Hope Through Technology

At the social media training for the ten nonprofit organizations.

When Marlon Parker was young, he faced struggles growing up in a single-parent household in a poor section of Cape Town, South Africa. Because the oldest child in such families usually contributed to the household income, eight-year-old Marlon sold candy and carried grocery bags to supplement the family income. By age 19, when he was working at an airport, he decided that the key to his future would be to learn about information technology, although he had not ever worked with a computer.



From that humble beginning, Marlon grew to founding RLABS, a global movement that is about using technology for social good, as a means to solving complex social issues. The group currently operates in 22 countries and has provided five million people with training and support services. The focus is on groups that are usually overlooked, or disenfranchised, such as dropouts, the homeless, former addicts, ex-cons, and single moms, with a particular interest in youth from these backgrounds.

There is an Academy within RLabs that provides training in various aspects of information technology; a GROW Leadership Academy designed for youth ages 18 to 25; and enterprise and organization development, designed for the specific needs of the communities where the groups are located.

Another aspect of programming is a Community Living Lab, which provides a central location for ideas and projects that  lead to social innovation. The Incubation portion of the programs spawns social innovation and seed funding for mobile and technology entrepreneurs.

Marlon Parker.

Some of the events and developments going on currently include a development studio in conjunction with the BBC that is exploring innovated ways of spreading radio content to a larger African audience; social media training with a group of ten different nonprofit organizations; and an innovation incubator targeting children designed to provide more early education opportunities for young African children. The outreach provided by RLabs is so wide-spread and varied that it can be hard to describe in condensed form. To say the least, it is a group that is spreading hope and opportunities to people who may not have pictured themselves being so engaged previously.

Women's empowerment through RLabs.

Thanks to this article from Daily Good: http://www.dailygood.org/story/1034/south-africa-from-dropouts-to-innovators-ashoka/; and from the above link.

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