Milan… Lodging to a student at home… An association connecting elderly people whose children have left home and students looking for lodging…

Does such initiative exists in Africa? Something similar?
If yes, could you describe it in a few lines? And give a reference or contact person?
Is it diffused?
Is it in relation with the traditional culture or is it completely new?
Is it perceived rather positively or negatively?
What is needed to facilitate the diffusion of such initiative?
If not, do you think it could exist? Under which conditions?
Please click on the ‘comment’ button and try to answer these questions…

Keywords: appropriate technology, microfinance, sustainable development tools, repicable business model

Place: villages in Rwanda and Uganda

Context
Village Phone projects are currently underway in rural communities previously cut off from any form of easy access to communications.

Service idea
Village Phone extends the benefits of affordable telecommunications access in rural areas in a sustainable, profitable and empowering way.

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Keywords: self-sufficiency, skill developing, supporting local traditions, women employment

Place: Pretoria, South Africa

Context
Talking Beads gathers women living in villages in rural areas around Pretoria, where beading is the only livelihood available to them.

Service idea
Talking Beads is a collective of poor, rural women determined to empower themselves and their communities by running their own business based on creating and selling artisanal craftworks.

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Keywords: indigenous knowledge, local healers, community-based education programmes, holistic approach

Place: Tanga, Tanzania

Context
TAWG’s headquarters are in Bombo Regional Hospital in Tanga. They also have offices in three district hospitals in the region.

Service idea
The Tanga AIDS Working Group (TAWG) is an innovative non-governmental organisation in Tanzania dedicated to caring for people with AIDS and reducing the spread of HIV.
TAWG built on existing infrastructure and local capacity including traditional knowledge systems. The project started at the grassroots with the traditional knowledge held by the healers, and improved it by connecting them with the Tanga regional hospital and training them as counselors.

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Keywords: street innovation, appropriate technology,

Place: Uganda

Context
Uganda is a country where there is limited access to formal banking infrastructure and is largely driven by necessity and convenience.

Service idea
Sente offers the equivalent service of an off-shore bank, but through a pre-paid mobile phone.

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Keywords
mutual aid, informal financial system, community-based structure