Adam Thompson – InfoActivist

It conference and meeting season and you can find Evelyn and I presenting at various events from South Africa to Nigeria.

OpenMRS Implementor’s 2010 Meeting in Cape Town, SA – Evelyn is in Cape Town learning and sharing the work that we have done on eHealth, using OpenMRS, in Nigeria.  You can follows #omrs2010 on Twitter to keep up with the dicussions.

MedInfo 2010 in Cape Town, SA – Look for Evelyn at MedInfo to see her present our paper:

Experience Implementing OpenMRS to Support Maternal and Reproductive Health in Northern Nigeria.
Date/Time: Monday, 13.Sep.2010 (10:30 – 12:15),
Room: 1.6.3 & 1.6.4
Chairman 1: Reti Shane Chairman 2: n/a.

4^th Edition of Nigerian Conference on Telemedicine & eHealth (NICTe) – From September 16th – 17th you should be able to catch both Evelyn and I in Gombe.  I will present about or work on OpenMRS and other upcoming eHealth projects, and lead a hands-on session or two for those wanting a bit more detail on setting up EMRs.

Today July 16 I’m speaking at the Digital Bridge Institute at the ICTs and NGO Symposium.  I’ve been asked to discuss funding for ICT initiatives.  These are my speaking notes and links to other resources:

Funding ICT Initiatives

• General Tips and Strategy
• Specific Resources, Directories and Funding Networks
• Prizes / Fellowships
• Other Funding Ideas
• Further Reading

Tips and Strategies

1. Focus on what the technology will help you achieve, not the technology itself.
2. Monitor and evaluate the success of an ICT initiative just as you would any other part of a project.
3. Include how you plan on sustaining the technology once funding runs out.
4. Calculate costs correctly.

Funding Sources

• Foundations – eg Ford, Kellogg, MacArthur, Packard, Rockefeller…
• Prizes
• International Development Agencies – British Embassy, European Commission …
• On-line Directories and Networks
• Equipment Donations
• Donations, Commerce, Services and Partnerships

Online Resources and Networks

• International Human Rights Funders Group http://www.hrfunders.org/funders/index.html
• Women’s Funding Network  http://www.wfnet.org/
• ICT Hub Sources of Funders Report – www.icthub.org.uk/research
• ICT Hub website Funders Section – www.icthub.org.uk/funders

Prizes

• APC Prizes http://www.apc.org/en/prizes
• APC Hafkin Communications Prize
• Gender & ICT Awards
• APC Betinho Communications Prize

Some Other Ideas

• Income Generation with ICT
• Accept Online Donations
• E-Commerce
• Services

• Corporations and Partnerships

• Equipment Donations – Computer Aid International (see citad.org)

Resources

• How to Cost and Fund ICT: A guide to identifying and budgeting for technology at your nonprofit (http://bit.ly/13PrYL)
• Helps you get the money and equipment to finance your ICT work (http://bit.ly/4vdoOx)
• Bridge Foundations (http://bit.ly/KLuB9)
• UNITeS: Researching Grants and Funding Resources Online (http://bit.ly/ARI1a)