Bridges.org is a US 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, with origins in Washington DC and bases in Uganda and South Africa. Although most program services are currently delivered in East and Southern Africa, much of our work is broadly applicable — and noticed and learned from — across the developing world. Bridges.org was founded in 2000 by Teresa Peters, together with a group of Internet visionaries who have stayed involved as board members and advisors. The bridges.org team combines practical multi-disciplinary skills, diverse perspectives on technology and business innovation, a commitment to social issues, and far-reaching international experience.
Most of our work is supported by grants and donations, however, we also do fee-based work. You can help us do more! To find out how you can support our work, please click here.
Our mission | How we work | Our staff | Our board | Friends of bridges.org | Volunteering | Employment | Contact us
Bridges.org is an international organization with a mission to promote the effective use of information and communications technology (ICT) in the developing world for meaningful purposes, such as better healthcare, education and self-sustaining economic development. We seek to bring a practical vision to the realities of ICT-enabled socio-economic development, and an important aspect of our strategy is to apply basic business principles and processes in development projects. We conduct technology research, evaluations and policy analysis to inform civil society organizations, governments, development aid agencies and the business community and help them improve the way they integrate ICT into their activities. This in turn brings the benefits of technology to more people — students, small business owners, doctors and their patients and the general public — in more meaningful ways: not only to overcome the challenges and adversities they face, but to give them the tools to build their own solutions and manage their own affairs in more efficient ways.
In its first few years bridges.org's most visible work was involvement in policy-making and social "consulting" services. With the launch of our Real Development initiative in 2006, we will do more hands-on project work in Africa to create role models for effective implementation by actively engaging with grassroots organizations working in disadvantaged communities.
Our team is highly collaborative but geographically dispersed, so we try to think globally and work locally — keeping costly and environmentally-damaging air travel at a minimum and using ICT tools effectively to build a virtual work environment. We bring an entrepreneurial attitude to our social mission, and we are committed to working with governments and the private sector. We partner and collaborate whenever possible, and we publish our work as open content so that others may improve and build on our efforts.
Our work on the ground keeps us in touch with the daily problems of people in developing countries and disadvantaged communities. We also bring experience with the highest levels of international technology policy-making through our involvement in the efforts of organisations like the World Economic Forum (WEF), New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), G8 Digital Opportunity Task Force (DOT Force), United Nations ICT Task Force, Glocal Forum, and others.
Directors
Vincent Waiswa Bagiire, CEO and director of the CIPESA program
Cynthia Godes, COO
Staff and interns
Jean-Paul Bauer, technical administrator
Lexie Koss, über-intern
Anthony Mugeere, policy associate
Sean O'Connor, Map Revolution project manager
Carl Seifert, intern
Karin Silk, administrative coordinator
Baldwin Okello, Mapping Assistant
Project team
Ceiran Bishop
Vanessa Bullwinkle
Jennifer Huesler
George Odhaimbo
Orji Nduka
Tim Sowa
Karen Utter
We would also like to recognize the contributions of many others who work with us on a project-by-project basis.
- Joseph H. Alhadeff is the director of global public policy at Oracle, where he coordinates and manages global electronic commerce, privacy and Internet-related policy issues. He was previously the general counsel and vice president for electronic commerce for the US Council for International Business (USCIB) in New York. He is the vice-chair of the Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC) to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Chair of the BIAC Task Force on Information Security.
- Edward Cavazos is a partner in the Austin office of the law firm of Andrews & Kurth LLP and a recognized authority on Internet and high-tech legal issues. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Texas School of Law where he teaches Internet Business. Previously, he served as Senior Vice President, Legal and Business Affairs of Interliant, one of the industry's leading Application Service Providers.
- Esther Dyson is editor at large at CNET Networks, where she is responsible for its monthly newsletter, Release 1.0, and its PC Forum, the high-tech market's leading annual executive conference. She sold her business, EDventure Holdings, to CNET Networks in early 2004. She was the founding chairman of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) where she helped privatize and introduce competition into the Internet's worldwide domain name system. She is also a private investor and commentator, focusing on emerging technologies and business models, emerging markets, and emerging companies. She is an Internet entrepreneur and investor, and all-around industry powerhouse, involved in every major Internet issue today.
- Johan Helsingius is a technology investor and renowned IT, networking and Internet pioneer. Among other things, Julf invented the first anonymous remailer, founded Finland's first business-focused ISP, set up the first network connections to the former Soviet Union, and advised European public bodies on technology policy. He was a key member of the group of European Internet pioneers who established the first pan-European ISP, EUnet.
- Saul Klein currently serves as Vice-President of Marketing at Skype, a leading innovator in VoIP technologies. His is also a technology investor and the co-founder of Video Island and the Accelerator Group. He previously served as Group Program Manager for Web Platform Services at Microsoft, where he managed the roll-out of Microsoft Passport. He has extensive experience in digital media and marketing, e-branding, and electronic publishing.
