Wiring Nonprofit Organizations in West Africa

Moosewood Team Launches Electronic Community Among West African Nonprofit's
Originally posted in June 1997, much has changed in the time since this was written

The temptation after a trip to Western Africa, especially for a white guy raised in rural New Hampshire, is to come back and write about life in Nigeria and other West African nations. As if suddenly one had become an authority overnight. Coming from the US, it seems easy to cast judgement and to offer advice on exactly what it will take to cure the ills of these nations. But, in truth, Nigeria and Senegal and the other nations of West Africa are far more complex, and the cultures are far too old for a simple transplantation of western values and culture. These are nations that, despite their deep historical and cultural roots and traditions - and in part because of them - must find their own way to a more decent and stable future.

Through the East West Foundation of Boston, which would be providing remanufactured hardware for our nonprofit groups and the Ford Foundation, which provides much of the funding for these nonprofits, we went to West Africa to examine the state of telecommunications infrastructure and the possibility of connecting about 40 nonprofit organizations (called non-governmental organizations or NGO's there).

Nigeria is not for the faint of heart. 15 minutes north of Lagos on the way to Ibadan State the Moosewood team saw the decapitated, naked body of a woman on the side of the road. Clearly she had been thrown from a car and left there. The driver casually turned to us and said "yeah, it takes them a few days to pick those up". If we hadn't realized it before, we now knew that we "weren't in Kansas anymore"

Despite this hair-raising beginning to the trip, most of the rest of our mission was free of incident and we found the country to be interesting and on the verge of exciting changes. Telecommunications systems (telephone pole pictured right), particularly in Nigeria, were less than adequate for electronic communication. Other infrastructure issues, particularly the availability of reliable power, also presented considerable challenges. But the possibilities for improving the lot of average Nigerians by helping these organizations get connected to the internet is too compelling to allow such obstacles to deter action.

The military government of Nigeria controls the power system - Nigerian Electric Power Authority, PLC. Its acronym, NEPA PLC, is humorously said by Nigerians to stand for "Never Expect Power Always, Please Light Candles". It is an appropriate assignation of meaning to the acronym. All over Nigeria, and to a lesser extent in Senegal, power failures and brownouts are a regular ocurrance. Businesses must invest in backup generators - which more often than not are their principle source of power for electricity.

One can best understand the conditions under which these nonprofits work by taking a closer look at one of them. In Ibadan State about one hour drive north of Lagos (not accounting for the military road blocks every 15 minutes) a small group of people labor to bring social services to the people of the area. COWAD works to provide a range of services from AIDs education to community enterprise development. With 15 employees, COWAD represents an average size NGO in Nigeria. Their office is comprised of 4 rooms in a modest building with no telephone line and power that is available on a sporadic basis. They have the funding for a telephone line but have been waiting for months for someone else in the area to give up their phone service so a line is freed up for their use. During those few hours every week when the Nigerian Power system is operating, staff of COWAD power up their one and only 286 DOS based computer and attempt to write reports on their progress and communications with grantors. COWAD employees represent the heroism of nonprofit workers all over Western Africa. Every day they labor under intense heat without the benefit of any of the amenities that we take for granted in the United States. They are the leading edge of a wave of change destined to sweep through Western Africa.

During our trip we met with approximately 40 NGO's ranging from those working on environmental protection issues to those engaged in sociological research. Each struggled with the realities of life in Western Africa - disease, poverty, environmental degradation - and each faced its own set of unique problems and circumstances. As a student of history, I could not help think of the similarities between the Nigeria of today and our own country during the Progressive era of the early 20th century. It was at that time in our own history that these sorts of groups began to form to address the same sorts of ills. . . including the cleanup of our own political system.

The similarities between the US of the early 20th Century and Nigeria today are actually quite startling - though the absense of a constitutional framework through which to address these problems creates additional difficulties. Corruption of public officials (it is said that Nigerian public officials in the past have had "coming out" parties to announce to their friends that they have "made" their first billion) ; abundant resources being squandered to line the pockets of the powerful few; and an almost non-existant middle class, necessary to provide stability to the economy and political structure. Small wonder that Nigeria's recent past is filled with upheaval and the ebb and flow of democratic principles.

Participants on this trip included Philip K. Bates III, Network Administrator at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Bates, an old friend from UNH, whom I had the good fortune to run into on a recent trip, brought the technical expertise needed to evaluate Internet providers (what few exist) and make determinations about the level of comuter power necessary to adequately assist these struggling nonproft organizations; Myself, a generalist, recovering politician and principal in Moosewood; and Dr. Chidi Nwachukwu a Nigerian born American citizen who brought a political and social saavy borne of the trials of his youth and his passion for Nigeria's people. Nwachukwu, who runs a company in Milwaukee, WI, is deeply involved in the movement to bring economic and political vitality to Africa. The addition of him to the team gave it the depth needed to truly fulfill our mission.

In addition to the serious infrastructure deficiencies, the range of sophisticatoin of nonprofit organizations created a unique set of circumstances for the Moosewood Team. Ultimately it was decided by the team that the goal to be established would be defined as the creation of an electronic community among Ford grantees. A community that time, distance and other unique problems makes nearly impossible, but is achievable through the miracle of modern technology. This electronic community will be achieved by the creation of a ladder onto the internet for Ford Foundation grantees.Those grantees beginning at a lower level of proficiency or facing extensive infrastructure problems will be provided with a computer and training aimed at familiarizing them with the technology. Additionally, they would be assisted in the creation of a plan for achieving connectivity. For those already reasonably computer literate and having adequate infrastructure to begin connecting with email, a second rung would be created on the ladder with commensurate training and hardware. Finally, for those with the highest level of proficiency and good infrastructure, a top rung to the ladder is created comprised of hardware, software and training allowing them full use of the resources of the internet.

Moosewood's report to the Ford Foundation envisions a day when, by the creation of a ladder to the internet, all West African Ford Foundation Grantees can communicate electronically with one another and with other organizations throughout the world who share their problems or can provide unique approaches to resolving those problems. The Team envisions a day when West African NGO's with the assistance of the Ford Foundation will join together in electronic rooms to conference and communicate, or have the opportunity to speak with an expert in their field from across the globe without the cost of travel.

Needless to say, none of this could occur without the possibilities created by electronic communication. But, neither could they occur without the boundless energy and enthusiasm of the people who have made these organizations effective without these benefits. These recommendations seek to increase the reach and effectiveness of every one of those people with the knowledge that the small ripples of heroism performed by them will one day become a mighty wave of change sweeping through West Africa.

The Moosewood team will be working over the next few months to oversee the remanufacture of equipment by the East West Foundation in Boston. Following the shipment of this equipment the Team will be returning to West Africa in April for 3 weeks to train the organizations and to work with the next target group of nonprofits.

"Carrying the Nets"

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