Hello there,<\/p>\n
2007 Promises to be a special year for Connect Africa. After two and a half years of hard work the research is done, we partnered with great sponsors, we successfully completed over 8 months of field trials, we registered as an NPO in South Africa (no easy task), we secured seed funding and now, with a significant investment by the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), we are ready to start work.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>We were delighted to attend the Mail & Guardian’s<\/a> “Investing in the Future” award ceremony as a finalist in the “Drivers of Change” category last year. We didn’t win in the end but our nomination\u00a0was a great validation for the Connect Africa initiative. Thanks to Sudley at the Mail & Guardian and all the judges for their confidence in us\u00a0–\u00a0we look forward to seeing you all again next time round.<\/p>\n Connect Africa is\u00a0delighted to announce that the DBSA<\/a> has awarded us a\u00a0grant to facilitate the roll-out of our service into South Africa’s\u00a0Limpopo Province. The grant was approved by the Bank in November and it will be used to engage with eight Government Departments on a project to assist in the delivery of their services to rural communities in Limpopo. David and Theo at the DBSA worked hard to make this happen\u00a0and for that we’re very grateful.<\/p>\n Our new\u00a0Mobile Units, consisting of a double cab bakkie (pick-up) or van\u00a0with\u00a0trailer, both fully fitted with phones, fax, printing, copying, computing and Web browsing services,\u00a0will continue to visit rural villages on a regular routine weekly basis. These units will now have\u00a0direct access to each of the Government Departments and a rota of officials will\u00a0accompany the vehicle. This means we will officially be able to\u00a0provide\u00a0a much needed public service to rural citizens in South Africa .<\/p>\n The\u00a0Multi-Purpose Mobile Units will be formally deployed in February 2007 with a road-show through the rural areas and an official\u00a0launch at the local Municipality (Mogalakwena) kindly sponsored by Vodacom. The first three months of operations will be carefully monitored and assessed by the DBSA and independent consultants Inkanyezi<\/strong>. Inkanyezi are specialist consultants in government and government related services and\u00a0they will provide valuable\u00a0insight into efficient and effective government service delivery.\u00a0 Welcome to Margaret and Priscilla from Inkanyezi who will be working with us on this project.<\/p>\n A detailed report of the service activity\u00a0after three months will be circulated to local, regional and national government with a view to formally engaging with appropriate departments across all 13 Development Nodes in South Africa by 2010.\u00a0 Keep an eye on our Website for regular updates.<\/p>\n We’d like to once again say thank you to the Southern Africa Trust<\/a> for their contribution in getting Connect Africa to this stage.\u00a0 Their grant in August 2006 facilitated\u00a0our operations\u00a0during the last quarter of 2006 and, most importantly, enabled us to secure the\u00a0partnership with the DBSA. To Neville, Carolina and Karin, along with the whole team at the SA Trust, you helped get us here – thank you.<\/p>\n Our agreed sponsorship period with Iveco<\/strong> sadly came to an end in December 2006 and we returned the “Daily” van that was\u00a0generously loaned to us for\u00a0a year. We now look forward to including Iveco’s range of rugged vehicles in our future expansion, particularly\u00a0North of South Africa. To Ed Chvatal, Jan, Hermien and Laura, a\u00a0big thank you! Without\u00a0your\u00a0support we would not be where we are today.<\/p>\n Vodacom<\/a> have escalated\u00a0their involvement with\u00a0Connect Africa by sponsoring the Limpopo Launch and Road Show coming up in February and\u00a0providing us with a “funky” new trailer (fully equipped with phones, computer and multi purpose printer). This trailer\u00a0will make up the new vehicle configuration. To Nobhule, Kwena\u00a0and the team at Vodacom Community Phones, we look forward to a long and mutually rewarding relationship.<\/p>\n Just while we’re on the subject, our relationship with sponsors and supporters is key to the success of the Connect Africa initiative, particularly at this early incubation stage. All our sponsors and supporters need to\u00a0know that their contribution, no matter how small or large, is not only much appreciated but it all adds up to a comprehensive service package that will go directly towards empowering the disenfranchised of Africa. This means you’re all making a real difference out there.