eighty20.org strongly believes that 'good corporate citizenship' through social involvement in local communities is the only way to maintain an effective and sustainable communication and project strategy.

Our social involvement stems from 'wanting to support others in need'.  Technology and the 'social media' tools can be confusing. We want to broaden your horizon and bring more of its remarkable dynamism and innovation to the developing world.

What is a 'Social Knowledge Sharing' Project?

Social knowledge sharing benefits both the funding organization as well as the intended audience.  

For us, this is a project that uses new media technology and social networking tools to create beneficial relationships.  The purpose of these relationships is to increase knowledge and empower individuals.

Current planning and negotiations include two full length film documentary (one US, the other international), one African multimedia web project,  one African research project, one Asian media and communications project and a social community project in South America.

Here are a few examples of the projects that eighty20.org is currently working on:

+ Ethiopian Food Appeal

Today, children still die of hunger in Ethiopia. The pains of hunger are an impediment for many to go to school and does not allow them to concentrate.  Many children in Ethiopia find their stomachs so empty that their minds have lost the thirst, quest and hunger for knowledge.

A non-profit association called 'The Ethiopian Food Appeal' was created to raise funds to help school children profoundly affected by the drought.  Together, friends and colleagues living in Ethiopia, established a task force to identify a school in a rural area of Ethiopia not far from its capital, Addis Ababa, that was being hit particularly hard by the drought.  

They enlisted the help of the local Ethiopian Red Cross, the World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization to locate schools where they could provide continuous support over a sustained period of time to ensure that the children were fed, clothed and had clean water and supplies to enable them to concentrate on their studies.  eighty20.org developed and created the website with the help of Cambodian and Kenyan students.  Everyone benefited.

+ International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) - Geneva Switzerland

The International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) is an international NGO serving human rights defenders. Their vision is the development, strengthening, effective use and implementation of international and regional standards and mechanisms for the protection and promotion of human rights. 

Together, we are defining an new online presence, new branding elements, an automated training/registration process and a member relationship management platform (CRM). [completion - May, 2008]

+ HIV in Humanitarian Services - Geneva, Switzerland

HIV in Humanitarian Services is a section of UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS.  The IASC Task Force  on HIV was reconvened in early 2007 for a period of three years following a decision by the 67th IASC Working Group meeting; membership comprises UN organizations, NGOs, the Red Cross movements and IOM. The Task Force is co-chaired by UNAIDS and IFRC. Its objectives are:

• To assess the state of implementation of 2005 IASC Guidelines for HIV/AIDS Interventions in Emergency Settings and the integration of HIV into humanitarian situations.
• To revise the IASC Guidelines on HIV/AIDS Interventions in Emergency Settings including the elaboration of new modules
• To update existing training materials and developing new ones as needed (and designation of institutional home for these materials)

Together, we are developing a new public online presence and knowledge management Extranet accessible only by members. [completion March, 2008]

+ Face of AIDS Foundation, Stockholm, Sweden

eighty20 is co-manager of a global multimedia project with the aim to document, preserve and present the ‘digital history’ of the social, economic and developmental impact of the HIV pandemic.  Main elements of the project include:

• the design and creation of a digitalized archive and content classification process for 1000+ hours of HIV and AIDS related video material dating back to 1982
  
• creation of educational modules, advocacy training material and interactive video services for journalists, academics, students, researchers and civil society
• creation an interactive web/community platform using latest Web 2.0 and ICT technologies
• online public relations and branding initiatives and establishing academic and network partnerships

Partners include the Countway Harvard Medical Libraries, the Karolinska Institute, the Harvard School of Public Health, UNAIDS and the Swedish Foreign Ministry. David Galipeau is also COO of the Face of AIDS Foundation. [completion - end 2011]

+ United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), New York, NY, USA

Multimedia media event that includes production of a 50 minute documentary film on women and youth leadership supported by a gala event (Mexico City, Mexico, Aug2008), KOL panel discussion, multilingual DVD and an interactive webservice/eLearning portal. The film will be shown at leading film festivals and public TV broadcast. [completion - December, 2008]

+ United Nations System Chief Executives Board, Geneva, Switzerland

Unified UN Internet Presence - Social knowledge sharing project that will redefine and create common content standards for UN agencies and their constituents.  This will increase the effectiveness and immediacy of decision making by simplifying navigation and creating individualized access to news and content alerts.  Project includes development of an online communications and community platform that will aggregate several sources of multimedia information, allow the individual filtering and dissemination of custom feeds defined by themes, keyword and geopolitical metadata. 

Partners and technology include Google (Gmapplets, Google MAPS AJAX API) and Yahoo (PIPES - GUI-based interface for building custom apps that aggregate Web feeds) as well as selected UN agencies. [completion - end 2009]