GBI is pleased to announce it will deliver a comprehensive training workshop to representatives of African Universal Service and Access Funds, and other stakeholders in African rural communications, at the CTO’s 6th Annual Connecting Rural Communities (CRC) Africa Forum, due to take place in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania from the 24th to 26th of August 2011.

The half-day workshop is being delivered as part of the Global Broadband Innovations (GBI) programme of USAID, which aims to catalyze the increased and equitable provision of broadband and related applications.  The programme supports national governments to expand connectivity, as well as create and use development-related software applications and cloud services.  It will initially focus on strengthening Universal Service and Access Funds (USAF), advising on appropriate ICT regulations and broadband strategies, as well as developing new business models that can incorporate low-cost technologies into existing mobile networks.

In addition to examining the latest trends in USAF, including issues of strategy, fund collection, expenditure as well as project evaluation, the workshop in Dar Es Salaam will also allow stakeholders to review various USAF development and assistance strategies.

Speaking following the confirmation of GBI’s participation in the 6th CRC Forum, GBI Program Manager, Joe Duncan, said “We know that access to telecommunications has enormous benefits, both socially and economically, to rural communities. This is a great opportunity to bring what we know about universal service to the men and women who are working so hard to provide rural connectivity in their countries.”

The  6th CRC Forum, which is organised by the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO), and hosted by the Tanzanian Ministry of Communications Science and Technology and the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority, will serve as a platform for in-depth interactive discussions on innovative strategies, business models, financing mechanisms and technologies for improving ICT access in rural areas and realizing their socio-economic benefits with the participation of policy makers, regulators and various market players.

The vast arid plains of northern Kenya, central Somalia and eastern Ethiopia are suffering one of the worst droughts seen in recent times. Rain has not fallen in some of these areas for over a year and this has gradually resulted in a full blown humanitarian crisis.  According to UNICEF, in some areas of northern Kenya, close to 40% of the population needs emergency feeding.   In other parts of the affected regions, these numbers are reaching approximately 30%, twice the 15% emergency threshold.   As in many crises, the worse affected are children. In a country like Somalia with a population of 3.7 million, this famine could be taking the lives of 1,200 children, with over 2.5 million children estimated to be acutely malnourished and in need of immediate life-saving help.   Soaring food prices and the on-going conflict in the horn of Africa has only increased the intensity of the famine.

A massive fundraising effort has been initiated by ‘Kenyans for Kenyan’, a non-profit organization which aims to raise sh500 million in four weeks towards famine relief efforts.  This initiative is a joint effort between various businesses including Safaricom, Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), and the Daily Nation newspaper.   During the first 24 hours of the launch of the appeal, the initiative raised over sh 13 million via M-PESA. A number that keeps growing now that Airtel Money and Yu Cash have been added to the list of mobile money options Kenyans can use to donate funds.  This campaign’s success not only highlights the efficiency of a mobile money platform in distributing funds in times of need, but it also  serves as a lesson for charities and development agencies of the value of leveraging mobile technology and social networking in fundraising and disbursal.  At the time of writing, the latest mobile money donations exceed sh 208 million..

If you live in Kenya, please consider donating to the Famine Fundraising Campaign.  The funds raised by Kenyans for Kenya will be administered by the Kenya Red Cross Society to help people worst affected by the drought.  Follow the steps below on your mobile money menus:

• Donating via M-Pesa

1. Select Pay Bill from the M-Pesa menu
2. Enter business number 111111
3. Enter account number 111111
4. Enter the amount you wish to donate
5. Enter your M-Pesa PIN
6. Confirm details are correct and press OK

 

• Donating via Airtel Money

1. Select Send Money from the Airtel Money menu
2. Enter ‘redcross’ as the nickname
3. Enter the amount you wish to donate
4. Enter your Airtel Money PIN
5. Confirm details are correct and press OK

• Donating via YuCash

1. Go to the yuCash Menu on your phone and select ‘Send Money’
2. Enter the Business Bill Payment No. (Short Code) ’200140′
3. Enter the Amount you wish to donate
4. Enter your Donation Instruction in the Message field – ‘Leave Blank’
5. View the Bill Payment Confirmation screen and verify all details. Press OK to continue.
6. Enter your yuCash PIN and press ‘OK’
7. Receive Transaction Acknowledgement via SMS

Alternatively, if you are outside of the region, you can donate online via the Kenyan Red Cross or UNICEF.

 

Can children in impoverished areas that sacrifice school to make an extra dollar for their family be given the opportunity to go school without worrying about the family?

One organization is taking a stab at breaking that crippling cycle. mPowering, a nonprofit organization that aims to use mobile technology to empower the impoverished to climb out of poverty has implemented a mobile phone program that provides children with food and medical incentives for going to school.

The organization, founded by veterans of Salesforce.com and Apple, is partnering with nonprofits in the developing world to provide food, medicine, and other goods to people in places like Orissa, India who perform poverty defeating actions like going to school or taking advantage of prenatal care.

mPowering employs a plan for finding the right population to work with. They pinpoint areas in the developing world where poverty is widespread and then partner with local organizations in those areas to develop mobile phone programs that facilitate a path for climbing out of poverty.

