Be NetSquared: Year 3
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NetSquared is an initiative of TechSoup
NetSquared enables social benefit organizations to leverage the tools of the social web.
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- Global Women's Leadership Network
Global Women's Leadership Network
Voting Summary (Elevator Pitch):
The Quality of Women's Leadership equals the Quality of Life on this planet
Supporting organization:
Santa Clara University
URL:
www.gwln.org
City:
Santa Clara
State/Region:
CAlifornia
Country:
USA
Give and Take: Describe your project's top three needs
Type of expertise needed:
Technical Expertise We need social networking technology skills with an understanding of how to extend these into for low bandwidth networks.
Type of expertise needed:
Other
We need money to purchase equipment, pay people, etc. since our volunteers are stretched to the limit and lack the right skills.
Type of expertise needed:
Other
Partners – for cash and in-kind donations (computers, software, video conferencing capability, etc.), and advertising/PR
Project Vision Statement & Potential Social Impact:
Global Women's Leadership Network
Whole Woman, Whole Leader, Whole World – igniting a new world for humanity by liberating women leaders to bring us all to a world built upon human rights and gender equality, sustainable development and global integrity.
The Global Women’s Leadership Network is dedicated to developing the leadership capacity of women who dare to transform the future of their organizations, communities, and the world.
We support women leaders who are working at the forefront of closing the Global Gender Gap. We bring together women leaders from multiple sectors—business, government, civil society, organizations and academia - to provide the education, resources and then the social network that enable them to build on each others’ and their own successes.
The PROJECT: GWLN is creating the network, training programs, and leadership support systems necessary to embolden and enhance the capability of women leaders worldwide. A key part of sustaining results is the availability of a vibrant social network to facilitate continuous mentoring, training and collaboration. GWLN is committed to providing this network through the use of technology.
Women leaders have and will improve our world by transforming communities in ways unexplored by current power elites. GWLN is igniting a new world for humanity by liberating women leaders to bring us all to a world built upon human rights and gender equality, sustainable development and global integrity.
Sustainability (financial) model:
GWLN in-country academies will bring leadership training within easy reach both financially and geographically for numerous women leaders in the developing world. In-country academies will be the hub of personal and web-based social networks and of global collaboration.
The Social Network will allow women across the world to tap into information and expertise that heretofore has been only available to the most elite of women leaders. The women themselves will maintain the materials and the connections.
Technology Vision:
GWLN will use web technologies, distance learning, conferencing systems, cell phones, and other electronic means of delivering training and creating social networks. Specifically, GWLN’s collaborative social network will provide a vital information lifeline. As GWLN establishes regional academies, the social network will grow exponentially.
Potential obstacles:
l. Lack of support for the technical backbone
2. No in-country partners for the regional centers
3. Backlash against women leaders and their projects.
Resource Needs:
o A major cash donation for the development of the architecture, building, integration, and testing of a scalable social network capability
o Volunteers skilled in technical abilities (such as web site creation, new social networking tools, podcast creation, etc.) and leadership/mentoring, especially in Spanish
o Partners – Multi-national corporations, universities, NGO’s-- for cash and in-kind donations (computers, software, video conferencing capability, etc.), advertising/PR, physical space and administrative help in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico and Istanbul, Turkey.
Key Milestones:
1. GWLN founding director will travel to Turkey to launch our partnership and finalize plans the second week of June
2. General architecture for the site in place by 7/1/07; first technical capabilities ready by July 20th, 2007
3. By July 28th, the first part of the social network will be in place and a conference call will be held to train and connect all former grads of WLW, our advisory board members around the world, some of our key partners, and the 2007 grads.
Project Summary:
GWLN is creating the network, training programs, and leadership support systems necessary to embolden and enhance the capability of women leaders worldwide. A key part of sustaining results is the availability of a vibrant social network to facilitate continuous mentoring, training and collaboration. GWLN is committed to providing this network through the use of technology. The impact of this technology will be further enhanced by the establishment of in-country academies.
Comments
Women as Collaborative Leaders
What I like the most about this ogranization is that GWLN helps women realize their full potential and become leaders in their own communitities. Once GWLN further incorporates technology (i.e. social networking, video conferencing) with their existing programs, the positive global impact will multiply exponentially as community leaders around the world are more readily able to collaborate with other.
Great vision and cause...how can one best headline the project?
The value prop--
Women leaders can vastly improve our global society by transforming communities, civil society, sustainable development, economic participation, and human rights in a way unexplored by current power elites.
The gender gap and patriarchical bias have been obstacles to this effort.
GWLN seeks to tap this great potential by cultivating women leaders from all disciplines and geographies.
GWLN and its partners are creating the networking, training, and leadership facilities necessary to embolden and enhance the capability of Women leaders. We need your financial, moral, and intellectual support to build centers of excellence, mentoring capabilities, and ongoing education for today's women leaders.
(I guess I am writing this as what you need and what you can accomplish are buried in the description.)
I hope this is helpful.
Excellent
Your mission-driven focus and creative approach will serve you well! It all begins with leadership.
Great!
This is a really strong proposal. One of the few I see that actually involves a nonprofit (not a corporation wanting to help nonprofits) and is grounded in community-building and empowerment.
Some NetSquared folks might be more compelled my some more technical details (what those social networking tools on the website will look like) but I definitely think it fulfills the main criteria.
--ivan (quixotic1.com/Genocide Intervention Network)
Your comments
Thank you for your comments. Given that there are many of us doing this as volunteers (I am full time), your recognition makes our hearts sing.
In terms of technical details -- we are just now doing the architecture for continuing to grow a vibrant network that will inspire and support our women leaders around the globe.
Any suggestions for us are very welcome.
Linda Alepin, Leader GWLN