ICTworks by Inveneo

You know the amazing photograph of the earth at night showing all the lights of population centers around the world. And you've seen the Facebook friendship map that shows where the concentrations of Facebook users are around the globe.

Ian Wojtowicz mashed those two images together to get The UnFacebook World. The dark lines are Facebook usage and the bight yellow dots are where there are population centers that have bright lights at night but no Facebook friends.

Do you notice anything odd about Africa? How about that São Tomé and Príncipe have electricity but no Facebook and the millions in Rwanda, Burundi, and DRC have neither Facebook nor electrical lights at night.

This is a stark visual reminder that not everyone one is on FB, regardless of the hype around Facebook usage doubling in a month across Africa in 2011.

In our first expedition to West Africa, the week of the 24th of October, The Kuyu Project will hold a Digital Literacy Training camp at the Keta Senior High Technical School in Keta, Ghana. Like previous Kuyu Project digital training camps, this camp will evolve around themes such has basic computer literacy, civic engagement and social media.

The objective of the Keta camp is to introduce students to a wide array of social media tools to:

1. boost civic activism
2. boost how well they can collaborate with students from abroad and within Ghana
3. research more effectively using online tools
4. build future careers using their newly acquired knowledge
5. increase knowledge about safety and wisely using social media

It is our hope that these digital literacy skills will enable students to:

1. design and create both online and offline newsletters
2. create content (text, photos and videos) for the web
3. build networks using social networking

In order to follow what is happening with the Digital Literacy Camp in Keta, Ghana this week, follow the tag #KuyuGH on Twitter or you can follow the blog of any of the staff or volunteers for the Kuyu Project:

-Deb Elzie: http://debelzie.posterous.com
-MacJordan - http://macjordangh.com/blog/the-kuyu-project-goes-to-ghana/
-Simeon Oriko: http://mtotowajirani.com
-The Kuyu Project blog: www.thekuyuproject.org

For more information on this particular camp and The Kuyu Project’s West Africa Initiative, please visit us at www.thekuyuproejct.org or contact simeon@thekuyuproject.org

Simeon Oriko is a young entrepreneur, age 21, who is the founder and Executive Director of The Kuyu Project, which is a digital literacy initiative aimed at teaching African high school students how to use social media and other digital tools to effect social change in their communities.

His very interesting blog can be found here .

1) Can you tell me a little bit about your background in the ICT4D field? Did you have formal training?

My foundation in ICT4D began at the University of Eastern Africa, Baraton as a leader of the computer science student organization. We organized an ICT literacy drive targeted at high school students and teachers in schools around our university. A certain experience then introduced me to the ICT4D spectrum. A young girl wanted to know how to be a pilot and I took out my phone and we Googled for information about the topic. I later taught her how to use the internet to look for information and she used that skill to achieve her goal. She is now learning to be a pilot at a college near her home.

It is from this experience that I learned the value of technology for development. So quite honestly I have never had formal training in ICT4D. My work in the field is purely based on passion.

2) What is the mission and the goals of the Kuyu Project?

The mission of The Kuyu Project is to teach African High Schools how to use social media and other digital tools to effect social change in their communities and also to achieve their own objectives.

We strongly believe that by doing this, we are fueling the dreams and ambitions of these young people which in the long run may turn out to be the solutions and innovations that change Africa and the rest of the world.

We hope to get kids to learn the value of technology and how to use this to seek out opportunities for themselves and their communities.

3) What inspired to create the Kuyu Project and what aspects of your upbringing motivated you to see change?

My personal experiences with technology inspired me to create The Kuyu Project. I grew up as the world wide web was evolving and had been amazed at how simple and easy it was to accomplish many things through the Internet. Activists were using the Internet as a tool to organize. Businesses were using the Internet for marketing and transactions. Many others were using the Internet to connect, to create, to collaborate, to learn and to share.

I figured if we taught people about the tools and techniques of using web tools to achieve the above, then we could effectively create a ready avenue for people to achieve their objectives and to better themselves. I later came to single out high school students as the best target group to train because students at this age, age 14 - 18, are at a creative peak in their lives and that this program would help tap into that potential.

4) What do you hope the Kuyu project will do for rural communities? for Africa as a whole?

