Interviews

Thinking about the hardships many African PC users have to face, Uganda’s ICT State Minister John Nsambu and his partners have been seeking inventive and sustainable solutions that go beyond merely buying expensive equipment. eLA editor Nina Wittrock asked him about his activities in the fields of cheap and energy saving PCs, as well as his ideas concerning Uganda’s overall access to ICT technology.
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Ms. Abishag W. Waugombe, a retired Kenyan teacher, knows a lot about the needs and necessities of the elderly people in her community. Long committed to community work, she and her friends have made use of the Internet in a rather unique way. eLA’s Nina Wittrock spoke with Ms. Waugombe about her experience and future plans regarding eLearning, story telling, and the delivery of cultural memory.
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Intel has a long history of working to improve education worldwide, and its ongoing programmes prepare teachers and students for success in the global economy. As part of the Intel Education Initiative, the company invests one hundred million dollar per year in education in collaboration with governments and educators in fifty countries worldwide. Dr. Martina Roth, Director of the Intel Education Group for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), will take part in the roundtable discussion on partnerships in education at eLearning Africa. Ahead of the conference, we talked to her about Intel, education, and Africa.
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The Flemish Association for Development, Cooperation and Technical Assistance (VVOB) is a non-profit organisation whose principal focus is stimulating sustainable development and poverty reduction through human development. VVOB’s core task is to provide technical assistance in projects and programmes to be implemented in developing countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America in joint management with and funded by the Belgian and Flemish governments. eLA editor Nina Wittrock spoke with Lut Laenen Fox, VVOB’s representative in Kenya, about the key aspects of her organisation’ s activities.

eLearning Africa 2007 wants to thank VVOB for its generous donation, which has made it possible for a number of African participants to come to the conference.
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CCAfrica (Canadian Council on Africa) is a private sector, member-driven, non-profit organisation that helps foster sustainable economic, and therewith social development in Africa. Membership includes SMEs, large businesses (enterprise markets), Canadian Business Associations, NGOs, Higher Education institutions, as well as government departments and agencies. To provide a better understanding of the linkage between education and Africa’s economic development is, in addition to other activities, of crucial importance for CCAfrica. Nina Wittrock from eLa spoke with Lucien Bradet, Canadian Council on Africa, President and C.E.O. about the main aims of his organisation, , its interest in present and future education issues, and the impact of partnerships on capacity building.

eLearning Africa would like to thank the Canadian Council on Africa for its exceptional support in negotiating funding from CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) for African delegates.

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Digital content for ICT-supported education produced by Africans for Africans is increasingly needed. The Pixel Corps, a guild for digital content creators based in the USA, is offering training and an expert community in a unique and unconventional way. Beate Kleessen from eLA spoke to Alex Lindsay, founder and chief architect of the Pixel Corps, about his activities …
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In various African countries, mobile technologies provide the most advanced communication infrastructure for eLearning projects. The obvious advantage is that they make eLearning more widely available and accessible than people are used to in existing environments. At eLearning Africa 2007, experts from various countries will explore the modes of mobile learning in specifically African settings. A special emphasis will be on schooling and distance learning. eLa editor Nina Wittrock spoke with John Traxler, University of Wolverhampton, about current premises for mLearning in Africa.
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Over 50 percent of the world's 6000 languages are endangered claims the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). According to the organization’s statistics, 96 percent of the world's 6000 languages are spoken by four percent of the world's population; ninety percent of the world's languages are not represented on the Internet; and one language disappears on average every two weeks.

