Computer training on four wheels: Different approaches to ‘driving’ ICT education to where it’s needed

This week I’ve taken the blog down a mobile route, but not in the usual sense when it comes to ICT4D: It’s all about the different ways in which vehicles have been utilised to bring ICT training to those who might need it, in hard-to-reach, rural communities, where education in computing and the resources required are not normally readily available.

Many of the more remote communities in developing countries lack even the most basic in ICT infrastructure, let alone dedicated provision for ICT/computer skills training and internet access, and yet without some form of education in ICT, those communities and in particular their younger generation have restricted opportunities in terms of employment beyond their immediate environment, or access to further and higher education, because of their lack in ICT skills and training. In addition, the communities as a whole are less able to benefit from ICT-based innovations in health provision and agriculture, without access to the necessary training in order to utilise the developments available to them.

Mobile computer ‘labs’ and training facilities have existed in various locations in the developing world for some years now, through a local determination to overcome the lack of ICT provision that still persists in many communities, or a lack of any convenient location to provide lessons in ICT-related skills.

The vehicles used in the projects this post focuses on may vary, from converted four-wheel drive SUVs to full size buses, but the intentions are the same – to bring ICT training to those who may need it most, in the more remote and disconnected locations, and in environments where new skills and a greater understanding of modern technology could lead to greater opportunities for employment, and greater prosperity for the communities involved. Here I’ve looked at four of these stories, to give an overview of the different approaches adopted to provide mobile ICT education.

South Africa – ‘The Big Green eMachine’

One of original (if not the very first) attempts to deliver ICT education in a mobile format was the ‘Big Green eMachine’ on South Africa’s ‘Wild Coast’; a specially converted 4×4 truck that was set up as a joint venture between local NGO Friends of Chintsa, Volunteer Africa 32 Degrees and African Heartland Journeys, with additional financial assistance from other charities. The project has been running since 2010 and provides a mobile lab complete with server, laptops and all the necessary kit to provide ICT training, in as close to a ‘classroom’ environment as can be achieved on four wheels. As explained in a short piece from the E-learning Africa website, the initiative’s aims are all about bringing ICT to those who would otherwise have little access to it in their community environment:

‘…This directly addresses the lack of technology in the extreme rural areas by visiting schools and bringing computer based learning to children in these areas! Furthermore, the mobile lab has proved to be the solution to the lack of space, security risks to assets and the unreliable or non-existent electricity supply. It’s a fantastic project and the students absolutely love it!…’

Sri Lanka – Esoft’s mobile computer bus

Initially put together in 2011, this project provided by local ICT education provider ESoft, aimed to bring basic ICT knowledge and understanding to students and children in disadvantaged areas, where ICT resources and training were scarce or non-existent. At the centre of the project was ESoft’s ‘mobile computer bus’, fully equipped with all the necessary IT equipment required to provide a mobile classroom that is, as described in an article in Sri Lanka’s Sunday Times, ‘…on a par with any modern IT laboratory of an ICT training institute…’

As the CEO of a technology education company, you would expect Dr. Dayan Rajapaksa, ESoft’s Managing Director, to be vocal on the importance of providing ICT education to a mass audience. Yet what he’s quoted as suggesting in the Sunday Times article rings true and reads as a very concise recognition of the need to address the ‘digital divide’, between those with and those without access to ICT resources, education and understanding:

“…In the future world, nobody will be able to successfully steer his/her personal or professional life without depending on ICT. It is such a critically important component. Therefore, it is a national duty to impart knowledge and training on ICT to the younger generation who will take over as the country’s future leaders… It is bad enough that these students have no access to ICT due to a dearth of facilities, but it is still worse that they have no proper understanding of how important it is to be computer literate for their future prospects and wellbeing. There must be students among them who have the aptitude for ICT excellence. The objective of the ESOFT CSR project is to impart basic ICT knowledge and training and make these students understand the importance of academically arming themselves to excel in this important sphere. This will also open the door to better career prospects in a diverse field…”

St Lucia –  ICT for schools in the back of a mini-bus

A recent development on the Caribbean island of St Lucia has brought ICT to local schools, ‘centres for boys’ and correctional facilities, using a converted mini-bus packed with ICT resources and learning aids. When the bus pays weekly visits to two local schools, pupils are given the opportunity to use various ICT learning devices to help with their mathematics and language skills. Through an EU-funded programme (the EEICTP or Education Enhancement through Information Communication Technology Programme), the project is supporting the existing curriculum by providing the children with invaluable additional experience that would not normally be available to them, using digital devices and computers alongside their usual classroom teaching.

