Nabuur
Nabuur.com is a new approach to global citizenship, enabling communities in all parts of the world, facing challenges to development, to register and state the issues they face; a facilitator is appointed for this 'village's' web page, and virtual neighbors sign on, to look for and present possible ideas for the community to consider. If project funding or expert involvement is to be sought, that is for the local community to do - with support from the virtual neighbors.
Empowering communities, linking neighbors
Nabuur thus gives local communities in developing countries around the world access to resources such as information, existing solutions, expertise, ideas, manpower and money. It uses the internet to empower local communities to solve their own problems. Volunteer neighbors from all parts of the globe come together to form an online community and participate in online discussions where they give suggestions and strategies to solve a particular problem. The local community retains control over its course; the virtual neighbors gain in their own learning and the rewards of belonging to a lively and positive community.
At the core of the Nabuur mechanism is the belief that ordinary people want to contribute something more as world citizens than, say, giving money for tsunami relief — a belief:
- • that it is possible to build a network for mutual support and development without great organisational structure or hierarchy;
- • that it is possible to work using the internet, without big organisations or foreign experts directing the course of events.
Basic mechanism
At Nabuur, the concept of 'village' varies greatly: some are as few as 50 people, some as many as a million. There is a simple mechanism at the web site for registering a 'village'.
Nabuur trains volunteer facilitators, who approach Nabuur either directly or through the UN online volunteers web site.
As of January 2005, Nabuur has enlisted 50 villages from all continents with a total of 1400 volunteers (neighbours). The villages are listed by region and by 'issues' on the Nabuur web site.
What is being done
Recently the neighbours have helped Cochiraya, Peru by selling Alpaca products made by local women helping to preserve a community of 1500 whose ancestors predate the Incas. Another example is that of Zapotillo, Ecuador, where virtual neighbours are helping to set up an IT centre in the small town of only 2000 inhabitants. At the large end of the scale of 'villages' were are working with a community of a million in Lagos, Nigeria where there is a desperate need for childcare so women can go to work. One of the smallest, in Java, Indonesia, with fewer than one hundred people, seeks solutions to core issues of food and financial security — in ways which may be adaptable more widely on this island of 120 million people.
Nabuur is helping villages such as these throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America and is planning to extend into the Pacific. Nabuur hopes to build 'modules' of experience which may be adapted and adopted via the Nabuur mechanism across the globe — people learning from each other and growing in mutual confidence. Nabuur plans to connect 200 villages in 2005 and to expand rapidly after that. Involvement now provides people with a chance to shape the system.
An mechanism backed by a very small organisation
Nabuur has a very small budget and will avoid becoming a large organisation. Nabuur is being established by Stichting Nabuur, a secular Netherlands-based not-for-profit foundation.The Nabuur Foundation started on 30 October 2001. It is registered with the Chamber of Commerce Amsterdam and is funded in its start-up phase by various sponsors.
The founder of Nabuur, now chief executive, Siegfried Woldhek discussed the ideas behind Nabuur in this discussion.
Opinion
The New York Times reported on Nabuur on 27 January 2005, noting that Nabuur embraces the 'open source concept' exemplified by the Wikipedia, Linux, etc.
