The NEPAD Journey Continues...
6/12/2007
Phase one moves full steam ahead with students in four additional countries now empowered with ICT solutions.
Some of you may recall last September’s article about work we have done with the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) e-Schools Initiative, which aims to prepare Africa for the future by imparting ICT skills and knowledge to the young generation, who constitute the majority of Africa’s population, to enable them to function and participate as equals in the emerging global economy and information society of the 21st century. In September, we had just completed deployments at three schools in Uganda and hinted at other projects that were in the works. We are proud to report that our work with NEPAD has since progressed significantly, with additional deployments nearly complete in the West African countries of Burkina Faso, Senegal, Mali and Gabon!
As a leader of one of the five consortiums heading up the initiative, AMD has worked closely with NEPAD and partners to deploy technology across the continent. When this first phase is complete, the five consortiums will have enabled 96 African schools with Internet access and computing capabilities. While there are certainly many more schools to connect and empower, each step is providing incredible opportunities for students. Additionally, the knowledge we are gaining along the way about how to best bridge the digital divide in Africa is invaluable and the successes demonstrated in this phase will be rolled out as a part of a larger bid process in the second phase.
Deploying ICT solutions in schools around Africa, or anywhere else for that matter, is not as simple as bringing computers into a room and plugging everything in. In this group of deployments, we faced many challenges including limited infrastructure such as old buildings, little or no security provisions, a language barrier (Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Gabon are all French speaking countries), and intermittent access to electricity or no connection to the grid at all.
To overcome the many challenges, we worked with a comprehensive ecosystem of partners to ensure that we had the right combination of expertise to deploy labs that would be reliable and sustainable for many years to come. For example, one school in Burkina Faso was completely off the electrical grid – in this case we worked with Inveneo (www.inveneo.org), a partner that we have worked with on many other deployments in Africa, to deploy a solar solution to power the lab. Other members of our ecosystem include providers of local content, such as CompuTainer (www.computainer.com) and Learnthings (www.learnthings.co.za/) to ensure appropriate learning materials, satellite connectivity, satellite television, teacher training programs, installation, training and support.
Bringing together the right collection of partners is the same approach we have used with all of our previous 50x15 deployments, and one that continues to yield success. Many hands and minds go into a deployment, ensuring that each project will add as much benefit to the community as possible.
While fifteen more schools now have access to the world’s knowledge through the use of ICT, our work with NEPAD is not yet done. To complete the first phase of our NEPAD’s e-Schools Initiative commitment, we are off to Cameroon! What’s next you ask? You’ll have to stay tuned...
For updated information on the Uganda deployment, please visit http://www.50x15.com/uganda and download the revised Learning Lab Capsule.
Quick facts about Burkina Faso, Gabon, Mali and Senegal (as found on www.wikipedia.org):
Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa with Mali to the north, Niger to the East, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d’Ivoire to the southwest. Until 1984, this country was known as the Republic of Upper Volta, but was renamed by President Thomas Sankara to mean the “land of upright people” in Moré and Dioula, the major native languages of the country.
Gabon won its independence from France on August 17, 1960 and is officially known as the Gabonese Republic. Gabon is in West Africa and shares its borders with Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Republic of the Congo and the Gulf of Guinea. While Gabonese music may not be as well known as that coming out of regional giants like Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the country does produce a variety of folk styles. Gabonese folk instruments include the obala, the ngombi, balafon and traditional drums.
Mali is the seventh largest country on the continent of Africa. It borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the southwest, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. The names of the country and its capital city come from the fauna found in this region. Mali comes from the Bambara word for hippopotamus, and the capital city Bamako, comes from the Bambara word meaning “place of crocodiles." Although the national language is French, Bambara is the largest spoken language in Mali.
Senegal is a country of approximately 11 million people in West Africa. Senegal is situated with the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Mauritania to the north, Mali to the east and Guinea and Guinea-Bissau to the south. Due to its location on the coast, fish is an important staple in the diet. Peanuts are the main crop and popular fresh juices are made from bissap (a large genus of about 200-220 species of flowering plants), ginger, buy (the fruit of the baobab tree also known as "monkey bread fruit"), or other fruit and wild trees. Desserts are traditionally very rich and sweet, combining native ingredients with French style and extravagance.