Immigration & Community Development Hubs as an innovative solution for all

[Richard O'Farrell]

In difficult times like these, when jobs have become an ever more
precious commodity, people and whole countries turn to
self-protectionism. Many people without sufficient income, especially disenfranchised Communities at so-called Bottom of the Pyramid, have begun however to realise
there are new ways, new ideas and technologies -  with which to tap into the latent value that
resides within their own culture right around them, one that opens the
door to many new and inspiring opportunities for them to behold. eg.
re-discovering the Great Silk Road & the Oregon Trails. It is found
deep within one's own Culture, accessed and protected by one's own language, and is that same culture
that differentiates us from all other people, other cultures and other Communities.
Today we all have the technological possibilities available in
Telecentres or at Home or over smartcells to enable us to monetise our
own cultural assets and share them, with and through our own online
global communities, with with a world that is fast becoming one true global
village. The new earnings will open doors to microfinance to leverage that gain to build our own local economies and then many
new and greater possibilities begin to emerge.

People in all parts of the world are today very aware, with the advent of ICT,
of what they have and also what they do not have. They fully appreciate that
while Asian & African Nurses, for example, are important in and to western people
and hospitals -  and that remittances have provided a great deal of
compensation to their families and communities - that there is also a
huge global shortage of Nurses and a vast unsatisfied demand for all kinds
of careworkers among Asian and African Communities themselves. They
know that these services are desperately needed but are not available
because they cannot afford them. They know too that it is possible to
at least alleviate that great problem through use of new innovative
ideas, finding new ways of doing things today such as in tele-nursing,
tele-care, tele-homecare. They can see that these services would create
countless of very necessary jobs at home while addressing global health
issues, ones that increasingly affect us all; providing new jobs, new traded
services at and from their hometown. They are also very aware of the social
advantages and much lower cost base involved in working at home and
from home to the world, and especially online.

Now the means are also there too to accelerate this activity with the creation of local Community
Development Hubs, revolving around Telecentres, Coops, SHG's and Social
Enterprise Centres...that where there is a will there is a way. And it is a
process where everyone gains.

This is a win-win solution, better than today's automatic emigration
solution found necessary in creating a life for some hundreds of millions of
people and their families; those enterprising enough to leave home from
among the billions of people living in disenfranchised communities,
stricken by poverty. New poverty reduction economic models are available
to alleviate or eliminate poverty as we know it in new ways today.
Whereas those who want to travel for work can or will still choose to
do so, there are other online options possible now. Now technology allows
people to avail of online educational and traded services opportunities
from within their own global community and/or worldwide in a borderless
world eg. caring across cultures. And then there are a hundred other different
lifework paths one can follow along the same lines. It is now viable to educate more educators of
Nurses & Careworkers at much lower cost in Developing World and
thus bring ever more people into skills to fill great global shortages in
tacit interactive caring jobs or traded services opportunities in general -
especially with advent of remote, self-paced, personalised eLearning,
online ICT like ICDL, and college internet distance education (CIDE)
based learning opportunities. And where learning is no longer the preserve of
young students but an ongoing lifelong experience

I believe that the potential for impact on lives of everyone involved
is enormous, especially with the arrival of technology-driven virtual
offices, virtual workshops and virtual new eBusiness models for
Communities where you can do-it-yourself as a community and together
build your own interactive Community Brand. This will undoubtedly
will eliminate many of the stresses of Immigration on both sides of every
border, while providing -through ever more ICT innovation- a better
solution for all.
Richard O'Farrell
Founder & Social Entrepreneur
www.voxworld.coop

[Franz Nahrada]

Thanks Richard,

allthough I do not share your tendency for monetizing (I think cooperative use of information-communication media is much more powerful) one of the most interesting questions is indeed how we can return to greater cultural cohesion without loosing our global connections; how can we assure that we build local life around shared values and how can we assure an ever increasing range of substantial choices for each individual. My preferred solution is in rediscovering common and participatory resources and finding and strenghthening local covenants and global ties, but I think the time has come to ask for vigorous experimentation in MANY directions.

[Richard O'Farrell]

Dear Franz,
In a general sense my considered view comes from here - we monetise our culture already when we pay somebody as we go on culture travels; when we sell our music; or even when we sell (say) our Nursing or care services to other countries while being unable to afford adequate services at home, as is happening today in Asia and Africa. They all impose on somebody's way of life. It is Culture I contend that separates us and differentiates us but it is also culture that unities us when we choose to share our culture, to invite people into our lives. However, when people have no money as is happening on a widescale today - where a billion go hungry, another billion are living on less than $2 a day according to UN, and perhaps a further billion are suffering from some form of disability where more funding is needed - it is then that our culture is needed to sustain lives and quality of life.

Using todays mobile capabilities in Information and Communication Technology in Africa and other places, we can today build a cultural cohesion on a level never achieved previously; and where working through Online Global Communities with aid of Social Movements, Causes & Diaspora Orgs we can all retain our global connections while doing so. I also believe that we can build 'local life around shared values', as you so decribe them, when we as communities set out one collective/ shared vision for ourselves and our people, one to which we can all subscribe and commit. That Community however can be global, regional, national, hometown, village, career/ lifestyle, culture/ way of life or perhaps some affinity group - whatever defines each of us to our own satisfaction, that to which we are drawn in an emotional involvement. When we have chosen that route, other options will start to open up - where we can then define for ourselves what each of us are best skilled at, what we most would love to achieve in our lives, what we know most about....then our choices jump out of the box. We can also today choose to earn our living by choice in the HomePlace, or in the WorkPlace or even in the so-called ThirdPlace - among the hordes of internet cafes and telecentres in every walk of life; ideally each surrounded by our Community Development Hub with its services.

I agree with your preferred solution in conclusion and think 'vigorous experimentation' is a very appropriate phrase to describe what needs to happen right now within all social movements, causes and diaspora orgs.

VoxWorld.Coop promotes education, innovation and microfinance with the ultimate goal being creation of more Homeshores-direct jobs, sustained through cultural differentiation and involvement of Global Communities online. Accordingly, we are currently introducing the Smart Wallet, in three versions; firstly, to leverage money transfers with diaspora organisations for increased microfinance availability; secondly, to assist in creation of a community brand with digital culture products and services like Culture Travel; thirdly, to promote Co-op TeleTraded-services in support of job creation at home like ICT, TeleCare & other Teleservices.

I will be happy to respond to any question you or your members may have. Richard