Landed in Johannesburg

From within the flight at Johannesburg airport

Yes, landed in Johannesburg yesterday. Lot of things to share in between. Couldn't get connectivity or time to post updates.

I departed yesterday 3 AM at Kolkata and then after a long day time landed at Jo'burg airport. Transited through Doha. Met with two members - Deepak from Bangalore and Shota from Japan.

Somnath, Shota & Deepak (left to right)

At Johannesburg airport four more members joined us - Neha (Singapore), Mala (Bangalore), Charlotte (China) & Connie (USA)

Connie yet to join us

When Connie joined us, she tried boarding the vehicle from the front door right side. Oh no! that is driver side here in South Africa :). She admitted that's the first 'cultural difference' for her. Yes many more such to come for all of us.

At Protea Hotel. Let me introduce you to Beata Gelderbloem, Program Manager, DOT

In the above picture two members - Ella & Helena are missing. They were very tired. Nevertheless, the importance of the picture is more because of the lady at the front. Beata Gelderbloem. So warm a personality! She is from DOT (digital opportunity trust - https://www.dotrust.org/). DOT is IBM's NGO partner in managing CSC program.

Let me also share you about the projects we will be doing in this four weeks time frame. Four sub-teams have been formed and assigned to four different projects.

• SUB-TEAM #1 - Recommendations for optimization of the ‘Focus for Impact’ platform for SANAC
• SUB-TEAM #2 - Framework for the Development of a Social Transformation Model for CCI
• SUB-TEAM #3 - Recommendations for a Monitoring and Evaluation Tool to Assess Municipal Development for LGSETA
• SUB-TEAM #4 - Blueprint for a Data Analytics and Information Management Tool for LGSETA

I am part of Sub-Team #1.

There will be some tours and casual meetups during this weekend. After that we will be leaving to Pretoria where all our projects will be centered in.

Keep tuned in, more updates to come!