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Barrio Web: 2.0 hyperlocal portal for communityorganizations in low-income neighborhoods

FormaComuna will launch a hyper-local portal, as a platform foradvancing social development programs run by community-basedorganizations working in 4 low-income neighborhoods in Caracasmetropolitan area.

The portal will feature a series of tools for:

publishing news regarding social development programs, communicating with stakeholders, keeping information flow with donors and government agencies,

and

assisting members planning and managing their programs.The portal core feature is a step-by-step application for designingsocial programs at the community level, and for documenting programimplementation progress. The portal will provide one application formanaging information flow with key stakeholders: organizationmembers, target community, donors, government agencies, and massmedia.

The portal will foster communication between the organization and thecommunity being served. Weblogs, podcasts and videocasts featuringcommunity news will be published at the portal. An automated querywill track news relevant for the participating organizations andcommunities. The portal will also feature a community events calendarfor posting announcements, sending reminders to people who want tokeep track of such events, and generating informative minutes

following important meetings or actions.

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The project includes an e-learning tool to train members on the usage

of the platform.

All applications, systems and programming tools that will be used todevelop this project are open source. We will use Drupal CMS plusCiviCRM, Moddle LMS (for the trainning component), MySql databaseand web server Apache. Using Drupal and CiviCRM will save usdevelopment time.

How will your project improve the way

news and information are delivered togeographic communities?

Underserved target audience

The project targets members of community-based organizationsworking on local development plans at four different low-incomeneighborhoods in Caracas. This population has low participation rateon Internet access (12%), and low frequency of use (twice a week onaverage). Thus, their involvement in this program will boostsubstantially their ability to take advantage of resources available inthe information society.

Two of the needs addressed by the project have been identified ascritical by community based organizations: publishing news regardingsocial development programs, and assisting members planning andmanaging their programs. Nonetheless, the integration in onesingle platform of application providing solutions to the fouraddressed needs was beyond expectations for most communityorganizations leaders.

FormaComuna will provide training to the community organizationteams members about usage of the applications. We will be partners inthe initial outreach, but after the initial stages (3-6 months), thetargeted community-based organizations should take ownership of theproject, driving the usage, outreaching new users, and envisioningfuture innovations.

Most organizations will be using computers at community centers.Only few can afford their own hardware and the connectivity fees.

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FormaComuna will serve as broker helping community organizations to

make agreements with Internet community centers administrators inorder to gain preferential access to computers. We already heldconversations about this prospect with the government agency incharge of the national network of Internet community centers.

How is your idea innovative? (New ordifferent from what already exists.)

Addressing unmet needs

Barrio Web has been envisioned as an integrated solution that allow

community-based organizations to work methodically in planning, andadministering their programs, as well as campaigning for their values

and publicizing their accomplishments. This solution will sustain andenhance the progress of community-based organizations programs byengaging and inspiring commitment from all relevant stakeholderssuch as team members, beneficiaries, and donors.There is not other internet service tailored to community-basedorganizations needs that offer a step-by-step application to plan andmanage local social development programs aligned with World Bankguidelines (which are followed by Venezuelan government agencies, as

it happens in most Latin American countries). Following thoseguidelines helps community-based organizations to get their programsfunded, and to comply with budget administration rules and reportingobligations.Since Barrio Web will offer a continuous flow of informationin the

way of community newson programs planning, management, andachievements, the portal will help organizations in complying withincreasing accountability demands from beneficiary communities,government agencies, and other stakeholders.

What experience do you or yourorganization have to successfully developthis project?

Team Knowledge & Experience

Project team members have the knowledge, skills, and relationshipsrequired for making this project successful. We count on a team ofexperienced software developers that will work on this project. This

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team will also provide technical support while the users learn to use

the applications and start working on the platform. Our chiefprogramming engineer got 15 years of experience developing softwareand 3 years working with open source solutions.Most time will bespent integrating Drupal and CiviCRM modules and customizing themin order to serve our users needs. We also plan to devote effort tomake the platform user-friendly for non tech-savvy users.FormaComuna team members have worked for several yearspromoting community organization and community media amongCaracas low-income population. Theses experiences give us strongrelationships with community leaders that will help to promote the

project. We are able to bring together different community-basedorganizations spread throughout Caracas metro area by partnering

with existing community networks.

We have identified the major challenges for launching a micro-localportal for organizations serving low-income neighborhoods in Caracas.Consequently, we are anticipating lines of action and buildingcapacities to overcome challenges normally encountered in thesecommunities.

Contact info:FormaComuna

info@formacomuna.org