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We_School – inspiring project from India
I had the opportunity to meet Ulrike Reinhard in person this summer in Nairobi, during the Global Voices Summit. Since our summer meeting, I have been following carefully her amazing project in India both on the project site, as well as on Ulrike’s personal blog. I have to tell you – she is one of those people who inspire me the most! I am ever so lucky that my life and work on-line bring me together with people like her! She is genuine, she is professional and most of all – inspiring and dedicated to her dream.Today we will talk about believing in your dreams, following your dreams. As I sit above my shiny mac in a magnificent garden in Oxfordshire few people out there are connecting their skills and expertise to improve the education of their local community – right now, right there! The intensity of their commitment is so overwhelming that I have decided to investigate their project a bit more and share my personal take on it with you.Let’s start with the vision of We_School in India:- we_school is based on diversity: The arts, sciences, humanities, physical education, languages and maths all have equal and central contributions to make to a student’s education. Elevating some disciplines over others only reinforces outmoded assumptions of industrialism and offends the principle of diversity.
- we_school embraces the poor: at least 30% of our students will come from families living below the poverty line.
- we-school prepares our kids for a world that is unpredictable by teaching them to adapt, to deal with change and to be prepared for uncertainty.
- we_school is a green school.
- we_school teaches primarily for life, not for business.
- we_school shall raise the living standards of Khajuraho.
- at we_school students will learn to solve local problems with international standards.
- we_school is a networked model which suits the needs of the 21st century.
- we_school fully embraces new technologies. Not only as tools to get things done but much more as organizing principles (= values) such as collaboration, transparency, resonance, empathy, integrity, participation and reputation which define a new aera in teaching and learning.
Did you spot the most important word here? “Khajuraho” – in case if you are not aware of the location, look it up on Wikipedia, as I am sure you have heard of it anyway. We are talking about a school for a local community in an area which is extremely popular on the international scale as a tourist attraction, so why would we need to invest in education there, you might ask.Well, after my initial chat with Ulrike in summer and quite recently her inspiring post about the project, I have contacted one of the local members of their team, Rajiv Gautam. I am really grateful, that Rajiv took time to explain to me the importance of we_school for their community in a quick call we had last week. I was told that the local youth simply does not think in long term commitment to education and career building because kids are exposed to fast money making opportunities arising from all the tourism in the area. As crazy as it sounds, I can easily imagine how difficult it must be to convince young people to stay in the class room, spend hours over books and plan their future businesses as opposed to living with the opportunity of making easy money here and now! I remember myself as a student I had to face a similar choice – I was offered an amazing job which would take up most of my time and equal with few additional years before finalising my degree. It was only thanks to my wiser friends that I stayed at the uni, dropped the job and continued learning. Today I am benefiting from everything I have learned in those years and I am sure I made the right choice.But to make the right choices, to think long term and be patient one needs external help from people who know better. School is a perfect solution so I am really happy to see Ulrike bringing her international networks and experience to the we_school project and Rajiv taking the best of their heritage and understanding of the local culture and community to drive this change. I admire the support Ulrike’s friend Egon Zippel provides all along the way too – I remember their trip on bikes around India to study various educational models – such a great idea before the actual kick off of their school!From what I understand from my conversation with Rajiv the work on the school will begin shortly and there is still so much to do! I am astonished how ambitious and relevant this idea is. I actually think that if it all goes well Ulrike will be able to share this model, the opportunities and all the challenges they might face on the way and all learnings with the international audiences. I think this is potentially a huge idea for truly innovative approach to schooling not only in India, but also in all other countries of the world (yes, including the so called “developed” democracies;)).I would personally like to know more about the challenges the project was facing initially and might face in the future but I hope to talk to project team more in the next few weeks about that.In the meantime to learn more about the project go to their blog. I am sure I will post about it more here and in other places on-line and I will follow it closely. For now, let me finish with Ulrike’s words, something that applies to all the dreams, causes and stories we believe in. I started using it as my personal mantra, one which has changed my life already:So, the dream is big.
But I think is doable.
And we will go for it step by step.
And yes, we’ve started.
Small.
But we’ve only just begun … -
Barcamp Nonprofits London – write up
Barcamp Nonprofits was amazing once again! I am really sad that I was so ill that I could not stay for the entire day but the morning opening and sessions were brilliant, friendly and inspiring – as always! Google space was perfect and my coffee addiction was also satisfied with the best coffee beans in town!;)
But on a more serious note I am overwhelmed with the amount of positive response from our nonprofit attendees. I think we are really lucky to have such a great support. The initial idea of this event was to open the field for discussion between two sectors and I think we are getting there! I personally hope that next time we can make a bigger event with larger participation from tech and geek community to articulate the goals of Barcamp Nonprofits even better. Barcamp NFP is almost 2 years old now and it’s growing much faster than I expected it to so I have now decided to take it to the next lever faster than initially planned. I hope that by the beginning of 2013 the global backbone of our events will be finalised and anyone interested in organising a barcamp nonprofits in their location will have all the tools, materials and central support to do so.
