NABUUR is an internet platform where villages in developing countries get direct assistance. Online volunteers help create whatever is needed in 150 villages now, and with your help in 10,000 villages soon: a societal revolution in the making!
HELP NABUUR BECOME VIRAL
- How can pulling in many new users be made fun and rewarding for the online volunteers?
- How to connect NABUUR to online social networks
- An easy, fun and rewarding way to make digital stories
BRING THE SITE TO THE NEXT LEVEL
- Make site multilingual
- Combine site with mobile phones, SMS, chats,twitter,etc.
- Make concrete tasks on the site available to other sites (e.g API)
- Make creation and upload digital story easy
STRENGHTEN NABUUR's BUSINESS MODEL
- Identification marketable elements
- Match potential funders plus preparation of pitch
- Strategy to build an endowment
- Advice on inclusion social network fundraising
- Help to create a 501c3
Most villages around the world will never get outside assistance to solve some of their issues. Interestingly, the required knowledge, experience, contacts, goods, manpower or money usually exist, elsewhere. And millions of global citizens want to DO something concrete. But today’s institutions (governments, businesses and ngo’s), are not designed to connect the demand in the villages to the supply of the global citizens. Fortunately, for the first time in history there is a medium, the internet, that allows such direct communication of many to many.
So imagine a reliable, moderated platform where VILLAGES in developing countries can get DIRECT help from committed INDIVIDUALS elsewhere. Person-to-person hands-on problem solving . Such a platform taps into the huge energy of global citizens, unavailable to today’s institutions. NABUUR.com has developed this platform.
Villages put their issues on the internet and online volunteers from different continents help create solutions on the moderated platform, as neighbours ('nabuur' in Dutch) in the global village: a stable with cows in Khunti (India), instructions on bee-keeping in Gbongay (Sierra Leone), or an internet centre with computers and training in Zapotillo (Ecuador). The support entails much more than providing knowledge: from the physical building of a hospital to the reframing of a problem; from ensuring that goods get through customs to finding transport for an international shipment, etc. Both experts and non- experts are needed.
NABUUR opens the unique collaboration potential of internet communities to villages anywhere in the world, so that they can better master their destiny . When that potential is realized -and you can help!- the global societal impact will be huge. NABUUR combines the best of the old with the best of the new: a time-tested community phenomenon - neighbourly help- with the 2.0 power of the internet. NABUUR is the architect of online neighbourship: the screening of the villages, the online training of the moderators and the transparency of the project progress are but some of the important ingredients for concrete results in the villages. It is unique and very potent. That is why president Clinton talked with and about us (see www.nabuur.com). That's why one of our facilitators was honoured as one of the Online Volunteers of the Year 2006 by the United Nations Volunteers programme and its Online Volunteering service.
But even though the present rate of growth is impressive from an ngo perspective (45 villages connected in 2005, 150 in 2006, 300 at the end of 2007), it needs to accelerate further to extend the service to significant numbers of villages. Now that the basic idea has been developed and tested, is the time to partner up.
NABUUR is a nonprofit, community-based foundation where use of the tools and site are entirely free for the local communities and individual online volunteers. It is important to point out that the bulk of the work for the projects is done by the local people and online volunteers. Their time, contacts, goods, ideas, expertise, etc are all donated in kind. If translated into money, this represents a significant amount.
Two categories of remaining costs are:
Small costs encountered during the execution of a local project ($ 5-10,000). Some small sums are needed from time to time in the local projects to overcome a particular hurdle. The online volunteers are responsible to fundraise for such costs.
On-going operation costs, i.e. the site and the central staff. During the development years, NABUUR's focus was on getting the idea working and the central effort was financed by external funding. To become less reliant on grants, NABUUR will start a number of initiatives in 2007, the first of which is to license its platform to organizations and businesses that want to engage their members or employees more closely. Several other options have been identified in a study. They will be tested one by one parallel to the growth of the numbers of participating online volunteers. It is expected that in 2011 60% of the operation costs will be covered by earned income and 40 % by grants.
Developing the basic idea to the point where it worked involved the removal many obstacles.
The main remaining obstacles now are
Keeping the online volunteers active. One of the critical factors is the site. The new, more 2.0 based site has just gone live and we've planned a series of further improvements.
Tapping into the networks of volunteers for further growth. Our volunteers are proud of what they achieve, and we should offer them more ways to express their pride and tell their stories, to attract more volunteers.
Internet accessibility is problematic in some parts of the world due to unreliable phone lines, connection costs, failing electricity etc.
Finding partners who wish to take care of one of the areas that need strengthening. (look and feel website, promotion, online training, multilingual, transport, connectivity, knowledge mgt, etc)
Our staff is disconnected by distance from the Silicon Valley pizzazz; and being non-American makes it more difficult to show up on the US radarscreens
The basic mechanism works: it is new and unique. Now it must become more authentic, smoother, more fun, so that there can be a rapid growth in the number of villages served. For that the following resources are needed:
designers to enhance the authenticity by bringing out the stories, progress, pictures, films
programmers to make NABUUR accessible in other languages
a marketer who can build effective viral marketing into all our communication
partner(s) for online promotion of NABUUR
partner to build effective knowledge mgt into the site
partners for transport, connectivity and small funds ($ 5-10.000 per case)
We operate on the basis of a detailed annual plan. Some of the milestones in the next 90 days are
grow to 200 villages served
find one new sponsor
engage two partners
increase volume and duration of participation of online volunteers
adapt the new site to two more persona's
build the knowledge management section of the site
www.nabuur.com is an internet platform where villages in developing countries get direct assistance. Online volunteers help create whatever is needed in 150 villages now and with your help 10,000 soon: a potential revolution!
