At our Dadamac UK-Nigeria meeting on May 14th John Dada mentioned that he had to rush out to the primary school just near Fantsuam Foundation to give an urgent message on maize planting this season.

John explained

An ongoing problem with maize growing in Nigeria is its contamination with the fungus that produces aflatoxins... FF is raising awareness on this health issue and will be providing training to farmers on preventive measures to ensure health of their maize crops..

And as you know everybody in rural Nigeria is a farmer, so we went to book an appointment so that on Thursday I will have a 20 minute talk session with the Teacher-Farmers...

Nigeria used to be proud of its groundnut exports and Kano had groundnut pyramids that were a major tourist attraction... But since the discovery of aflatoxin contamination of our peanuts, that foreign exchange earner had died... Now we want to promote good farming practices to improve the quality of our maize and groundnuts.

Today John has sent further details

Fantsuam Foundation is teaming up with the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan and the National Agricultural Extension Research Service of Ahmadu Bello University Zaria to raise awareness of the aflatoxin-preventive measures for maize and groundnuts.

I read a book by Michael Rosen which illustrated that there is poetry in everyday language - if you listen out for it. So I listened - and sure enough - I heard some as I was travelling on the 227 bus. It was late on a Thursday afternoon. Two weary women were sitting in front of me, chatting to each other and I couldn't help hearing what they said.

When I got off the bus I wrote down their words so I wouldn't forget.

The first section was spoken by one woman; the second was the response of her companion.

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Next time,
When I come back,
I'll be a man.

They say
"You can do it!"

Like you were born like it.
Like...
"You can do all the work!"

Next time
I'll be a man.

~~~~~~
Next time,
When I come back,
I'll be a Rottweiler.

They get respect.
~~~~~~ 

I've been reading Ben De Vries' update on Facebook and the conversation following it (posted on his timeline on May 5th at approximately 8am GMT) - and found it very enlightening. It started as a comparison of costs of living in USA and Greece, then went into other realities, and explored myths such as "everyone in the USA is rich".

Truth is more complex than soundbites and headlines. Real comparisons are very hard to make.

The conversation reminded me of how I found it hard to explain to people in rural Nigeria that I couldn't afford to be there, away from work, for long. They'd point out that my daily living expenses in rural Nigeria weren't very high, so they'd assume I could easily choose to stay longer. They found it hard to understand that I needed to go back home to earn some money before long, because most of my regular bills in UK were as high while I was in Nigeria as when I was at home (rent, council tax, water rates, internet connection, insurance, etc). 

Things are so different. When I'd tell people in rural Nigeria that some of my friends at home thought Africa was mostly made up of starving children, conflict, corruption and big game parks they'd say something like "But Pam - you know that's not true!" and I'd agree. (Yes, there is hunger and poverty and terrible things, but it's "not that simple").  I'd point out that my UK friends only "knew" about Africa from stories on TV etc.

Good news on the Cisco "admin glitch"/communication problem which I wrote about previously -  Help needed to save Rural Training Centre - do you know anyone in Cisco? and More on Cisco and Rural Training Centre. In those posts I explained how the little rural Cisco acadamy at Fantsuam was being treated like a normal urban unversity department, regarding the bill for an essentiail upgrade. It was thus being placed in a situation which was threatening its survival.

John, as a local course provider, had problems connecting with anyone appropriate higher up the administrative chain. Through Dadamac in London were able to raise the problem "sideways" via Tuttle (an informal club and related network). As a result a connection was made with Cisco in USA, from there the issue was passed on to Lagos, and then to Jos, and John was contacted. As a result he was able to make the right connections to address the problem.

Update

John Dada reports:

I was in Jos to meet the Nigeria Cisco rep regarding our request for their support.

A friend is influencing me to bring more of myself to my writing. He suggests I should use Tumblr and write "to myself" - in a more "unthought out"' way than I usually write. I want to show him that I appreciate his opinion and suggestions, but I'm rubbish at moving into new online spaces, so I'll stay here for now.

What should I write

(hmm - he'll pick me up on my use of the word 'should")

"Should" - that reminds me of a conversation yesterday

(I'm not going to say who my conversations are with - I don't want to stop anyone from talking to me because they fear I'll share what they say - this writing is supposed...

