Activity Description:

The Full Belly Project, spearheaded by Jock Brondis, an ex-Peace Corps volunteer and light and sounds engineer, is a non-profit organization that designs and delivers simple agricultural machines to people in developing countries around the world. This project teaches people how to build hand-operated machines with common materials.

The peanut industry is not only huge in the Philippines but the reach goes as far as the different corners of the hemisphere, to almost 100 countries, feeding 500 million people and making it a great source of protein. It is also a cash crop which provides livelihood for poor people of developing countries.

But for such a big industry, the agricultural technology of peanuts is still trailing behind. People are still shelling peanuts by hand, painfully one by one. In Africa, most of those who do the work are women. (To save on fuel, peanuts are left dried under the sun which makes their shell hard to open.)

Jock Brandis, on his way to visit a friend in Mali, saw the heart of the problem and decided to use his technical skills to provide an agricultural solution. Thus the Universal Nut Sheller was born.

Invented by Brandis, the nut sheller can work 40 times faster than by hand. This coincided with the establishment of The Full Belly project spearheaded by Brondis which aims to “to relieve hunger through appropriate agricultural technology.” The goal of the organization is to distribute these machines around the world and make peanut a number one source of protein of third world countries. Brandis, out of his generous heart, didn´t patent his invention because he believes that it is “a gift to those in need.”

Not only can peanut provide livelihood but it contains highly nutritious properties which could solve worldwide hunger and eventually poverty-this time on a full stomach.

The machine is made of concrete and simple metal parts which only cost 50 dollars to make. It can shell “50 kilograms of peanuts per hour, and one machine can serve the needs of a village of 2,000. Its life expectancy is 25 years.” The Full Belly Project is now working in Uganda, Senegal, Zambia and Ghana. Filipino MIT graduate and Centromigrante head Illac Diaz has also collaborated with Full Belly Project with the help of a local cement company to teach locals how to build the machines.

Activity Description: The International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD) is an independent, non-profit organization that assists developing countries to realise locally-owned, sustainable development, by harnessing the potential of information and communication technologies (ICTs). IICD works with its partner organisations in (currently nine) selected countries, helping local stakeholders to assess the potential uses of ICTs in development.

Activity Description: Celpay, the next in a line of 'cell phone wallet services,' allows registered customers to use their cell phones for merchant transactions, monthly bill payments, and fund transfer between participating phones.

Customers registering for Celpay receive a new secure SIM card, adding a menu to their cellphones that facilitates the payments and providing access to their Celpay accounts. Money can be added to Celpay accounts via transfers from a bank account, or by depositing cash or a check at a participating Celpay partner bank.

Activity Description: Formed by the Zambian Government and later privatised, the North Western Bee Products employs over 6000 beekeepers, producing over 200 metric tons of honey and 50 metric tons of beeswax a year.

Activity Description: The Chilli Pepper Company is a for-profit enterprise that helps sustenance farmers in rural Zimbabwe to grow and market chillis. The company was created in 2000 by the Elephant Protection Development Trust (EPDT) as a way to resolve conflict between farmers in the Zambezi River valley and elephants. Both compete for resources and water, but farmers face additional hardship because they must protect their crops from being eaten or damaged at night. The farmers selected by EPDT are also among the most disadvantaged people in Zimbabwe, have little access to draught power and only grow small plots of cotton for cash. The yields for food crops such as sorghum, maize and millet are highly variable.

Activity Description: Pride Africa is a microfinance organization that is using IT for increased efficiency and faster growth. It launched its portal "DrumNet," which stores information on the buying and business habits of Pride clients, in order to group the purchasing power of thousands of small entrepreneurs. Pride is also developing improved loan tracking software and, under its SunLink program, investigating the use of swipe cards and information kiosks.

Activity Description: The UNEP's AREED initiative fosters the development of rural energy entrepreneurs in Mali, Ghana, Tanzania, Senegal, and Zambia through partnerships with local NGOs. With the support of international development organizations and financial institutions, the initiative provides a combination of business development services and start-up financing. AREED aims to attract investments from mainstream financial partners to these entrepreneurs.