 The latest news from the GTC Team. If you have something to say or comment on a story, email the editor.
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Tuesday, 27 May 2008 |
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Reports are coming in from a number of sources that PayPal have begun a review of accounts with UK social enterprises, voluntary organisations, and charities. However, they have taken a very narrow definition which seems to include only organisations registered with the Charities Commission; organisations which fall outside their definition appear likely to have their account frozen without notice. Since there is no mention of the Scottish counterpart, charities North of the border may need to watch out too! Once frozen, PayPal then embark on a bewilderingly bureaucratic and autocratic process which seems to require copies of documents which may not exist for many UK social enterprises and voluntary organisations In December 2007 they froze the account for a well-respected Kenyan AIDS organisation, demanding information which simply didn’t exist and had no need to exist. At this this time they froze a $1,000 donation which was to pay for schooling for an AIDS orphan in the Nairobi slums. After several months of dealing with them, PayPal eventually promised to return the money to the donor - as of May 2008 they had not done so and money remains frozen in the account while Paypal continue to issue contradictory rulings which ensure they continue to earn interest on money which is meant to be working for charities and social enterprises. This is now being passed to the UK's Financial Ombudsman for resolution. Another organization, a well established UK social enterprise, are having similar problems. In this case PayPal are demanding documents which won't typically exist for a UK social enterprise before they will consider releasing their account - one they have had for more then three years with no problems. PayPal themselves have so far been unwilling to accept that their definitions for "social enterprises, voluntary organizations, and charities" are too narrow and don't reflect the realities of the UK third sector. And this is not a UK-specific issue. Donors to the American Red Cross appeal for Hurricane Katrina hit similar problems, and Australian news programme "Today" on Channel 7 ran a feature on Ebay (Paypal's owners) and Paypal. Until PayPal become more supportive of third sector organizations, the message seems pretty clear: Deal with PayPal at your risk - they may freeze your account at any moment and without warning and may embark on a process which serves no-one except their own short-term, short-sighted business plan. Once you have been caught, it may take months to resolve, during which time any funds in the account will be inaccessible. Paypal's behaviour is deplorable - there is no other way to describe their actions.
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Tuesday, 08 January 2008 |
Well supported, targeted and considered ICT projects have an enormous impact on the lives of people in developing countries but is send recycled computers a good idea? The first comment is a general one about using old computers in Africa. Reliable, clean electricity simply doesn't exist in much of sub-Saharan Africa, nor do dust-free classrooms. Any computer will have a much shorter useful life in these environments than they might in an air-conditioned office in London or Dublin. Laptops in particular are vulnerable - even new laptop batteries have a much shorter useful life in the heat of Africa, but old ones are virtually useless. When the recycled computers finally fail, many schools and clinics are too remote to easily access good PC support, and even if they can the cost of supporting increasingly unreliable computers becomes too burdensome. When the computers become unusable, often after only a short time, the recipients often feel a sense of guilt or embarrassment for not being able to use the "fantastic gift" and begin to worry about what to do next. |
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Thursday, 11 October 2007 |
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GTC's Adrian Wooster is to speak at the 4th Web 4 Development conference hosted by UN Habitat in Nairobi at the end of November. The working title of the presentation is "The Community Opportunity", focussing on how co-operative social enterprises can be used to deliver development goals using ICT's and especially broadband. With an emphasis on solutions for slum areas, the presentation will focus on the why and how: the benefits accruing to schools, clinics, community organisations and businesses of high speed Internet linked with locally developed services, and how a community-focused social enterprise model can deliver targeted ICT in support of development goals. It will cover the role and importance of grass roots infrastructure projects at macro and micro levels, especially in slum areas; the challenges and opportunities facing Africa; and an introduction to the 7-pillars needed to ensure the delivery is sustainable and meets a real local need. The presentation will draw on the speaker's experience of UK-based community broadband projects, supported by case studies and analysis from his work in Africa. This presentation is less about the technology and more about the approach and impact it can have when applied sensitively to a community; this will be of equal interest to policy makers andpeople involved in development efforts, as well as technologist. |
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Monday, 20 August 2007 |
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 GTC has joined forces with Nairobi-based organisation Kicoshep to develop a framework to build and support community-run broadband schemes for the slums of Africa as a means of improving communications and life-long learning whilst capturing the full economic benefit.
One of the key reasons the slums develop is because the rate of urbanisation far exceeds the ability of city authorities to build basic infrastructures; they then become entrenched as the local economy increasingly falls behind that of the neighbouring city. While the lack of reliable telecommunications might not be as life threatening as the absence of sanitation, nonetheless it hampers efforts to improve the lives and health of people living there. Community-based broadband can help to deliver affordable infrastructure quickly, and with all the economic benefit remaining where its needed. For this reason, the work of GTC and Kicoshep will focus equally on the business, community, social and technical apsects of developing infrastructure; the kind of balance required to enable the changes needed to overcome the issues raised so forcefully in UN Habitat's "State of the World’s Cities 2006/7" A key part of the project is to build a pilot network in Kibera, the largest slum in Africa, to support the pioneering work of the local schools and NGO's. This pilot kicks off at the end of August |
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Monday, 20 August 2007 |
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GTC has recently completed the first phase of developing new websites for two projects we have been involved with over recent months: Kicoshep is fantastic project in the heart of the Kibera community in Nairobi, helping local people to improve their life chances. Chisomo is club for street children in Malawi, re-uniting families and helping them to support their children in one of the world's poorest countries. Bayerebon Number 3 is a rural cocoa producing village in Ghana. Over the last year Karen Bridges, an indomitable teacher from the UK, has stayed with the community, helping the school. This website was developed to support her fantastic efforts. Make a visit to the websites and see what they do in their own words. |
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