Objective: To provide information technology services to individuals and organizations promoting sustainable development in Africa and Asia.

Commitment: CGNET and SITIA will mobilize people, technology, and money from its current customers, from donors, and from internal resources, to pilot these new IT services. We expect to address disaster relief communications, field workers in medicine or education, and rural development organizations.

Background: Many non-profit organizations addressing poverty in developing countries share a vision of sustainable development that integrates food security, universal access to medical services and education, economic growth, social justice, and ecological balance. For these organizations and their staff in developing countries, information technology (IT) has made a major contribution to their work, allowing them to coordinate activities and spread best practices on a global scale, at very small expense. However, special background and ongoing organization are required to choose, design, and maintain IT services that work in developing country settings. CGNET Services International Inc. and its sister non-profit SITIA support development organizations with custom-designed IT services, and have done so for over 20 years, on a “help the helper” model of development assistance. Recent advances -- the global spread of the Internet, the universal reach of compact satellite equipment, and the mass-marketing of very low-cost electronics – has created new opportunities for having an impact on much smaller groups with much lower-cost technology.

Partnership Opportunity: We seek partners who work in sustainable development, particularly in rural Africa and Asia, where we may contribute our specialized skills and resources. New satellite internet methods are being introduced in the first half of 2006 around the world that will enable new ways of integrating international development efforts. We particularly anticipate important applications in rural health care and disease detection (for example, early warning of flu or other disease outbreaks). We would welcome cooperative projects with actors in this area.

Update:
February 2006:
CGNET initiated IT support services for mobile field workers in reproductive health projects in Asia and Africa, using a “Secure Virtual Desktop.” Under this Commitment, CGNET and SITIA proposed a project to the Packard Foundation to upgrade the software and services used by its mobile support staff in its health projects. These staff travel with laptops that are prone to failure due to software problems. They also have limited access to project information. By using new software, the range of information available to the field staff and the reliability of their computer systems can be greatly enhanced. The foundation provided financial support to SITIA and CGNET to perform software integration. Together they are also offering round-the-clock help services for the technology to the field staff. The new software and service were launched at meetings in February 2006, and evaluations and improvements are scheduled across the next six months.

Rural development programs in Niger and Chad use laptop-sized satellite terminals provided by SITIA and CGNET to access the Internet. A CGNET technician in Niger provides local support. This project, which started in early 2005, was upgraded with new software to cut operating costs by 60 – 75%, allowing more extensive use of the system. The upgrade was pursued at no additional cost to the rural development site. Evaluation is ongoing.

March 2006:
1. Expanded disaster relief communications within the NetHope Consortium after the earthquake in Pakistan. Our work allowed the field workers to make telephone calls from the disaster locations without specific arrangement with CGNET, so that they could rapidly move, organize themselves, and expand operations in direct response to field conditions.
2. A tsunami data portal server was donated in late 2005 by CGNET to disseminate data to help coordinate ongoing post-tsunami reconstruction.