ICTD2010 - A response from John Dada, Fantsuam, North Central Nigeria December 7, 2010
John wrote the following ref: ICTD2010 - Research needs from a developing world perspective http://dadamac.posterous.com/ictd2010-research-needs-from-a-developing-wor
I forwarded it on his behalf, but it doesn't yet seem to be up at http://www.pre-conferenceictd2010.org/Sent through Pamela McLean
John sent this to me less that 48 hours after our usual weekly UK-Nigeria Dadamac team meeting, which included ICTD2010 on the agenda. I had reminded him of the invitation to contribute. (ICTD2010 - Research needs from a developing world perspective http://dadamac.posterous.com/ictd2010-research-needs-from-a-developing-wor ) but I doubted if he could respond, given the time of year (Dec 5th - Busy week at Fantsuam http://dadamac.posterous.com/dec-5th-busy-week-at-fantsuam) and an urgent local need (John's family and the " witch " http://dadamac.posterous.com/johns-family-and-the-witch) However he thinks it is important to link with you, and has made time to invite you to research what we are doing. He asked me to add links.
A transcontinental ICT4D action project that started in 2004, and has continued steadily, is an example of a collaboration that is meeting real needs "but did not have the ‘knowledge quest component’ worked out enough in their narrative to be recognized as research".
From its early days, when one partner from rural Nigeria worked with what is now Dadamac-UK, across a digital divide of no phones and no reliable post office service, the partnership has grown into a weekly Nigeria-UK hotline. By 2006, information requests from the Nigerian end included internet search on harvesting ginger, and information-giving included sharing news on how some school kids were busy collecting and selling sand to raise money to purchase a refurbished computer. By 2007, the communication had evolved into real time, with meetings being conducted in Worknets chat room, and in 2008 use of skype was introduced for the weekly meetings. Chat room was used for the typed messages - to include people in other countries who did not have skype access. In 2009, the collaboration participated in a fringe event at Bar-Camp Africa, London, with the voices of the award winning Fantsuam choir heard in the UK via skype, followed by video. In 2010, the theme of the collaboration's sixth anniversary was "Dadamac Goes Glocal" - through the Fantsuam Knowledge Resource Centre
Within 6 years a rural organization in Nigeria, Fantsuam Foundation, and its UK partner, DADAMAC-UK had forged a partnership that introduces people to each other (mostly UK-Nigeria), helping them achieve their ICT4D objectives. The partnership's ambitious agenda now includes looking at the Fantsuam local initiatives in a global context: rural microfinance, education and training, Zittnet's rural connectivity, use of social networking tools: blogging and twittering, an integrated permaculture project (Attachab), free sickle cell screening for under-5s and starting Nigeria's first Rural Health Systems Surveillance Laboratory and central role of the Fantsuam Knowledge Resource Centre as a learning hub especially for self-directed learners.
DADAMAC is a successful working model of collaborative action project: DADAMAC is a proof of concept of what can be done in making ICT4D a bridge across the digital divide, meeting real needs, in real time, putting the local within the global context
Early days - http://www.dadamac.net/projects/education-and-training/teachers-talking
Six years review - http://dadamac.posterous.com/dadamac-days-6-years-of-uk-nigeria-collaborat
Knowledge Resource Centre - http://www.dadamac.net/projects/education-and-training/krc
Zittnet - http://www.dadamac.net/projects/business-sme-livelihoods/zittnet-rural-connectivity-ongoing
Sickle Cell screening - http://www.dadamac.net/projects/health-and-welfare/sickle-cell
Health Lab http://www.dadamac.net/blog/20101202/going-gold-tackling-sickle-cell-disease
More about the weekly meetings through Nikki's blogs - http://www.dadamac.net/blog/nikki
More about everything at http://www.dadamac.net and http://dadamac.posterous.co
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