Global Junior Challenge - rural

Mobile ICT Training to Rural Youth: Bridging the Gap

JAMES SSENABULYA — Mon, 12 Jun 2017 16:04:38 +0000

Has your project been replicated/adapted elsewhere?:

What lessons can others learn from your project? (max. 1500 characters):

Other practitioners can pick some good lessons from our project;

That we can use the available resources to support our local communities not waiting for donations and grants only.
That ICT skilling can help the young people cope up with this ever changing world of technology.
That as individuals, we can help do something towards community development without waiting for our governments.

Are you available to help others to start or work on similar projects?:

Yes

Organization Name:

Nakaseke Rural Youth Sustainable Livelihoods Initiative

Organization Type:

Other

What is the full duration of your project (from beginning to end)?:

More than 6 years

What is the approximate total budget for your project (in Euro)?:

Less than 10.000 Euro

What is the source of funding for your project?:

Sale of products or services

Specify:

Community Based Organisation (CBO)

Is your project economically self sufficient now?:

When is it expected to become self-sufficient?:

2020-06-01 00:00:00

Helping youth step in the job market

facebook.com/nakasekeruralyouthsustainablelivelihoodsinitiative

Do you authorize the FMD to the treatment of your personal data?:

I do authorize the FMD to the use of my personal data.

Specific obectives for starting this project are;

To prepare the young population for future employment opportunities
Equiping the young people with ICT skills that would help them to compete with the ever changing world of technology
Bridging the digital gap between the rural and urban youth in terms of access and usability of ICT tools.

The instruments used in achieving these objectives are;

Computers
Still and Motion digital Cameras
Mobile phones
Sound recorders

2015-07-01 00:00:00

Country:

Uganda

Barriers and Solutions (max. 1000 characters):

1. First, rural communities had a bad attitude towards technology which required a lot of sensitization for mindset change of our communities. 2. Startup equipment and facilities like hardware. Such equipment is still very expensive in Uganda and this required much investment with no external support. 3. Frequent hardware and software breakdowns that require replacements and routine maintenance. 4. Unstable or completely no power supply to rural communities has greatly affected our lessons at some point, as computer power runs out and the alternative is costly to maintain. 5. Poor transport infrastructure has also greatly affected our programme and this has caused hardware breakdowns. 6. There is limited access and connectivity to the internet. Many times, we have failed to conduct internet-related lessons such as web design, email and internet searching, due to poor connectivity. Among the many challenges we have, we are trying to make strides to solve some of them. 1. We are seriously trying to partner with government to increase on the hardware equipment we have for better access. 2. We have trained a well qualified technical team to help us with hardware and software breakdowns. 3. We have started engaging our local government to support our cause to improve transport and electricity infrastructure in the rural areas we operate in. 4. We are already hopeful about the government's effort to move the internet backbone around most rural areas which will improve the connectivity.

City:

Kampala

Future plans and wish list (max. 750 characters):

1. Considering the ever increasing demand for ICT training services, we are aiming at increasing our reach to further rural young people so as to give them equal opportunities to access and get skilled. 2. We are also looking forward to adding more and better training equipment to accommodate the ever increasing demand for the service. (like projectors, computers and other digital gadgets) 3. We are planning to start up ICT training camps during school breaks (holidays) to equip more youths who may not be beneficiaries of our routine schools outreaches with skills. 4. We have plans of establishing a fully-fledged vocational training centre that will offer mainly ICT training and other developmental courses and programmes in order to equip the young generation with skills that would contribute to sustainable livelihoods. 5. We are eagerly looking forward to partner with global players of ICT to increase and improve our skilling program. 6. We also hope to spread the idea to other rural communities to give chance to many more young people around the country.