One area mPowering is currently working in is Orissa, India, the poorest region in India with over 20 million people living in extreme poverty. In Orissa, mPowering has partnered with the Citta foundation to build a school, hospital and establish the mobile phone program.

Forty-nine families in the region were given phones by the Citta foundation, which they now use to document when they go to school or attend local health care classes for expectant mothers.

A child going to school, for example, logs in to the “school” option on the mPowering mobile app and scans his barcode to check in. The app is entirely picture-based, so users don’t have to be literate. At the end of each month, the families pool together their points to score medicine, food, and clothing from the nonprofit partners, in Orissa’s case, the Citta foundation.

The idea behind mPowering is to attack the phenomenon of children dropping out of school to work for their families and not being able to afford healthcare while doing so. This is critical since 41% of Orissa’s children suffer from malnutrition, and 65% suffer from anemia.

Providing food and medicine incentives for going to school has a two sided effect. It gives the family the supplies they would have the children work for, and it motivates the child to go to school and stay enrolled.

Many of the potential obstacles have been accounted for. A program manager is responsible for monitoring and distributing the incentives to families every month. Also, phone chargers are provided to schools so that families without electricity can charge their phones at schools while the children attend class. mPowering also holds training sessions for the families who receive their phones.

Breaking out of the cycle of poverty is a difficult and tricky thing to do. However, tackling the problem through children may be a fruitful avenue to go through given that children who are impoverished grow up to perpetuate the cycle all over again with their families.

 

I have been searching online for the past couple of weeks for signs on people working on ICT4D projects in the refugee camps in the Horn of Africa.  Through a reference from a friend I stumbled upon the news page for Voices of Africa for Sustainable Development (VOA4SD).  The Dadaab mission team is doing on the ground ICT4D work, often shooting from the hip and trying to see what works.  Though this approach isn’t ideal, I have to hand it to them for working in the camps themselves.  Their experiences are ones that we should all learn from regarding ICT4Education projects, ICT in Humanitarian crises, and youth in development.

To quickly explain the context of the VOA4SD Dadaab mission team’s experience thus far, three young VOA4SD members arrived at Dadaab Refugee Camp on July 20^th.  Their first goal was to deliver medical equipment from GIZ, the German Development Organization.  After successfully delivering the equipment, they documented any ICT access, needs, and current projects in the camp.  They stayed in the camp until August 1, 2011, upon which they returned to Nairobi to create a more comprehensive ICT strategy, DadaabNet, for the camps with other important stakeholders.

Now, DadaabNet is a Global Giving initiative, attempting to raise $10,000 to create the youth-run radio station, as well as providing computers and Internet access for interim schools and health centers.

The VOA4SD experience in their own words from their blog:

