What is iCampus?

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iCampus is the Liberia’s first shared co-working and community space for organizations and individuals focusing on technology, transparency and open government issues.

 

We are a co-working community in Monrovia and a network of 10 organizations, mostly international development NGOs, civil society groups and small businesses promoting technology, accountability and social change in Liberia. iCampus is the physical workspace home of about 80 people promoting social change and reforms through technology, research, media, and advocacy.

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iCampus was established in late 2016 with iLab Liberia and Accountability Lab Liberia as co-founders. The campus is co-managed and run by both organizations and include a variety of partners from across the civil society, business and government sectors. iCampus also serves as the local affiliate for the OpenGov Hub, of which the Accountability Lab is a founding member in Washington, DC and founder in Kathmandu.

 

Why does the iCampus exist?

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iCampus mission is twofold:

1. to provide a physical and virtual home to youth-focused ICT and governance organizations (helping them be more efficient and share resources)

2. to serve as a center for networking and innovation; a focal point for elections and open collaboration, learning, and innovation on social change issues, helping members be more effective and have greater impact together.

 

Where is iCampus and what does it look like?

iCampus is located at the top of Snapper Hill on Carey Street in Monrovia at 150 Carey Street, Snapper Hill, Monrovia, Liberia. Our facilities include publicly accessible and affordable shared workspace, online and offline courses, hands-on mentorship and training and public events..

 

Here is a 3 minute virtual tour of our space (from when it first opened in 2016).

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What kind of organizations work at iCampus?

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iCampus is home to a wide range of organizations and businesses including international development nonprofits, technology-focused groups, policy-oriented advocates, a few media organizations, and more.

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For more information about who we are, what we work for, and how we do it, check out our About Us page.

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What does the iCampus do?

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In addition to all the work of our co-founders and respective members, iCampus itself regularly organizes and hosts a wide variety of activities, at least on a bi-weekly basis, to support and benefit its member community as well as the public. This includes but is not limited to public and private discussions, panel events, ignite talks, fail faires and other social events, workshops, hackathons, conferences, book/report launches, brown bag lunches, and much more.

 

To see our latest upcoming activities and get a sense of the types of events we organize and host, check out our Events page, which is regularly updated.

 

We also increasingly organize various activities just for our members to help them innovate, learn from and with each other, develop new skills, gain new knowledge, and work together to have greater impact.

 

Who runs iCampus?

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Technically speaking the iCampus is not a separate legal entity but is an initiative of its two founding partners, Accountability Lab Liberia and iLab Liberia. These two organizations co-signed the long term lease on our space, administer our member contracts and help provide basic administrative structure and operational support/oversight to iCampus.

 

Is this an incubator?

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No, this is not a start-up incubator in the classic sense yet, in that the campus does not directly invest in its member organizations and grow their work. Rather, iCampus seeks to bring together both small and medium-sized organizations working on the broader social change agenda and to support support them through access to shared essential resources, as well as regular collaboration and learning opportunities.

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Is there staffing for iCampus?

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Yes, there is a full-time iCampus manager and a learning and communications manager, finance manager and operations support staff for the community to facilitate knowledge sharing, collaboration, community building, and operational oversight.

 

Can anyone host an event in your space?

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Yes! Though we require organizations interested in becoming members to have some connection to our “community”, we also rent out our event space and meeting rooms to the public.

 

Our accessible downtown Monrovia location and modern, modular, high-tech spaces could be the perfect place to host your next conference, retreat, conference call, hackathon, workshop, and more. Just let us know what you're looking for and we'll be happy to respond right away.