NABUUR has developed a unique platform for person-to-person hands-on problem solving. Villages from developing countries put their issues on the internet and online volunteers from different continents help create solutions, as neighbours (‘NABUUR’ in Dutch) in the global village: a stable with cows in Khunti (India), instructions on bee-keeping in Gbongay (Sierra Leone), or an internet centre with computers and training in Zapotillo (Ecuador). The support entails more than providing knowledge: from the physical building of a hospital to the reframing of a problem; from ensuring that goods get through customs to finding transport for an international shipment, etc. Both experts and non- experts are needed. NABUUR opens the unique collaboration possibilities of internet communities to villages around the world so that they can better master their destiny . The potential is simply huge.
NABUUR combines the best of the old with the best of the new: a time-tested community phenomenon - neighbourly help- with the 2.0 power of the internet. It is so promising that president Clinton invited us and mentioned NABUUR publicly (see www.nabuur.com).
But even though the present rate of growth is impressive from an ngo perspective (45 villages connected in 2005, 150 in 2006, 300 at the end of 2007), it needs to speed up more to reach significant numbers. For that it must become easier, more authentic, smoother, more fun. Your help in making that happen is very much appreciated.
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Comments
viral video
I like making simple videos with original music for Creative Commons releases.
I would be willing to assist your cause by working with you to create Creative Commons viral video to post on youtube and similar social network video sites to raise awareness about your program. I charge nothing for my work--it would be a simple effort to help.
You can see an example video, my remix of Ken Munro's poem "randy", at my myspace,
www.myspace.com/gurdonark
Our Creative Commons netlabel is http://www.negativesoundinstitute.com
My working method is to aim for simple, easy-to-create video, which I assemble with my own software, ideally with some photographs or video segments, and some text about the the subject.
If you are interested, please contact me through this site or through my e mail,
gurdonark@aol.com
best, robert
FROM A "NEWBIE'S" PERSPECTIVE
I am brand new to volunteering online and I would just like to show my support for Nabuur. I have been able to reach out and help people in developing countries.... without leaving my home.
Yes Nabuur has some site issues, but it is pleasing to see that they are constantly trying to improve the site. The fact that they are willing to implement changes means they are behind this concept 100%. The original concept is what is important and that concept is what attracted me to Nabuur in the first place. I love the idea of helping these communities to help themselves, and I get to do it by doing what I love best. Researching the internet.
Keep up the good work Nabuur, and you definitely get my vote!
Best Regards,
Melissa
You got my vote and a place in my blog!
michael gibbons buttons of hope
In Transparency is the new black...
I love the idea (Nabuur) of villages defining and refining their needs and then seeking out individuals and/or groups to help them solve their problems. To me "instructions on bee-keeping in Gbongay (Sierra Leone)" sounds damn interesting --I'd give to that cause and I'd be darn interested in how much honey they make! Having the village define and then propose their needs...it's not unlike the empowerment one feels submitting to an N2 contest
You have my support -- I hope you will consider a vote for buttons of hope!
great concept that need a push forward
The first time I encountered Siegfried and heard about the Nabuur concept I was pleasently surprised, to say the least. From all the initiatives that came to my attention this was the first that really adressed two issues of modern involvement and international volunteering.
1 people are looking for (new) places to find other people that want to help too. In my interpretation of Nabuur they offer a virtual kitchentable at which neighbours and friends can come together and discuss and ACT to solve a problem of one of the neighbours (in this case a village). By this, Nabuur not only cashes in on existing social capital by the volunteers but also offers possibilities of maintaining or even developing this social capital. Nabuur in its next step in development needs to put in systems that can help to form this social capital; the glue that keeps the kitchentabel together and working
2 people are looking for very active forms of helping and moving from the 'tell me / show me' stages of philantrophy into the "INVOLVE ME" stage. Nabuur gives people the opportunity to be actively involved in finding solutions and solving problems instead of giving money to some NGO or other organization. As you all probably now this is happing all around the world at a more or less individual level in which people run their own development projects or in which students and others enjoy "volunteer tourism". The unique point of Nabuur is that it offers to bring together all this indvidual actions at one virtual kitchentable per village.
In my experience Nabuur offers a very inspiring idea which is easy to sell to people and institutions (even to some universities......) but in order to overcome some of the issues (like the potentail underuse of all these people who want to volunteer) action is needed.
Let's Give Legs to a Proven Concept
Much has already been written here about Siegfried's considerable and acute vision. He has said that the concept for Nabuur has proven to be successful. My experience with the site over the last 12 months shows that to be true.
