Tag: CKW
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A Weekend with Simon Obwoya, Community Knowledge Worker
Read moreHeather Thorne Matthews is the Director of Information and Communications Technology Innovation at the Grameen Foundation’s Technology Center.
I spent a weekend in early May with Simon Obwoya, one of Grameen Foundation’s Community Knowledge Workers, near Opit, Lalogi Subcounty, about 50km south-east of Gulu in Northern Uganda. Simon is 43, and is married, with 8 children, ranging from 6 months old to 19 years old. He and his family have 3 simple thatch-roof, mud brick huts in close proximity to their neighbours. They have no electricity, but have a bicycle,...
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Building a Power Company that Serves the Rural Poor
Read moreSean Paavo Krepp is Uganda Country Director and CKW Program Manager.
Building a power company that serves the rural Ugandan poor is a tall order. Rural small holder farmers may live miles from the nearest road or power line. Access to steady power, something we take for granted, is a
fundamental concern for the rural poor as they seek to charge their phones or study at night. Recently we’ve been fortunate to work with Mike Lin, an American entrepreneur and founder of the renewable energy company Fenix International. Fenix is a different kind of power... -
The Community Knowledge Worker Platform
Read moreFor those of you who are frequent readers of the AppLab blog you will have seen quite a few references to the Community Knowledge Worker program. We think of the CKW program as providing a human, technology and data analytics platform for socially minded organizations seeking to reach small holder farmers. Heather Thorne, Director of ICT Innovation and Applab, breaks down how CKW provides each platform:
- First, it offers a human platform, introducing known, trusted points-of-presence in the village who serve as a two-way distribution channel for...
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The Difference a CKW Makes
Read moreLydia Namubiru is Partnership Analyst, CKW program, at Grameen Foundation Uganda.
For a long time, Charles Mukonyi of Gamatui parish in Kapchorwa had a problem with his chickens – the hens died off soon after hatching new ones. Three months ago, he was visited by his neighbor Tabitha Salimo who told him that she had a phone that has huge amounts of agricultural knowledge to answer many of the problems farmers face. Naturally, the first thing Charles asked about was the hen problem. Tabitha checked her phone and informed Charles that his hens were likely to be...
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How much can I get for my coffee?
Read moreJason Hahn is Business Development Manager ICT Innovation, at Grameen Foundation Seattle.
As readers of this blog know, Grameen Foundation’s AppLab is building a network of Community Knowledge Workers (CKWs) in Uganda. These CKW’s, equipped with mobile phones and customized agricultural apps, bridge the last mile of agricultural extension work. Below you will find the story of farmer Michael Kipsang’s experience working with his local CKW and we answered his coffee question. Thanks to Edward Chelangat, one of our field officers in Uganda, for passing...
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Partnering with the community is important!
Read moreWhenever AppLab launches a new project or begins offering services in a new place we do it in full cooperation with the community. This might mean using our rapid iterative in-community process of software design to build user centered software or in the case of the Community Knowledge Worker (CKW) model mean using meetings with the community and local authorities to build buy-in and knowledge about the CKW program.
While the positive effects of partnering with the community are many we realized a very practical effect over the past few days. Gwoktoo...
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How did James Amadi benefit from his local Community Knowledge Worker?
Read moreEdward Chelangat is CKW Field Officer Kapchorwa , at Grameen Foundation Uganda.
“James Amadi is a farmer who uses CKW services. He has benefited from coffee tips and price information. His coffee trees are green in a dry season largely because of following CKW advice on manure application. James also said the CKW has helped him identify diseases in his coffee plantation, for example leaf rust which he though it was coffee berry disease. He sprayed orious fungicide which cleared it off.”
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Engendering our Work in Uganda
Read moreAfter we launched our Community Knowledge Worker (CKW) network in Uganda, I was reviewing a budget report and came across a “babysitting” entry. Thinking this must be an obvious mistake, I contacted our local finance person for an explanation. I discovered that we did pay for babysitting as some of the CKWs we were training were mothers who would not have been able to participate unless we paid for child care. It makes perfect sense now and is a good example of a practical step you can take to ensure that women and men access your programs.
At Grameen... -
Community Knowledge Worker Pilot Report and Program Launch
Read moreLydia Namubiru is Partnership Analyst, CKW program, at Grameen Foundation Uganda.
In early 2009, Grameen Foundation went to Uganda with the idea of creating a fluid and effective two way communication channel between rural farmers and the world of agricultural experts, development agencies, traders and commercial players. Through this loop, rural small holder farmers would be given livelihood saving agricultural information generated by the experts and the big players would keep informed on conditions on the farm from adoption of best practices to available...
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A Day in The Life of a (Female) Community Knowledge Worker
Read moreWhitney Gantt is ICT Innovation Technical Program Officer, at Grameen foundation Uganda.
Right now we’re in a planning phase—which ultimately means we’re wrestling with the “big” challenges that become even more significant at scale. We’re building partnerships to begin recruiting Community Knowledge Workers (CKWs) in early 2010 and that has me thinking about one of those challenges: how do we ensure that female farmers have an equal opportunity to participate as CKWs and that they have the same access to services offered through the CKW channel?
In the... -
Agriculture and Mobile Phones Come Together With Our Community Knowledge Worker Project in Uganda
Read moreEric Cantor is Director, Grameen Foundation Uganda.
Last week in Uganda I was fortunate to attend a meeting in Busano subcounty, Mbale district, with some of the Community Knowledge Workers (CKWs) – local farmer leaders empowered with mobile applications to improve the livelihoods of their communities by distributing and collecting relevant information about agriculture – and their clients, the smallholder farmers we all seek to benefit. There was a lively discussion of the pros and cons of a variety of information services we have been testing nearby. One...
