4-6+Convening+--+Shabakat

===//Rami Al-Karmi shared his story about [|Shabakat], a networked nonprofit operating in Jordan in which "youth integrate information and communication technologies in the day-to-day lives of their communities to positively transform our families, education, businesses, environment, and community"//===

media type="custom" key="9009032"Graphic recording by Lynn Carruthers. Download file on SlideShare to view in higher resolution.


 * //Additional discussion://**
 * //Shabakat// (network in Arabic) started as a government-led initiative in 2002. It aimed to create a vehicle to help youths become engaged and to push technology into rural parts of Jordan, to increase digital literacy and build youth capacity, and to increase use of technology for change.
 * In 2011, Shabakat reached 327 locations (mainly rural), without investing much more in infrastructure. It reached this scale by operating with a networked mindset.
 * **Sharing control**: Youths are incentivized to get training in ICT because it makes them more employable, and after they complete the training program, they must recruit 10 more trainees from within in their community to quality for employment. In exchange for this commitment, they can set a Shabakat program in a form that's tailored to their community.
 * **Partnering**: Government trainers receive training from Shabakat, becoming ambassadors who proliferate the model. There are currently 45 such "trainers of trainers" who were not initially part of Shabakat.
 * **Following multiple models of networking**: Most trainees are recruited by current trainers (youth recruit 10 additional trainers, who recruit 10 additional trainers, etc.), and trainees often become trainers themselves
 * To ensure quality as the program scaled, Rami and Shabakat made sure the process was **modularized**, with set "check points" along the way in which Shabakat staff could interfere. For example, as part of the online training program trainees have to submit certain documents; if these documents aren't submitted, red flags are automatically raised and staff know to step in.
 * Using the right language is very important. For instance, when Rami pitches the initiative to donors who are weary of nonprofits, he emphasizes the "network" aspect of the approach.
 * **"Relevance"** is critical to Rami's work, and he believes that the network approach allows us to meet the needs of the community without overthinking what those needs might be.
 * Shabakat also has a new microfund program, which brings together wealthy individuals in the community to collectively make decisions about the grant-making process. There are currently 7 such funds, and there is a large public sector fund in the pipeline that's going to create ~50 additional funds per year.

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