Interview with Dr. Grace Ongile, Chief Executive Officer, NEPAD Kenya (eLA 2007)

Dr. Grace Atieno Ongile joined the NEPAD Kenya Secretariat as Chief Executive Officer in 2005. She holds a Doctorate from the University of Manchester, UK. Since joining NEPAD, she has coordinated the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) process in Kenya and contributed to the Kenya APRM Self-Assessment Report. Her recent work also includes coordination of a research program on "International Trade and Gender in East Africa", which took place from 1999 to 2004.

From 1999-2005, Dr. Ongile worked as a Senior Programme Officer, Eastern and Southern Africa, The African Capacity Building Foundation, Harare, (ACBF) Zimbabwe, where she successfully managed ACBF projects in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Botswana, Malawi and Zimbabwe. During her six years at the ACBF, she gained vast practical experience.

www.nepadkenya.org

eLA: What is your future vision of eLearning for your country?

Grace Ongile: I would want ICT to be integrated into all levels of institutions in the country in both the private and public sectors. It is estimated that in Kenya, Internet penetration is 4.4%. We have more than 1000 cyber cafes, computer penetration of 2%, television penetration of 60%, radio penetration of 90%, and mobile phone penetration of 16%. Unfortunately, these statistics indicate that Kenya is lagging behind many countries in these technological indicators.

At NEPAD, we recognize that ICTs are indispensable in the process of becoming part of the global information and knowledge society. These technologies are essential and necessary to enhance the possible benefits that developing countries such as Kenya can achieve from integrating ICTs into national structures to ensure sustainable development. eLearning, which aims to mainstream the use of ICTs in teaching and learning, will provide greater access to education and learning as well as impact greatly on the administration of schools, thereby improving on efficiency and effectiveness of the schools.

eLA: Which levels of ICT skills should people in Kenya be able to achieve in the course of the next ten years?

Grace Ongile: I would first like to point out that the African continent is where the digital divide is most pronounced. To bridge this divide, the African population should be made aware of existing technologies that are available. Other than providing the Kenyan population with the basic skills of computing, which is something that should be carried out over the next ten years, I would suggest we take it even further and create more awareness of the existing technologies. This would go further toward extending the interest that is already within the Kenyan population, who are yearning to be even more involved and part of the information society. By providing basic ICT Skills to Kenyans, we can move a step forward in achieving sustainable development, enabling everyone to access and share information.

eLA: What does your organisation do to help turn these visions into reality?

Grace Ongile: My organization has a programme called the NEPAD e-Schools project, which is carried out in a partnership between the Ministry of Education and the private sector, such as the Microsoft and Oracle Consortium. The programme focuses on providing end-to-end ICT solutions that will connect schools across Kenya through the provision of Internet solutions and also includes components of digital content and e-Health.

In the NEPAD spirit of partnerships, several workshops have been held in conjunction with the Ministry of Education to provide some guidance on how the teachers, who are the backbone of the e-Schools project, can effectively and efficiently make use of ICTs in teaching an learning.

The e-Schools project is one of the key ICT projects within the NEPAD ICT Framework, as it envisions imparting ICT skills to the youth, who are the leaders of tomorrow, so as to enable them to participate actively in the knowledge economy and information society.

eLA: What is the situation of your eLearning flagship projects?

Grace Ongile: We have been running the above-mentioned project at its pilot or “demo” phase as we prefer to call it, and it has been very successful. The project has provided a lot of substantial experience on implementation of ICT in the education sector. The Ministry of Education has given the NEPAD Kenya secretariat a lot of support for this project and has selected and released funds to 142 schools, which will be modeled as e-Schools. All this has been done in the spirit of making all the 4000 secondary schools e-enabled.

eLA: What kind of partners are you looking for in order to succeed?

Grace Ongile: NEPAD works in partnership with the private sector, civil society, and the international community to achieve its objectives. The sort of partners we are looking for are those that can support the NEPAD vision not only with financial support but also with intellectual, material and organizational support. The vision of NEPAD is to have as many Kenyans as possible - and especially the youth - ICT literate. To achieve this vision, we all have to work together to build an inclusive information society. It often means using available technology solutions that are provided either through donations or purchase.

I believe that the second eLearning Africa conference will be a great opportunity for various organizations and stakeholders to come together and find ways to create partnerships for ICT-enhanced education and training.

eLA: Ms Ongile, thank you very much for the interesting and informative input you have given us regarding NEPAD.

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