- Andrew McLaughlin is Senior Policy Counsel at Google. He was previously a Senior Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School, where his work focused on the law and regulation of Internet and telecommunications networks. As part of his work at Berkman, he studied the Internet's technical administration and self-regulation and on the application of constitutional law doctrines to cyberspace, and he led the Berkman Center's initiatives in developing countries. From 1999-2002, Andrew helped to launch and manage the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), serving as Vice President, Chief Policy Officer, and Chief Financial Officer.
- Ewan McPhie, Board Chair, is the Senior Managing Director for Dilligence USA, LLC. He is an experienced liaison officer who has led dialogue among government, business, and civil society stakeholders to help balance the (often conflicting) needs of broad constituencies. During 2000-2005, Ewan served as bridges.org's Policy Director based in South Africa. Previously, Ewan was a senior civil servant in the United Kingdom Cabinet Office with responsibility for the development of Internet and ICT related policy. Ewan also has private sector experience in the UK, Middle East and Far East.
- Teresa Peters is an ex officio (non-voting) board member and advisor to bridges.org. She is an active voice in the global discussion on the digital divide and the use of ICT for development. She brings technical expertise and a specialization in law and policy matters related to the Internet and electronic commerce.
We are proud to include the following individuals among friends of bridges.org, an advisory group of experts that helps guide our work.
- John Perry Barlow, Fellow at the Harvard Law School Berkman Center for Internet and Society and co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation
- William Burrington, President of The Entre Group
- Edmond Gaible, PhD, President of the Natoma Group
- Lawrence Lessig, Professor at Stanford Law School
- Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Thawte, HBD Venture Capital, The Shuttleworth Foundation, and the first African to fly to space
- Russell Southwood, founder and Chief Executive of Balancing Act
Volunteering at bridges.org
Listed below are a few places where we see individual volunteers fitting into our organization. If you or your organization has specific expertise in the ICT sector or in ICT policy, we can talk more about other options. Let's find a way to help out that fits those skills!
Identifying existing case studies, or writing new case studies, about your country / region on how information technology is being used in everyday life - both successfully and unsuccessfully.
We think it is vitally important that ''digital divide''initiatives and other IT projects learn from others' experiences - yet this happens so rarely. We are featuring sample case studies on our website, and contributing new case studies would be a great way to volunteer.
Identifying existing papers or writing brief background papers on IT policy in your country or region. We have specific areas of policy we're focusing on, that we can talk about if you are interested in this.
All around the world, government policies are in flux as countries try to harness information technology while grappling with the technical and social problems of the information age. South Africa for example, is undergoing a major rewrite of its telecommunications policy and restructuring of its telecom industries.
Bridges is publishing background information on IT policies in South Africa, and we'd like to include more from other parts of the world. If you know of good background materials or are interested in writing a brief summary of the issues in your area, this is also a great place to volunteer. We have specific areas of interest in policy we're focusing on, such as Voice Over IP, that we can talk about if you are interested in volunteering here.
Gathering news stories to about the digital divide, applications of IT in everyday life, and IT policy.
As you may know, bridges.org distributes a newsletter to provide current news about issues related to the international "digital divide", to showcase the efforts of organisations and individuals working in this field, and to highlight important developments that require immediate attention. We're looking for volunteers to help gather news stories and conference and event announcements.
Translations! We have need for translation of our website, press releases and reports in order to reach a broader audience.
We aim to reach a broader audience with our electronic and printed materials, but do not currently have the capacity to translate most of our documents. We are looking for volunteers to translate our press releases, and where appropriate, also to translate the reports they publicize. In the future we are also looking to translate portions of our free computer training materials - the ''bridges.tech.guide''. These are all one-off documents, so they wouldn't require a volunteer to make a long term commitment.
Identifying other like-minded organizations: we are always interested in learning about other organizations doing similar or related work.
There are thousands of organizations working on the digital divide alone, and many more which are applying information technology to improve people's lives. We are looking for volunteers to notify us of such organizations, which we could include on our website, or highlight as a 'bridge builder'.
Hours Required
For individual volunteers, we do not have a set number of hours / schedule, since it depends on the type of volunteering. For extended projects, we expect volunteers to make at least a four-month (or one school semester) commitment, for ten+ hours a week. For one-off projects such as translations, this is not necessary.
Partnerships with like-minded organizations and companies
In addition to individual volunteers, bridges.org is working with like-minded organizations and companies, to learn more about and assist each other's projects. For example, we collaborate with organizations and individuals working on issues such as healthcare, education, local economic development, improving government efficiency and transparency, and human rights.
Employment at bridges.org
Bridges.org is not currently inviting applications.
Bridges.org is an equal opportunity employer. It is bridges.org's policy to recruit, hire, and provide opportunities for advancement in all job classifications without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, citizenship, marital status, sexual preference, parental status, or disability. Bridges.org only accepts resumes for current vacancies.
info@bridges.org
Uganda:
PO Box 26970, Kampala
+256 31 280073
South Africa:
PO Box 715, Cape Town 8001
+27 21 465 9713
United States:
+1 202 234 4492
+1 202 318 7792 (fax)