An article on the EEICTP St Lucia website explains the ethos behind the mobile facility, again recognising the need to address issues surrounding the division between those who do and those who don’t have ready access to ICT training and resources:

‘…The pioneering mobile ICT bus is equipped with Wi-Fi and electronic gadgets and visits the Boguis Primary School in Babonneau and the Les Etangs Primary School in Soufriere once a week…The initiative is part of the EEICTP’s outreach which has ushered in a new era of digital inclusiveness, bridging the gap between access to technology among students of urban and rural schools.…’

The Principal of one of the schools, Murina Julian of Boguis Primary, elaborates further on the importance of ICT education for her pupils:

“…In this technological world, our students need access to computers and since we are a rural school, we still have some students who are deprived of this access. You find as a result the students look forward to the visit of the Mobile ICT bus and are enthusiastic about learning…”

Uganda – One women’s mission to bring ICT to rural communities

The last focus of this post is perhaps the most appropriate to round off with, demonstrating as it does how one person’s drive and enthusiasm, with a little help from technology and a local NGO, can provide the solution to a communities lack of ICT knowledge, awareness or opportunity.

Ina Fried’s informative article from October 2012 in the All Things D website tells the story of Asia Kumukana. Asia was educated in Uganda and attended university there,  yet didn’t use a computer until she was 22, due to a dearth of resources or access to ICT at any stage of her education. Once hooked on technology, she decided she wanted to address the problem, particularly for those in rural areas:

‘…From the moment she got her first taste of computing, Uganda’s Asia Kamukama knew that she wanted more of her people to get their hands on this…Fast-forward a few years, and she helps run Maendeleo Foundation (see below), an organization that does just that — bringing a solar-powered mobile computing lab to rural villages. The effort brings together about 15 Intel Classmate PCs, along with the solar panels needed to power the machines…’

The article goes on to explain how Asia’s project planned to leave some of the computers and equipment behind at the schools and libraries that the mobile lab visited, hopefully providing a more permanent resource for those in the remote locations which up until then had not had access to them; – an additional benefit that this clever mobile solution was able to impart to those it has helped.

Further Information: The Maendeleo Foundation

The Maendeleo Foundation, a United States registered NGO, was set up with the aim of promoting the development of a productive computer services industry in East Africa, in part by helping local communities to have greater access to ICT through the use and promotion of solar energy sources at a local level. This is particularly relevant in Uganda, where some sources suggest that less than 10% of the rural community has access to a continuous electricity supply.

Their mission statement available from their website explains the organisations’ aims: ‘…Maendeleo Foundation’s mission is to complement the existing education system by making computers available to people of all ages, providing customized training, and encouraging and supporting the formation of Information Communication Technology businesses. We operate innovative training programs in a network of primary schools, and cooperate with organizations of similar interests that share our commitment to the promotion of technology for development…’

Mobile technologies supporting vital information services to farmers in Africa: Some ICT4 Agriculture success stories

With the ICT4Ag conference well underway in Kigali, it seemed a timely opportunity to highlight some of the ICT4Ag initiatives that have been put into action across Africa, with a focus on the power of mobile devices to bring real benefits to rural farmers and significantly improve their lives and those of the communities in which they live. I’ve tried to bring together three different initiatives in different African states, to give an overview of how this technology can be put to such effective use in meeting the challenges that farmers are facing, and to present them in a way that can inform the uninitiated as much as those with a keen interest in ICT4D.