The languages of African, eighty percent of which are not written, are particularly threatened. The African Languages Technology Initiative (Alt-i) seeks to apply modern Information and Communication Technologies to help ameliorate this situation, seeing them as a way to preserve endangered languages as well as to help confront the problem of literacy in Africa. eLA news editor Nina Wittrock spoke to Dr. Tunde Adegbola, the Executive Director of Alt-i.
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Known for its strong commitment to education in Africa, the HP company is still looking for opportunities to strengthen ICT-based learning environments across the Continent. Nina Wittrock from eLA News talked with Björn Weeber, Education Manager for Africa, about HP’s specific educational and training approach, current projects, and the company’s future prospects in Africa.
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The open movement could have a strong impact on higher education in developing countries says Guilaine Thébault, PhD student from the Center for Sub-Saharan African Studies, CEAN – GDRI Netsuds, Bordeaux, France. Nina Wittrock from the eLA news portal team asked her about her investigations in Senegal.
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ICT literacy is key to development Dr. Grace Ongile is convinced. Grace leads the Kenyan branch of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) initiative, which was established in 2001 as a vision and strategic framework for Africa’s renewal. Nina Wittrock from the eLA newsportal team talked to her about NEPAD’s efforts and successes in Kenya...
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The Lyceum Group, a private consulting company based in Guinea, has dedicated its work to community development in West Africa. Since its foundation in 2001, the group has undertaken several activities in Guinea in the fields of health care, biological diversity sciences, and education. We spoke to the founder, Kenneth Keirstead, about his mission.
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“We need more good baseline surveys for ICT4D projects”, says Tim Unwin, founder of the ICT4D Collective, an interdisciplinary group engaged in research in the use of ICT for development. Tim talked to Beate Kleessen from the eLA newsletter about his commitment to the ICT4D network, good partnerships, and ICT for education.
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Women can be excluded from education for various reasons: negative social attitudes and cultural practices, child labour or pure poverty keep females out of schools and universities. Being prevented from attaining quality education means extended poverty or complete dependence on – mostly male – family breadwinners. Faith Macharia, National Director of the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE), Kenya Chapter talked to eLA about the organization’s activities towards reducing gender disparities in education in Africa.
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Since 1998, Computer Aid International has been collecting, testing, refurbishing, and sending computers to educational and community organisations in developing countries. The computers go to schools, universities, medical training centres or meteorological stations. By its tenth anniversary - in October 2007 - the organisation wants to have shipped the 100,000^th PC. Gladys Muhunyo, who manages the Africa Programme, spoke to eLA about Computer Aid’s work.
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Dr. Monika Weber-Fahr is a manager at the World Bank Institute (WBI), heading up the Institute’s efforts in the multimedia arena and in coordinating the World Bank’s engagement with Global Development Learning (GDLN). The WBI is part of the World Bank and focuses solely on designing and delivering learning and knowledge sharing activities for developing country participants. The Institute reaches about to 100,000 people annually, most of them professionals in government agencies, NGOs, and private firms through programmes that cover a wide range of development-related topics. At last year's Online Educa Berlin, Monika has hold a keynote in the plenary on “Future Perspectives”, talking about perspectives for e-learning from working with developing countries.
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On October 25, the UK’s specialist in open and distance learning, the Open University, launched its major new open-content initiative OpenLearn. Available to learners and educators throughout the UK and worldwide, the project will be of particular significance in The Open University’s efforts to widen access to hard-to-reach groups and tackle educational disadvantage both within the developed and developing worlds. Professor Andrew Lane, Director of OpenLearn will present the project at Online Educa Berlin 2006. Beate Kleessen from OEB News asks him about it in advance.
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Low student ICT competencies, 75% of teachers having little or no ICT competencies, and limited pedagogical applications of ICT - these data benchmark the current reality in African schools. The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) in coordination with the Information for Development Program (infoDev) has gathered these facts to support the implementation of the NEPAD eSchools initiative, which aims to equip more than 550,000 African schools with ICTs and connect them to the Internet...
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eLearning Africa could be a boost to Africa’s on-going eLearning efforts, says Thomson Sinkala, Associate Professor of Mining Engineering at the University of Zambia, School of Mines. He strongly supports efforts to provide education for people with low income in the SADC region. eLearning Africa talked to Thomson Sinkala about his activities…
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At the first eLearning Africa conference, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from May 24 to 26, Dr Nicolas Balacheff, Scientific Manager of Kaleidoscope, the European research network for technology-enhanced learning, chaired a session together with Leopold Reif from Hoffmann & Reif on the New Africa – Europe Partnership Framework initiated by the European Commission in 2006.

