Tunafunga Pamoja

Written by: Cleopa Otieno

Through the Government of Kenya’s state corporation, Kenya ICT Board, in collaboration with the World Bank is rolling out a massive 300 information centers - the digital villages. Ten of these will be up and running by the end of this year. These efforts are geared towards enabling the citizens to easily access government and general information for development. Priority is given to rural and disadvantaged areas.

What is a digital village?

Digital villages are telecentres, information centers, or e-centres which provide a suite of services to the public via computers, internet, digital cameras, printers, fax machines and other communication infrastructure.

Among issues to be addressed by the DVs, which will be operated through a franchise model called ‘Pasha’ Villages (‘Pasha’ is a Swahili word for disseminate) include:

• Adoption and diffusion of IT and rate of uptake
• Attaining Millennium Development Goals through ICT
• IT ethics and development
• IT and the emergence of the knowledge society
• IT infrastructure for public administration and reform [legal framework, human resource development
  (HRD) frameworks]
• eGovernance for good government (eGovernment, eDemocracy and eBusiness)
• Innovations in capacity building for ICT development (education in IT, skills for ICT development)
• IT strategies for development (national and sectoral)
• Cyber-security

These among others will be the focus of this timely initiative. This will boost Kenya’s plan to operate a 24 hr economy and be felt across board. ICT and Business can also be addressed through the following ways:

• Procurement: public procurement information systems
• Metropolitan growth and Global Information Systems (GIS)
• Sourcing strategies: net sourcing
• Outsourcing web enabled strategies
• Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) access to public procurement systems
• Open sourcing, online communities
• E-Commerce Security
• Uptake of ICTs on micro-enterprises and their effect on the economy

Written by: Cleopa Otieno

Sadiki Mwita is a clinical officer with the St. Paul’s Health Centre which is an initiative of the Ugunja Community Resource Centre (UCRC). His is an interesting case of how ICT training at the UCRC is changing lives through a Microsoft Unlimited Potential (UP) grant. Having spent a better part of his life in the neighboring country of Tanzania before relocating to Kenya, he had not interacted with computers much all his life. He studied and obtained a Diploma in clinical medicine and surgery from Maswa Clinical Officers Training College in Tanzania.

In Tanzania, Kiswahili is the national and dominant language. In fact, most subjects at school are taught in Kiswahili. Sadiki was therefore more comfortable with Kiswahili than English when he started his computer classes at the UCRC. His major fear was the fact that the whole training would be conducted in English. Sadiki overcame this challenge and successfully finished his training.

Finishing the free Microsoft sponsored UP computer training and becoming computer literate was indeed an achievement in his life. But it didn’t end there, what followed was more interest and exploitation of his potential and a vision of unlimited opportunities that would come his way. He then searched the Internet and enrolled in an online dental assistant course from Penn Foster Career School in the United States. Since he didn’t have access to a credit card for payment online, he discussed an alternative with the institution and has been remitting $100 monthly through Western Union money transfers for his fees. Indeed, Sadiki has exploited his unlimited potential through his use of the Internet.

He is now looking at the possibility of telemedicine! with this he hopes to offer services that are not offered at the health center by involving professionals from other parts of the world. His newest challenge is overcoming poor connectivity, which is something he has been wrestling with since he started his was going to school online.

Written by: Brian Herbert

Rising from the ashes of post-election violence in January this year, the government of Kenya has come up with a plan to improve economic development over the next couple of decades. Vision 2030 is a forward looking plan to increase the already high gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 6.1% to 10% per year starting in 2012. Ultimately, with Vision 2030 put to action, Kenya will be propelled into the ranks of other high-growth countries like Singapore, Dubai and Malaysia.

These ambitious goals will be obtained by focusing on the improvement of a number of areas from security to energy and infrastructure to science, technology and innovation. What exactly does this mean for technology in Kenya and East Africa as a whole?

Infrastructure is one of the major areas slated for improvement under the vision.  This is going to include making significant improvements to roads, railways, seaports, airports, water, sanitation and telecommunications.  Telecommunications aside, improved transportation and more reliable shipping methods will reduce risk significantly for both corporations and individuals who choose to start a new business.  The benefits of having a dependable telecommunications network are obvious.  The ability to access networks virtually 24/7 is paramount to the success of any economic growth plan.

Currently in rural towns and villages, the Internet can be difficult to come by.  Outside of urban areas like Nairobi and Kisumu, getting to an Internet Cafe is a challenge because they must rely on questionable satellite internet service providers and they are simply located few and far between.  This improvement in infrastructure will need to encompass smaller towns like Ugunja, Kitui and others for Vision 2030 to be a success.

Something that has helped many Southeast Asian countries like South Korea and China has been their ability to provide services to more developed countries like the United States, Britain and others.  With reliable telecommunications, Kenya will be able to develop a Business Process Offshoring (BPO) sector. By 2012, the plan calls for at least 7,500 BPO jobs to be created, increasing the GDP by KShs10 billion (roughly $145 billion US).

The BPO project will be sustained by attracting top multinational companies that will in turn boost confidence in the ability for other companies to do business in Kenya.  The plan also introduces the establishment of a designated BPO park in Nairobi that will be supported by world-class facilities and the most reliable infrastructure.  Because of these efforts, more companies will consider establishing offshore operations there.

Technological solutions touch virtually every aspect of Vision 2030.  They include the utilization of communication technology to improve security, exploitation of clean geothermal energy for power, training citizens in technical fields and creating incentives for research and development.

Vision 2030 looks like a great plan to improve the lives of Kenyans and help Kenya to maintain its status as a champion in East Africa. It will be interesting to watch how well the Kenyans implement their grand vision.