Millennium Goals running away, we have to speed up!
So, let’s write again.
Almost one week went with extra and unexpected technical problems. That is perhaps a constant possibility in the project also in the future. As we rely a lot on technical success, even small problems can paralyse the work, partly at least.
In 2000, UN General Assembly launched the Millennium Goals, to support living conditions in developing areas with aims, which are concrete and measurable. The deadline 2015 is approaching rapidly, but the aims are slipping away, due to global economical crisis, for instance. We should not give up. On the contrary, the current situation must lead to more efficient work and increasing financial aid to these areas. That is the only way to the right path, closer to the goals, by and by.
It is possible to see a lot of successful and sustainable positive influence in many projects that have been made in and for developing countries. What may be the common factor behind these if there is one? I think that one of the most important factors is the success in committing and involving the local village population and local governance to all projects. There have also been a great amount of mistakes too. In some cases, the positive influence of many good projects has been only temporary and only lasted until the foreigners have left the village or city. The serious risk of corruption also always exists, and the actions on how to avoid it may need writing a new blog entry.
Many aims in Millennium Goals play a central role in the working focus of SharingAwareness.org. This organization has committed to work for them, and to support actions that will ensure they fulfilled in time. It may be that globally our small group cannot make any revolutionary acts rapidly, but as an individual or at village level it is a lot easier and more likely. A small step from one human being, a great step for society.
sunnuntai 15. marraskuuta 2009
Translation - Kehittyvät maat etäopetuksen edelläkävijöinä?
Developing countries in the first row of eLearning?
Without any doubt, one cornerstone of our welfare society in Finland is our comprehensive school system which strives to serve all equally. Sometimes it has also criticized been criticised to be over-equal in certain contexts - who knows. Anyway, education equality is at a very high standard in Finland, also found so through international research. Our good teacher education system ensures that we always have good results and our free comprehensive school system shows the true meaning of cost free education for parents. The school health care system in Finland is efficient and systematic as well, although having some regional variety. Overall, our system offers good basics for students’ life after school.
The reality in developing areas is different. Good standard education is a privilege for few and not an option for many children or adults. Mostly external factors are what define the lives the people instead of personal decision; for instance, the possibility of one learning how to read before adulthood, or if one will get information on how HIV can be prevented, or how central issue like clean drinking water for healthy life is. One central external factor behind this division is for instance if a child is living in a major city or in rural areas. Naturally, there also exists villages that can offer qualified education and safe environment for growing children, but these examples are unfortunately rather uncommon.
In this project of SharingAwareness.org we will concentrate on these kinds of villages which lack in the knowledge of basic things that are useful for their wellbeing. In our projects, we promote participatory involvement and would like to increase community responsibility and ownership. The real change makers must be the villagers themselves; otherwise I can’t see possibility for sustainable change. Our role as outsiders will be to offer additional knowledge on necessary things, and to give strong support to the community’s commitment for the change. That change can be phenomenal and rip down old traditions which may have been harmful to the societies. One tool to make this outside help easier will be modern technology, especially mobile phones. As developing countries become wealthier, the amount of money used for mobile phones is growing faster compared to anything else like water or energy. Whatever thoughts this raises in our minds, it offers huge possibilities for our work. Now we have a concrete tool in our hands, to show our interest towards these villages and their development, even from Finland. Once we return back from the villages after very short education period, we are not going to leave the responsible people in the villages alone with their challenges. We are reachable anytime, and operate as active partners from a distance through eCommunication.
The usage of mobile phones is going to be rather unlimited. Mobile technology is in actual fact computer technology and all the data moves everywhere in a flash around the world via satellites. Even in developing countries? Yes in deed, permanent Internet connections are just coming there, but mobile networks are very common and are working well. That offers a huge possibility to support these areas in the long run and we can begin now. MKFC Stockholm College has been a great pioneer in this work, and achieved great success in Ghana, for instance. It is great to join this innovative group and search for the next step forward. Our national policy in developmental politics strongly supports this aim, and I assume we may be closer to the situation in the topic. Developing countries truly can stay in the first row in using eLearning. That could be the way how to construct a good future for them – a future where accessibility to basic education is equal for each child – not depending on the location, condition of health or the living standard of his parents. Just like in Finland.
Without any doubt, one cornerstone of our welfare society in Finland is our comprehensive school system which strives to serve all equally. Sometimes it has also criticized been criticised to be over-equal in certain contexts - who knows. Anyway, education equality is at a very high standard in Finland, also found so through international research. Our good teacher education system ensures that we always have good results and our free comprehensive school system shows the true meaning of cost free education for parents. The school health care system in Finland is efficient and systematic as well, although having some regional variety. Overall, our system offers good basics for students’ life after school.
