The Kenya ICT Board has announced the launch of a Ksh 300 Million grant to promote the development of local digital content and software applications.
The main purpose of this grant is to propel the emergent lucrative but yet underexploited local content industry to growth. The grant which targets the local content developers including software developers, film, animation, advertising, publishing, gaming and education professionals and all content creators, will provide the funding required for the development of quality applications relevant to the Kenya government and private sector.
The content grant is divided into two major sections: US$1.5Million for private sector applications and US$2.5M for government applications. The latter will be used to propel the utilization of ICTs to improve government service delivery . The government has in the past few years firmly embraced ICT to become more efficient and responsive in the delivery of its public service – from processing ID cards, driving licenses, registration of companies, revenue collection and currently, the digitization of records at the Ministry of Lands and the judiciary, with more government departments to follow.
The private sector grant of US$1.5M is open to firms and individuals to develop applications that would be of benefit to the general public or improve the delivery of existing private sector services. The first round of grant allocation will award a maximum of US$ 50,000 per firms and US$ 10,000 for individuals. The Kenya ICT Board expects to make at least one call for application per year over the next three years. The content funded by this grant will build capacity within the ICT sector create efficiencies, build social capital, increase utilization of ICTs by local communities and demonstrate to the world, Kenya’s talent for creation of digital content.
via Kenya ICT Board, 2 June 2010
Posted in Capacity, Software.
Tagged with Kenya.
By b.a
– 4 June 2010
The World Bank has approved loan funding of a $5million Integrated Financial Management and Information System (IFMIS) to increase the Government of The Gambia’s capacity in public resource management. There are five components to the project:
- IFMIS rollout, interfaces and system training.
- Laying the groundwork for the introduction of new IFMIS applications.
- Communications and change management, creating greater awareness amongst government officials and the public at large about the IFMIS.
- Accounting and information technology (IT) capacity building for sustainability.
- Project implementation support.
A similar project is being prepared for Liberia. Funded by a $3,7m grant this project was approved a year ago, but has yet to publish any details.
Posted in Public Finances.
Tagged with Gambia, Liberia.
By b.a
– 4 June 2010
The United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union have released the World e-Parliament Report 2010. The Report, prepared by the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament, intends to help legislatures to harness the potential benefits of ICT for their work and establish key goals and priorities for exploiting this valuable resource. While providing evidence of the complexities of e-parliament, the report suggests ways to overcome some of the obstacles to the effective use of technology in parliamentary settings. The findings are based on the results of the Global Survey of ICT in Parliaments conducted between July and November 2009, to which 134 parliamentary assemblies responded.
via World e-Parliament Report 2010.
Posted in Governance.
By b.a
– 2 June 2010
“Most ICT4D projects fail as they aren’t based on a real demand or need from Africans themselves, rather they are driven by outside (EU/US) organisations.”
Alex Little summarising Tim Unwin at e-learning Africa in Lusaka, 28 May 2010
Posted in Ownership, Problem Projects.
By b.a
– 1 June 2010
In early 2009 the Grameen Foundation went to Uganda with the idea of creating a fluid and effective two way communication channel between rural farmers and the world of agricultural experts, development agencies, traders and commercial players. Through this loop, rural small holder farmers would be given livelihood saving agricultural information generated by the experts and the big players would keep informed on conditions on the farm from adoption of best practices to available produce for sale. Grameen has now published its Community Knowledge Worker pilot report to share some of the lessons learned on what it takes to sustainably build and expand such a network of information intermediaries. Continued…
Posted in SMS Applications, Technology.
Tagged with Uganda.
By b.a
– 1 June 2010
The African Soil Information System (AfSIS) is developing a map to show soil conditions across the continent. The service will help to identify the risk of soil degradation, how to prevent it and how to restore land where soil fertility is already depleted. AfSIS takes advantage of recent advances in digital soil mapping, remote sensing, statistics and soil fertility management to analyze the various alternatives to protect and rehabilitate soil. The project is also testing a variety of farming techniques in an effort to discover the most effective methods to suit a wide range of conditions and situations.
The soil map will be available for free on the internet, and continually updated. The high resolution of the map means that farmers will have the possibility to zoom in to see the condition of the soil on their land. The project team are also looking at other ways to make the data available, via mobile phones, for example. Farmers and extension services would be able to directly access specific information for their location, and use the proven methods to develop the land and improve harvests in that area. Continued…
Posted in Agriculture.
By b.a
– 1 June 2010
The Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA), the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and other partners, with support from the Open Society Institute of West Africa (OSIWA) is launching the West Africa Internet Governance Forum. It aims are:
- To facilitate Internet policy discussions on a multi-stakeholder platform for issues relating to the development and the governance of the Internet in West Africa.
- To increase awareness of Internet governance issues in West Africa
- To facilitate the participation of a broad range of West African stakeholders in the IGF process.
- To create an opportunity for West Africans to engage in/contribute towards discussions regarding spam, Internet and Security, and other IGF related issues at the global Internet Governance Forum.
- To create a systematic, bottom up, national, regional and global policy dialogue process in West Africa.
via FOSSFA on 27 May 2020
Posted in Governance, ICT Infrastructure.
Tagged with Cameroon, Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone.
By b.a
– 27 May 2010
The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved US$63.66 million to create a unique regional network of 25 public health laboratories across Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda. This network will operate across country borders, improving access to diagnostic services to vulnerable populations in cross border areas and making optimal use of internet and mobile communications to improve public health.