The session featured examples of developments in technology-enhanced learning supported by the European Commission that are of particular relevance and value to learning organisations in Africa. It also focused on the ways in which African organisations can become involved in similar collaborative R&D efforts. European – African R & D projects were also on the agenda of a pre-conference workshop on Wednesday, May 24.

eLA talked to Nicolas Balacheff about what was discussed at the conference and what Kaleidoscope’s commitment might be.
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Kenya has realised the importance of ICT Education and as a result, the government has set up ICT structures in primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions in order to build an ICT-literate community. Despite the fact that Kenyan institutions are grappling with ICT challenges in education, including training in computer technology, problems with ICT infrastructure, a lack of Internet connectivity, and others, these challenges have not deterred the government from working hard to accomplish the Millenium Development Goal of providing quality education for all. Dr. Speranza Ndege, Head of AVU Kenyatta University talked to eLearning Africa about ICT Education in Kenya.
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“Anyone on earth can be connected to any other person on the planet through a chain of acquaintances that has no more than five intermediaries”, says the theory of the “six degrees of separation” developed by the American Sociologist Stanley Milgram (1933-1984). The so-called “small world phenomenon” is effectively working in online networks such as Open BC or Meet up. At eLearning Africa, Iginio Gagliardone from the UNESCO International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa will investigate how, among other new social software developments, online social networks can be put to work for consolidating and disseminating educational resources on the Internet.
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There is a scarcity of instructional materials in science and engineering education, says Dr. Elija Omwenga, Director of ICT Services at the University of Nairobi, Kenya. He is also a consultant for the UNESCO/ANSTI ICT project. The project was founded in 1980 to promote scientific cooperation between African higher education institutions, as well as to supply instructional material through eLearning. Dr. Omwenga will present the project at eLearning Africa 2006.
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The African Development Bank (AfDB) is the premier financial development institution of Africa, dedicated to combating poverty and improving the lives of people of the Continent. Dr. Alice Hamer, Director of Social Development (North, South and East region) at AFDB will hold a workshop at eLearning Africa together with Microsoft and the NEPAD eSchools initiative. This workshop brings together the expertise of the African Development Bank, with over forty years of experience of supporting education across the continent and that of Microsoft, which has implemented education solutions across the world. eLearning Africa’s editorial team spoke with Dr. Alice Hamer about the AfDB’s work in Africa.
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A report on the Millennium Development Goals published by the Economic Commission for Africa in 2005 says that despite widespread pessimism, some African countries are on course to meet key Millennium Development Goals and that with the right policies, many more could meet the target date of 2015. The implementation of ICT is one of the key factors driving capacity building and development. Aida Opoku-Mensah, Officer-in-Charge of the Development Information Services Division at the UN Economic Commission for Africa, reflects on how the UNECA can support African governments in implementing national e-strategies, the financial aspects of this effort and the main obstacles blocking Africa’s path to joining the Information Society. She spoke with Beate Kleessen of the eLA editorial team.
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The Global Development Learning Network (GDLN) was initiated in June 2000 under the leadership of James D. Wolfensohn, then president of the World Bank. Since its launch, GDLN has grown from eleven to over 70 Affiliates (as of June 2005). Most are located in developing countries and among them is the Distance Learning Center in Senegal. Mor Seck, Director of the DLC in Senegal, explained to eLA how the GDLN works and why it is such an important network for the developing countries in Africa …
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The Digital Divide is synonymous with the lack of capacities in connectivity, bandwidth and computers in all sectors and also especially in the education system. SchoolNet Africa is an organisation that aims to build capacities, to develop structures and to foster digital skills. SchoolNet Africa's vision is for the development of all of Africa's children and youth through access to quality education, information, and knowledge on the basis of their effective use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). The mission is to support national SchoolNets throughout Africa by mobilizing resources and building effective partnerships.
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It started with an initial summer course at Kenyatta University Nairobi in July 1997. Today the African Virtual University (AVU) is an independent organisation with 57 Learning Centers in 27 African countries. The AVU trains world-class computer scientists, technicians, business managers, and other professionals to support economic and social development in Africa.
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