Is Ushahidi the new paradigm in humanitarian work? The small Kenyan-born organization is, in the words of The New York Times, "Africa's Gift to Silicon Valley." Ushahidi, which means testimony in Swahili, started in the wake of Kenya's disputed election in 2007. It uses common mapping software usually used for social purposes for targeted humanitarian work. From The Times:

A prominent Kenyan lawyer and blogger, Ory Okolloh, who was based in South Africa but had gone back to Kenya to vote and observe the election, received threats about her work and returned to South Africa. She posted online the idea of an Internet mapping tool to allow people anonymously to report violence and other misdeeds. Technology whizzes saw her post and built the Ushahidi Web platform over a long weekend.

The site collected user-generated cellphone reports of riots, stranded refugees, rapes and deaths and plotted them on a map, using the locations given by informants. It collected more testimony -- which is what Ushahidi means in Swahili -- with greater rapidity than any reporter or election monitor.

Since then, Ushahidi's mandate has expanded dramatically. What started as a wiki tool allowing people to anonymously report election irregularities is now used as a crisis map in natural disasters, track votes in the Indian elections, and following medicine shortages. Because cellphone penetration is heavy even in the third world, the rapidly evolving Ushahidi's dev community has developed a mobile strategy. Ushahidi has become a humanitarian force -- albeit digitally -- in both the Haitian and Chilean earthquakes, where victims text messages to better organize relief. In the new paradigm, according to the Times, "victims supply on-the-ground data; a self-organizing mob of global volunteers translates text messages and helps to orchestrate relief; journalists and aid workers use the data to target the response."

Ushahidi, which had no venture-capital backing and uses open-source software, is tailor-made for re-engineering to each particular crisis in the developing world. The question that inevitably arises is: How many more *Ushahidi's* are possible should young people in the developing world received a better tech education? Can technology -- and, more important, a technology education -- lessen the gap between the Haves in the West and Asia and the Have Nots in the developing world? What do you think?

Amy Farkas of UNICEF's sport for development arm, recently shared this amazing article with me. To summarize, it is about a program called Dance United that's designed to work with ex youth-offenders and youth at risk. The platform used is dance, but the purpose is self confidence, reduced criminal behavior, and a return to pursuing traditional education. The program has proven to be highly effective at ending cycles of criminal behavior. When harnessed properly, the power of such programs can go a long way towards ending homelessness.

We talk a lot about supportive housing and we should, but we shouldn't underestimate how much people can do for themselves, nor the power of community and activities to release self empowerment. As this article mentions, just one youth ex-offender kept out of jail and out of homelessness can save British taxpayers around 80,000 pounds sterling on average.

Lots of people don't know that the organization I work for, Street Soccer USA (before it became part of HELP USA), started as an art program and that our first team was called Art Works Football Club. Indeed, the power of relationships forged through shared experience is at the core of what we do. When human beings affirm each other, hope, dignity, and purpose are abundant and palpable. If recovery, achievement, and progress are going to take hold for those stuck in homelessness and poverty, these goals must be cast on a foundation of personal pride and purpose in life.

It no surprise to me that targeted programming around arts and sports combines creativity and discipline in a way that helps participants balance these two elements in their own lives. I am glad we as practitioners are measuring it and so thrilled that as a society we are starting to take advantage of the power of such activities to build a healthy community.

[Image: The Guardian]

The folks at Funny or Die are at it again, and this time they've got a team of former US Presidents (OK, the actors famous for portraying former US Presidents) on their side. Not only does this new video provide some good laughs and the sense of nostalgia that can only come from seeing Dan Aykroyd reprise his role as Jimmy Carter, it also sends an important political message. From the synopsis: "Barack Obama gets a surprise visit in the night from ex-Presidents Bush Sr., Bush Jr., Clinton, Ford, Reagan and Carter to get a few pointers about the Consumer Financial Protection Agency and why it's so important." To find out more about the CFPA, visit Main Street Brigade. (Be sure to watch the video first though!)

Isn't it great when a group of funny, smart, like-minded people get together for a good cause? Now if only this team would tackle health care reform...

In early February, an exhibit opened at the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, addressing the overwhelming changes that have swept through that borough in recent years. "Housing is a Human Right" brings together more than 20 artists to inspire discussion about the gentrification of Brooklyn's historically working class and minority neighborhoods.

Part of a series of events sponsored by MoCADA, titled "The Gentrification of Brooklyn: The Pink Elephant Speaks," the current exhibit blends large-scale photography, works on paper, sculpture, oral history, and public murals that address the complex issues surrounding gentrification. They do not instruct or proselytize a singular point of view. Rather, the works reflect the diversity of the people who created them, and prove that Brooklyn's creative spirit may have been obscured by new development, but it's not lost.

The mural below is currently on display on Fulton Street, between Irving and Downing Streets in Bed-Stuy. If you're in the area, stop by to check it out on your way to the Adriala Gallery, an old garage converted into an intimate gallery space and a satellite of the exhibit, featuring photographs of Brooklyn apartment buildings and their residents by Michael Premo, a co-producer of the show.

[Image: Housing is a Human Right]

Later today, Bloom Energy, the clean energy start-up, will finally unveil its top secret refrigerator-sized unit: The Bloom Box. If all the hype is correct, the Bloom Box will potentially be the revolutionary fuel-cell system that green technologists have been waiting for for decades, the so-called "the Holy Grail of clean energy." Bloom Energy's idealistic CEO K.R. Sridhar, a 49-year-old scientist-turned entrepreneur, was on 60 Minutes this Sunday, talking about how he's like to see one in every home. The Bloom Box is a fuel-cell capable of running up to 100 homes and sells for $700,000 to $800,000, is powered wirelessly through fossil-fuel, bio-fuel, or even solar power. The company hopes to to roll out a smaller home version for about $3,000 a unit within the next five to ten years.

Google, eBay, FedEx, Staples and Walmart are among the first 20 customers that have signed on, giving the machine some hefty celebrity endorsements. eBay's CEO John Donahoe has said that Bloom Boxes were installed at their corporate campus months ago and the boxes already saved the company over $100,000 in electricity bills. "It's been very successful thus far. [The Bloom Boxes] have done what they said they would do," says Donahoe.The San Francisco Airport also has Bloom fuel cells, according to GreenTechMedia.