ICTworks by Inveneo

Description

Our initial primary pursuit is the establishment of our inceptive ICT lab in the eastern district of Freetown, Sierra Leone. Similar projects that strive to foster educational and technological advancement in West Africa struggle to thrive because their extensive use of power renders them unsustainable. In this region, gas is required to power used or new standard computers, generators, and grids, yet gas is un-affordable. Thus, labs that utilize such equipment cannot be maintained, and ultimately are not successful. LAM-TECH Foundation, Inc. advocates an energy-efficient and sustainable design to ensure lasting effectiveness. Our model requires an initial investment, but ultimately is preserved as a self-sustaining operation. LAM-TECH currently has a team of five volunteers in Sierra Leone conducting research on the positive and negative effects of the use of virtual science labs in high school education compared to traditional labs.

LAM-TECH Foundation, Inc. seeks to educate, support and empower each underserved individual in our target community. It is our goal to become the premiere source for mainstream and alternative science and technology education in West Africa. Through the establishment LAM-TECH Foundation, Inc.’s ICT labs, we will improve the quality of education for students, teachers, and educational facilities throughout West Africa, helping communities to gain independence, knowledge, skills, and ability.

Sierra Leone’s socio-economic and political stability has declined dramatically since the 1980’s due to its inability to manage internal problems and external macroeconomic policy changes. It worsened in the face of a decade long civil war, which brought about widespread issues concerning education. Lack of access to education is a pervasive problem in Sierra Leone. Many of the country’s residents are illiterate or have received very little formal education. The statistics are shocking:

•Only 39% of the population (10 years old and older) is literate.
•The literacy rate of men is higher than that of women nationally and by region. The national literacy rate for men is 49% while that for women is only 29%.
•40% of individuals in Sierra Leone age 6 to 29 have never attended school or received formal education.
West African countries suffer from a poor science and technology education, low rate of science and technology graduates from secondary school and universities, limited number of job placements in the technology industry, and a limited use of science and technology processes and procedures by students and teachers to solve everyday problems in Sierra Leone. West Africa’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education survey results of 2009 compiled by InfoDev.org indicates that the education sector’s ICT infrastructures are under-served. In Sierra Leone, there are approximately 81 technical/vocational education institutes serving 5,824 students with a teaching population of 219 educators including university professors but only 2% of these students are computer literate.

The total number of science and technology education students and teachers continues to gradually decrease due to lack of adequate teaching materials, availability of science and technology education tools, resulting in poor results in national examinations starting in junior high school and continuing through to college/technical/vocational/university. The table on the following page illustrates the dire results

Several reasons exist for these statistics, including a lack of standard policies for the use of ICT in education and government. The lack of adequate science and technology curriculum for educational institutions, high cost of PCs & Internet connectivity, lack of science and technology laboratories in more than half of the high schools and inadequate supply of chemicals, apparatus, high cost of materials and chemicals to build new science labs and teaching materials were labs are available, and lack of qualified human resource capacity to service institutions of higher learning in addition to political instability, all contribute to the low percentages illustrated in these numbers.

LAM-TECH Foundation, Inc. understands that all of these problems cannot be solved at once but starting from the following a multi-layered approach will ensure its success.

Goals and Objectives

The mission of LAM-TECH Foundation, Inc. is to promote and increase the penetration ratio of science, information technology and computer science education to under-served students, teachers and communities in West African countries. In pursuit of this mission, our organization has established the following goals and objectives

•To become the premier source for mainstream and alternative science and technology education resource center in West Africa.
•Establish one center of at least 10 personal computers in every senior high school and college by 2020, bundled with custom developed educational software systems covering all subject areas in the West African Examination Councils curriculum.
•Increase student pass rate, teacher effectiveness, college admissions into science and technology programs, and youth employment in the ICT and education industry.
Objectives:

•Train at least 10% of the teachers in year 1
◦15% in year 2
◦20% in year 3
•Increase the pass rate in science and technology subjects taken at the BECE & WASSCE by 5% in year 1
◦10% in year 2
◦30% in year 3
•Increase the number of successful college admissions into science and technology degree programs by 5% in year 1
◦10% in year 2
◦30% in year 3
•Increase the number of youth employment in the ICT and Education industry by 5% in year 1
◦10% in year 2
◦20% in year 3
•Achieve a 15% improvement in each focus area of our program by the end of year 3
Methodology

To accomplish our established goals and objectives, LAM-TECH Foundation, Inc. implements the following programs and services. This methodology was determined based on research on the target population, as well as the organization’s own established history of success.