In the meantime we are looking forward to your feedback and tips. I see that we had some concerns about pitching and you probably know that I am personally feeling really strongly about avoiding that. I keep stressing that barcamp nonprofits was my originally personal initiative, an independent brand living its own life and supported by a group of amazing co-organisers in Oxford and London (all of them were volunteers!) and I will do my best to ensure that it stays independent from any brand, be it commercial, be it nonprofit – simply to ensure free flow of ideas and transparent access to information.
It might sound altruistic, but I think this way we all have a choice to collaborate in the best possible way and make the most of our day. In the end, we are all people working for various brands and organisations and it is us who create ideas, build solutions and work for social good.
Barcamp Nonprofits is an independent series of events based on voluntary work of organisers, volunteers and attendees. Initially, I have invested a bit of my own money and a bit of my own reputation to kick it off, but nowadays it is possible thanks to great sponsors who are also encouraged and briefed to contribute to the day. It is free for attendees. Tickets are released and available to all nonprofit and tech professionals. We do not provide special speaker invitations – every fundraiser and every geek are welcome (for the record – we did at our first London event and we were criticised for exclusiveness, so we won’t do it again). Our events are open and inclusive. Each and every attendee is expected to help, contribute to discussions, document and take responsibility for the success of each event. Those basic rules shape the culture of our events and we are committed to keeping it this way. I will do my best to articulate it clearly for all local organisers, sponsors, volunteers and for all attendees, so I am really looking forward to your feedback and to the next barcamp, wherever it might be!;)
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Geeks getting engaged – our rather geeky marriage proposal
Last Night at the Oxford Geek Night @zerolab has asked me to marry him. He used his 60 min long pitch to do so. Luckily it was also recorded as I was pretty much in shock! I know he hates to speak in public and I was expecting him to talk about Drupal projects! So when he mentioned volcanoes and other side of the world (we have met on the way to Santiago de Chile, then we were also stuck there for a day due to the Icelandic volcano problems), then coffee ring (ring he gave me once promising not to ask this question) I genuinely panicked. First thing I said was “oh no!” only then followed by a big yes! There, enjoy! (thank you to @darhtberne for recording it and to @jpstacey for brave and professional management of the evening afterwards!) And there was I talking in my pitch about my book on how the web has changed my life! There, thanks to the web I am not engaged!
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Super pleasant surprise at Costa in Wantage – review
I posted previously that our local Costa is not my favorite place simply because it is not clean (at least not up to my standards of cleanness – and here I mainly refer to the state of tables). It’s interesting to see though that my personal relationship with this brand and place changed recently due to a pretty good product. I was really pleasantly surprised to try their new coffee drink – Cortado:
Welcome Cortado, the brilliant new drink that’s set to change the way you enjoy coffee. Made with one shot of pure Mocha Italia espresso and a smooth layer of milk; it’s the short way to enjoy a long lasting coffee lift.
See I am not much of a cappuccino fan. I like my coffee black and strong. I only ask for milk in my coffee when I feel that my stomach simply cannot take more black coffee. It’s sad and I wish more coffee places in the UK had the habit of providing clear water next to black coffee. I remember that in Budapest with on-going supply of crystal clean water next to my short black cuppa I would never have problems of this kind. Thus I am really happy that Costa’s Cortado has a perfect ratio of milk to coffee. It is delicious and I do not remember when was the last time I used the term for any coffee drink containing milk;)
Saying that I need to check with the local branch one fact – on the site they state that it contains one shot of espresso, but I clearly remember being told there were two shots in my drink….
In any case I really enjoyed my Cortado at Costa in Wantage and I think I might just go back to have another one and take another picture of pretty latte art;)
My Rating:
- aroma: 8/10
- acidity: 7/10
- body: 9/10
- flavour/aftertaste 8/10
- overall rating: 5 stars
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What happens when you start to write a book?
