The main purpose of this grant is to propel the emergent lucrative but yet underexploited local content industry to growth. The grant which targets the local content developers including software developers, film, animation, advertising, publishing, gaming and education professionals and all content creators, will provide the funding required for the development of quality applications relevant to the Kenya government and private sector.

The content grant is divided into two major sections: US$1.5Million for private sector applications and US$2.5M for government applications. The latter will be used to propel the utilization of ICTs to improve government service delivery . The government has in the past few years  firmly embraced ICT to become more efficient and responsive in the delivery of its public service – from processing ID cards, driving licenses, registration of companies, revenue collection  and currently, the digitization of records at the Ministry of Lands and the judiciary, with more government departments to follow.

The private sector grant of US$1.5M is open to firms and individuals to develop applications that would be of benefit to the general public or improve the delivery of existing private sector services. The first round of grant allocation will award a maximum of US$ 50,000 per firms and US$ 10,000 for individuals. The Kenya ICT Board expects to make at least one call for application per year over the next three years. The content funded by this grant will build capacity within the ICT sector create efficiencies, build social capital, increase utilization of ICTs by local communities and demonstrate to the world, Kenya’s talent for creation of digital content.

via Kenya ICT Board, 2 June 2010

• IFMIS rollout, interfaces and system training.
• Laying the groundwork for the introduction of new IFMIS applications.
• Communications and change management, creating greater awareness amongst government officials and the public at large about the IFMIS.
• Accounting and information technology (IT) capacity building for sustainability.
• Project implementation support.

A similar project is being prepared for Liberia. Funded by a $3,7m grant this project was approved a year ago, but has yet to publish any details.

via World e-Parliament Report 2010.

Alex Little summarising Tim Unwin at e-learning Africa in Lusaka, 28 May 2010

If you know much about agricultural extension services in rural Africa, you could have called such an ambition, well, ambitious. Traditionally, taking agricultural extension services to these farmers who live in far and hard to reach places is slow, expensive and inefficient because it is riddled with bottlenecks such as poor or no road infrastructure and few extension workers spread thin over vast areas. Grameen Foundation’s technology center had a plan – harness the power of the mobile phone, a technology that is oblivious to such bottlenecks and combine it with a network of human intermediaries that can be trained to fully leverage its capabilities for the benefit of the farmer.

In nine months of testing the concept, Grameen Foundation built recruited, retained, and provided ongoing training, support, and monitoring to 38 Community Knowledge Workers operating in two districts. The foundation partnered with 7 organizations to pool expert agricultural information onto a central database and was commissioned by three organizations, including the World Food Program, to collect grassroots data on farm conditions. Together with MTN Uganda, the country’s leading mobile network operator, the foundation prototyped, tested and deployed eight mobile applications to deliver information to and from rural farmers.

The result of all these intricacies? The network of 38 community knowledge workers reached rural farmers in more than 14,000 instances either providing information to them or interviewing them for surveys commissioned by leading players in agriculture. That is; more than 8,000 times, a farmer received livelihood improving information such as organic agricultural tips and advice developed using local knowledge, agronomic best practices as prescribed by experts, market opportunities and market prices, location and contact numbers for agricultural input dealers. On the other hand, institutional agricultural players touched based with more than 6,000 rural farmers on such crop disease incidence, potential to supply to lucrative markets like WFP and farmer’s knowledge of disease control methods.

via Lydia Namubiru, Grameen AppLab blog, 20 May 2010.

The soil map will be available for free on the internet, and continually updated. The high resolution of the map means that farmers will have the possibility to zoom in to see the condition of the soil on their land. The project team are also looking at other ways to make the data available, via mobile phones, for example. Farmers and extension services would be able to directly access specific information for their location, and use the proven methods to develop the land and improve harvests in that area.

The project, led by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) in Nairobi, Kenya, is collecting data that will also address issues of food security, environmental degradation, and climate change in sub-Saharan Africa.

There is very little existing soil data for sub-Saharan Africa. Few results from previous soil surveys came with sufficient location information. Also, the testing methods varied greatly, and the interpretation of the results was not always reliable, making it difficult to compare the data from the different sources. One objective of the AfSIS research, therefore, is to develop a baseline – an overview against which future results can be compared – using standardized tests and procedures. By applying an agreed process of sampling and analysis, the scientists will be able to build up a comprehensive picture of soil health and degradation in an area of sub-Saharan Africa covering 42 countries and more than 18 million square km.