My hope lies in the realms of self reliance and sustainability. Most communities are able to define their needs, their problems and been outline solutions for them. The one thing they do not have, is the resources or methodologies to implement these solutions. I hope that through the trainings and other initiatives of The Kuyu Project, these communities will be able to use digital technologies to achieve their objectives.

As for Africa, I believe that this initiative will help many youth to bring their ideas to life so as to effect social change and also create innovations and solutions that will change the continent.

5) Where do you hope the Kuyu Project will be in 5 years? 10 years? How do you see the Kuyu project expanding?

It is my hope that in five years, The Kuyu Project will be putting technology in the hands of our trainees and in ten years, to be in a position to aid students to practically implement their ideas and to grow them.

We believe to expand our focus on our target audience to include a more global outlook. We also hope to expand our mission to include trainings in other technologies other than the Internet.

6) What impact do you currently see the Kuyu project making in the communities implemented?

The strongest indicator of impact is a shift in our students mentality. On a number of occasions, we have gone out to various high schools to conduct digital literacy camps and we're met with a somewhat pessimistic outlook from the students. Very few of them believe they can be an agent of change in their communities let alone their continent.

After teaching them how technology can aid them in their endeavors, a number of the students realize the potential they have and even go ahead to experiment on achieving various objectives using the tools we have taught them to use.

7) Can you talk a little bit about the StorySpaces project?

StorySpaces is an initiative of The Kuyu Project. It is a social network anchored on the idea of translating global online conversations into practical offline initiatives. It stemmed of an idea of communal learning where everyone is encouraged to 'teach each other'. The social network is primarily mobile web based with an Android app as well as a desktop web version. The app is still in development.

We hope that people will be able to use the tool to converse with their own communities and others outside of it with the aim of learning and practically applying the newly gained knowledge.

8) What challenges have you come across in trying to implement the Kuyu project and StorySpaces?

The major challenge we come across in implementing our programs is resistance from the parents of our target audience. A number of these parents strongly believe that technology is more of a distraction than an aid. Most parents rightfully argue that they took their children to schools to be learn and not to waste time on the internet. A number of parents have gone a step further and have pulled their children from schools that have computers. Some school administrators also side with the parents.

Our greatest challenge is to convince the parents that digital literacy is as valuable as any other education.

Other major challenges have to do with logistics including lack of computers and other equipment and lack of electric power in certain school.

9) What kind of impact do you see ICT's making on the youth of Africa.

ICT's in my view are enablers. By enablers I mean that these tools and technologies provide a means for an objective to be accomplished. In the light of this I strongly believe that ICT's will provide African youth with a means to carry out their missions and achieve their dreams.

10) Last but not least, your tag line reads "the boy who changed the world" do you forsee the Kuyu project changing the world, if so how?

My tag line stemmed of a monicker I picked up as a child that meant if I was going to be different from the rest of the world, them i had to make different decisions than the majority of the world was making. One such decision led to starting The Kuyu Project.

In line with my own personal mission, my plan with The Kuyu Project is to grow it into a catalytic role for enabling African youth to achieve their dreams.

"Internet as a catalyst for change: access, development, freedoms and innovation" was the theme of the the first Internet Governance Forum (IGF) held in Ghana, March 11 2011. This very interesting piece sums up some key questions discussed in the youth forum about the role youth play in Internet governance. Keys ideas include:

• A perspective from African youth
• Localization of content
• Global Media and Identity
• Social networks
• Innovation

The full article can be found here: http://gamelmag.blogspot.com

The Commitments Department has the primary responsibility of managing relationships with CGI’s members, and developing and overseeing these Commitments to Action (“commitments”). The Manager will have a specific focus on the intersection between technology/social media and economic empowerment and will be responsible for using this expertise to recruit new members, develop commitments, foster innovative partnerships, inform content for CGI meetings, and facilitate member working groups called “Action Networks.” The Manager will join two other relationship managers on the Economic Empowerment team within the Commitments Department. S/he will work closely with his/her Economic Empowerment team and the Commitments Deputy Director. S/he will also liaise and inform other CGI departments, other Clinton Foundation initiatives, and regularly consult a network of external expert advisors and CGI members as appropriate. S/he will also collect and analyze commitment data for program monitoring and external communication purposes.

More details: https://careers-clintonfoundation.icims.com/jobs/1788/job