Nabuur is an internet platform designed to link people in developing countries to committed volunteers. Using Nabuur, people in any village, township, or settlement can connect with and get reliable assistance from around the world in a direct, person to person manner. It aims to combine the traditional idea of a friendly neighbor lending a helping hand with the modern approach of technology and the 2.0 power of the internet.  The result is a creative and effective process. Online volunteers (neighbors) are matched to and linked with local communities (villages) in developing countries through
www.nabuur.com. The people living in the village describe local issues to the neighbors on the moderated web platform, and together they formulate projects and work to find solutions to these issues. Instead of the traditional method of writing a project proposal and waiting for funding, Nabuur allows for quick, innovative and collaborative solutions to emerge. Both parties involved benefit from the relationship as they learn about each other and share ideas. 

The Nabuur Foundation, a Dutch based NGO, was started by Siegfried Woldhek and Philipp Kauffman in 2001. ‘Nabuur,’ which is an old Dutch word for ‘neighbor,’ envisions the world as a global village where people living in different places can help each as ‘neighbors’ using the internet.  Read more about Woldhek and his vision for Nabuur in an interview about the project.  Read the interview here.

Nabuur was recently featured on NetSquared and selected as one of the featured projects at the NetSquared conference in May 2007.  Check out this interview  with Britt Bravo of NetSquared.

Want to know how you can contribute to this project?  Check out this list of 10 things you can do.

Read the latest news and success stories from Nabuur projects by visiting the website’s News Tab. 

Becoming a Neighbor on Nabuur.com