The Hive 2.0
Kampala, Uganda
White Paper [Summer 2013]
Vision
To cultivate and scale ideas with positive social impact
Mission
To create a novel, accelerator workspace model that promotes collaborative development, implementation, evaluation and scaling of ideas with positive social impact in Kampala, Uganda.
CONTENTS
1. Proposal Summary
2. Background
a. The Hive 1.0 (CoLab)
b. Potential to extend impact
2. The Hive 2.0
a. The Hive: Health & Development (DevHealth)
b. The Hive: OpenGov
c. The Hive: CoLab
d. Physical Space
e. Resources
f. Outputs
3. Funding
a. Non-Profit Business Model
i. Revenue Sources
1. Membership Dues
a. Different levels of membership
b. Contracts with large orgs/founding agreements
2. Conference space rental fee
a. MOH conference
b. MoMo Kampala
c. NGO conferences
d. Academic Conferences
3. Hive Café
4. Philanthropy/Social Angel
ii. Costs
1. Facilities
a. Rent
b. Power backup
c. Internet
d. Furnishing
e. Operating expenses
2. Staff
a. Executive Director
b. Hive Health Director
c. Hive OpenGov Director
d. Community Specialists
3. Resources
a. Events
i. Social
ii. Educational
4. Founding Partners
a. Hive CoLab
b. OpenGovHub
c. GlobalHealthHub.org
5. Future Expansion
a. Other sectors
b. Other locations
1. Proposal Summary
In Uganda, lack of collaboration, transparency and accountability are fundamental challenges facing public health, open governance and technology initiatives that strive for positive social change.
In the past decade the number of health & development initiatives (public, private, social entrepreneurial, NGO, etc) has skyrocketed. In Uganda, over 10,000 NGOs exist. Using the mHealth sector as an example, the recent expansion of projects was so rapid and uncoordinated that the Ministry of Health issued a moratorium on mHealth/eHealth pilots until systems for harmonization could be put into place.
With billions of dollars of foreign aid pouring into the country and a growing economy, accusations of corruption and fraud in Uganda are commonplace. A few such incidents in recent years include the Global Fund and CHOGM scandals in 2008, pre-election attempts to shutdown social media in 2011, suspension of all UK Aid due to fraud in 2012, and the armed police closure of two Ugandan newspapers recently in 2013.
To maximize harmonization (i.e. collaboration, transparency & focus on comparative advantage) within and between the public health, open governance and technology sectors, we are proposing the creation of The Hive 2.0: an accelerator workspace model to co-locate likeminded individuals and organizations working on global health, open governance and technology in Kampala, Uganda.
Through its shared workspace and resources (including fulltime community specialists, social & educational events, community engagement forums, project databases, and exclusive funding opportunities) the Hive will unearth synergies between various social and economic sectors and facilitate collaboration, often by using technology as a connector.
The Hive 2.0 will increase the collective impact of the vast resources and enthusiasm already in place for positive social change in Uganda.
2. Background
a. The Hive 1.0 (CoLab)
The existing Hive Colab is a non-profit, community-owned, collaborative workspace for tech entrepreneurs in Kampala, Uganda. Founded in 2010 as part Appfrica Labs’ incubation initiative, The Hive is currently home to over 1000 members, from 20 companies and hosts numerous collaborative events throughout the year including Apps4Africa, Mobile Mondays, ISOC events, Microsoft4afrika, the Tech for Governance Challenge, DemoAfrica workshops, and Girls in ICT day.
Through partnerships with multiple organizations including the IndigoTrust, the Hive Colab has become one of Kampala’s destination tech hubs. The tech community in Kampala acknowledges that the Hive Colab has been a major contributor to local capacity building, creating local jobs, improving access to capital, and has encouraged innovation by fostering a culture of collaboration to build a vibrant tech community in Uganda.
b. Potential to extend impact
To date, the Hive has focused on incubating tech entrepreneurs. Member projects have had great success with numerous receiving awards including the winner of the 2012 Apps4Africa Competition. While many members focus on the creation of private-sector technologies, a growing proportion of Hive members are utilizing technology to tackle social challenges including open governance, health, and development in Uganda and elsewhere in the region. As the breadth of projects has grown, so too has the range of collaborating disciplines and the recognition of great potential for positive social impact.