Describe the results achieved by your project How do you measure (parameters) these. (max. 2000 characters):

We have achieved a number of successes; 1. Since its establishment two years back, the programme has benefited over nine hundred (900) students and out of school youths from the community, among which many have been employed and others have started their own business centres. 2. We have continued to register an overwhelming number of students offering the subject however much it’s a new subject on the national curriculum, to especially rural learners. 3. We have also helped to improve on the way teachers deliver their lessons. We have organized special trainings for them to equip them with skills on how to effectively use ICT tools to simplify their teaching methods. 4. At instructional level, we have been able to help students understand how to use computers to improve their learning using e-resources like Encarta and the Encyclopedia that have added to their general better performance. We have done various assessments and we are keenly monitoring our learners to see their continuity with ICT. We have also been able to find job placement for a number of our youth trainees from our community as our main goal for empowering rural young people for future employment.

ICT rural Youth

How many users interact with your project monthly and what are the preferred forms of interaction? (max. 500 characters):

We usually interact with over 200 young people on a monthly basis.

These we meet them during our school training programmes around the community schools and at our local training hub. We also reach others online through our online platform and by short messages (sms) direct to their mobile phones.

Description Frase (max. 500 characters):

Mobile ICT training is an ICT training initiative that is aimed at equipping the young people with basic ICT knowledge and skills as a means for literacy improvement and human resource capacity-building, preparing them for future employment. The project targets rural underserved young people in rural areas of Nakaseke, in Central Uganda that have been left behind in terms of ICT skilling, thus bridging the digital informational gap between their counterparts in the urban centres.

Project Summary (max. 2000 characters):

Uganda developed its initial ICT national policy in 2003 in which the framework document recognized that the country needed to embrace the goal of lifelong education for all. The policy also addresses literacy improvement and human resource capacity-building with strategies that include integrating ICT into mainstream educational curricula as well as other literacy programmes to provide for equitable access for all students regardless of level. Efforts have been made to introduce ICT both in primary and secondary schools of Uganda so as to equip learners with the necessary skills and tools that would prepare them for the job market.

Although the country’s national ICT policy lays emphasis on providing infrastructure to schools, this has not yet been realized mainly in rural schools as the adoption level is still low.

There have been hindrances ranging from low income to support the programme, limited power supply to rural schools, shortage of ICT teachers and many others. Irrespective of these challenges, the government has moved on to make ICT education as one of the compulsory subsidiary subjects at secondary levels of education. It is a very big challenge to many rural students and schools as they can’t afford to own computers as their counterparts in urban schools which has created a digital divide among the rural and urban students.

It is behind this background that the Nakaseke Rural Youth Sustainable Livelihoods Initiative was established. The project is conducting an ICT training programme to rural schools and communities to help them acquire skills as a means for literacy improvement and human resource capacity-building in rural areas.

The Nakaseke Rural Youth Sustainable Livelihoods Initiative, a rural youth project that also runs other community development programmes on agriculture and health, started with 3 laptop computers that we used to carry out training. As of now, the project has grown and boasts of 15 mobile computers that can at least accommodate the average class population of 60 students at a ratio of about 4:1. Our project has a committed, competent and experienced training team of trainers with a very rich expertise in conducting and managing ICT training classes. Each day of the week, the team moves to the different schools and communities as per the training schedules. The training involves both theory and practical tailor made lessons.

Project DEFY : Design Education For Yourself

Abhijit Sinha — Thu, 30 Jul 2015 16:58:11 +0000

Has your project been replicated/adapted elsewhere?:

Yes

Where? By whom?:

There has been a lot of interest shown in this project, and it is being replicated in a village in Nepal, as an alternative school and also as a source for help in cases of natural disasters. We are working on developing on more spaces in different parts of India such as near Trivandrum in Kerela and Padhurnah in Madhya Pradesh, India.

