eLearning & ICT4D

Kenya ICT Sector Upbeat After Obama Win

The recent election of US President Barack Obama has elicited an unprecedented frenzy of hope across Africa. With an African-American president in office, the majority of the continent’s 750 million people anticipate a new dawn in the realm of socio-economic and political affairs. Already, there is an emerging view that US relations with Africa are due to improve dramatically. And pointedly, during his inauguration, President Obama promised a radical shift in terms of America’s relationship with foreign allies. He called for new terms of engagement based on mutual trust to spur fruitful cooperation on all fronts to the benefit of all. In Kenya, leading ICT stakeholders met with government officials on Tuesday this week to discuss the future of the country’s ICT sector. Reuben Kyama reports from Nairobi.

According to Prof Macharia Munene, a leading scholar and professor of International Relations at the Nairobi-based United States International University (USIU), Africa is presented with a window of opportunity under the Obama presidency. “It can actively engage with the US and cement foreign, military and trade ties for the sake of her future posterity,” he says.

But experts are upbeat about the possible windfall the developing countries will reap if the US develops favourable policies for the world’s most impoverished continent. Many say they see the growth of key sectors, like emerging information technology, moving onto a fast track in the days ahead.

Paul Kukubo, the Chief Executive Officer of the Kenya ICT Board, argues that the East African nation, which boasts 37 million inhabitants, is enjoying a refreshed outlook on the future of ICT and eLearning as it develops a comprehensive master plan to elevate the sector, which is crucial to achieving the country’s Vision 2030 plan. Under the plan, Kenya aims at becoming a highly competitive market by the year 2030.

Challenges to be faced

However, officials admit the country will have to surmount significant hurdles that have impeded growth of the ICT industry in the region in the past. “The government must create conducive policy framework to spur investments in the ICT industry,” Kukubo told reporters in Nairobi recently. “Massive resources are required to give access of the ICT infrastructure to a critical mass of the population, specifically in rural areas and informal urban settlements,” he says.

According to Kukubo, the Kenya ICT Board has prioritised elevation of eLearning to the top of its policy discourse despite a lack of attention from policymakers in the government. The Kenyan official says that eLearning in Kenya has yet to be fully mainstreamed in the core policy formulations relating to ICT development.

But, he says, “We are encouraging partnerships with the government, donors and the private sector to fast track development of eLearning. Additional financing, as well as good governance and political goodwill, are paramount to spurring development of eLearning in Kenya.”

Kenyan government ICT strategy already put in place

However, Ms Eunice Wangari, an official of Kenya’s Ministry of Education, insists that the country has clearly defined its ICT policy, the vision of which includes creating an e-enabled and knowledge-based society by 2015.

The government, Wangari says, has underscored the need to harness eLearning resources to address educational needs of primary, secondary and tertiary institutions. She says the government is facilitating public-private partnerships to mobilise resources and support eLearning initiatives.

Such initiatives, the official hinted, have involved the establishment of a trust fund for eLearning, which has attracted big companies such as Barclays Bank and Kenya Airways. In addition, she says, Microsoft and Intel, through the NEPAD Heads of State eAfrica Commission, have funded eLearning pilot projects in seven Kenyan schools.

eLearning as an investment opportunity

Obviously, a technology-enhanced Kenya has huge potential for drawing foreign direct investments. However, analysts say the country must strengthen governance as well as regulatory structures in order to win back investor goodwill.

Inadequate funding and poor infrastructure are some of the major problems facing the development of ICT and eLearning in Kenya. Industry officials cite the lack of access to electricity in rural areas as being among the factors contributing to limited Internet connectivity.

Just like many other sub-Saharan African nations, Kenya must attract foreign firms to plug financing shortfalls in ICT development.

But officials say they are making concerted efforts. They report that a team from the Kenya ICT Board recently made a tour of Silicon Valley, California, where major US ICT transnational companies, such as Intel, promised to explore investment opportunities that would spur eLearning in the country. Likewise, the ICT Board has made inroads in cultivating partnerships with American universities to help harness a talent pool and spur ICT as well as eLearning development in Kenya.

Kenya to become an ICT hub

© Wikipedia

Kenya has made remarkable progress putting in place an ICT policy framework and
implementation strategy, complete with measurable outcomes and time frames. The
process has had the benefit of sound advice from officials and stakeholders and, perhaps more importantly, strong leadership from the office of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education. However, universal implementation is challenging, given the lack of resources, national ICT infrastructure and even electrical supply – particularly in the rural areas.

Kenya has faced many challenges in its efforts to reform its institutions and processes.
However, there has been progress: Education reforms have translated into more children in school; the incidence of HIV/AIDS has fallen from 11% to 6.1% over the last five years; and access to better water and sanitation is improving. Further, the country has recorded positive growth of the GDP (6.9% in 2007). Like many developing countries, there is a continuing population shift from rural to urban areas.

For more on ICT in education in Kenya, see the Kenya Country Report from the infoDev‑supported Survey of ICT in Education in Africa (2007):
www.infodev.org/en/Publication.354.html

“The vision of the Kenya ICT Board is to make Kenya a top-ten ICT hub globally,” says Kukubo. The Kenyan official says Obama’s name has raised Kenya’s visibility internationally, as demonstrated by increased tourism as well as a growing investor confidence. “Kenya has a chance,” he says, “to cultivate this goodwill and attract investments in the technology sector.”

During the tour of Silicon Valley, the ICT Board visited major ICT firms like Google, Microsoft and Cisco. Kukubo says that these firms are keen on exploring outsourcing opportunities presented in Kenya’s fledgling ICT industry.

He adds that the ICT Board is partnering with the US-based ICT firms, particularly Cisco and Google, to boost Kenya’s capacity in the development of local, friendly eLearning content. Kenyan industry officials agree that an Obama presidency promises closer cooperation with the US government, and Kenya’s ICT Board is keen on adopting lessons concerning e-services from the US.

The Kenyan government has promised speedy completion of an undersea cable that will bring high bandwidth and connectivity to the country. This will boost the development of eLearning content used in schools in order to impart lifelong skills among the country’s youth. “We must create incentives that will attract US firms to invest in undersea cable and other infrastructure that would boost Internet connectivity,” says Kukubo.

By Reuben Kyama and Naftali Mwaura, Nairobi, Kenya

February 5, 2009

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