Sunday, December 22, 2024
The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the Government of Finland have announced the third Technology in Government in Africa (TIGA) Awards for 2011. These awards recognise African governments’ effective use of ICTs for public services. One of the awards – in the category on Improved Educational Services Through the Use of ICTs – is organised jointly with the eLearning Africa Conference […]
Young technology entrepreneurs led by Sue Kahumbu and Charles Kithika have developed a pioneering voice-based mobile phone application called “iCow” that helps farmers to manage the breeding cycles of their dairy cows.The application handles dairy cow nutrition up to calving day, using prompts by the mobile phones now widespread in Kenya, even used by illiterate farmers. The pilot project won the “Apps4Africa” contest organised […]
Leonard Mware works for the spread of communication and information technologies throughout Africa, but especially in Kenya and East Africa, where he directs the African subsidiary of ICWE, organisers of the eLearning Africa conferences. Delighted with the recent progress, he warns in an interview with Christine Cayré that the propagation of technologies has to be backed by a genuine demand for new technology. “Things […]
Higher education is one of the fastest growing sub-sectors of education in Tanzania. Back in 1990 there were only 3,146 students attending the country’s two universities. Today there are 15,000 students enrolled at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) alone. New universities have opened. Existing universities have increased their intake of students and UDSM, once one of the most prestigious higher education […]
The South African government has a broad vision based on Batho Pele (“People First”) principles to bring transparency and efficiency to government through the adoption of information and communication technology (ICT). Gauteng is the most populous province in South Africa with 9.5 million residents and home to Johannesburg, the economic capital of South Africa. A historic cloud computing initiative provides ICT and Internet access […]
Tanzania recognises the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector as a key accelerator to development. It has made tremendous progress liberalising this sector. Cyber cafés are mushrooming in Tanzanian cities and the Tanzanian government has set itself the ambitious goal to make the East African nation a hub for ICT infrastructure. With the recent landing of two international submarine fibreoptic cables, EASSy and Seacom, […]
New schools in Tanzania have triggered an explosion in the demand for secondary school education. A 400 per cent increase in enrolment in only four years has taxed the educational infrastructure. The schools cannot cope with the numbers of new students, and the country now needs 85,000 more teachers. The Tanzanian government has launched a powerful public-private partnership scheme called “Tanzania Beyond Tomorrow”. International technology […]
Encouraging entrepreneurial spirit and a desire to develop a sustainable and responsible economy are the driving force behind Kachile, a new enterprise trading for social and environmental purposes in Côte d’Ivoire. It is a significant achievement in a fragile country, still suffering from the trauma of conflict and lacking in confidence. Kachile develops pilot projects with a view to unlocking potential and uses […]
Distance Learning can provide excellent opportunities to educate students in conflict zones. Regardless of ethnic, religious or political backgrounds, gender issues or geographical remoteness –all learners can be given access to high quality education. In sub-Saharan Africa, institutions, such as the African Virtual University, have worked beyond linguistic and cultural boundaries, indirectly promoting peace-building and inclusion even in heavily conflict-ridden countries, such as […]
African countries have to balance their spending on Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for education better. Skills development among teachers, which accounts for only 10% of most countries’ ICT budgets, has to be strengthened. Spending on costly hardware, which covers 90% of most countries budgets, should rather be reduced. This is one of the key recommendations of a communiqué released by participants in the […]