What lessons can others learn from your project? (max. 1500 characters):

Teachers and experts are not always required to get great education. Everyone has something to teach and some scope to learn. Great teachers are everywhere and all we need is access to them.
One can choose and design education for oneself, and not necessary follow the mainstream structure. Likewise, there are choices and one can choose what one wants to work on, and can always change it.
Good education need not be costly. You can create good education for yourself, if you have the motivation to. Also, such motivation can be created by developing a culture of exploration.
Not everyone needs to learn everything and there can not be generic education for all. People have interests, and that should be taken into consideration while creating an education system, because eventually, the ones who are really interested will be great in it, as opposed to ones who are not. Imagine a population of a billion people working in fields of their interests, and being really good at it; contrary to how we have lots of engineers but few really good ones.
Technology is tool that can be leveraged easily to create interest. It however is not complete education in itself and should not be considered so. It can be used as a medium for growth and to develop understanding, and to get proficient with doing things by hand.

Are you available to help others to start or work on similar projects?:

Yes

Organization Name:

Education For Development Trust

Organization Type:

Association

What is the full duration of your project (from beginning to end)?:

From 1 to 3 years

What is the approximate total budget for your project (in Euro)?:

From 10.001 to 30.000 Euro

What is the source of funding for your project?:

Grants

Is your project economically self sufficient now?:

Since when?:

2015-06-29 22:00:00

When is it expected to become self-sufficient?:

2016-11-29 23:00:00

Education up to 18 years

http://e4d.io

Do you authorize the FMD to the treatment of your personal data?:

I do authorize the FMD to the use of my personal data.

India is a country of a majority of youth, most of whom reside in villages. However, India's development has concentrated itself mostly on cities, making them hubs of opportunity, while the villages slid back over the years. Although an agrarian economy, with industrialization the focus shifted on big companies in the cities that made much more money, as opposed to the villages where agriculture became increasingly difficult, owing to lack of Government oversight and innovation. As the capital difference grew, correspondingly the gap in opportunity grew along. One of these gaps came about in the field of education.
The cities had and could afford quality private education, but such access is not available to the villages. The Government schools were quickly proven to be inefficient, with high rates of drop-out, teacher absence, under-capacity of teachers, etc.
The question however is that is it really possible to have great teachers for such a huge population as India which send millions of kids to school every year. So how could we bring the best teachers from around the world to everyone?
The other question is, who can be a teacher? Is the traditional concept of a teacher still applicable, where a teacher is supposed to be an expert and a deliverer of information? Why can't we all be teachers, and students ?
The third question is, what is the kind of education that we need? Is it enough to be book experts, as it is now the case in India. Shouldn't education be practical?

2014-02-27 23:00:00

Barriers and Solutions (max. 1000 characters):

<p>1) The biggest barrier is lack of confidence in oneself. It is difficult for people to choose a system too far away from the mainstream. However, this barrier is much less in the villages where the mainstream hasn't succeeded in completely programming the minds of the people. Also, our space has a culture of exploration, pushing the limits of what we know, and trying out more out of curiosity. Once someone joins the space, he/she is able to overcome the fear of drifting away from the mainstream, and in fact takes pride in the difference it creates in him/her when compared to others.</p> <div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-right: -0.63in; margin-bottom: 0in">2) The other major problem that we face is that the local school looks at us as a competition and forces its students stay away. We are trying to work this out with them by creating a small club of explorers within the school to act as a channel between the school and us, so that they would have full knowledge of what happens in the space and we can work together.</div> <p> </p><p> </p>

Country:

India

City:

Bangalore

Future plans and wish list (max. 750 characters):

