud, particularly if they take a position that is publicly in opposition to a government that has jurisdiction over the information they hold in a Cloud.
It isn’t only governments and businesses that are concerned about security, for CSOs also want information about their development related activities and those they serve to be safe in the cloud. A common argument among cloud service providers is that putting data into the Cloud is far safer than keeping it on your computer, disc or server. However, there is still not enough overarching standardisation and regulation to help ensure the security needed is in place within this emerging market. In a data driven and data dependent world if the information that an organisation depends on for its work is lost and irretrievable they have little recourse. Such fears have lead to services like Backupify being introduced to back up information from social networking sites and Google apps.
A Computer World article by Bernard Golden lists a number of predictions for Cloud Computing in 2011, speculating that its use will continue and expand to more countries and as 3G mobile phone services become increasing available in the developing world this will most likely be true. The Cloud presents unprecedented opportunities for civil society organizations to be more efficient in their work. However I would also argue that while CSO will undoubtedly increasingly using cloud computing services, if answers to questions like: What happens if I lose my data in the cloud? What are the local and international regulations governing the Cloud? and How can I transfer all of my information from one Cloud to the next are hard to come by, some CSOs may yet cling to the wise old adage that says you should ‘never place all your eggs in one basket’.
December 7, 2010
Conceptualizing IT for development and social change
By Bernard Nikaj
This post is cross-posted from the NetSquared Community Blog – you can read the original post and any comments here
There is a wide belief that information technology can have an important role in development as well as in social change more specifically in transforming economies (by making them more efficient and effective) and societies (by making them more open and democratic). However, whenever this topic is raised I ask myself: What kind of technology? Is it enough to have computers and access to Internet, or is it rather necessary to use technology in a specific way? Finally, I always wonder what is the role of the IT industry in a country in fostering development and change?
Let’s look at the IT sector of Kosovo. According to IDC In 2008, the Kosovo IT market totaled $98.23 million. The total includes both private and public sector spending. IT market year-on-year growth was 15.3% in U.S. dollars. Measured in Euros, the market expanded 7.8% year on year in 2008. IDC expects the Kosovo IT market to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.1% over the five-year forecast period to $144.84 million in 2013.
However, majority of this market is oriented towards hardware and networking equipment purchase and distribution and there is a very small percentage that is composed of software products. Furthermore, about 30% of this market is driven by government purchases, with additional 10-15 % being driven by international organizations currently operating in Kosovo. As such majority of IT providers target the government and international organizations as their main source of income. There are very few companies or individuals that develop tools or provide service to market segments that are smaller, like the NGO sector.
On the other side most of the NGOs complain that the mainstream IT providers are too expensive or that they provide services, which are not necessarily useful in their day-to-day operations.
Another interesting finding from talking to NGOs is that many of them could use some training, in general IT but also in topics that are more relevant to their work. But, if we look at the IT training providers offers in Kosovo, we can find all the mainstream courses, Cisco Academies, ECDL training and so on. These training are not a great help to most of the NGO community members.
So what is apparent from Kosovo case is that developing IT sector can foster some economic development (through taxes, jobs etc.) however, despite potential, not necessarily it always impacts innovation and social change.
I would like to hear experiences from other countries. What were the incentives or drivers that promoted “technology in use” to drive innovation and change? Are there cases that are replicable to other contexts?
I hope to get some hints on these and other questions during next weeks first meeting of the Community Driven Innovation initiative here in Kosovo. In the meantime, I look forward to any ideas coming from elsewhere.
This post is part of a series exploring social innovation in Central and Eastern Europe. We hope you’ll follow the series, ask questions, and share your experiences! To view all posts in the series, follow the tag cee-innovation
September 10, 2010
50-Euro Discount for PdF Europe
This blog post was originally posted by TechSoup Global
Next month, Personal Democracy Forum will be hosting PdF Europe, a gathering of leaders in technology, government, and the social sector in Europe and around the world. The conference will happen October 4 and 5 in Barcelona. If you register with the code “TSG,” you can get a €50 discount off the registration fee.
In June, Becky attended PdF 2010 in New York and covered it here. It will be exciting to see the big ideas and themes that emerge at PdF Europe.
From PdF:
As Europe wrestles with the economic downturn and changes in ruling coalitions in several major countries, the time is ripe to explore how citizens, civil society organizations, and governments alike are using new, interactive communications technologies to address critical problems.
Personal Democracy Forum Europe brings together the top opinion makers, political practitioners, technologists, grassroots leaders, and journalists from across the political spectrum to network, exchange ideas, and explore how technology and the internet are changing politics, democracy, and society.
As with the first PdF Europe last year in Barcelona, the conference will consist of a mix of keynote talks during each morning plenary, a diverse mix of afternoon breakout sessions, and a final plenary panel each day — plus plenty of time for networking, meeting old friends, making new friends, and sharing ideas and projects.
We’re thrilled to be hosting such speakers as Birgitta Jonsdottir (Member of Parliament and leader of the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative), Marietje Schaake (Member of the European Parliament, D66, Netherlands), Alec Ross (Senior Advisor for Innovation, U.S. State Department), Marko Rakar (Founder of Pollitika.com, Croatia’s most popular political blog), Hakon Wium Lie (CTO, Opera Software), Randi Zuckerberg (Director of Marketing, Facebook), Evgeny Morozov (author of the forthcoming book The Net Delusion: Promoting Democracy in the Digital Era), Martin Gelin (Web Strategist for Rödgrön, Sweden), and Jeremie Zimmermann (co-founder, La Quadrature du Net).
See the schedule for PdF Europe as it develops.
June 25, 2010
#Foundation Week Summary from a Netizen’s Perspective
Have a look at this post on the TechSoup Blog by Layal Rabat who gives an overview her perception of events as they unfolded during EFC Foundation Week. It helps to illustrate how the internet has made it much easier to follow events through social media such as Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and Facebook. Read more on the TechSoup Blog …
