2002-2003 Fellows

The dream is to help 10,000 communities around the world, create a million jobs and sell $1 billion. To make the dream real the project needs entrepreneurs who will take ownership and scale the prototype. The fellow could be an angel investor/advisor.

There are numerous social problems in the world that could and should be mapped, including population explosion, global warming, AIDS, refugee crises, famine, slums, street children and slavery, there is a deep need to take a far more strategic approach, at a different order of magnitude. To do this the problems have to be defined strategically and made as easy to understand as possible. Maps containing ' best available information' can swiftly 'tell the big picture' to an internet audience from many different countries and levels of authority.

In terms of qualitative suffering, the African continent has the worst famine problems of any continent, so Global MapAid has decided to start work there. The famine problems are so serious in southern Africa, that we propose, backed up by Stanford related people, to spend the next 5 years making humanitarian maps to help aid workers better advocate, or plan, famine response. In 2003 25 million people were on the verge of death, now it is back down to 6 million. However in 2004, after three years of drought, it is very likely the situation will repeat. World Vision International in Johannesburg have indicated that our services would be of substantial help.

Silicon Valley, Indian, Swedish partnership for technology and knowledge transfer to improve e-government use, application, and outcomes.

Vipani, Inc. is a not-for-profit enterprise that helps poor farming
households - one third of the world's population - climb out of poverty and follow a path to prosperity. Vipani, which means marketplace in Sanskrit, sets up small-scale business networks in rural communities which empower small-scale farmers to compete effectively with large-scale agricultural enterprises.

The project's goal was to see "what works" and what lessons can be learned from wireless deployments in rural areas around the world. The emergence of WiFi technology as a low-cost broadband technology is a catalyst to connect rural areas users in a fast and cost-effective manner. Furthermore, the project�s goal was to use Voice over WiFi technology to provide telephony to remote areas. The thesis was that voice communications could be used to subsidize data services, which are important for educations and job creation. A significant portion of the project was focused on the El Limón community in the Dominican Republic.

'Voices in Your Hand' aims to create a simple, cheap, voice-email handset with interactive audio services and content to help urban slum dwellers and isolated villagers in the developing world. The approach overcomes barriers of illiteracy, minority languages, or aversion to computers. We are exploring win-win partnerships between multinational corporations and international or regional social agencies that might foster new local micro-enterprises.