NGO project needs more corporate support
Sun, 06/19/2016 - 12:00am
The co-ordinator of the 50 BB Sites for NGOs Project says the initiative is still in need of additional sponsorship to ensure its success.
Word of this came during a press conference yesterday at the Ministry of Culture to introduce entertainer and educator Ian ‘iWeb’ Webster as the official ambassador of the project.
Project Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer of Simplified Apps, Curtis Padmore, said that the initiative which seeks to create 50 websites for non-governmental organisations in the country is being supported by three Government entities – the Barbados Community College (BCC), the National Council on Science and Technology, and the Telecommunications Unit which has agreed to provide all of the .bb domains and hosting for the websites. But, he said, it also needs the support of corporate Barbados.
He indicated that some companies have come on board, but they want to see more businesses supporting the project, helping to give the NGOs the exposure they require to promote their various causes, and by extension supporting youth development. He made the comments as he noted that the websites are being built by a group of 30 first-year students from the BCC.
“We are certainly looking forward to corporate Barbados leveraging the Cultural Industries Act to support the cultural industries entrepreneurs who are part of this project. I would like to give a quick plug for the Act, Section 31, that allows any individual or company to receive a tax credit of a hundred per cent of the value of their contribution… So ideally they get to recoup their investment,” he said.
Padmore added that while the Telecoms Unit’s intention is to sponsor the websites for one year, the project’s target is to provide five years of hosting and domain usage for each of the websites. He made the point while noting that going forward .bb will signify Best Barbados, and as such the websites would allow the participating NGOs to highlight what they are doing to make Barbados the best that it can be.
Additionally, he revealed that to date 24 NGOs have already shown an interest in getting a website, and he anticipates that by early July they should have the other spots filled, so they can remain on target to finish the websites by the end of July. He said the NGOs are being selected with the help of the National NGO Network and ASPIRE Foundation and the focus is on NGOs working in areas such as health, giving assistance to the vulnerable, education and those supporting NGO governance.
“When we finalise this, we will have a promotion campaign that runs for 50 weeks after the development of the websites, so that we highlight each NGO and the students that worked on the sites and the sponsors as well,” he said. (JRT)