You open up the topic and give people the opportunity to join you on the journey. Since I started to write up my thoughts about the life changing effects of social media and our personal on-line reputation, my own life has changed drastically! I am listening to new stories almost every single day. I meet people I would otherwise never had met. I receive suggestions and tips from all directions and actually the more I dig into particular areas of my book the more I am faced with amazing ideas! Just this week I spend two days in London and one back at home working and net-working. I have gained insight into a life of 2 Water Charity only to discover that their story is pretty inspiring. I watched AJ Leon sharing his inspirations over the web in an interview (one of my earlier posts) and later connecting again on Facebook with me for just a quick shout out – which is really nice! I have met few lady geeks at a Facebook event in London to chat about privacy, but also about their take on on-line reputation. I learned few pretty personal stories. I had fun with a glass of wine and serious chat about things that matter the most in the social web – the feeling of growing through connection with similarly minded, yet completely different people. I stayed with a London based friend who uses blogging to share her daily life and probably does not even realise how good her blog is for people like myself, how inspiring. I had a chat with her on the topic once, shared few industry secrets and helped her more professional, the business side of on-line presence too. I am glad I could be helpful just by sharing this time my own stories. I have also met Barcamp Nonprofit co-founders while judging Blackbaud Digital Awards yesterday. I sat there for few hours (and coffees) reading through amazing ideas for digital fundraising campaigns. Looking at all of them I tried to identify the challenges people behind the listed links must have had. I know how frustrating new technology can be, how hard it is to justify a budget for a new idea, how risky it is to actually go ahead and do it sometimes. I was really impressed! I have to admin that intensity of that process really wore me off and I am glad that I was not alone. We had a great afternoon of real collaboration and I loved it! I have later followed up the Facebook event with a coffee with one of the ladies just to realise that we all have very similar experiences and the most intriguing stage of those is our choice to change or not to change the way our life, career, travel, a relationship develops. It felt genuinely good to hear that the web yet again provided new opportunities and had almost a healing effect on someone out there. Today I had the opportunity to talk to the author of one of the IMPORTANT READS of my recent years, Anthony Mayfield. (His book is a must read, a MUST read!). I think all his points will take time to sink in, but I really appreciate the time and willingness to respond to my questions – I know that his answers will guide me though quite a lot of core ideas in my own book. So as I am finishing my first chapter I am moving to the next stage of my book writing process. I am finalising my take on on-line reputation. I am clarifying in my head and on paper how far I want to go with some of the core ideas. I know clearly what I want to achieve with my book but I also acknowledge how much I might experience in the next few weeks. I have written to some of my most precious friends tonight and to some of the people I have met in the last few years to invite them to join me on the journey – just to take this entire adventure to the next level.
Here are the questions for this week and probably the entire journey once again:
- Is our on-line reputation something we can pass on to others to create/manage? Can we pay an agency or individual to do it for us? Should we?
- Is our on-line reputation an abstract concept or something much more tangible?
- To what extend does the social web change our daily life and do we really want it to be effective?
- What do you do when the first sign of change (due to your on-line activities) appear: step back and hide or embrace them and build your next steps on that?
- If you have a great story, you suspect it could inspire others, what stops you from sharing it on-line?
Keep the comments coming now and later! Your feedback helps – even when you tell me that you have no idea what I am on about yet again!;)
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“Success is a portfolio of failures” – AJ Leon and his stories
I had the privilege to meet AJ Leon and his beautiful wife, Melissa, at Institute of Fundraising National Convention a few years ago now and I cannot tell you how inspiring his presence is. I am thus really happy to share his recent interview with you because I think that his ideas, his attitude to life and his take on fear and failure will make you think! Enjoy! AJ Leon has put together a great manifesto expressing his take on life. I think you should read it and sleep on it. The web is full of great ideas and great manifestos – this one is indeed a life changing doc, one I aim to practice myself!
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Why sponsor a child with ActionAid – ActionAid UK blogger event write up
Apart from the fact that I was awfully late (thanks to our lovely and always punctual [not] Stagecoach!) I really enjoyed ActionAid’s blogger event this week. I am really happy when people invite me AS A BLOGGER and treat me this way – working in this industry makes being a genuine blogger pretty difficult and we are often excluded from meetups. Not only that the event was inclusive, it was also really well planned, useful and inspiring! It made me realise again how difficult it is to help and how complex development issues can be.
It became apparent when I picked up a note from Alexander Graham’s presentation on his visit to Myanmar. As he later explained it was not exactly what he meant and I have to be honest it is not the argument here. I was actually more interested in both points mentioned above, regardless of their author.
You see there are many people thinking that feeling good about helping is not enough, others (usually more experienced in development issues) state that feeding aid does not do developing countries any favours and that we should first look at roots of problems and tackle long term problems. I personally think that as long as we get involved at ANY stage or level of support towards regions and people that most certainly need our help, it’s all OK. For some, the recent video might look cheesy, for others, it is actually very inspiring! Does it really matter? As long as it moves at least one person to change and help – that’s all fine. I spend hours in events and conferences about the value of clicktivism yet really some people can only help by sharing news online, not so much by helping financially or on the ground. Is that really bad? Some of us will work in the field, spend our working hours supporting non-profits or investigating better and better processes to take the development to the next level. But we cannot all be experts. We cannot all make a difference.
We can all find our own way to help though. That IS important. That is why am so happy that nnonprofitslike ActionAid UK reaches out to bloggers for support. We have spent three hours discussing issues in one of the ActionAid locations – Myanmar:
To help raise awareness of this brand new programme we will be launching the UK’s first nationwide celebration of child sponsorship on the 12 to 18 November.
