Charity 2.0 Blog Network - The Voice of Charities Worldwide

Tonight we lost a true visionary in the charity and philanthropy world and the bedrock of ICAN, Ms Carole French. 

Carole was always ahead of her peers in terms of adopting technologies and I know she loved to check this blog whenever she could.  If you have a story or comment about Carole, please fill it in as a comment to this post as I know she will see it immediately. 

If ICAN has touched you in any way please comment that as well, she deserves to be reminded.

Here is what I know of this remarkable woman.

From her early career she was always a bit of a maverick, figuring things out before others did.  She met sexism head-on at a very early age, being promoted as the first woman to occupy many posts at a major male-dominated Canadian utility in an age when open discrimination and sexist comments were the norm. 

When the information …

From Charity 2.0 Member otuonick:

Have you ever been driving in your car or walking downtown Nairobi and had a homeless person ask you for change? Are you liable to think to yourself “get a job”? Or do you fish in your pockets to give them any loose change you can find? (Mostly I will never part with my hard earned cash) Do you tend to pass judgement on those that ask for handouts or do you think its ok for them to ask for help from people they don’t know? For like most of us I do pass judgement ..

Here is where we need to know what our government has in place for the homeless. We have voted in president Mwai Kibaki, VP Kalonzo and Hon Raila Odinga . Will there Government of national unity change or benefit the Parking Boys and the homeless or even reduce crime in …

From Charity 2.0 TV Member owinojesse:

Now, that the excitement has dissipated, perhaps we can spend some time looking into the deal and what exactly it means for Kenya. Interestingly, there are many Kenyans on both sides of the political divide who are unhappy with the compromise, especially those whose achievement of particular goals from the government will be stymied by the coalition.

First things first, who will take up the two deputy premierships? William Ruto or Musalia Mudavadi for the ODM? Danson Mungatana, an heir to Nyachae, Eugene Wamalwa? Or as some have suggested here, even Raphael Tuju to enforce that the party has no antipathy toward the Luo? Does the PNU coalition have the courage to make a statement for youth and the future, and survive intact? What will the distribution of the cabinet positions achieve, a healing and reconciliation or an entrenchment of ethnicity as the dividing factor in …

From Charity 2.0 Member owinojesse…

On Saturday the 24th of February, 2008, I went to a meeting of women in Kibera, Nairobi.  It was in the open, in the field next to the Kibera D.O.’s office.  Under a tree, next to a dusty soccer pitch on which a few energetic children were playing, sat some women listening to the meeting’s moderator, Ms. Jane Anyango.

They looked like birds of paradise, in the shade of the tree, all bright colours and wraps and headscarves and skirts-laughing faces upturned as they listened.  . 

These women are amongst the hardest-hit victims of the recent post-election violence in Kenya; some of their houses have been burned, their small businesses have been disrupted, their sons endangered and their husbands missing.  They live where police bullets sometimes fly through walls and strike women dead as they stand ironing clothes, where the police presence might mean a …

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEICAN Kenya is pleased to announce the completion of a CD and DVD compilation of top current Kenya music artists for sale worldwide with net proceeds going to support ICAN Kenya’s programs focused on providing skills training and certification, and infrastructure capacity building to help improve the livelihood of average Kenyans striving for a better life.

The compilation comprises various songs and videos from the artists DNA, Juacali, Pilipili, P-Unit, Nonini, Collo, and Bigpin. While the language of the songs is primarily Swahili, they have been specifically selected for their potential to jump the language barrier and appeal to a wide audience.

ICAN Kenya has been a driving force behind the Digital Villages initiative that brings critical ICT training and business incubation services to areas around Kenya to provide new career opportunities to those most in need. In addition, it is committed to helping to build a thriving …

With a sense of calm and normalcy returning to much of Kenya in the wake of post-election violence, the sobering situation on the ground is the calculation of the damage done and the immediate needs of those affected.

Particularly hard-hit are the western areas of the country such as Kisumu, Migori, Homa Bay, Kakamega, Bongoma, and Eldoret and certain slum areas in Nairobi such as Kibera, Mathare and Kariobangi.  The immediate need in these areas is providing the basic necessities of life such as food, clean water and shelter.  There are now an estimated 180,000 internally displaced people in Kenya and a total of 500,000 people, mostly women and children, require humanitarian assistance.

While there are initiatives underway to address this crisis, they are currently insufficient therefore several organizations, including …

Hi I’m Max Wananda, Logistics Manager for ICAN Kenya. I would to start my activities on this Blog by providing some thoughts on what a great Organisation like ICAN means to Kenya.

 I know that ICAN is an organisation which care for the needy people worldwide and that is too great. Kenya got its Independence in 1963 and ever since, it has been so hard for wellwishers to bring help to the needy as a result of dirty politics and corruption. My research reveals that there are many people suffering in villages because they dont have some basic needs such as Education, Shelter, Food, Clothings, Medicine, Security, Jobs, Taking care of the orphans, Bad condition of roads, and lack of industries within their reach. If the roads can be made, then whatever the little harvest the villagers can get could really win them bread. Due …

When a journalist attacks a charitable organization by presenting allegations as if they were facts, allegations that they have obviously made no effort to corroborate, is this right?  Is it right for them to present derisive commentary as news?  In the first part of our Journalism Ethics series we present to you The Canadian Association of Journalists’ own Statement of Principles and Ethics Guidelines to demonstrate that their peers clearly agree that it is not. 

The Canadian Association of Journalists puts forward on its website the following Statement of Principles and Ethics Guidelines (we have added bold emphasis to the most relevant sections):

Preamble

It is our privilege and duty to seek and report the truth as we understand it, defend free speech and the right to equal treatment under law, capture the …