2. The Hive 2.0
Technology isn't an isolated phenomenon. Rather, technology is a tool we apply to all fields of life. Thus, the Hive 2.0 is a model to help us connect to the world around us, explore how the problems we are solving are interrelated, and facilitate the synergies between various social and economic sectors that can be unearthed if we facilitate collaboration, often by using technology as a connector.
The Hive 1.0 laid the groundwork for creating a space for big thinkers to solve local, regional, and continental problems with the technological bridge. The Hive 2.0 will challenge them to think beyond coming up with the idea or even creating the product. We are asking them why their innovation will matter 10 years from now and are putting the resources in place to help these ideas have a positive influence on society.
The Hive 2.0 is an accelerator workspace model to co-locate likeminded individuals and organizations working on global health, open governance and technology in a shared physical workspace in Kampala and to provide them with the incentive and tools they need to develop, implement, evaluate, and scale ideas with impact.
The Hive 2.0 is more than a workspace; it is a model for harmonization and an accelerator for ideas with social impact. The Hive aspires to be the day-to-day home for a range of groups and individuals working in these arenas, while also serving as a community gathering point for education, networking and collaborative activities.
The Hive 2.0 expansion will build from the Hive 1.0’s tech incubator and will initially focus on two areas of social change – Health and Open Governance.
The challenges of accountability, transparency, harmonization and striving for positive social impact are among the many areas of overlap between the public health and open governance sectors in Uganda. There is considerable room for synergies between these sectors (see Figure 1), and when housed in the diverse and supportive environment of the Hive 2.0, we anticipate ideas and impact previously not possible.
a. The Hive: Health – where entrepreneurs, evidence, and health harmonize
Why create The Hive: Health in Uganda? Uganda has been called the “perfect storm” for aid. In the past decade the number of health & development initiatives (public, private, social entrepreneurial, NGO, etc) has skyrocketed. In Uganda, over 10,000 NGOs exist. The recent expansion of projects within the mHealth sector alone was so rapid and uncoordinated that the Ministry of Health issued a moratorium on mHealth/eHealth projects until systems for harmonization could be put into place.
Lack of harmonization (i.e. coordination, transparency, & focus on comparative advantage) among global health efforts is a major obstacle to project impact, sustainability, and scale.
Historically, global health efforts have been siloed. Academic efforts excel in research and education, though lack resources to translate findings into practice or scale. NGOs undertake large-scale implementation projects, though often are duplicative with limited ability for quality evaluation. Private ventures focus on financial viability but many embrace inappropriate technologies without attention to evidence or local priorities. Public sectors are overburdened.
Though recognized as a priority by the Paris Declaration on Aid effectiveness, the Accra Agenda, Millennium Development Goals, and the Post-2015 development agenda, harmonization of existing resources (evidence, workforce, technology, and funding) is often overshadowed by calls for more resources and new “innovations.” The Hive 2.0 will serve as a model of harmonization for the global health community.
What kinds of organizations and individuals will spend time at the Hive: Health?
1. In-country offices for international NGOs,
2. Small to medium-sized, locally-based NGOs,
3. In-country academic program offices and university faculty/fellows (clinical and research oriented),
4. Global Health Fellows (potentially – GHCorps, GH Service Corps, GloCal Fellows, Fogarty, Fulbright and potentially The Hive’s own fellowship program)
5. Global health, social, and tech entrepreneurs
6. Other innovation hubs for health and development
b. The Hive: OpenGov
Why create The Hive: OpenGov in Uganda?
With billions of dollars of foreign aid, a growing economy and little transparency or accountability in the public sector, accusations of corruption and fraud are commonplace in Uganda. A few such incidents in recent years include the GAVI Funds scandal in 2007, the Global Fund and CHOGM scandals in 2008, pre-election attempts to shutdown social media in 2011, suspension of all UK Aid due to fraud in 2012, and the armed police closure of two Ugandan newspapers recently in 2013.
As the number of scandals continues to increase and with the current Government entering its 27th year in power, there is an increasing desire to promote open governance by the greater citizenry of Uganda.
There are many additional factors that make Uganda an ideal location for a collaborative, open governance workspace.
1. Young and motivated population: Uganda has one of the youngest populations in the world with over 60% of the population below the age of the age of 30[1]. The youth of Uganda, with increasing access to information and increasing interest in open governance will play a major role in the open governance movement.