• Day one – Ifo Camp:
  • “It was not long before we saw an internet cafe. After speaking to the owner to establish his needs and those of the camp we quickly ascertained that the youth were in desperate need of something to fill their time and they already loved ICT. Everyone was using internet via the mobile phones, but do not know how to transfer the skills to a computer. Facebook was said to be extremely popular among the youth with photos being a prized possession. One disabled young man we met had been traveling more than 20 km twice a week by matatu to take computer studies courses. His motivation was truly amazing. He enthusiastically said that he believed all the youth in Dadaab would love to learn how to use computers and they already their phones to post to Facebook in Arabic.”
• Day four – Formed a proposal for DadaabNet:
  • “DadaabNet will bring wireless information, communications, and education to Dadaab, the world’s largest refugee camp. Our mission is to create a youth run community Internet service and education provider. The project will bring a wireless intranet, internal camp/refugee communications system and the lowest cost internet access throughout Dadaab and the nearby vicinity. Intranet will host free educational materials including videos made in Somali to be accessed through mobile phones and computers. We will make available educational materials pertaining to health, nutrition, sanitation, as well as education resources on computer training and how to use technology for sustainable development.  The structure works like this: To view the materials a refugee would give their name, email, and mobile phone number. This becomes the base for our youth communications system. This will empower the youth to be managers of their own communications networks with management and oversight from the NGO partners. Youth can create networks within the system, take courses, become peer trainers, and will gain the skills necessary for employment both inside and outside of the camp. Internet will be made available at a low rate to increase affordability.”
• Day five – meeting with Norweigan Refugee Council on their Youth Empowerment Program:
  • “We spoke to them and quickly established both their need and the programmes’ need for ICT infrastructure and training. The youth empowerment training includes life skills, basic computer skills, numeracy and literacy, plus a choice of vocations: masonry, hair dressing, electronics, and tailoring. According to the YEP manager, the students have shown immense interest in computer studies with a majority of youth enrolling in the program to have a chance to learn how to use a computer.  The first stop was the teacher’s lounge. David called together the teachers, 12 in total so we could be introduced. The teachers were primarily local Kenyan staff and were very welcoming. When we shared the idea about DadaabNet, bringing in a new ICT4D curriculum, and lower cost equipment. They were eager to tell us how they were going to use it in their classrooms. The computer teacher currently has no internet so he was the first to want to engage the students online. He showed us the one simple dongle that was used by all the teachers for internet. It was the only access in the school and they all had to share, leaving little time for learning new skills and gathering educational content for their classes. The hair dressing teacher said she would use the internet to show her students different styles of hair design and she had heard somewhere that there were websites that would show the students different hairstyles on the same head. I laughed as this is one of my seven year old daughter’s favourite online games. The electronics teacher was also eager to have access so that he could show his students diagrams of the equipment they are repairing and use online materials to teach them how to repair computers in addition to the mobile phones they are learning to repair now. All of the teachers were supportive and you could see their heads filling with positive ideas with the mention of increased technology and improved internet access.”
• Day seven – Youth Targeted by Militants:
  • “It is my understanding that the extremists target youth aged 15-24 most intensively. They are young, easily trained, and because for the culture have great respect for authority. This is the very reason why WE are people who want a free and just world without violence must also recruit the minds and hearts of these young and vulnerable. If we can reach them with education, opportunities for self-employment, ways to advance out of the misery, we can become a beacon of hope. The darkness is so heavy in the air that you can feel it on your skin and no amount of bathing can take it away. Just to smile and talk about the potential of a future with these youths has shown me that they are still reachable.  …The NRC organization has the only youth programs in the Dadaab area. Their efforts are commendable and we are working through the appropriate channels for partnership. Yet their current program can only reach a maximum of 600 youth due to lack of space and facilities and there are more than 1000 youth showing up EACH WEEK in need of hope and support.”
• Day 10 and summary of needs:
  • “The refugees we spoke to as well as other NGOs really want a radio station run by the youth for the youth. With the implementation of DadaabNet this is a simple and low cost program. We hope to work in conjunction with the media team from UNHCR and Lutheran World Foundation. What is great about this idea is that it could be used as a platform to teach the refugees about their rights and the laws which are meant to protect and support them such as the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, the Kenyan Refugee Act, and the new Kenyan constitution. Most of the refugees we spoke to had no knowledge of any of these documents despite being the prevailing jurisdiction controlling their lives.”

What can we learn from VOA4SD’s experience in the camp?

• There is a huge lack of infrastructure and communication capabilities in refugee camps.  ICTs of any sort are helpful.
• The youth are idle in refugee camps and spend the little money they have on computer access.  Clearly, then, they have the time and the desire to learn how to use ICTs.  If nothing else, ICTs can at least distract children from getting involved with rebel groups, terrorist organizations, or gangs.
• Young refugees are familiar with the problems in the camps and can quickly identify various ways in which ICTs could solve problems.

 

A few weeks ago, the ministry of ICT in India publicly announced the completion of a $35 laptop.  The product is aimed at students, and will be rolled out at educational institutions this upcoming school year.  Furthermore, the laptop’s price will hopefully fall to $20 over time, and then later to $10.  Additionally, the minister said that over one million of the laptops would be mass-produced to be used in rural areas, designed to bridge the digital divide.  The $35 laptop was India’s answer to One-Laptop-Per-Child’s $200 laptop, which over three million children in 41 countries utilize, according to OLPC’s website.

The price war between low-budget laptop producers, however, is missing a key element to the argument about what is the best option.  Price, durability, and usability are all important to consider when assessing the laptop’s potential impact to increase educational and economic opportunity.  Though too much emphasis on these indicators often causes one to forget about additional costs ICT development work.  After all, a lot more goes into making a laptop a useful education and development tool and a helpful instrument for an individual that simply purchasing one.

There are more financial, social, and human costs to making laptop computers successful development tools than its price.  As ICT4E experts at Vital Wave consulting explained, this is more complex than asking price:

“Governments need to consider the entire cost of school computing solutions, rather than merely the initial expenses. A total cost of ownership model takes into account recurrent and hidden costs such as teacher training, support and maintenance, and the cost of replacing hardware over a five-year period.

Support and training are recurrent costs that constitute two of the three largest costs in the total cost of ownership model. They are greater than hardware costs and much higher than software fees.”

Some governments have learned this lesson the hard way, including Panama.  Their “Internet for Everyone” project at the beginning of the century brought computers to hundreds of schools around the country, but then failed to provide connectivity to the schools or trained staff to educate the teachers or the students about how to use the technologies.  As a result, many computers ended up gathering moss (not dust—it’s too humid there) and going unused.

If the goal is to increase educational achievement and empower youth with more opportunity, than computers can be a resourceful tool when youth are taught how to use them for productive means, and when they have access to them.  Cheaper computers answer the questions of access, but how to use them is still a lingering issue that requires significant attention and funding to solve.

In summary, then, those working in international education should celebrate cheaper technologies, as high costs often close the door of opportunity from the onset.  Yet, lower and affordable prices does not mean that the technologies will lead to more opportunity, better quality of life, or economic development unless they are paired with adequate funding for teaching, maintenance, etc.