Clicks for changing the world

Bassita, which is supported by CFI through the EBTICAR-Media project (which is financed by the European Union), has launched 'click funding' in order to use the 'power of clicks' to fund social, environmental and cultural causes.

Specifically, the team selects projects which it then illustrates with articles, photographs and reports. The information is then posted on social networks, with users being encouraged to 'like', comment on and share each project with others. If the target number of clicks, shares, comments or 'likes' is reached (this target being set at the start of the campaign), the project receives funding from a sponsor that had pledged its support earlier in the process.
'Click funding' therefore allows everyone to become a proponent of change.

This initiative has allowed Bassita to recently provide spectacles to around one hundred skilled embroiderers in Khalta (a small village in the Fayoum oasis) whose eyesight was failing. Their beautiful creations, which are renowned throughout the region, form the main source of income for their families.

For 5 years now, the Orange Prize has awarded African entrepreneurial initiatives that make use of new technologies in order to develop Africa. This year, the 'click funding' initiative was selected from over 600 nominated projects, and will as a result receive financial support, six months' guidance from a team of experts, and help in filing a patent.