Websites now exist to connect poor communities with a problem to individuals with a solution, anywhere in the world. But are they effective?
In Kagitumba, Rwanda, villagers are crowded around a computer. They are reading an email from Bireswar in India, explaining how his village collects and shares rainwater during a drought. Meanwhile, Luz Köhler, a UN volunteer from Guatemala, is researching online donation systems in Uganda for a non-profit that wants to start fundraising. In Sadhana, India, autistic children are playing in a 'sensory room' designed by two Dutch occupational therapists. The room is stocked with equipment from Germany, India and Greece, all sourced by online volunteers.
These stories sound like utopian dreams conjured up in a hippy séance. But they are real, made possible by a surge of interest in online volunteering.
Edith Munubbe, who is a representative for her village in Kirinyaga, Kenya, claims that her life has been turned around by online volunteering. Her young husband passed away, leaving her to raise two daughters on her own. When she was laid off by the government, she sank into a deep depression.
"After my redundancy, I slept for six months straight. One day a lady came to visit me and began to tell me about computers and started to teach me how to use them. It was through searching on the internet that I realised I could obtain help for my local community.
"I have fallen in love with the internet! Because of it, friendships have been created. Our community and our foundation have been connected with organisations around the world."
Munubbe is part of an online community called Nabuur. She stumbled across the site while looking for help for her village. Nabuur was set up 10 years ago by geeks in the Netherlands. The group wanted to see whether their coding skills could come in useful for international development.
I talked to one of the founders, Pelle Aardema, to find out whether online volunteering is all talk and no action.
"Yes, it's a lot of talk …" says Aardema, with his classic dry Dutch humour, "... but it's important to talk before jumping into action, and doing things that aren't thought through."
A case in point is a village representative in India who was desperate to enlist help with water harvesting in his village. He tried for two years but didn't succeed. Discouraged, he came to an online volunteer for advice. After a long talk, they realised that he was alone in thinking the project was a good idea. Water simply wasn't the most pressing issue for the villagers.
He shifted his focus to sports and education, which took off. They now run a Sunday school (non-religious, more extracurricular education and activities) and have a local trust that sponsors community projects.
Far from being a sop for the guilt of the rich, it seems that online volunteering can produce genuinely sustainable results. But there are also pitfalls.
Nearly half of the villages on Nabuur have stopped responding to volunteers. Aardema explains why: "I think in most cases [communication ends] because it has taken too long before concrete results are met. It usually takes quite some time to build trust, develop a mutual understanding, and also understand the problem at hand.
"This goes for both the volunteers and the local representatives. Volunteers may find the local rep doesn't communicate clearly, local reps may find the volunteers ask too many questions or keep asking the same questions over and over. Also keep in mind that communicating on a regular basis from an internet café also means an ongoing investment for a local rep who usually lives on a low income."
Additionally, expectations may have been wrong from the onset. Some communities manage to get a school built via Nabuur, but that doesn't mean that every community will easily see their dream realised. It depends on mutual trust, perseverance and some personal chemistry (even online) to make it work, Pelle said.
UN volunteer Köhler did find a way to make it work. "The first thing I did was to share ideas and case studies so they could see the bigger picture of what I was planning to do for them. From the start I made a couple of suggestions such as updating the website, being consistent with their logo, having a phrase summarising the vision of the organisation, and so on. To my surprise, they took quick action on this and few months later a new website was created."
Still, projects can be hampered by the greater problems with infrastructure that all development initiatives share. For example, online donation options for those in developing countries are limited. Many payment providers restrict operations to domestic transactions only.
However, this is where online volunteering can better the classic model of development. Volunteers based in other developing countries may be more inventive when it comes to circumventing poor infrastructure.
For example, an agricultural student in Uganda, Charles Kijja, used Nabuur to connect with residents in a village on the shores of Lake Victoria. He helped them to research methods of organic pest management that subsistence farmer could afford. Several months later, the pests are under control.
Perhaps we need to replace the old adage, and start to "think local, act global."
Rachel Collinson is director of knowledge sharing and innovation at Engaging Networks and a digital campaigner at Greenpeace. Follow @Rachel_shares on Twitter
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