The organisation: Africa Interactive is a young, dynamic and fast-growing online media company focused on Africa. It publishes AfricaNews.com in English, Afrikanieuws.nl in Dutch and newsletters in both languages. It is building the largest pan-African news and content agency, and now has more than 250 local reporters in 32 African countries. Africa Interactive was founded in 2006 by two Dutch journalists (Bas Vlugt, Peter Vlam) and an entrepreneur (Pim de Wit) with a passion for Africa. They felt that Africa was too often portrayed as a lost continent. They looked for ways to reveal Africa’s great potential and to show the existing opportunities the continent has to offer. The founders are eager to give a more balanced view of the continent, principally by enabling the participation of African media talent.

The partnership: In Summer 2008, Akvo commissioned Africa Interactive to develop a series of field-based movies to demonstrate the opportunity for local field reporters to create open source film content using mobile phone cameras. Each film was turned around in two weeks and incorporated into Akvo Direct. We are now working together to extend mobile phone-based project reporting as a key element of the RSR system, and negotiating to establish project partners and funds for this phase.

The organisation: Earth Water was founded on a simple concept: ‘If you had the chance, would you change the world?’ Earth Water gives 100% of net profits to clean drinking water projects that help refugees around the world. Earth Water International has secured the cooperation and support of the United Nations Refugee Agency, who is currently at work in over 110 countries. It markets distinctive bottled water in Europe and North America that features the UNHCR logo, helping raise awareness and funds for water projects.

The partnership: Earth Water is using Akvo to make it clear to customers where net profits go, from bottled water they buy. It has partnered with Akvo to raise funds for water projects at sports tournaments and events. This includes the De Parade theatre and music festival, with specially-designed festival toilets showcasing and raising funds for Akvo water and sanitation projects.

The organisation: Indus Technologies is a technology and business consultancy located in the Netherlands, serving specific industries in the EU and India. These include biotec, food, water and energy. Founded in 2005 to develop integrated technology, business and project approaches to managing knowledge products and services, it supports business ventures in Europe and India. Key areas of expertise include shaping early-stage project processes, and managing knowledge resources to reduce "seepage" of information during processes and interaction.

The partnership: Indus founder Ravi Jambagi is assisting Akvo in extending our relationships with Indian NGOs and other field partners.

The organisation: ProWeb is a UK-based provider of media advertising tools, internet connectivity and hosting services. Based in Nottingham, UK, it operate its own server hosting facilities, providing secure and reliable infrastructure and outstanding 'redundancy', to ensure client systems stay online and operating at maximum performance.

The partnership: ProWeb provides and maintains all of Akvo's server-side infrastructure free of charge. Akvo.org is hosted at the company's data centre in the Midlands, UK, where its team ensures the operational reliability of the Akvo system is very high. It manages database backups, ensures the system is secure, and provides automated tools and recovery procedures in critical failure situations.

The organisation: The WaterWise Foundation designs and markets a unique range of water coolers with a built-in flatscreen called TENQ. The TENQs are designed to encourage the consumption of drinking water while raising awareness of the need to provide clean drinking water to those who lack it today.

The partnership: The WaterWise Foundation and Akvo are exploring ways to partner with corporate supporters to raise awareness of water and sanitation issues in developed countries.