VillageTalk (VT)

Echoing an ordinary dream of 85 million poor people of India, who are ruled by 15 million corrupt, impotent, sick, feudal, brahmin and caste maniacs.

7pm

Africa’s leading research partner in finding solutions for hunger and poverty

4pm

The mission of Life in Africa – USA is to increase international understanding about real people’s lives in Africa, and to connect grassroots communities in Africa with global grassroots driven resources for organizing self-determined development.

1pm

Development the VillageTalk way

“The death of the businessplan”

No businessplan needed, no complicated procedures, western style training, no need to tell us how bad you situation is and that you want to earn more than just 1 or 2 dollars a day. No need to beg for money to become NGO in order to be able to recive funding. The VillageTalk way is beautifull in it’s simplicity and revolutionary in it’s execution. We call it the termite approach.

How VillageTalk got started.

Over a year ago I got involved in on-line volonteer work and started assisting people in africa to build a better future. As time passed on I noticed most projects published on various development websites suffered from lack of progress, caused by the wrong focus. Tens of thousands of volonteers are spending many hours and huge budgets on work that is totally irrelevant to the problems they try to help solving. Over time I cam to realize we need to drastically simplify things, and by setting up Bunabumali Chronicle I finaly found a way to achieve that.

The Chronicle describes live In Bunabumli and the efforts of a number of motivated people, both in Africa and abroad. It tells about the power of peole and shows how realy tiny actions can result in major improvments in daily live. More.

The solution.

750.000 liters per year clean drinking water as a bonus, enough solar power to provide your community with a mini powerstation to be used for LED lamps, replacing kerosine lamps and a community connection to the internet. These are the fundamentals to reach what ever goal you may have. Interestingly, without realizing it you are most likely able to pay for this solution right now.
All it takes is rethinking your challenge, fill in the partnership form and answer some baisc questions.

Why would you have to proof to Western donors that if you had twice the number of chicken your people would have mor eggs to eat and or sell on the local market? Why do you have to explain donors that by having your own internet connection you can easily start educating people using free on-line learning techniques, find the best way to improve agriculture techniques, connect to friends that you would normaly only reach after a 60 km walk?

VillagTalk is not about showing you how to build a LED Lamp, connect you village to the Internet or purify contaminated water. It’s not about creating yet another system or finding better ways to fight HIV AIDS. Its just a simple toolkit to empower YOU, to find the best and most cost effective ways to solve your own problems without anybody in a hyrachy telling you how to reach you goal. Like builing a termite mount, all it takes is a few pople and a fundamment to build upon. That’s VillageTalk Way.

It’s realy simple. a few days ago I gave the chicken and the cow in Bunabumali their own weblog. Yesterday, thanks to Anne, the number of hens increased to 25. Total budget GBP. 10,00. Hey, and we didn’t write a businessplan ;-), Instead I had fun creating the blog and chatting with Norman and Ann about the idea. The expected impact to the community is …..

Moneymatters

If 20 people on facebook

10am

5pm

Microcredit can work, but it needs to be thought of as a business/financial transaction, not charity. Small loans at minimal interest can and should work. However, this should be structured like business transactions (immediate access to funds repaid, including small amounts of interest).

4pm

Africa - Instablogs

7am

Cultural expectations ensure women are hit hardest by burgeoning food crisis.

9pm

On the political and economic development of Africa and elsewhere by Jennifer Brea - a writer, aspiring political scientist, and Afro-optimist.

5pm

Katy Taylor highlights the most colourful online destinations for those interested in Uganda, Africa and development issues.

11pm

Happy base of the pyramid reading!

10pm

Thousands of bicycles are scrapped each year in Denmark because their owners can’t be bothered to have them fixed, or would rather buy a new bike instead. A new initiative from Copenhagen-based Baisikeli aims to reclaim those discarded bikes to help the disadvantaged both in Africa and at home.

10am

There are various software and service packages available. Among them is FrontlineSMS, a programme that runs on a computer connected by a cable to an ordinary mobile phone.

12am

Zambia is feeling the effects of global warming and experts warn that urgent measures are needed to avoid critical food shortages. Scientific research has shown that rising temperatures around the world are in part to blame for the floods and drought facing some regions today.

2pm