Our main competitive advantages are our approach and the equipment we plan to utilize. We plan to use computers, printers, copiers and network devices with the lowest power consumption requirements in their class. None of our equipment will use more than 50 watts; they will range from 20 to 50 watts. Seventy percent of our power will be allocated to our solar grid – the most significant expense of our project, but also the element that will ensure sustainability and long-term success.

The savings will continue because the main source of energy to power the centers and our offices will come from renewable energy sources (solar, wind and batteries). Currently, there are only about 10% of the current non-for-profit organizations in West Africa with knowledge of low power computers and renewable energy solutions for rural areas.

Another advantage to our approach will be our accessibility to a full range of complimentary products and services to ensure students and teachers receive complete benefit. We will train them on computer use and repair, effective research practices strategies to perform experiments using virtual simulations where laboratory materials and equipment are in limited supply or non-existence.

Our team has extensive knowledge in the field of ICT and renewable energy through experience gained by working with fortune 500 corporations in North America and Europe, as well as non-profit organizations in India, South and East Africa. These regions are aware of the benefits of using low power computers and renewable energy sources to establish computer centers in rural area.

The ICT Resource center will provide virtual science and technology labs, document services, desktop publishing, internet access, basic ICT training, and digital library, and prometric testing. Virtual labs will feature demonstrations, videos, video training, and audio books. We will develop one centrally located public center in each provincial headquarter town with at least 50 workstations, three color and black copiers/printers, and two binders and laminating machines. The goal is to have each resource center opened for at least 12 hours a day.

The center will generate its own funds for operating expenses through monthly, quarterly and yearly membership fees from ICT Club members. Photocopying, desktop publishing, computer repairs and maintenance services will be offered to the public as well as a means to generate income to sustain the centers. This program is the first to be implemented because it will create the greatest impact and become self-sustainable to attract more donations from potential donors. The project will be duplicated in selected underserved senior high schools and colleges with at least 20 workstations to minimize congestion and maximize total community impact

The following illustrates the evidenced long-term cost-effectiveness of low-power Student and teacher enrollment rates continue to decrease from junior high and, senior high to post-secondary institutions at an alarming rate. The following chart displays the highest level of education completed by Sierra Leoneans.

Stay tuned for complete proposal in the coming weeks

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Archbishop John Baptist Odama accepting Breaking Borders Award for BOSCO

BOSCO Uganda, an organization served by Inveneo, was awarded the Breaking Borders Award in the technology category, sponsored by Google, Global Voices and Reuters. On May 6th 2010 this award was presented to Archbishop John Baptist Odama of Gulu for BOSCO, in recognition of its excellent work in technology and the promotion of free online expression. The award includes a $10,000 donation.

Expanding the reach of technology

BOSCO Uganda works in rural northern Uganda to bring collaborative ICT solutions to former displaced communities affected by a two-decade insurgency and war in the region. BOSCO connects schools, community centers, local government offices and local organizations to a solar-powered broadband network that brings high-speed Internet access with VoIP telephony using low-power, solar-powered computers.

BOSCO Uganda first deployed the network in seven Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps and fifteen locations in April of 2007, collaborating with Inveneo, who provided technical expertise for design and deployment of this large scale long-range (45k+ distance), solar-powered Wi-Fi broadband network. Inveneo also deployed ultra-low powered computers and VoIP. Using skills learned during this deployment, BOSCO has been able to connect 25 ICT sites in the region.

Promoting online expression

Each BOSCO site aims to be a self-sustaining operation through trained community leaders that use its innovative Web 2.0 curriculum, to help rural, first-time computer users learn computing by way of doing.

That means starting with hands on applications like message board forums and email, rather than having students go through Microsoft Word manuals; they learn to word process by writing emails and communicating with real people.