The reality in developing areas is different. Good standard education is a privilege for few and not an option for many children or adults. Mostly external factors are what define the lives the people instead of personal decision; for instance, the possibility of one learning how to read before adulthood, or if one will get information on how HIV can be prevented, or how central issue like clean drinking water for healthy life is. One central external factor behind this division is for instance if a child is living in a major city or in rural areas. Naturally, there also exists villages that can offer qualified education and safe environment for growing children, but these examples are unfortunately rather uncommon.
In this project of SharingAwareness.org we will concentrate on these kinds of villages which lack in the knowledge of basic things that are useful for their wellbeing. In our projects, we promote participatory involvement and would like to increase community responsibility and ownership. The real change makers must be the villagers themselves; otherwise I can’t see possibility for sustainable change. Our role as outsiders will be to offer additional knowledge on necessary things, and to give strong support to the community’s commitment for the change. That change can be phenomenal and rip down old traditions which may have been harmful to the societies. One tool to make this outside help easier will be modern technology, especially mobile phones. As developing countries become wealthier, the amount of money used for mobile phones is growing faster compared to anything else like water or energy. Whatever thoughts this raises in our minds, it offers huge possibilities for our work. Now we have a concrete tool in our hands, to show our interest towards these villages and their development, even from Finland. Once we return back from the villages after very short education period, we are not going to leave the responsible people in the villages alone with their challenges. We are reachable anytime, and operate as active partners from a distance through eCommunication.
The usage of mobile phones is going to be rather unlimited. Mobile technology is in actual fact computer technology and all the data moves everywhere in a flash around the world via satellites. Even in developing countries? Yes in deed, permanent Internet connections are just coming there, but mobile networks are very common and are working well. That offers a huge possibility to support these areas in the long run and we can begin now. MKFC Stockholm College has been a great pioneer in this work, and achieved great success in Ghana, for instance. It is great to join this innovative group and search for the next step forward. Our national policy in developmental politics strongly supports this aim, and I assume we may be closer to the situation in the topic. Developing countries truly can stay in the first row in using eLearning. That could be the way how to construct a good future for them – a future where accessibility to basic education is equal for each child – not depending on the location, condition of health or the living standard of his parents. Just like in Finland.
Translation - Työtä, jolla on merkitys?
Work with a meaning?
Working as a civil servant in a town is always mostly a routine from a day to another, from a week to another. That is a normal part of the task. When having doing this non-stop for five years, it feels wonderful to try something completely different. “Do work with a meaning” is a recruiting slogan in
Some more information about our projects - In a nutshell it is a question of producing new kind of additional material in health education for teachers and organising teacher and administrative workshops to discuss the same matters. We have started our networking, with an aim to find four villages in Ghana and Zambia committed in this work. We organize the workshop in these villages, and collect the feedback. Once the project year ends, we hopefully will have a good and basically finished material in use. If finances allow, we have planned to recruit so called
maanantai 9. marraskuuta 2009
Sharing our awareness in Kenya
I am feeling quite positive this afternoon about many things and high up on my list is the trip to Kenya we just completed (my colleague and I). It lasted 8 days (3rd-8th/11/09). During this time, we visited some local schools, a group of grandmothers who are doing small businesses to support their orphaned grandchildren and key people who are interested in using ICT for development. Perhaps the most touching experience was my trip to a slum school in a place called Ongata Rongai, some 30Km from Nairobi city; 37 children, hungry, poor in two small rooms but with so much passion to learn. It was trully a sharing moment. The slum had recently had a case of Cholera so it was a good opportunity to share information on how to make water clean using SODIS method and the importance of cleaning hands. While teaching, i also learnt. I learnt that education is not confined to classrooms or institutions and the importance of sharing awareness whether through ICT, word of mouth, stories or experiences. The children had a lot to say about cholera, they had experienced it in their community while i had only read about it. From them, i was able to see Cholera from a child's view and not a disease in a text book. I will keep you updated about this school and photos later.
torstai 5. marraskuuta 2009
Vuosituhattavoitteet karkaamassa - uusi vaihde päälle
No niin, kirjoitetaanpa taas.
Liki viikon verran työaikaa tuhrautui ylimääräisten teknisten ongelmien kanssa. Siinä projektin haavoittuva kohta jatkossakin; kun paljon on laskettu teknisen onnistumisen varaan, pienetkin ongelmat voivat lamaannuttaa työnteon, ainakin väliaikaisesti.
