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1) What is The Full Belly Project?
2) What appropriate technologies has Full Belly created?
3) How does the Universal Nut Sheller work?
4) How do you distribute your technologies?
5) How many countries are using Full Belly technology?
6) What can I do to help?
7) How can I donate money?
8) What are my donations used for?
9) How can I volunteer?
10) How do I get on your mailing list?
11) Can I purchase a finished machine?
12) What are the future goals of the Full Belly Project?
1)
What is The Full Belly Project?
The Full Belly Project is a Wilmington, NC
non-profit organization dedicated to empowering people in developing countries
by providing training to local people to manufacture the appropriate
technologies developed by our Research and Development efforts. Our machinery is intended to help locals earn a higher income by increasing their efficiency. Women are the primary beneficiaries of our technology.
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2)
What appropriate technologies has Full Belly created?
The Universal Nut
Sheller (UNS): The UNS is a
hand-powered device made of concrete and simple metal parts that can shell 125
pounds of peanuts per hour. It can also shell a number of other crops,
such as coffee, jatropha, shea, and neem nuts. The Universal Nut Sheller
costs about $50-75 dollars to make (depending on the price of local materials),
and will serve the needs of a village of up to 5,000 people.
Recently we have
developed a half sized UNS that is easier to transport and is suitable for
shelling peanuts for seed stock and other smaller nuts such as Neem and Coffee.
Pedal-Powered
Agricultural Center (PPAC):
A pedal-powered device that is connected to the Universal Nut Sheller, thus
increasing the machine's output. The PPAC can process 200 pounds of
peanuts per hour. An additional benefit to the PPAC is that it separates
the nuts from the shells, further saving labor.
Electric Powered
Agricultural Center (EPAC): Useful
for operations in need of shelling large amounts of nuts on a daily basis. Our
first EPAC has been used by Meds and Food for Kids in Haiti. Meds and Food makes
a peanut butter based Ready To Use Therapeutic Food called Medika Mamba to treat
children with severe malnutrition. The EPAC has enabled them to quadruple their
capacity.
A manually operated
peanut thresher is under development.
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3)
How does the Universal Nut Sheller work?
The process works by
centrifugal force and friction. The Universal Nut Sheller is basically a
concrete cone within a cone, open at the top and bottom, with the interior cone
being solid. The interior cone, or rotor, rotates on a shaft and has an attached
handle (Note: only one moving part!). The user turns the handle around fast
enough to spin the nuts to the outside through centrifugal force. The nuts fall
between the surfaces and are rolled and squeezed, allowing the nuts and shells
to fall through to the bottom. This mix of nuts and shells is then winnowed out,
the old fashioned way.
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4)
How do you distribute your technologies?
The Full Belly Projects
seeks to distribute its technologies in two main ways.
The first is through
what we call "A Seed Project Contribution" which enables individuals or
organizations based in the US to take a kit and manufacture the UNS in
developing countries. A Seed Project Contribution is $700 (plus shipping)
and consists of a set of fiberglass molds and the necessary metal pieces to
build three machines. Once the set of fiberglass molds has been acquired, an
unlimited number of machines can be made with metal purchased locally. A
kit consists of two boxes, each weighing less than 50 lbs so they can be taken
along as excess luggage on overseas flights. Each kit comes with complete
instructions. These
instructions are also available online. Fill
out this form if you are interested in acquiring a set of molds by making
"A Seed Project Contribution".
If possible, FBP
encourages those who acquire kits to either send someone to North Carolina for
training on how to build the Universal Nut Sheller, or to take the time before
traveling overseas to build a UNS here in the US. However, anyone who is handy
with tools and who has minimal experience working with concrete should have no
trouble building the UNS with our instructions.
The second way we
distribute our machines is to partner with a non-governmental organization (NGO)
in a developing country that has as its mission, supporting rural residents of
that country with income producing projects. The ideal partner for us is an NGO
that already works with farmers or cooperatives who grow peanuts (groundnuts),
jatropha, neem nuts, shea nuts or coffee, and who open these nuts by hand using
traditional methods. Such a local partner is ideally situated to help
those who grow these crops to process them locally more efficiently, or to avoid
the costs of transportation and processing in a distant location. Adding value
locally keeps resources and jobs at the village level.
This kind of model
requires our sending two staff members to work directly with this
Non-Governmental Organization with the goal of training this organization how to
manufacture and distribute these machines themselves.
In order to partner with
an organization in a developing country, the local organization would need to
pay for roundtrip airfare from North Carolina, in-country travel and per diem
expenses for our staff for a trip lasting between 2-3 weeks. An allocation
towards our organization's overhead is necessary as well. The length of the
trip would depend on the existing level of competency of the local staff and the
resources they have available. Additional expenses for the purchase of molds and
basic metal working equipment could be required on a case-by-case basis.
