Finnish Government supports Open Source in South Africa

Ungana-Afrika Press Release
            Ungana-Afrika
            www.ungana-afrika.org
            PO Box 73460 Lynnwood Ridge 0040, Pretoria
            Tel.: +27 (0)12 809 0531
            Fax: +27 (0)11 388 3783

           
            PRESS RELEASE 
            Contact: Toni Eliasz
            toni@ungana-afrika.org
           
            Finnish Government to support Southern African NGOs by funding
an Open Source CMS project 

            Pretoria, South Africa, 12.2.2004 - The Finnish government has 
funded Ungana-Afrika to support Southern African NGOs, which will include
the recommendation of appropriate web-site and content management solutions
using the Open Source Midgard Content Management System (CMS).

            Many non-profit organizations (NGOs) have an advocacy or 
educational focus, or coordinate the activities of groups of
organizations. These organizations have expressed significant interest in
establishing a website or they already have one, but lack the skills to
update it. Web design skills are highly marketable, and employees with
expertise in this area do not stay long in a non-profit
environment. Additionally, much has been said about the lack of localized
content in Africa, and the generally low technical skill levels are a major
contributing factor in this regard. NGOs frequently have a very
people-centered interest and are well suited to developing appropriate
local content.

            Ungana-Afrika and Nemein, Finnish software consultancy 
participating actively in the Open Source community, with the support of
the Finnish Embassy in Pretoria, have determined that an Open Source CMS
would provide an environment that makes it far simpler for the
organizations themselves to develop and modify site content, and removes
from them the burden of technically complex structural
development. Ungana-Afrika's eRider model of technical consultancy for NGOs
is well suited to constructing the initial website structure, as well as
providing training for the organizations in the use of the system.

            "Finland is following the United Nations Millennium Development 
Goals and providing its developmental aid to several innovative ICT
initiatives. Midgard Open Source CMS will hopefully add to Ungana-Afrika's
eRider concept's relevance in the development community." says Maarit
Laitinen, Programme Coordinator in the Embassy of Finland. "The successful
partnership between Ungana-Afrika and Nemein opens excellent opportunities
for north-south Open Source development cooperation." Ms. Laitinen
continues.

            Technical support for Ungana-Afrika will be provided by Nemein,
a concultancy specialized in web business applications and solutions that
are based on the Open Source Midgard CMS Framework.

            For more information about this project, contact:

            Jesse Maarit Laitinen
            Embassy of Finland
            +27 (0)12 343 0275
            maarit.laitinen@formin.fi

            Henri Bergius
            Nemein
            +358 (0)20 198 6032
            henri.bergius@nemein.com
            www.nemein.com

            Toni Eliasz
            Ungana-Afrika
            +27 (0)12 809 0531
            toni@ungana-afrika.org
            www.ungana-afrika.org

            Midgard Content Management System 
            www.midgard-project.org

            The eRider model
            www.eriders.net

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            Ungana-Afrika contact information 
                  Address:
                  PO Box 73460
                  Lynnwood Ridge
                  0040, Pretoria
                 phone: +27 (0)12 809 0531
                  fax: +27 (0)11 388 3783
                  website: www.ungana-afrika.org
                  e-mail: eriders@ungana-afrika.org