Part of this testing procedure is to take physical samples of soil from selected sites. AfSIS has identified 60 locations, known as sentinel sites, each 100 square km in size. Three sub-regional field offices are responsible for coordinating the collection of samples. The Agricultural Research Institute in Arusha, Tanzania, is responsible for the survey sites in East Africa, the Agricultural Research Service in Lilongwe, Malawi, covers Southern Africa, while samples in West Africa are handled by the Institut d’Economie Rural in Bamako, Mali. Each organization will establish a regional soil testing laboratory with the necessary equipment and an internet connection to link all the centres.

Sending field workers to remote, randomly chosen locations to scoop samples of soil is very time-consuming. AfSIS expects that, in the four-year term of the project, each regional centre will concentrate on five sentinel sites per year, spending an average of two months to collect 32 soil samples from each location. The laboratories will then analyze the samples using infra-red spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction to determine the soil composition.

The field workers use handheld PDA devices fitted with GPS receivers to document the exact location of where the soil sample was taken. The field workers can store a backup of the data on external hard drives while still at the site, and then transmit the information to the main data repositories at the World Agroforestry Centre and the Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility Institute, both based in Nairobi, Kenya.

The results of the studies, coupled with their respective location coordinates, are added to the soil map. The map can then provide information on the properties of different soil types across the continent, including details on the water filtration rates and capacity of the soil to produce crops and store essential nutrients. It will show the prevalence of minerals that can limit crop productivity, such as high levels of aluminium or low carbon concentrations, and give recommendations on improving soil fertility depending on location.

Remote sensing technology and the analysis of high-resolution satellite imagery provide further details on soil moisture, nutrients and organic content. This information also gives a broader overview of soil properties in places that have not been sampled. The project team can use the extra data to predict with great accuracy the condition of soil over large areas. The map can show the properties of soil throughout the continent in blocks representing areas of land measuring 90 x 90 metres. This gives the map a resolution 100 times greater than any previous soil map.

The AfSIS team expects that their data will also be used to develop national and international policies for improving soil quality. Governments and agricultural research centres will be able to use the information to provide targeted soil management programmes which would, for example, organize the supply and assess potential uses of fertilizers.

The main beneficiaries in the initial research stages of the AfSIS project, however, are likely to be the national soil and agricultural laboratories, and African universities. Many of these institutions have been underfunded in recent years, while admissions to soil science courses in African universities have fallen dramatically, even at the undergraduate level. AfSIS will provide many opportunities for field training at the sentinel sites and other soil management locations, and will supervise a number of postgraduate students at several African universities.

The project will fill the current gap in soil information to help farmers maximize the use of their land, and to assist agronomists and extension agents to plan and develop methods for improving soil fertility. Information gathered by AfSIS will also be used in a wider international effort to produce a digital map of the world’s soil resources as part of the Global Digital Soil Properties Map initiative. Scientists from soil information and agricultural development institutes in Mexico, Canada and the US are cooperating with the AfSIS team to produce the global map.

The soil map website and systems to deliver the information to mobile phones will ensure that the data collected can reach the complete spectrum of people involved in farming in Africa. National agricultural research centres will continue to collect and add new data, public and private extension services will customize their training programmes, and national and local government departments can adopt appropriate policies to assist rural communities. All of which will combine to give small-scale farmers broad support and access to detailed advice on how to improve their crop productivity and profits.

via ICT Update from the EU Technical Centre for Agriculture, Issue 54, April 2010

1. To facilitate Internet policy discussions on a multi-stakeholder platform for issues relating to the development and the governance of the Internet in West Africa.
2. To increase awareness of Internet governance issues in West Africa
3. To facilitate the participation of a broad range of West African stakeholders in the IGF process.
4. To create an opportunity for West Africans to engage in/contribute towards discussions regarding spam, Internet and Security, and other IGF related issues at the global Internet Governance Forum.
5. To create a systematic, bottom up, national, regional and global policy dialogue process in West Africa.

via FOSSFA on 27 May 2020

Laboratories are currently the weakest link in the region’s public health defenses, seriously hindering each country’s ability to confirm and respond in a coordinated manner to disease outbreaks. By bolstering diagnostic and surveillance capacities, the new multi-country laboratory network will help to identify potentially devastating disease outbreaks at an early stage, enabling countries to act quickly to prevent the rapid spread of diseases across borders. Communicating outbreak-related information across national borders in real time is more important than ever before, as labor mobility is likely to increase shortly with the establishment of the East African Community common market and with growing global travel.