Future growth

BOSCO will be expanding over the next two years to new sites in districts to the east of Gulu, Uganda. BOSCO is currently working with UNICEF as a partner in its ICT4D efforts for the region among others. As Joseph Okumu, BOSCO-Uganda’s Executive Director often says, "BOSCO-Uganda is catapulting [northern Uganda] from 20 years behind to 20 years ahead in development."

Inveneo is excited to see BOSCO's success in adopting, managing and expanding large scale broadband and computing networks and even more thrilled to learn of the impact of so many important ICT programs across Northern Uganda.

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Whether the goal is to realize microfinance’s full potential or to avoid potential pitfalls, for most microfinance institutions (MFIs), improving the way they use information and communication technologies (ICTs) is crucial.

Today, even the best-managed MFIs working in environments with relatively good infrastructure often struggle to implement management information systems that are scalable and sustainable. The challenge is even greater in the resource-limited communities where many MFIs find their natural constituents. As Allen Hammond et al have noted in The Next 4 Billion:

"there is still a serious shortage of infrastructure on the ground to provide financial services to the [bottom of the pyramid]."

Fortunately, while building strong institutions can take decades, implementing sustainable ICTs doesn’t have to. Affordable and sustainable power, hardware, software and connectivity systems already exist, they are just not widely available, mostly due to lack of local knowledge and limited support capacity.

Enterprising Solutions Global Consulting recently asked Inveneo to help identify and solve the ICT challenges facing MFIs in two post-conflict countries - Sierra Leone and DR Congo - where they work to build the sector’s capacity. We began with assessments of the current use of ICTs among select client MFIs in each country.

Inveneo’s studies were followed by pilot projects designed to test whether more sustainable hardware, software, networking and power solutions can augment MFI performance and capacity. Our goals were to lower overall operating costs, improve and accelerate information flow and increase overall efficiency and growth.


Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

Working with our ICIP partners in DRC (NEKOTEK) and Rwanda (Rock Global Consulting and Great Lakes Energy), Inveneo designed and deployed ICT and power solutions to 9 HQ and branch locations; 4 in Kinshasa (Bomoko) and 5 in Bukavu (Mecrebu).

We installed new, power-efficient desktops, a server, low power printer and CF lighting at each branch, powered by generator and grid-fed battery backup systems and power stabilization systems. In addition, we deployed a private, broadband wireless network in Bukavu to allow access to a central server running Loan Performer and inter-branch VoIP calling. Training

To help create local capacity to support these pilot projects, Inveneo combined both classroom and hands-on training to coincide with pilot deployments. In total, we trained 10 new Certified ICT Partners to provide support as needed for future deployments, with Inveneo providing backstop technical support as needed.

In both countries, Inveneo also included IT administrators from the MFIs themselves in relevant parts of the training, thereby creating capable "Tier 1" support and establishing a strong link between system users and capable outside support for more challenging problems.

Project Results

Initial indications are that reliable power, computing and connectivity systems can significantly benefit MFI performance. In DRC, for the first time, loan officers have reliable access to Loan Performer, their Windows-based accounts package system. We’ve also heard that Bomoko’s branch offices in Kinshasa can now access their Loan Performer system through power outages lasting as long as 2-3 days without having to try to start their aging generator.

For the full details, read our detailed project report:
Accelerating Microfinance Impact with ICT (PDF)

Working collaboratively with organizations like ESGC, Inveneo hopes to develop a better understanding of the real impact of specific ICT interventions for MFIs. We believe that combining efforts at institution/capacity building with appropriate and tested ICT solutions is the best way to achieve the promise – and avoid the peril – of the rapid expansion of microfinance services in the developing world.

Project Objectives • Demonstrate that reliable, affordable and technically sustainable ICT solutions can add value in low-resource, post-conflict settings • Minimize or eliminate system downtime due to power outages • Reduce expenses on mobile telephony and power (i.e., fuel and generator maintenance) • Reduce expenses relating to damaged computing equipment • Eliminate redundancies and reduce errors by streamlining and rationalizing information management systems and processes (paper/computer) • Improve MFI capacity to deploy ICTs effectively • Build installation and support capacity among IT service providers in DRC • Help build connections and knowledge-sharing among MFI network and ICT support personnel across the various regions of DRC

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