But now it is time to move past Siegfried and to give legs to his idea. Nabuur need to expand rapidly. The innovation, daring and skill of technologists in the valley (and many, many other places around the world) will move this network of people beyond proof of concept and into the practical, daily experience of professionals, students and the retired worldwide. Nabuur needs to experience the open source network effect in order to expand the number of neighbors and villages rapidly.
Nabuur experience
What are the problems?
Dennis this is Jorge Martin Rizzi of Tecalpulco Mexico.
Nabuur remains a remarkable vision full of break-through potential. Nabuur is, importantly, naive and perhaps outrageous. Otherwise what potential would it have for growth. It is, in 2007, in a very difficult stage of development, with many developing communities having established Nabuur villages and confronted by cliff face obstacles to achievement of what they seek. The Nabuur office, while seeking enhancement of the web interface to concentrate attention on practical tasks, is not solving this problem. To a large extent this is because it SHOULD NOT be the party to solve it. Yet whether Nabuur succeeds or fails (still an open question) depends on solving the problems. What are the problems?
i read this letter of yours to siegfried woldhek where you posted it at the NewSquare website - you insight is unusually acute
the problem of nabuur goes beyond even all you have said ;
i learned by making more than 700 posts at nabuur in 2002-2003
if the money spent to finance nabuur
had been injected directly into village-based artisan production there would already be
a great success to publicize and motivate the volunteers, moderators, and thirdworlders;
the problem is there is no success story
becasue the question was never understood properly at the outset.
Banging ones head against a wall does not change geometry.
what nabuur.com needs is a success story,
and it is not close to having one becasue these information age palliative solutions
are potemkin villages; so much treasure going into helping the 3rdworlder,
helping the deserving poor people with no success story
I think it would be fair to say that every village in the third world
produces a handcraft product or an agricultural product.
So what about the distribution and marketing of these products?
Why has nobody ever shown how to successfully market these products?
WHAT is the point in having to use a thousand dollar computer and internet connection
to get a shed for some guy's cow or to finance an internet cafe
where the kids waste their time chatting, or getting diplomas in "graphic design",
spending good money their dads have to earn selling mangos, or working in a mine?
yes, but
Thanks Dennis. As always you've illustrated the two sides: we've started something important BUT it needs a lot of improvement. Much of that is in Silicon Valley. That is why I am so excited about the NetSquared competition.
Making friends, sharing knowledge
Learning organisation
Like Cliff, I've seen Nabuur develop over the last five years. I think the age shows the perseverance and patience with which Siegfried and the Nabuur team are working to realise their vision. Having had the privilege to "look in the kitchen" in the last months, I'm also impressed with how Nabuur is taking its own operation as a source of learning.
Connecting ambitious people in disadvantages places with eager volunteers ready to share their contacts, skills, information and time, is of course more than the plumbing of a series of tubes. Nabuur is continuously looking at how to bridge gaps of culture, connectivity, expectations, and trust, and develop mechanisms to make it scale and grow.
Nabuur is creating conversations with remote villages, Web 2.0 is creating conversations among well-connected people. With so many more remote villages and well-connected people, it's time they meet :-)
Nabuur
Nabuur is an excellent initiative for mobilising the vast intellectual and social resources of the world to help solve local community problems. The world-as-a-neighbourhood concept underlying the service has Millennial credentials, and although it has passed for a time behind a cloud in the past century, it is about to come back into its own as the global problematiques of climate change, species extinction and general social breakdown remind people of the value of community solidarity.
As Nabuur grows and Metcalfe's Law takes over, the value of this network will rise sharply (quadratically, at least) and it is only a matter of time that concepts such as volunteering, cooperation and mutual help take on new meanings and give a whole new value to the Internet -- and vice versa.
Nabuur
In all frankness: Nabuur is by far the best and most innovative development concept since a long long long time, bringing together the transboundary opportunities of the web and the willingness of so many ordinary people to help and assist each other. Nabuur shows and offers the concrete alternative for bureaucratic and paper / procedure driven Aid Agency work, and focusses entirely on bilateral help and cooperation between individual people and communities, with a great feeling of mutual ownership and concrete responsibility. And the great side effect is that people all over the world get to know and understand each other better and even become friends... This world desperately needs revolutionary and innovative initiatives like Nabuur.
The world needs
The world needs revolutionary and innovative initiatives, all right.
But, "like Nabuur"?¿ this remains to be seen: Only if nabuur can serve the real needs
of the real people of the third world villages will this experiment have proved worthwhile.
Otherwise, it will have wasted a lot of people's time, which may not matter in the case of
europeans and angloamericans who casually surf the web for edification and entertainment
Nabuur.com is going to have to demonstrate case studies of dramatic success stories,
real, reproducible success stories, (not only superficial testimonial blurbs found on every
other website) or this worthy project will end up representing a net loss to the villagers
who, innocently with good-will, invest valuable time and money in the internet rainbow.
Nabuur is a power tool
It's hard not to be impressed. Nabuur has scalability at its core. It's a big piece of the puzzle and deserves more visibility and more of a chance to reach out to people. I'd like to see it develop into more of an online resource that can play with other sites and tie into other services.