Ghana: SMS assists local farmers to improve the results of their efforts in rice farming

Non-governmental organisations and G8 member states have made Ghana one of their top priorities in terms of providing financial support and advice to improve farming methods and to help farmers harness the new technologies that can assist them in getting the most from the resources they have available. Under the G8 banner, the New Alliance of Food Security and Nutrition was launched in 2012 with commitments from African leaders, private sector partners and G8 members to make substantial investments towards improving food security, agricultural practices and nutrition levels for 50 million people by 2022. The ‘Feed the Future’ project is their main US initiative for input and involvement in the New Alliance, which includes a significant level of focus on Ghana.

At a far more local level, an article and accompanying video by reporter Nan Boakye-Yiadom for Ghanaian website and radio station Citifm Online was a fascinating source of information on mobile tech helping farmers in the field, as it gave such an interesting and and accessible account of the focus of the article – rural farmer Abdul Rahman Takoro and his family – and the difficulties and challenges they face with subsistence rice farming, and trying to make it an affordable and even profitable venture.

The article explains how only three years ago, Abdul could not afford to send all his eight children to school, unable to earn a living to provide for his family through rice farming as he lacked both the resources and agricultural education to be able to make the farm a success.  Thanks to the involvement of Esoko, a private communication company in Ghana, Abdul was able to benefit from an SMS message system to gain information on weather changes, improved farming methods and market prices. The article explains the difficulties that farmers face in getting the information and the help they need through traditional means:

‘…Currently the only way most farmers get such information is through extension officers. The government employees meet with farmers to provide information, but they barely reach a quarter of the total number of farmers in Ghana. As well, according to information from Ghana’s Finance Ministry, about 70 per cent of extension officers will retire from active service in the next three years…’

The article goes on the explain how the Esoko initiative works, and reinforces the idea that private companies and contractors have a huge part to play in assisting with these projects – which in the end can help to improve the economy in the company in which they operate, by increasing the contribution that farming can make to the nation’s GDP:

‘…Esoko has representatives who visit about 50 different markets in the various regions each day and compile the going price of foods. They relay that information to the Esoko headquarters, where it is packaged into simple and comprehensive SMS and distributed to the farmers and traders who are also subscribed on the platform. Farmers also receive information on weather patterns, when to plough their land, when to sow, apply fertilizer, check weeds and harvest…Takoro is one of about 120,000 farmers in the Northern Region making use of the information from Esoko. He’s been receiving the SMS messages for two years. “What we gain from Esoko is immeasurable,” he said. “They alert us with prices in markets nationwide, tell me whatever I produce I can send it there to sell and get interest. They also help us with weather forecasts too…” …Takoro says with the information he can now decide whether to send his produce to the market for sale or sell it to middle men and women, considering which of the options will make him get more money…’

Soil testing results by SMS: Crop Nutrition providing innovative service to Kenyan farmers

Crop Nutrition, and agribusiness company, have set up an innovative service to speed up the process of soil testing and analysis for farmers in Kenya.

Crop Nutrition provide special specimen bags to farmers through their network of field advisors, who train the farmers in the correct methods for collecting the samples, which are then delivered to Crop Nutrition’s laboratory via local agro dealers. Costs are kept low due to the high volumes involved and the level of sophistication of the company’s testing equipment, which also contributes to a much faster turnaround than other more traditional methods of soil testing. The results are then sent via SMS message directly to the farmer, again cutting down on the time it takes from initial sample collection to when the farmer is able to act on the results of their analysis.

USAID’s briefing paper explains how Crop Nutrition assume that local representatives will assist farmers with understanding the implications of the results, if needed, and the importance of soil testing in global farming:

‘…Crop Nutrition works on the expectation that if the results and recommendations are unclear to the farmers, they will be interpreted for the farmers by the agro dealer or field advisor. Soil testing is important for any farmer to know what minerals their soil is deficient in and what type of fertilizer or other inputs may be used to increase soil health and fertility, yields, and resistance to pests and disease…’

The paper can be viewed at via the e-agriculture.org website, (which also provides further information on this initiative), and provides further information on the users and business model of the project, the costs of which are provided entirely by Crop Nutrition, again a private company, as part of their operational expenses. One additional point from the paper is worth reposting here, and that is the anticipated impact of the initiative:

