This is an archive of the Dadamac.net website, as it was in 2015, it is no longer being updated.

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Impact HubW and International Development (Africa)

Submitted by Pamela on 1 March 2014 - 9:49pm
The latest channel for UK-Africa communication that I've set up is the International Development (Africa) group at Impact Hub Westminster in London (a group limited to HubW members). Reasons for setting up this group: I became an unintentional UK-Africa social innovator in 2000, through my friend the late Peter Adetunji Oyawale and his untimely death. Following that tragic introduction, I got deeply involved and came to feel at home in two locations in Nigeria (Ago-Are in Oyo State, and Bayan Loco, Kafanchan, in Kaduna State). I've worked closely with John Dada, often under the name "Dadamac". I've also developed friendships...

Planning or doing - which comes first?

Submitted by Pamela on 25 February 2014 - 11:48am
Collaboration seems fine in theory. It's comparatively easy to agree about "what we all want to do". The practicalities of collaboration ("how we're going to do it") are more problematic, especially if the people involved have different ideas of "how things are usually done". Our own cultural norms seem perfectly normal to us, so normal that we don't even notice or question them. When we collaborate across cultures we find other people start doing things differently, and it can seem they are "being difficult". One of the cultural clashes that intrigues me is where one cultural norm is to work...

Collaboration challenges - and lessons from Yehudi Menuhin and Stephane Grappelli

Submitted by Pamela on 24 February 2014 - 10:50pm
This was first posted in Posterous on 13/02/2011. It's reposted here for easy reference because Posterous has been discontinued. As a personal preparation for the CotW skype meeting this evening (7 pm my time) I have been thinking about CotW and its proposed "dating site", which is to help organistions and people in CotW to meet up with each other. Coalition of the Willing http://www.dadamac.net/network/coalition-willing These are some of my thoughts - not necessarily well structured and neatly connected to each other - just so I've got them better prepared than if they are only in my head. Thinking it...

Fantsuam takes on the water and sanitation challenge with her host community

Submitted by Frances on 19 February 2014 - 5:24pm
Mercy describes the latest challenge taken on by Fantsuam Foundation Introducing communal stategies close to home Fantsuam Foundation is the North West Zonal HQ for the Water and Sanitation Network of Nigeria, NEWSAN. Supported by UNICEF we have been involved in promoting communal hygiene in the states of Bauchi and Jigawa so we decided it was time we introduced some of the communal hygiene strategies to our host community, BayanLoco in Kafanchan. What do we do about open sewers and defecation? BayanLoco is an unplanned peri-urban slum of about 50,000 people with poor roads and no planned drainage. How do...

"The Unbearable Lightness of ICT4Development" and Dadamac Foundation

Submitted by Pamela on 14 February 2014 - 11:54pm
This year I'm scaling up the work of Dadamac by extending the reach of Dadamac Foundation. This post from Smart Monkey TV newsletter touches on some of the reasons why Dadamac needs to be more visible and influential in the ICT4D arena. I won't explain the connection here. I just offer the link to the full post, and some highlighted extracts. (Hint - Dadamac is about on-the-ground realities, needs-led integrated community development, relevant use of ICTs, and effective use of resources.) The Smart Monkey post The Unbearable Lightness of ICT4Development – Picking the flies out of success and failure in...

Dadamac Internet Access Challenges

Submitted by Frances on 12 February 2014 - 10:21am
Mercy from Fantsuam Foundation in Nigeria describes the challenges of internet access in Nigeria. A regular Dadamac meeting The Dadamac meeting is scheduled for 9am (GMT) every Tuesday with Pamela and Frances in the UK and the Fantsuam team in Kafanchan, via Skype. A recent meeting is an example of what it takes to stay connected across the digital divide. The power pack on John’s laptop packed up suddenly and the ZittNet team could not fix it, not even by cannibalizing old or disused power packs. They suspected it was caused by the erratic voltage fluctuation. Fantsuam’s 5-Year free internet...

Fantsuam Promotes Production of Aflatoxin-free Grains

Submitted by Pamela on 10 February 2014 - 6:29pm
Latest news from the Dadamac communications officer at Fantsuam FANTSUAM PROMOTES PRODUCTION OF AFLATOXIN-FREE GRAINS Fantsuam Foundation was a beneficiary of the Global Environmental Fund Small Grants Project (GEF-SGP) in 2011. One of the objectives of the project was the training of farmers in sustainable farming techniques and. Due to women’s critical roles in household food security and hygiene, the women farmers were trained on the prevention of aflatoxin contamination of grains. Women’s buy-in into the proper processing of grains for consumption and sales will ensure welfare of the entire family and the entire nation. NIGERIA The aflatoxin problem is...

Online collaboration - the blessings of low bandwidth.

Submitted by Pamela on 25 January 2014 - 12:25am
Anyone who has suffered the frustrations of online conferences has every reason to prefer face-to-face. (The video link below the advertisement at A Conference Call in Real Life - is an excellent send-up of the frustrations of high bandwidth conference calls). It's so much easier with the low-bandwidth constraints we have in Dadamac UK-Africa meetings ( UK-Nigeria weekly meetings and First Thursdays ). We don't have enough bandwidth for audio or video, but we can type. Benefits A typed meeting has several benefits. There is no need to decide who should be "speaking". As long as people are addressing the...

Philosophy in action - Diogenes and now.

Submitted by Pamela on 24 January 2014 - 11:57pm
Diogenes was a man who unquestionably "walked his talk". Tim Rayner wrote a great blog about him " Cynic simplicity: the courage to think ". It made me think of people today who are living courageous, and at times lonely, lives because of what they think and the authenticity of their actions. T hey are people who are seers (see-ers, seeing things as they are) visionaries (seeing where things could go), and prophets (speaking out their truths). They are explorers and pioneers in our present landscape of rapid change, people who see how it might be and go ahead of...

First post from our Dadamac Communications Officer at Fantsuam

Submitted by Pamela on 18 January 2014 - 8:16pm
John Dada,currently recovering from a bout of malaria, sent a blog from the Fantsuam office today. It was written by Mercy, our first ever Dadamac Communications/Information Officer, and I have posted it below followed by some introductory notes. MEETING PAM I met Pam McLean this morning via skype as part of my induction as information officer for Dadamac UK-Nigeria at FF. She taught me, a lot at a different level I will say. Yesterday was my first day of work at Fantsuam and I am still trying to get my head round what I should be doing. I have been...

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