YK:n yleiskokous asetti vuonna 2000 vuosituhattavoitteet, joilla halutaan tukea kehittyvien alueiden elinolosuhteita konkreettisin ja määrällisin tavoittein. Asetettu määräaika 2015 lähestyy kovaa vauhtia, ja tavoitteet ovat karkaamassa ulottumattomiin esimerkiksi globaalin talouskriisin johdosta. Pahinta, mitä länsimaissa voimme nyt tehdä, olisi todeta tilanteen ja tavoitteiden mahdottomuus, sekä nostaa kädet pystyyn. Päinvastoin, vallitsevan tilanteen tulee johtaa työn tehostamiseen ja kehitysavun määrälliseen kasvattamiseen. Vain siten palataan oikealle uralle, lähemmäs tavoitteita, pala kerrallaan.
Toteutettuja kehitysapuprojekteja tarkastellessa pystyy näkemään lukemattomia esimerkkejä onnistumisista ja työn pysyvistä vaikutuksista. Mikä lienee näitä onnistuneita hankkeita yhdistävä tekijä? Väitän, että keskeisimpiä lienee onnistuminen kyläyhteisön ja paikallishallinnon sitouttamisessa kylän omaehtoiseen kehitystyöhön. Epäonnistumisiakin mahtuu valitettavasti suureen joukkoon. Monen sinänsä hyvän hankkeen vaikutukset ovat jääneet kertakäyttötavaraksi avustajien poistuttua paikalta. Vakava korruption riski, ja sen välttämiseksi tehtävät toimenpiteet ansainnevat aivan oman kirjoituksensa.
Vuosituhattavoitteista useimmat ovat hyvin keskeisessä osassa hankkeemme tavoitteen asettelussa. Apuperille.fi on sitoutunut niiden saavuttamiseen, ja haluaa omalta osaltaan olla tukemassa niiden toteutumista. Globaalilla tasolla pieni porukkamme tuskin nopealla aikavälillä saa aikaan maailmaa mullistavia saavutuksia, henkilökohtaisella tai kylätasolla se onkin paljon todennäköisempää. Pieni askel yhteiskunnalle, suuri askel ihmiselle.
Liki viikon verran työaikaa tuhrautui ylimääräisten teknisten ongelmien kanssa. Siinä projektin haavoittuva kohta jatkossakin; kun paljon on laskettu teknisen onnistumisen varaan, pienetkin ongelmat voivat lamaannuttaa työnteon, ainakin väliaikaisesti.
YK:n yleiskokous asetti vuonna 2000 vuosituhattavoitteet, joilla halutaan tukea kehittyvien alueiden elinolosuhteita konkreettisin ja määrällisin tavoittein. Asetettu määräaika 2015 lähestyy kovaa vauhtia, ja tavoitteet ovat karkaamassa ulottumattomiin esimerkiksi globaalin talouskriisin johdosta. Pahinta, mitä länsimaissa voimme nyt tehdä, olisi todeta tilanteen ja tavoitteiden mahdottomuus, sekä nostaa kädet pystyyn. Päinvastoin, vallitsevan tilanteen tulee johtaa työn tehostamiseen ja kehitysavun määrälliseen kasvattamiseen. Vain siten palataan oikealle uralle, lähemmäs tavoitteita, pala kerrallaan.
Toteutettuja kehitysapuprojekteja tarkastellessa pystyy näkemään lukemattomia esimerkkejä onnistumisista ja työn pysyvistä vaikutuksista. Mikä lienee näitä onnistuneita hankkeita yhdistävä tekijä? Väitän, että keskeisimpiä lienee onnistuminen kyläyhteisön ja paikallishallinnon sitouttamisessa kylän omaehtoiseen kehitystyöhön. Epäonnistumisiakin mahtuu valitettavasti suureen joukkoon. Monen sinänsä hyvän hankkeen vaikutukset ovat jääneet kertakäyttötavaraksi avustajien poistuttua paikalta. Vakava korruption riski, ja sen välttämiseksi tehtävät toimenpiteet ansainnevat aivan oman kirjoituksensa.
Vuosituhattavoitteista useimmat ovat hyvin keskeisessä osassa hankkeemme tavoitteen asettelussa. Apuperille.fi on sitoutunut niiden saavuttamiseen, ja haluaa omalta osaltaan olla tukemassa niiden toteutumista. Globaalilla tasolla pieni porukkamme tuskin nopealla aikavälillä saa aikaan maailmaa mullistavia saavutuksia, henkilökohtaisella tai kylätasolla se onkin paljon todennäköisempää. Pieni askel yhteiskunnalle, suuri askel ihmiselle.
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