‘…Crop Nutrition lab reports include technical recommendations so that farmers apply the correct fertilizers, lime or other inputs to reduce production costs and improve yields. When correctly used by farmers, this information can contribute to larger crop yields. Agro dealers also receive a small commission for facilitating the service…’

Uganda: ‘Community Knowledge Workers’ provide farmers with invaluable information and market data in exchange for completing surveys

The Grameen Foundation was set up in 1997 to assist communities in developing countries to address their own challenges and reach their full potential, through the provision and application of the right tools and resources. Their website explains further the ethos behind the work they do in trying to help people in the world’s poorest countries:

‘…Our collaborative approach to poverty alleviation recognizes the multidimensional and complex nature of global poverty. We work with private sector companies, non-governmental organizations, government agencies and others to ensure we achieve lasting impact in the regions where we work.’

As explained in an article from the ICT in Agriculture website and as part of Grameen’s work developing new agricultural programmes in Uganda, the organisation has set up the Community Knowledge Worker (CKW) programme with financial support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The program involved the training of over 800 village-level representatives (CKW’s) to provide agricultural ‘extension services’ to farmers in exchange for their participation in completing mobile device-based surveys. These extension services include the provision of advice in relation to agricultural methods, livestock, crop diseases, weather forecasts and other relevant information. In return, the information provided by the completed surveys helps Grameen and their partner organisations with their research to build up a clearer picture of the issues the farmers are facing – which in turn helps in providing the solutions and advice they are provided with.

This simple, cyclical process has helped local farming communities in Uganda by improving their agricultural yields, whilst the farmers involved have been able to achieve better prices through greater market knowledge of the products they produce. It has also created employment through the recruitment of CKW’s, who, as the article suggests, can further increase the benefits of this two-way cyclical approach, by providing solar-energy services whilst in the field alongside their survey data-collection activities, and thereby increase their earnings at the same time:

‘…CKWs are trained to 1) provide a link to agricultural research institutions and extension services and administer surveys, and 2) to set up off-grid electrical charging micro-enterprises using solar energy. These enterprises can earn CWKs as much as 40 USD/month, which doubles the 1.25 USD/day previously earned by 60% of CKWs.’

The article states that due to access to CKW’s, farmers in Eastern Uganda have seen a 17 percent increase in the prices they achieve for maize compared to those who do not have access to these resources, a clear indication that when applied simply and effectively, with a combination of technology and common-sense human input, these new innovations can be highly successful in improving people’s lives.

Content is key: in developing countries, what is in the digital world is as important as having access to it

In the main, my previous posts have focussed on technological innovations and initiatives that have helped to promote greater communication and access to technology in the developing world, through the use of video, mobile devices and donated computer hardware and increased access to the web. I have also touched on some of the organisations who have worked tirelessly to teach, support and encourage the communities involved to embrace new technologies, whether it be internet-based or otherwise, in order to improve their lives, increase their opportunities and gain greater access to the world beyond their immediate environment.

What is clear is that whilst these themes – of providing those communities with the ‘kit’ and the ‘connections’ – in other words, the means of access – continue to be a major priority in improving the lives of many people, what is just as important is the content those initiatives are able to deliver, not just in terms of enriching, highly-relevant online experiences but above all, in providing access to essential, sometimes live-saving, information.

At last year’s B20 summit in Los Cabos, a platform with various social and commercial aims and objectives, the ‘ICT and Innovation Task Force’ came to some interesting conclusions and recommendations, going beyond the ‘Internet access for all’ mantra which has been heard with increased volume in relation to international development in recent times.

Under the banner of their second concluding recommendation – ‘Develop content and applications for the public good: social inclusion through ICT’ – they went on to elaborate with great precision on the importance of focussing on content as much as the means of access:

‘…Having access to government services, education, banking, and real-time information…improves and enables society as a whole. For the benefits to be fully realized it is important to provide access to the technologies and information necessary to develop local content and applications; provide access to traditional services for previously underserved population segments through ICT content and applications; and leverage ICT to create new economic opportunities for businesses and entrepreneurs…’
Carlos Slim Domit, Chairman Grupo Carso SA de CV, Mexico / Dan Reed. Corporate Vice President of Technology Police, Microsoft USA

What is interesting here is the focus not just on the content itself, but on enabling those in the communities concerned to develop the content themselves, through education and the provision of the required technology, thereby creating a potential win-win situation of local content ownership, greater content relevancy and ultimately greater opportunities for all those involved.