\u00a0\u00a0I’ve listed all those who have helped us get this far at the end of this newsletter.\u00a0\u00a0Thanks to all of you.<\/p>\n Connect Africa is also delighted to announce a partnership with Iridium Satellite<\/a> who have generously sponsored an Iridium 9505A Satellite phone along with “space time” and a whole host of accessories to ensure we have constant communications in the most remote regions of Africa.\u00a0Many thanks to Dan Mercer at Iridium – we at Connect Africa look forward to a long and\u00a0rewarding partnership making a difference where it’s really needed.<\/p>\n This state of the art equipment will be\u00a0put to good use on a project that will take Connect Africa North into Malawi and Zambia early in Q2 with African Parks –\u00a0an exciting and innovative conservation driven initiative outlined below.<\/p>\n Connect Africa is about to embark on an exciting partnership\u00a0with African Parks<\/a> a leading Pan-African Conservation Organisation\u00a0with parks across the African Continent, including\u00a0Sudan, DRC, Ethiopia, Malawi, Zambia and South Africa.<\/p>\n Wildlife reserves are key to Africa ‘s future but local people who live around these reserves don’t often understand, or see, the benefits of\u00a0having the reserve where they live.\u00a0 One way to address this issue is for the reserve to provide communities living in and around these reserves with multiple services they’ve never had before. Connect Africa is ideally positioned to provide these services in partnership with the reserve management and this is what we’ll be exploring with African Parks in the next few months.<\/p>\n Connect Africa’s Special Project’s Director will be travelling to Malawi (Majete Wildlife Reserve) and Zambia\u00a0(Liuwa Plains National Park) in March\/April this year to assess the requirements for a trial project. It is proposed that Connect Africa deploy a service in Majete ( Malawi ) with a view to rolling out a full service there as soon as possible. The success of the Majete\u00a0trials will determine the roll-out across other parks starting with Liuwa Plains in Zambia later this year.<\/p>\n What is particularly exciting about this initiative is that it will provide\u00a0an operational model for other\u00a0organisations that have a responsibility to the people that live around their rural installations,\u00a0eg; Mines, Farms, Factories and other Parks and Reserves.<\/p>\n The next 4 months will be\u00a0focused\u00a0on our government service delivery project in South Africa’s Limpopo Province, followed shortly\u00a0by our first steps outside of South Africa into Malawi and Zambia in partnership with African Parks.<\/p>\n This is going to be a good year!<\/p>\n With thanks to our Sponsors & Partners:\u00a0 The Storm , London\u00a0(Web design) – Precognit , New York (Web development) – Lawrence Graham , London\u00a0(Legal advice) – OECD , Paris (Development proposal advice) – MCS Pipeline Services (initial SA Office space) – The Landmark Foundation (Conservation\/environment consulting) – Vodacom (Community phones, peripherals\u00a0& network) – HP (Computer & other hardware) – Iveco (“Daily” delivery van) – Graffiti (Vehicle branding) – 4×4 Megaworld (Vehicle equipment) – African Outback (Vehicle fit-out) – Psitek (Community phone units) – Cell Roy (Network antenna) – Microsoft (Software) – TC3\/Glalaxy Media (Office space) – Penguin Solutions (IT administration) – Iridium Satellite (Satellite phone & airtime) – Wizzit (Cellular banking) – Inkululeko (Education services) – Bi-Nuaral (Film production) – Southern Africa Trust (Initial grant) – Development Bank of Southern Africa (Project grant) – Inkanyezi (Strategy consultants) – Mogalakwena Municipality , Limpopo Province, SA (Municipal support) – African Parks (Service delivery partnership <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hello there, 2007 Promises to be a special year for Connect Africa. After two and a half years of hard work the research is done, we partnered with great sponsors, we successfully completed over 8 months of field trials, we … Continue reading Development Bank Funding:<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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