NetSquared, an initiative of TechSoup.org - online volunteering

Thanks from the Neighbours

Siegfried Woldhek — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 05:09:48 -0400

NABUUR is so excited and touched to be selected as one of the 21 featured projects! Not only because of the honour, but also because this means that developers, consulting firms, and other organizational supporters will help accelerate NABUUR to the next level. In other words, a tremendous and needed boost for the participating Local Communities and Neighbours. Thank you so much for giving your vote and confidence. We will work hard to make you proud.

My favourites?

Siegfried Woldhek — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 20:40:32 -0400

Where to start? How to discover the unknown or unpolished gems? As the founder/ceo of NABUUR (see www.nabuur.com) I am interested in innovative approaches that have the potential to improves the lives of so many people in the South. So I quickly read the proposals under volunteer recruitment (as a strategy) and community improvement (as a cause).

These are the proposals that caught my eye. You may want to check them out.

 NABUUR http://www.netsquared.org/projects/proposals/global-neighbour-network-na...

A Global Neighbour Network: NABUUR.com

Siegfried Woldhek — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 17:26:32 -0400

call for academic articles re: eParticipation

jcravens — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 13:06:06 -0500

Call for articles for a special issue of the Journal of Information Technology and Politics (JITP) on "Understanding eParticipation" -- efforts to broaden and deepen participation in societal decision making processes by enabling citizens to connect with one another, with public officials and with their elected representatives using information and communication technologies. Processes involved include both directly political ones such as petitioning and consultations and indirectly political ones such as city planning processes. (I checked with the guest editors: their definition of eParticipation includes online volunteers for advocacy groups/efforts and for nonprofits who are engaged in a politically-related activity).Topics include but are not limited to:

Current and emergent eParticipation technological infrastructures;
Current and emergent eParticipation methods;
Criteria and methods for evaluation of eParticipation initiatives to be undertaken in a systematic and standardised way;
The business case of eParticipation: Drivers and barriers;
Theories and contextual analysis of eParticipation.

Manuscripts should have significant theoretical and empirical roots, preferably in both social/political science and IT, but should at least contain significant content in both areas.

Neighbours in the Global Village

Thu, 25 May 2006 06:36:51 -0400

Project Screenshot

Supporting organization

NABUUR.com

URL

www.nabuur.com

Location

Amersfoort, Netherlands

Project Description

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 .