The Power of Connectedness

01Nov09

I’m reading Christakis and Fowler’s book Connected* while on the road for TEDIndia. It supports a point I make to donors a lot: that connectedness is a basic human need, more basic than food, water or shelter. Those of us who are lucky to live close to our friends and family often forget how important it is to be connected to the people we care about.

Samasource started working with refugees a few months ago, when I had the chance to visit Dadaab, Kenya, the largest refugee site in the world and home to more than 300,000 people living in abject poverty. CARE Kenya convinced a donor to install two computer labs with satellite access in Dadaab last year, which Samasource used to train refugees to do paying work for Silicon Valley companies.

The work is boring (see my post about virtual sweatshops, if you’re curious about this), but it has led to some cool unintended consequences. To wit: several refugees discovered Facebook because they now have a reason to spend time online. Which led to the following exchange on my Facebook wall (Paul Parach is a former Lost Boy who was forced to flee his village on foot at age 9 and has grown up in refugee camps):

This is amazing. Paul first used a computer a month before we met him, and now he’s connected via one degree to Mark Zuckerberg. It’s really hard for me to illustrate how important this is. People like Paul spend the tiny bit of cash they earn in the camp buying cell phone credit. Paul and the other 42 million refugees worldwide are desperate to be connected to the outside world, and Facebook and cell phones are the only way they can do that.

If anyone who reads this knows of good research about the psychological impact of isolation and/or social connectedness after long periods of isolation, please comment — we’re eager to use this as one of our impact metrics.

*using the Kindle app for iPhone; props to Lloyd Taylor of Netelder for making this possible on a social entrepreneur’s budget.

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Give Work Charity Gala

01Oct09

All of Silicon Valley is turning up for our big Gala and Auction on November 12th at the University Club in San Francisco, where we’ll be raising funds to train 700 women, youth, and refugees in computer-based work.

I was anti-fundraisers before (especially the black-tie kind), but when I realized that it takes me a year and a ton of proposal-writing to win measly $60K grants, I changed my tune.

Details are at http://www.samasource.org/gala

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fbFund, SOCAP09, and the weeks ahead

03Sep09

This week was nuts. Samasource launched a Facebook application that allows youth and refugees in Africa to earn money by testing Facebook apps for Silicon Valley companies. Check out the preso:

Also this week: wrapped a panel at SOCAP09 on women in social enterprise, where we announced that Samasource received a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation for our Refugee Work Program in Dadaab, Kenya. Stay tuned for the full announcement!

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Samasource Fall Internship Program

07Aug09

Samasource is looking for Fall 2009 Interns to join our team in San Francisco. Please read the job description below, or download the PDF version.

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Samasource’s mission is to reduce poverty by connecting people to dignified, computer-based work. We empower the world’s untapped talent – from refugees in Kenya to women in rural Pakistan – to deliver quality internet-based services, such as data entry and basic programming. Our clients range from low-income entrepreneurs in New Jersey to nonprofits and start-ups in the Silicon Valley.

Our Method : First, we screen and select Service Partners who employ local people to provide services, relying on stringent social impact and quality criteria that verify our partners’ technical abilities and commitment to social responsibility. Our partners are located in the poorest regions of the world, where skilled workers face unemployment rates of up to 70 percent. Next, we provide our partners with service-specific training and prepare them to further train their own staff using live sample projects and web-based tools. Finally, we market our partners’ services to paying clients through a website and sales team based in San Francisco.

How You Can Help : As a start-up social enterprise that commenced operations in 2008, we are currently recruiting MBA and undergraduate interns to assist the leadership team in San Francisco, CA. Selected interns must be current students or recent graduates pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree, with a demonstrated interest in technology, business, or social enterprise. Candidates may choose one of the following focus areas, and will have some flexibility in designing projects with members of our staff:

1. Sales
2. Engineering
3. Marketing and advertising
4. Service Partner relations

If you are interested in working as an intern or have any questions, please send an email to info@samasource.org with a summary of your interest and availability, as well as a recent CV. Please include “Fall Internship” in the subject line. A minimum commitment of 8 weeks is required, with at least 10 hours per week in our San Francisco offices. We aim to fill 3-4 positions by early September 2009.

Benefits : As part of a young, dynamic organization, you’ll benefit from direct engagement with Samasource’s management team and enjoy a large degree of project ownership and responsibility. Our advisory board includes luminaries in the fields of social enterprise, technology, and development such as Premal Shah, President of Kiva; Mohamoud Jibrell, CIO of the Ford Foundation, and Katherine Barr, a partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures. You may also choose to contribute to thought leadership by writing for our blog, participating in social media campaigns, or working on academic research.

About Us : Our headquarters are in San Francisco, where we share office space with Inveneo, a nonprofit that builds computing infrastructure in rural areas. Please visit www.samasource.org to learn more.

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Ben Franklin’s Daily Schedule

31Jul09

I’m reading Walter Isaacson’s Franklin biography and came across this image in Maira Kalman’s NY Times blog this morning. One of our country’s greatest inventors was also one of its first social entrepreneurs.

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