Digital content in Africa: From government information to mobile banking

Various agencies in South Africa, from NGOs to media news groups and the SA government themselves, have clearly seen the importance for some time of embracing the internet as a means of providing greater access to relevant content and information that serves to help the community. Channel Africa, part of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (who, in the spirit of appearing to focus on enriching the lives of people in SA, work under the slogan ‘Broadcasting for Total Citizen Empowerment’) are a radio station/provider with a broad selection of content ranging from information programmes to entertainment. It’s mission statement views it as the ‘voice of Africa’s Renaissance’ and that it ‘will endeavour in its programming ‘to reinforce Africa’s dignity, pride and sense of self-worth’. From a practical perspective, Channel Africa is available via shortwave radio, satellite broadcast and over the internet, thus embracing every means of current and new technology to ensure the widest access and availability possible.

Looking at the perhaps more mundane but essential side of content provision and from a governmental and social perspective, developers and content authors for the South Africa Government Services website have gone to great lengths to ensure that they provide the population with as much useful and relevant content as possible, through a well-organised, clearly defined web portal from which information on a huge range of subjects can be quickly obtained or downloaded. It is a good example of a well thought out website that has been planned with the user in mind.

Online banking services, the like of which are taken for granted in many parts of the world, are an emerging concept in many African countries, but are an important area in terms of online services provision, and ensuring that African communities are able to benefit from e-commerce facilities, not just in terms of online purchasing but also by providing a more secure means of transferring funds than some traditional methods. As has been discussed on this blog and elsewhere, many African nations lack a wired infrastructure capable of maintaining fast and efficient broadband services, depending instead on mobile connectivity in order to gain access to limited internet services. To get around this in the provision of ‘e-banking’, some of those countries affected have turned to SIM-based technology provided by mobile telecommunications suppliers, who have in turn created partnerships with banking service providers to provide and end-to-end service to consumers.

A good example of this has been supplied with the help Gemalto, the global digital security provider, to MTN Mobile in Uganda. The article on the Gemalto website provides more detailed information on their solution, but in essence they assisted the MTN in offering users a nationwide mobile payment facility that makes mobile payment ‘…accessible to the great majority of people, even if they do not have a banking relationship…’.

The article goes on to describe the kinds of services that the facility can assist with:

‘…The Gemalto-supplied solution provides a secure, convenient and affordable means for MTN Uganda subscribers to carry out peer-to-peer fund transfer using their mobile phone. An easy-to-navigate menu enables consumers to send and receive money, buy airtime, withdraw cash from a local retailer, with the security provided by the SIM card. Since the SIM card is the only application platform working with 100% of handsets, subscribers can perform m-payment transactions using any type of mobile phone, which means the service is immediately available to all….’

Like many other aspects of the emergence of digital technology in the developing world, and not just in Africa, content clearly is key. Whilst it is easy to get excited by the various online shopping sites – some have suggested mere clones of Amazon – Kalahari in SA, Jumia in Nigeria, to name but two) that are becoming more widespread, it is important that there remains a focus on providing more of the basic but essential services – whether its banking, access to local and governmental information, news media, communication – that are part of everyday ‘digital’ life in other parts of the world, but in some cases are far more important and essential to those in the more disparate and marginalised communities of the developing world.

Looking back on a previous post, The service provided by FrontlineSMS, in providing the means to communities to deliver vital, life-saving content by way of public health information messages – simple SMS messages, but content none the less – is an example to us all who are fortunate enough to work in digital technology that it is how connectivity is applied – in other words, what it is that is actually being communicated or provided – that is what makes that connectivity, whether its mobile, internet, or broadcast – have real value to it’s audience.

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