<p> </p> <div align="LEFT" style="margin-right: -0.63in; margin-bottom: 0in">       1. Developing a self-learning curriculum based on <font color="#111111"><b>Exploration and play, Solving Local Problems, Understanding World Concepts, Directional Learning, Exit Strategy</b></font><font color="#111111">.</font></div> <ol start="2"><li><div align="LEFT" style="margin-right: -0.63in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal"><font color="#111111">Developing a financial self-sustenance model for these schools/makerspaces to generate revenue for themselves and not depend on external funds forever.</font></div></li><li><div align="LEFT" style="margin-right: -0.63in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal"><font color="#111111">Reaching out to more villages in and outside India</font></div></li><li><div align="LEFT" style="margin-right: -0.63in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal"><font color="#111111">Make the concept open source and easily replicable for anyone to build such schools </font></div></li><li><div align="LEFT" style="margin-right: -0.63in; margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: normal"><font color="#111111">Secure funding to continue our experimentation at our pilot space in Banjarapalya for the next three years. </font></div></li></ol> <p> </p><p> </p>

Describe the results achieved by your project How do you measure (parameters) these. (max. 2000 characters):

<p>Although experimenting since March, 2014, we had a stable concept only by November 2014. In this period, we had many participants at different points of time.</p> <div align="LEFT" style="margin-right: -0.63in; margin-bottom: 0in">One of the biggest observations made and milestones achieved was the the space could be given away to the participants themselves. Which means that since December 2014 until now, the participants from Banjarapalya village have been running the space, taking care of all requirements of the space in terms of managing the finances, keeping the space clean and work-friendly, maintaining the culture of free speech and exploration, engaging more participants, ensuring safety and constant learning. This was a big breakthrough for us, as this proves that schools do not require teachers and can be run completely by the students themselves.</div> <div align="LEFT" style="margin-right: -0.63in; margin-bottom: 0in">The process that the space follows that helps it show its impact, is that each participant using the space must document his/her work or project on the internet. Therefore it is possible to see how they are developing and thinking of new ideas, as well as to see how to are becoming more able to explain their ideas. Although the projects are still quite simple the development is visible, even in a short period of six months. It is also interesting to see how the projects are chosen and developed, when no body is telling them exactly what to do. A group of volunteers review the projects and give feedback. Also since the projects are online, they receive feedback from people around the world by means of comments and suggestions. This is highly scalable as now <b>“everyone around the world is measuring their work”</b> and giving their opinion and not just a few experts.</div> <p> </p>

How many users interact with your project monthly and what are the preferred forms of interaction? (max. 500 characters):

On a monthly basis, we are interacting with at least 50 users of the space. Most of them from the village. Sometimes we also have some visitors who come and work with the village participants or on their own projects or volunteer. The user base is varied and involves variety of ages from 7 to 24 (currently) and has had participants even above the age of 40 in the past.

Self-learning rural Makerspaces Alternative Education

Description Frase (max. 500 characters):

A "school without teachers" using a combination of cheap makerspaces and the Internet, for rural Indian youth.

Project Summary (max. 2000 characters):

High school laboratories of science and technology equipment project in the rural village of nyangezi in DRC's South Kivu Province

Ferdinand Mushi Mugumo — Fri, 20 Jun 2014 17:34:11 +0000

Has your project been replicated/adapted elsewhere?:

What lessons can others learn from your project? (max. 1500 characters):

creating centers such as these over in rural areas of DRC would definitely improve better the quality of education, develop a better awareness among communities of the opportunities that the use of science and technology provide in improving the quality of life and favor chance equalities for youth in urban as well as rural areas for a better integration in the global world

Are you available to help others to start or work on similar projects?:

Yes

Organization Name:

Centre ADEST (Centre d'appui a la difusion et l'enseignement des sciences et techologies en milieu rural de Walungu et Kabare

Organization Type:

Cultural Institution (foundations, museums, galleries, etc…)

What is the full duration of your project (from beginning to end)?:

From 3 to 6 years

What is the approximate total budget for your project (in Euro)?:

From 30.001 to 75.000 Euro

What is the source of funding for your project?:

Grants

Specify:

A center at the disposal of all high schools located in the area of its operation

Is your project economically self sufficient now?:

Since when?:

2014-05-30 22:00:00

When is it expected to become self-sufficient?:

2018-11-29 23:00:00

Education up to 18 years

none

Do you authorize the FMD to the treatment of your personal data?:

I do authorize the FMD to the use of my personal data.

