Between September 2006 and June 2007,
kiwanja.net worked with the Reuters Digital Vision Program at Stanford
University as a Collaboration Fellow, helping fourteen
other Fellows develop their projects.
These projects covered a wide range of geographical and technical areas, and
included:
Hernan Carvajal (Columbia)
Women's World Banking Project
Hernan's project will employ a needs-based approach to design, develop and
deploy a simple system to allow micro-entrepreneurs to register their business
transactions, generate reports and communicate directly with micro-finance
institutions
Shashank
Garg (India)
Mobile, Integrated Disease Surveillance System
MIDS will utilize a mobile device to collect and transmit data to a server where
experts can identify trends and make informed decisions. Garg is an award
winning innovator - he won Indias prestigious Dewang Mehta Award for being one
of the seven co-developers of the Simputer
Marvin Hall (Jamaica)
Robotics Stimul-I
Robotics competitions have been used to improve the math, science, and creative
thinking skills of youth in the US for more than a decade. Marvin uses this
technique to capture the imagination of at-risk youth in inner cities in small,
developing countries
Edgardo
Herbosa (Philippines)
E-Commerce for Farmers Program
b2bpricenow.com is the Official e-marketplace of the Philippines for
Agriculture and Fisheries Sector. It provides both content - free commodity
pricing information to all members of the agricultural supply chain - and
connectivity - within the co-operative centres
John
Kuner (USA)
Project VIEW
Project VIEW partners youth advocates and journalists with technology companies,
creating opportunities for youth education in technology, mass communications
and journalism. Youth advocates will digitally document their communities and
lives, for publication on the web
Adam
Tolney (Romania)
Youth Financial Literacy
Y-Fi (Youth Financial Literacy) aims to communicate the basics of personal
financial management to youth in marginal areas via the use of fun, interactive,
multi-player, multiple-turn simulation games delivered on mobile devices
Fabiana Valente (Brazil)
Digital Inclusion Center Sustainability Project
The Digital Inclusion Center Sustainability Project will broaden the financial
support given to existing Digital Centers that bridge the digital divide for
thousands of poor Brazilians, adding social entrepreneurship to the current
non-profit funding model
Steve Vosloo (South Africa)
The Digital Hero Book Project
A hero book is a low-cost, simple and effective form of psychosocial support
where a child is the author, illustrator, main character (hero) and editor of a
paper-based book designed to help them deal with life's challenges. Steve's
project will introduce ICTs into the hero book-making process
About the Digital Vision Program
The Digital Vision Program (DVP) is a Stanford centre for social
entrepreneurship that applies the principles of high-tech innovation to create
product and service concepts that empower communities worldwide.
Each year the DVP hosts an elite group of seasoned professionals - DVP Fellows -
from around the world at Stanford. These Fellows work on interdisciplinary
projects that utilise digital technologies to address real needs in underserved
communities. DVP Fellows bring a unique understanding of the realities of a
particular emerging market or sector to the Program. During their nine-months on
campus they collaborate with Stanford faculty and students, leading firms,
non-profit organisations and governments to translate their market insights
into culturally relevant and sustainable solutions.
Since its inception in 2001, Stanford has hosted fifty-four DVP Fellows who have
worked on forty projects in twenty countries. More than 50% of DVP projects were sustained
after the Fellowship period, at least 25% of DVP projects have received
significant funding and three have received more than one million dollars in
funding. Several DVP projects have received international recognition and awards
including the Stockholm Challenge, the Development Marketplace Award, Ashoka
Fellowships and the Tech Museum's Awards for Technology for Humanity (Tech
Laureate).
Sadly, the Reuters Digital Vision Program ended in 2007 and the official
website is no longer available, although a copy of the kiwanja poster created for the Fellowship is available
here (PDF, 130Kb).
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