Creation and Launch of the Internet Cafe!

Its finally here! On June 5th, 2010 the Lyantonde Internet Center was launched. This project is a collaborative effort between ICOD and Project FOCUS several years in the making. We are very grateful to those who have supported us in this endeavor and are excited about the information the center will bring to the community of Lyantonde. The cafe is connected through a satellite internet access and powered by solar panels. This video blog shows the creation and opening of the cafe. There was a bicycle race to commence opening day festivities along with a lot of excitement and good spirit.

Bwera Information Center

In this third video blog we get a look at the Bwera Information Center. The center was founded in 2003 as a community based organization and is run and owned by a consortium of about 40 local civil society organizations. Its mission is to contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of the predominantly rural farming communities, with a special focus on women and marginalized groups.

On a demand driven basis, BIC provides information on agriculture, marketing, soil and water conservation, human rights, good governance, basic health care, HIV/AIDS, environmental protection, education, gender and peaceful conflict resolution and coexistence. BIC has grown into a centre where local people meet and freely share information and meet Martin a member of ICOD.

Five farmers within the Lyantonde community will learn about effective IT communication and information dissemination through the center. We also meet Martin, a community development officer within ICOD who talks about the importance of the information Bwera had to offer.

PF Featured as a Model for Fundraising

This week, Project FOCUS was featured on Inveneo's ICTworks site as a model for fundraising in their story, 'How to Fundraise Money for Computer Labs and Internet Cafes in 3 Easy Steps.' While I can't think of anyone in Project FOCUS who would put the words "fundraising" and "easy" in the same sentence, Inveneo does a great job of highlighting the key components of our fundraising strategy.

Inveneo is a partner with Project FOCUS in establishing the internet cafe in Lyantonde. They are a non-profit social enterprise that gets the tools of information communications technology to people and organizations in rural and highly underserved communities of the developing world. Click here to visit Inveneo's website.