www.nabuur.com is a new concept in people-to-people global citizenship. The world is a global village and Nabuur facilitates contact among the neighbours.Nabuur builds virtual neighbourhoods around local communities in developing countries, to assist the latter to deal with their problems in their own terms. It links people in third world communities with their Neighbours on the internet. The locals say what they need, the virtual village helps them to find their future.

The characteristic features of NABUUR.COM are:

• Person to person contact, no bureaucracy between the local community and persons who assist
• The local community is in the lead. It is not thematic; they determine what needs to be done.
• It is not about giving money but about jointly working towards solutions
• It is transparent; the progress is visible to all
• Everyone can contribute, not just experts. What is needed is time, contacts, know-how, tools, manpower

After careful preparation NABUUR.COM is ready to expand. The basic tools, procedures and systems are in place. 75 local communities now take part. 200 local communities will be served by the end of 2006, 1000 by the end of 2007, many more after that.

Background.

There is no shortage of resources to assist Local Communities in their daily struggle. But, as William J. Clinton says, we do not have the systems to respond in a comprehensive way. Ngo’s, corporations and governments are all hierarchies and can therefore only deal with a limited number of projects. What is needed is something complementary, that can tap into the huge reservoir of resources in a self organizing way.

NABUUR.COM tries to create part of that structure, by combining the self organizing and time tested principle of neighbourship with the factor that makes the resources worldwide accessible, the Internet.

NABUUR.COM is a lab for democratized development assistance. It mobilizes world citizens. Not an amorphous anonymous mass, but as a collective of capable committed individuals ready for concrete individual tasks and responsibilities.

Nabuur is an old Dutch word for neighbour. Neighbours usually are not experts, funders or friends. But they do help each other in times of need by tapping into the resources out there. They organize themselves until the problem has been dealt with. That’s how it had worked for ages in a real communities, that’s how it can now work via the Internet. Today world citizens ARE neighbours in the Global Village .

The massive popularity of wireless networking has caused equipment costs to continually plummet, while equipment capabilities continue to increase. By applying this technology in areas that are badly in need of critical communications infrastructure, more people can be brought online than ever before, in less time, for very little cost. The authors hope to not only convince you that this is possible, but also show how they have made such networks work, and to give you the information and tools you need to start a network project in your local community.

 

The material is available as a freely downloadable PDF, a paperback bound book available for purchase, and on the collaborative wiki.  Contributions via the wiki are encouraged.

Lightstalkers is a networking tool designed for mobile journalists, especially photographers. Media professionals constantly on the move, wrestling with gear, visas, and communication, depend on each other for up-to-date intelligence and resources. By connecting them directly with each other, Lightstalkers and November Eleven support independent photography, journalism, and humanitarian awareness.

www.lightstalkers.org

www.novembereleven.org

The Civic Footprint is a website dedicated to helping residents of Cook County, Illinois determine the political and civic geographies associated with where they live. These geographies include:
• Wards
• Police Districts
• Community Areas
• Judicial Subcircuits
• County Districts
• State Representative Districts
• State Senate Districts
• Congressional Districts

A user just types in his/her address and a form returns to him/her their unique “Footprint.� The tool is designed to help residents get more engaged in their community and to better understand the different jurisdictions in which they might get involved. Healthy, sustainable communities, after all, are dependent upon active citizens who help make democratic institutions work.

The Civic Footprint civic participation tool is a project of the Center for Neighborhood Technology (www.cnt.org).

This wiki was used to plan and dynamically record the agenda and event proceedings for the Africa Source 2 Conference that took place in Uganda, Africa from January 8-15, 2006. Africa Source II was an eight day hands-on workshop aimed at building the technical skills of those working with NGOs in Africa. The wiki also contains feedback from participants, reports of the event, blog entries and more. The group also kept a blog and used tags on the wiki.

Never Again, an international youth network, was founded at the Institute for International Mediation and conflict Resolution’s 2001 Symposium at The Hague by a group of students and young graduates from around the world who created a collaborative international partnership. Never Again aims to alert the international community to both the causes and effects of genocide and facilitate the exchange of ideas between young people - those who have lived through genocide and those who wish to learn from them. Never Again aims to provoke ideas and action for the prevention of future conflict by bringing people together to cross borders. For more information, see also our recent Never Again Net2 interview.