The network will also support the roll-out of new technology for drug resistance monitoring and more efficient tuberculosis diagnosis, most notably for people living with HIV/AIDS. Greater access to diagnostic services is expected to significantly contribute to improved health outcomes, and ultimately to attaining the Millennium Development Goals.

via World Bank Press Release, 25 May 2010

“Let’s face it: Africa is on the downward slope to perdition as far as technology is concerned.

Many people who are not directly confronted with this reality on the continent are usually lured into a false sense that things are looking up because of the fountain of good news that is the telecom sector.

The truth though is that the seeming proliferation of ICT success stories across the continent masks the real picture, which is one of a splattering of embers in a desolate patch of darkness.

…

So what am I saying: that Africa is a basket case when it comes to technology? Yes, it is so at the moment. But the more interesting point is that it needs not be for long.

As the brilliance of many individual African innovators and initiatives too numerous to recount here clearly demonstrate, both at home and in the diaspora, there is no shortage of raw talent or raw opportunities. The problem is the integration of prospects. There is a lack of strong feeling that the continent’s abysmal performance in the global competition for technology resources is anywhere as important as its creaky infrastructure or its burdensome colonially-inherited socio-political architectures.

Yet the unexamined anti-technology cultures and attitudes may well be the black hole of development on the continent. A vast, but unseen, force that imperceptibly draws in large quantities of opportunities and pulverise them into the depths. A source of irresistible gravitational currents that mould and set the course of all the other systems in Africa’s galaxies of woes.

Technology is not merely a catalogue of tools. It is a culture and a mindset. It is an approach to getting ahead, taking over, making do, reaching out, and thinking through. A worldview animated by technology is a counterpoint to one decorated by mythology. No one argues that mythology can’t be beautiful. Mythology requires as much creative and persuasive power to get right as technology since it also requires social buy-in. But where we are interested in poverty-busting development, I bet you, dear readers, that in any prudent society technology must come up tops.

Africa better makes up its mind, and we ain’t got all century either.”

I’m not quite sure where these “anti-technology cultures” come from. Technology might be under-resourced, under-prioritised, over-looked, insufficiently-understood. But rejected?

via AshokaTECH on 20 May 2010

Accenture had recruited a team of international experts from the UK, USA, Spain, Portugal, South Africa and other countries numbering about 22 people that were paid fees ranging from P18 000 to P36 000 a day ($2,400-4,800) each.

Dubbed the National Programme Implementation Coordination (NPIC), the project required local presence with a clearly defined citizen empowerment component. The system was projected to go live on January 2, 2010. Under the contract, Accenture was required to: Design the framework for implementation and coordination of policy related programmes and projects; design a monitoring and evaluation strategy and model; design and implement a programme management office; and design and implement an effective project management system – software application. They were also expected to implement a system for trouble-shooting and training. The company was also expected to draw up a strategy for the coordination of government programmes; conduct a detailed review of the current ICT systems used by government in issues related to projects; as well as advise on the best way to ensure systems' ability to link with one another; as well as review reporting formats in government. The project would link together government programmes within parastatals, NGOs, government departments and the private sector.

It is understood that last year GICO told the Public Procurement & Asset Disposal Board (PPADB) that the consultants had advised a change in the scope of the project – a second phase – to provide an alternative geographical information system (GIS) solution and office accommodation for the consultants, at additional cost. PPADB was given the impression that Accenture would be allowed to execute this second phase also without it going through a competitive bid on the grounds that the Company had demonstrated knowledge and expertise of the subject.

The Gazette learnt that recently GICO’s new management decided not to continue with the roll out of the project and cancelled the contract; the reasons for cancellation have not been published but it is rumored that GICO was worried about the escalating cost of the project. According to information received by The Gazette one other bone of contention when the project was initially advertised was that potential applicants were let in on the budget for the project – P55 million, excluding contingencies. It is understood that some government officials queried that the tender guided potential bidders on the money that was available for the project. The winning tender quoted just under P55 million.

via The Botswana Gazette on 20 May 2010, reported on Affiliated Network for Social Accountability (ANSA-Africa).