Kenya Bags Two At 2012 Online Volunteering Awards

For the second year running, a Kenyan has been named one of the winners for the 2012 Online Volunteering Award. Rita Sheryl, an MBA student at the University of Nairobi, was part of a team of online volunteers with the Association of African Entrepreneurs.

Using their writing and business expertise, the cross-national team of 29 online volunteers collaborated with the Association of African Entrepreneurs (AAE) to produce a 400 page compendium of information relevant to entrepreneurship in Africa, available for free download on the website of the Ghana-based NGO.

“The manual tells any aspirant entrepreneur everything he needs to know to undertake to an entrepreneurial venture in Africa”, says Cornelius Nartey from AAE. “The online volunteers worked tirelessly in recording and verifying information, and then putting it across to readers in a way that would be both interesting and utility-oriented. The level of commitment each volunteer exuded in the project is incomparable; each of them treated the project with professional zeal.”

Rita, who has been volunteering with AAE since 2010, contributed analytical research articles on the business environment of Rwanda, Egypt and Sudan. Rita opted to support AAE because “Empowering others to positively change their lives has always been my dream.”

The second winner from Kenya was the UNHCR Sub-Office in Nairobi, representing the first time a project by a Kenyan organization has won the award. Online volunteer Pat Redmond, an Australian freelance web developer, helped the UNHCR Regional Support Hub (RSH) in Nairobi develop a Regional Shelter Portal.

“Pat Redmond worked tirelessly for over 3 months, constantly adding suggestions and extensive improvements that were beyond the project brief and ultimately resulted in a tremendous effort from him”, says shelter expert Elizabeth Palmer in Nairobi. “In addition, the level of detail and quality of operation of the site are far more advanced than would have been possible without his input. There are technical capabilities that are now possible as a result of this input and the potential for expansion is also much greater due to his advice.”