2. Numerous Players in Open Governance; Uganda has over the 10,000 registered NGO’s, with a significant proportion actively involved in issues of Governance. Nonetheless, inadequate collaboration amongst key players with each other or other sectors.
3. Some progress, but not enough: In recent years, the Ugandan government has at times demonstrated increased willingness to embrace open governance. Recent examples of this include Vision 2040 [2], The National Information Technology Authority of Uganda’s (NITA-U) strategic plan 2012-2017 [3], and efforts by the Ministry of Finance in partnership with Development Gateway to promote transparency in national disbursements of funding. Despite having met “minimum standards for open governance” by the Open Governance Partnership (OGP), anyone citizen will tell you there is significant work to be done[4].
Though Uganda tops the ranks in East Africa as the second most corrupt country after Kenya according to Transparency International[5], the factors above when taken together suggest the timing is right for an open governance catalyst in this country.
What kinds of organizations and individuals will spend time at the Hive: OpenGov?
a.In-country offices for international NGOs,
b.Small to medium-sized, locally-based NGOs,
c.In-country academic program offices and university faculty/fellows
d.Social, and tech entrepreneurs
e.Other innovation hubs for “open governance” like the OpenGov Hub
b. The Hive 2.0 Physical Space & Amenities
The design of the Hive 2.0 will be based on expanding and relocating the existing Hive Co-Lab. In the redesign we will be building on the success of the current Hive space, as well as incorporating components from numerous other successful social work spaces and innovation hubs. We will also create new features identified as priorities by the target community for our Hive. In the spirit of harmonization, we have intentionally attempted not to design the Hive behind closed doors. As part of the design we have elicited input from prospective users to build and refine our model.
Wide Open Spaces – It seems you can’t have a social workspace these days without high ceiling, fluorescent paint jobs, and ultra modern office furniture. While the priorities for the Hive’s space mostly have to do with square footage and location, we will be including some of the hip design as well. It will be a place that will makes anyone excited to come to work.
Fast Wireless Internet –The Hive has an agreement with a local telecom provider for some of the fastest Internet in Kampala, with special access to unlimited bandwidth during events hosted by the Hive. The Hive will have some of the fastest and most reliable Internet in Uganda.
Reliable Power – Backup power generators will be provided.
Conference Rooms – The facility will have one closed conference room that can be reserved on a day-to-day basis for meetings, teleconferencing or brainstorming sessions.
Presentation Hall – We hope to have few walls in the space, and those that exist (along with the workstations) will be mobile to allow the Hive to grow. Such flexibility in design will also help make easy transformations to accommodate larger social networking and education events hosted by the Hive.
Location – The Hive 2.0 will be located in the heart of Kampala, close to the Makerere University, numerous NGOs, private businesses and government ministries. By relocating to the center of Kampala, it will make access to the center easy for the general public attending events or other organizations looking to visit.
Café - The Hive space will also include a Café that not only serves as a daily social gathering point, amenity for members, but also a portal for the community to get a glimpse at what is happening at the Hive. The café will also generate revenue to offset operating costs.
c. Resources
Exclusive funding opportunities – The Hive will employ community specialists dedicated to tracking funding opportunities and working with donors to obtain exclusive funding for cross-sectorial project teams led by Hive members. By funding programs through the Hive 2.0 model, donors can be assured that they are supporting initiatives with stakeholder-driven design, adequate collaboration, transparency, as well as plans and resources for implementation, evaluation, and scale.
Community specialists –There will be full-time Hive community specialists to facilitate knowledge sharing, social events, and facility management.
Project Databases – We plan to utilize the skill of Hive members and the dedicated time of the community specialists to help create a database to track past and ongoing global health & open governance initiatives in throughout Uganda (not solely among Hive members). This project will be undertaken with numerous international and local stakeholders including the Ministry of Health.
Events
· Networking – The Hive will host regular social events to facilitate networking.
· Educational – Experts from academic, public and private sectors will share experiences, lead case study discussions, and provide workshops in priority topic areas identified by the Hive community.
· FailFairs – The Hive will host regular FailFairs to provide a forum to discuss why projects didn’t work to help the community learn.
· Idea development – We envision two forums for idea development:
1) Informal weekly gatherings to pitch and discuss ideas with members;
2) Semi annual, public competition where ideas are pitched to the community and a cross-sectorial, expert panel of judges who will provide instant feedback and select ideas with the greatest potential impact, as well as help provide resources to ensure success of those award-recipients