(oops  "supposed" - another instructional word) 

hmm brackets within brackets - I''ll experiment with indents instead

The "should" conversation yesterday was about "target setting and use of time" or alternatively "just doing stuff".

it was phrased rather more formally

The connection - ref "should" related to the voices in our heads telling us what we should/could/must/can't etc be doing.

As I see it I'm a social innovator - but not yet a social entrepreneur. Given that "social entrepreneurship" is a comparatively recent concept, its meaning is still somewhat fluid. I'll therefore explain how I'm using these terms for the purpose of this extended blog, and what I mean by the difference. Then I'll explore some organisational models, including ones where people work "for free", and see what lessons I can learn.

1 - Innovation and enterprise - similarities and differences

As I understand it, both social innovators and social entrepreneurs address social issues (i.e. people-related issues) in creative and innovative ways.

The key difference is that the social entrepreneurs have adopted successful business-like approaches to fulfil the social need. They have worked out a business model for their innovation which will enable it to be financially sustainable, and will enable them to work on it as their "day job".

Social innovators don't have that crucial business model to sustain their social innovation. They have started off (as indeed many successful social entrepreneurs also do) with no funding. They have not developed a sustainable business model and are simply using their own resources and balancing the demands of their socially innovative "real work" with whatever other demands they have on their time regarding "paid work".

GlobalNet21(GN21) has many facets and attracts people for many different reasons. The GlobalNet21 Network & Development Meeting was an opportunity for the informal learning network group to involve others, so I was sharing ideas about seeing GN21 as a learning community.

The scope of GN21 is best discovered through its website (GlobalNet21 - The Global Public Square - Recreating Our Futures… ) and through a quick exploration of its meetup site. GN21 is a treasure trove for any free-range learner with an interest in our present and future lives, on a personal level, or on a community level - where "community" can mean anything from local community to world-wide community. 

Vision for the learning group

Some GN21 members are interested in studying topics in greater depth, and over the past year we have started to do so through house groups, and study circles. At the development meeting I had a chance to outline my vision for GN21 as a learning environment. I was encouraging people to consider carefully what GN21 offers already for free-range learners, and how we might develop it further, so people can have the best possible kind of learning journey within GN21.

Thanks to spreading the word via Tuttle last week Cisco people are now interested in finding out more about the threatened Cisco acadamy in rural Nigeria (see Help needed to save Rural Training Centre - do you know anyone in Cisco?

John Dada has been asked for additional information by Cisco in Nigeria, and the situation has been clarified. We still don't know what the outcome will be, but we remain hopeful.

Cisco and underserved communities - good news and bad news

Cisco has a policy of assisting underserved communities. It was this policy that helped John Dada to establish the Cisco Academy at Fantsuam in Kaduna State, almost a decade ago. The academy has successfully trained hundreds of young people, helping them to escape from rural disadvantage and high unemployment, and instead become part of a skilled and sought after work force. The training programme is now threatened by an essential upgrade, billed at approximately UK pounds 4,000, which the rural training centre cannot meet.

Cisco sees the pricing of this upgrade as affordable, and therefore part of its ongoing support. However from the start, in agreement with Cisco, the rural centre has provided training at lower prices because of local levels of poverty, and therefore cannot afford the upgrade. The training programme is on hold.

We need help from someone who knows someone in Cisco.Please spread the word. Due to some kind of administrative error and confusion the future life chances of 23 youths in rural Nigeria are threatened.

The problem

The youths are on a Cisco training course at Fantsuam, where successful training has been taking place, against all the odds, since 2004. Now this amazing centre, which should be the jewel in the crown of Cisco CSR faces closure due to an administrative error. The equipment needed for training the youths needs upgrading. However, due to some communication confusions the rural centre is being treated as if it is a big university department. It faces a bill of around £4,000 about 1 Million Naira, an unaffordable amount. This could cause it to close after nearly ten years of successfully changing the life chances of local youths and redirecting them from unemployment and rural poverty to successful technical careers.

These are facts that I got this morning from John Dada in a Skype chat.

Pamela wrote:

Ref the bundles - if you give critical  dates and implications that might help people to understand the immediacy of this problem.

John Dada replied:

We have a Cisco laboratory where we install systems and the routers (bundles) for students training

Interesting news via Fred Garnett about Gary SaundersUK Free University Network. Relevant to recent blogs on Experiences of Invisible College in Action and Learning - Invisible College, Virtual Academia and Established Academia

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