It is our organizations
intention to have our machines manufactured in the countries where they will be
used. If you are interested in more information on partnering with FBP in this
manner, please fill out this form
We require each
recipient to sign a licensing agreement which permits the organization to
reproduce our technology, giving The Full Belly Project credit for the design of
the Universal Nut Sheller to any local press. Recipients will also join our
network of innovators. All our partners become part of a global idea
sharing network. Any improvements or alterations to our machinery must be
reported to The Full Belly Project. We verify these adaptations and if
they are viable and easily replicable, we disseminate these ideas back out to
our network of innovators, thus accelerating innovation of our designs.
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5)
How many countries are using Full Belly technology?
As of spring 2008, The
Full Belly Project has one or more machines in each of the following developing
countries: The Bahamas, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Gambia, Ghana,
Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, India, Kenya, Mali, Malawi, Nigeria, Philippines,
Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tajikistan, Uganda and Zambia.
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6)
What can I do to help?
At this time, our
biggest need is funding. We understand that some can give more than others, but
every gift is important no matter the size. While large leadership gifts are
crucial to Full Belly's economic stability, the $10, $25 and $50 contributions
add up to impressive sums and make a direct impact. Any amount you can give
is greatly appreciated and will be used wisely!
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7)
How can I donate money?
To make a donation you
can send a check to:
The Full Belly Project
PO Box 7874 Azalea Station
Wilmington, NC 28406
USA
or
You
can click
here to donate online
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8)
What are my donations used for?
Your
donation is used to provide training to villagers in developing countries. For the next few years, The Full Belly Project will be focusing our efforts in Malawi.
It also goes towards the very heart of our mission, the research and development of new appropriate technologies.rs we will be focusing our efforts on establishing a nation wide network of entrepreneurs throughout Malawi. Your contributions are critical to enabling us to provide Malawians with technical training that will empower By providing your contact information, we will
keep you updated on how your donations are being used to help improve life
for people in developing countries.
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9)
How can I volunteer?
The Full Belly Project
meets every Saturday morning (unless otherwise posted on our website) at our
headquarters (1020 Chestnut St. Wilmington, NC 28401) at 9:30 AM. The
organization encourages anyone interested to participate. There are volunteer
opportunities ranging from Data Entry to Welding. If interested, please send an
email to [email protected]
by 5:00 PM the Thursday before, so that we can have an idea of how
many people to expect.
or
If you live in the
Wilmington, NC, area, The Full Belly Project is looking for people with a
variety of backgrounds and technical experiences to become a "Design Team
Leader". Team leaders will be assigned to work with groups of volunteers for
our Saturday volunteer opportunity. Team leaders will help us design new
appropriate technologies for developing countries. If you'd like to join
our design team, please email a brief description of your background and or your
resume to [email protected].
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10)
How do I get on your mailing list?
Simply fill out this form. We will not flood your inbox with emails. We generally send out announcements about events and inform you about our latest achievements. If you'd like to stay up to date please sign up.
11) Can I purchase a finished
machine?
A finished machine weights 90 lbs,
and costs $150 plus shipping to continental US addresses. It is not
practical to send finished machines overseas unless you have a shipping freight contact.
The
half size machine costs $100 plus shipping to be quoted.
Contact
[email protected]
to make arrangements.
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12)
What are the future goals of The Full Belly Project?
Over the next 3 years it is our goal is to
establish a network of entrepreneurs throughout Malawi. These entrepreneurs will make and sell the Universal Nut Sheller as well as future devices designed by our Research and Development efforts.
To achieve this we will continue to create innovative, appropriate agricultural
devices that increase efficiencies at the village level.
To better determine what our Reseach and Development should focus on, we will initiate surveys in Malawi to gather information telling us what other devices they NEED to increase their income and efficiency. By asking the people to provide input in solving their own problems The Full Belly Project will take their input and create viable solutions which will enable Malawians to break
themselves out of the poverty cycle.
We will continue to use modern technology to design appropriate
technology by launching our "Acceleration of Innovation Program" in 2009. Our website will host a forum which will allow people from all over the globe to participate in developing the appropriate tech solutions voiced directly to us from farmers in Malawi. We believe the "wisdom of the crowds" will truly accelerate the design of innovations. Once a solution is created, we will then provide further training to our network of entrepreneurs in Malawi who will sell these devices and provide direct feedback on how the farmers think they can be improved upon.
The Full Belly Project will test this model initially in Malawi and contingent upon its success we will replicate and expand to other developing nations.
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