RuralWeb/Planning

• Need to plan a skype meeting on possible All Voices Count project in cooperation with MDF West Africa
• Who is going to lead in the ICT-working group (online)?
• 14.01.14 Skype meeting ICT department of Groningen University
• 06.01.14 Meeting about Making Beautiful Websites
• December/January: Fundraising for Ruralwebpilots (learning circles ICT-education & entrepreneurship)
• 16.12.13 Inemarie had a meeting with Text to Change
• 16.11.13 Inemarie pitched RuralWeb at Cordaid (http://www.cordaid.org/en/), unfortunately RuralWeb didn't won an award
• 14.11.13 meeting in Nieuwegein, you can also join online

Goals from 2014 and beyond

Early 2014 (duration 6 months) Pilot phase: implement the 5 small pilot programme plans that are building on the strength of each ICT-partner & will create more content/ e-courses; users; manuals; and a website.

• We need €12.500 to be able to start 5 small pilot projects in 3 countries/with 4 partners.
• RuralWeb will be a project under my own company (www.svikaworks.nl ) & test, adjust, improve RuralWeb (more and improved content, manuals, learning circles, vision, business plan, etc);
• if we can show that RuralWeb’s concept is working & we can show some results, it will be much more easy to ask (cooperate) sponsors or investors for financial support);

From 2015 on: In business phase: start to get financial sustainable, and be able to grow to more ICT centres, ‘rural towns’, rural areas and individual users.

From 2017: financial sustainable / making profit; In 2017 RuralWeb reaches out to at least 126.000 users in developing countries; RuralWeb will be financially independent; and will have African management.

Goals for 2013

(from which 2 were successful already, and 1 still needs to be obtained):

• Establish partnerships with ICT partners in developing countries to start a pilot with;
• Engage more hands and advisors on board – in the field of ICT, didactics, financials - e.g. in the form of an Advisory Board;
• Find finances for the pilot programmes.

Already achieved

Since this summer RuralWeb managed to:

• Identify with 4 ICT- partners worldwide (Ghana 2x, Uganda and Curacao/Sint Maarten);
• Have some Dutch volunteers with expertise on ICT; education and/or development cooperation on board;
• Come to pilot project programmes with the ICT-partners;
• Developed a social business plan – which was positively assessed by an expert from Ernst&Young and a ICT-entrepreneur from Kenya – including a market research amongst both suppliers as potential customers in Ghana and Nigeria;
• Test the concept of the business plan at www.facebook.com/RuralWebFAQ (ongoing);
• Got to an online community of currently 150 users and supporters (at Facebook: both RuralWeb and RuralWebFAQ);
• Got publicity at a national Dutch newspaper;