The center ADEST project strengthens scientific and technological capabilities of the community and youth in secondary and private educational institutions. It targets eleven secondary schools of Nyangezi Mumosho. As such, it contributes to the improvement and increased options choices of curricula for students in secondary school learning, improving the quality of education in general and makes teaching of science less abstract and more practical. .It empowers the cognitive orientation of villages and promotes embracing studies in technical and scientific secondary school and university, offering unexpected openings to beneficiaries and facilitates their integration into a global world

2011-12-30 23:00:00

Country:

Congo Democratic Republic

Barriers and Solutions (max. 1000 characters):

major barriers include the income revenu of populations in rural area and their inability to pay for the consts, the feat that the teaching of curricul such as mathematics, science and technology inspirer in rural youth, and the aversion of qualified urban trained teachers for living into rural harsh conditions. solutions undertaken were to establish a dialogue with schools, to finance ourselves the services provided by the center, to build the infrastructure and to provide shelter, equiped, for consultants coming from Bukavu. Students and schools are attracted to use the facility because it is well equipped, has a stable elecrical system ad running water. the project includes also an outreach programm toward the community in agriculture improvment and tree planting for the protection of the environment. However, with no help and funding, it will be diffuclt to go forward.

Future plans and wish list (max. 750 characters):

the next steps is to complete the basic equipments of the project in terms acquiring school laboratories equipments, improving the quality of the library and initiating self sustaining activities for self funding. I need funding between 100 000 USD to 450 000 USD

City:

Munya, Nyangezi, Bukavu, South Kivu Province

Describe the results achieved by your project How do you measure (parameters) these. (max. 2000 characters):

Within six years, the following results are expected:1 A multi-center for science and technology teaching is in the service of youth, high schools and rural communities of Nyangezi and Mumosho.;. 2 Pupils and students have a space, permanently electrified, to study, prepare assignments and exams;. 3 secondary schools in the country have a valuable reference library connected to other physical or virtual school libraries;. 4 A computer center connected to the internet runs continuously; 5. Rural schools in the region have shared access to well equipped laboratories: a biology lab, a chemistry lab, a physics lab and a zoology laboratory, and appropriate facilities for the conduct of experiments.. 6. Qualified Experts in teaching science and technology, mainly from the town of Bukavu are called upon to accompany students in Nyangezi and Mumosho;.7. Secondary science teachers are recycled annually during the holidays; The first four results have been achieved already or in the process. The remaining (5,6,7) are the ones targeted in next step.

How many users interact with your project monthly and what are the preferred forms of interaction? (max. 500 characters):

At leat 11 high schools institution numbering 300 to 600 students each and their students will interact with the project on a permanet basis not mentionning their parents and casual learners. its expected that activities carried out in the center will benefit to a minimum of 150 high school learners on a daily basis.

Nyangezi village rural technology science SCHOOL laboratories

Description Frase (max. 500 characters):

an educational project to help rural school youth access to appropriate didactic equipment fot the teaching of science and technology related curricula to equal opportunity and their chances of better integration in a global world

Project Summary (max. 2000 characters):

private high school initiative avoid the insertion of science and technology related humanities in nyangezi due to lack of appropriate equipment for teaching and qualified teachers in science and technology. The support center for the dissemination and teaching of sciences and technology at high school level in rural Walungu and Kabare, NPO, targets 11 identified schools teaching humanities in rural areas in Munya and Mumosho, making it available to schools teaching materials for collective use by above targeted private secondary schools. It aims to create a computer lab, equipping science labs, (physical, biological and natural sciences), creating a reference library, retraining of teachers, support to local communities in promotion of agriculture and environmental protection. ADEST already has its buildings, furniture and 25 computers. It lacks laboratory equipment for science and technology, a reference library and the initiation of self-financing activities.