Laboratories are currently the weakest link in the region’s public health defenses, seriously hindering each country’s ability to confirm and respond in a coordinated manner to disease outbreaks. By bolstering diagnostic and surveillance capacities, the new multi-country laboratory network will help to identify potentially devastating disease outbreaks at an early stage, enabling countries to act quickly to prevent the rapid spread of diseases across borders. Communicating outbreak-related information across national borders in real time is more important than ever before, as labor mobility is likely to increase shortly with the establishment of the East African Community common market and with growing global travel.
The network will also support the roll-out of new technology for drug resistance monitoring and more efficient tuberculosis diagnosis, most notably for people living with HIV/AIDS. Greater access to diagnostic services is expected to significantly contribute to improved health outcomes, and ultimately to attaining the Millennium Development Goals.
via World Bank Press Release, 25 May 2010
Posted in Health.
Tagged with Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda.
By b.a
– 27 May 2010
Bright Simons is the Development Director of the Imani Center for Policy and Education in Accra, a TED fellow, free-marketeer and developer of an SMS-based application to detect fake pharmaceuticals. Here is his view on technology in Africa.
“Let’s face it: Africa is on the downward slope to perdition as far as technology is concerned.
Many people who are not directly confronted with this reality on the continent are usually lured into a false sense that things are looking up because of the fountain of good news that is the telecom sector.
The truth though is that the seeming proliferation of ICT success stories across the continent masks the real picture, which is one of a splattering of embers in a desolate patch of darkness.
…
So what am I saying: that Africa is a basket case when it comes to technology? Yes, it is so at the moment. But the more interesting point is that it needs not be for long.
As the brilliance of many individual African innovators and initiatives too numerous to recount here clearly demonstrate, both at home and in the diaspora, there is no shortage of raw talent or raw opportunities. The problem is the integration of prospects. There is a lack of strong feeling that the continent’s abysmal performance in the global competition for technology resources is anywhere as important as its creaky infrastructure or its burdensome colonially-inherited socio-political architectures.
Yet the unexamined anti-technology cultures and attitudes may well be the black hole of development on the continent. A vast, but unseen, force that imperceptibly draws in large quantities of opportunities and pulverise them into the depths. A source of irresistible gravitational currents that mould and set the course of all the other systems in Africa’s galaxies of woes.
Technology is not merely a catalogue of tools. It is a culture and a mindset. It is an approach to getting ahead, taking over, making do, reaching out, and thinking through. A worldview animated by technology is a counterpoint to one decorated by mythology. No one argues that mythology can’t be beautiful. Mythology requires as much creative and persuasive power to get right as technology since it also requires social buy-in. But where we are interested in poverty-busting development, I bet you, dear readers, that in any prudent society technology must come up tops.
Africa better makes up its mind, and we ain’t got all century either.”
I’m not quite sure where these “anti-technology cultures” come from. Technology might be under-resourced, under-prioritised, over-looked, insufficiently-understood. But rejected?
via AshokaTECH on 20 May 2010
Posted in Capacity, Technology.
By b.a
– 26 May 2010
Escalating contractor costs have led the Botswana Government to terminate a P55m ($7,6m) contract with Accenture for the development of an M&E system that would have helped it to monitor the implementation of development projects. The contract was agreed in 2008 to serve the Government Implementation Coordinating Office (GICO) – a department falling directly under President Ian Khama – to track and monitor project implementation and to facilitate quality assurance and value for money.
Accenture had recruited a team of international experts from the UK, USA, Spain, Portugal, South Africa and other countries numbering about 22 people that were paid fees ranging from P18 000 to P36 000 a day ($2,400-4,800) each.
Dubbed the National Programme Implementation Coordination (NPIC), the project required local presence with a clearly defined citizen empowerment component. The system was projected to go live on January 2, 2010. Under the contract, Accenture was required to: Design the framework for implementation and coordination of policy related programmes and projects; design a monitoring and evaluation strategy and model; design and implement a programme management office; and design and implement an effective project management system – software application. They were also expected to implement a system for trouble-shooting and training. The company was also expected to draw up a strategy for the coordination of government programmes; conduct a detailed review of the current ICT systems used by government in issues related to projects; as well as advise on the best way to ensure systems' ability to link with one another; as well as review reporting formats in government. The project would link together government programmes within parastatals, NGOs, government departments and the private sector.
It is understood that last year GICO told the Public Procurement & Asset Disposal Board (PPADB) that the consultants had advised a change in the scope of the project – a second phase – to provide an alternative geographical information system (GIS) solution and office accommodation for the consultants, at additional cost. PPADB was given the impression that Accenture would be allowed to execute this second phase also without it going through a competitive bid on the grounds that the Company had demonstrated knowledge and expertise of the subject.
The Gazette learnt that recently GICO’s new management decided not to continue with the roll out of the project and cancelled the contract; the reasons for cancellation have not been published but it is rumored that GICO was worried about the escalating cost of the project. According to information received by The Gazette one other bone of contention when the project was initially advertised was that potential applicants were let in on the budget for the project – P55 million, excluding contingencies. It is understood that some government officials queried that the tender guided potential bidders on the money that was available for the project. The winning tender quoted just under P55 million.
via The Botswana Gazette on 20 May 2010, reported on Affiliated Network for Social Accountability (ANSA-Africa).
Posted in M and E, Problem Projects.
Tagged with Botswana.
By b.a
– 21 May 2010