The money raised from child sponsorship helps with the basic needs that we all deserve:EducationLess than 50% of children have access to formal education and of those enrolled, many drop out before their third year.The reasons for major problems in education is due to:- A lack of schools
- The government assigns teachers in each village, but the villages are facing a short supply of teaching tools, space, and even teachers.
- Once the teachers are appointed sometimes they can’t actually get to the schools.
- Parents are often unable to afford the uniforms and books for their children.
- Pre-school activities are not available
- When children’s parents have to go out to work the oldest child (be that a boy or a girl) then has to stay at home to look after the younger children.
- Children in the areas we work in are usually absent from the school due to transportation difficulty to commute during the rainy season
WaterVillagers get sufficient water but still there is a shortage of water in summer and the water quality is poor. In the project area villages get water (both domestic and drinking water) from wells, stream water, ponds, pumps, and collecting rain water in rainy season.BabiesIn one of the areas we work 95% of the babies are born at home due to a lack of transportation and very few health centres. The average family size is 5-7 with 3-5 children. Access to reproductive health services is very limited with a consequent high maternal mortality rate.We have also talked about SEO for our blogs which I think is pretty useful for bloggers too! And finally we have sat down and brainstormed around ideas for ActionAid’s work with bloggers. I am really happy to see that the ideas placed on the table were taken seriously. I am looking forward to taking part in some of them in the upcoming months! Thank you once again to the organisers and speakers. It was time well spent!
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Barcamp Nonprofits London in back!
Barcamp Nonprofits is back! It’s back in London on 28th of September (Social Media Week) at UNICEF UK offices and 4th of October over at Google Campus! Initially, it sounded like a crazy idea and I can admit now that in the morning of our first London event I was a bit worried about reactions to this seemingly vague format, but all went well and our participants were amazing. Feedback exceeded our expectations so we have decided to repeat it in fall of 2012. If you work in the nonprofit sector, if you work in IT or if you are simply passionate about the way nonprofits make the most of the web join us! The first batch of free tickets is out tomorrow at midday. The second will be released closer to the date. I also hope to have the Social Media Week event (28.09) finalised next week too. Really looking forward to it!
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Celebrating 7th Birthday of London Girl Geek Dinners
The Girl Geek Dinners is a series of networking events running around the globe to discuss topics related to women in tech. Last week the London group celebrated its 7th Birthday which gave me a great opportunity to catch up with few inspiring ladies and gentlemen living and working in our capitol. I have really enjoyed the presentations, loved the wine (thank you @NakedWines!) and came home with a goodie bag (Moshy Monsters jelly beans were a perfect present to my small geek!;)). But most of all I have enjoyed the celebration itself. SEVEN years of networking to encourage women to participate more actively in the world of technology. That’s quite impressive! I would like to think that nowadays events like GGD are not needed anymore, but judging from the ratio of women at LeWeb London I think women need to be a bit more active, assertive and proud of their work in the world of technology. Do not get me wrong, I think ultimately it does not matter if you are a boy or a girl starting this path but is really what I think it is? Can we sit back and assume that all women will be equal? Can we assume that they will be motivated to apply for jobs in science, tech, it as often as boys are? I do not have the right answer. I am sure it’s complex. But whatever is the case I think Girl Geek Dinners do a great job bringing people together around those topics! Big hug to all the sponsors but most of all to the organisers! Great work and great event!
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Attending #actionaidblogparty
I was kindly asked to post about the event I was invited to and share my thoughts, or rather the motivations behind my involvement in ActionAid UK’s Summer Party for bloggers. First of all, I am really honoured to be invited and participate in an event which ticks off almost all my boxes – mum blogger, nonprofit fan and practitioner, social media addict…but this is not really the key. I am very impressed that Action Aid are working consistently with relevant bloggers, open up their doors and share their work. Trust me, working in this industry for more than a few years now I know how much of a shift that is for a large nonprofit organisation.
So I am going with a lovely friend and hope to learn more about ActionAid work, but also catch up with fellow mum and dad bloggers and hopefully meet up with few new ones too!
I think you can still join too if you fill out the invite form here.
Agenda is below:
Penny (aresidence.co.uk) and Gemma (helloitsgemma.wordpress.com)will be giving a special session on how you can get involved.
Alex Graham – the CEO of Wall to Wall the award winning independent TV production company who have brought us fabulous shows like Who Do You Think You Are? and The Voice UK – will be speaking about his experience of visiting our work in Burma/Myanmar.
Jimi Mistry will also be talking about his first-hand experience visiting our work and what it means to him to be a child sponsor.
ActionAid’s Digital Producer Louise will be offering top tips on how to make the most out of blogging and social media.
Hope to see you there!:)
