Clement Nyirenda's blog world

India developing the largest video repository of technical lecture courses in the world

Clement Nyirenda — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 14:32:57 +0000

The National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) is creating what will become the world’s largest video repository of lecture course content in engineering and science. I stumbled on one of their video courses on Satellite Communication some few weeks ago as I was searching for some information for a paper which I am writing.

NPTEL was initiated by seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT Bombay, Delhi, Guwahati, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras and Roorkee) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc). The objective of NPTEL is to provide open course materials for engineering and science students and teachers freely. This is similar to the objective of the Open courseware project by the MIT which makes available course materials by professors of MIT freely to the rest of the world. But the NPTEL approach is tailored for the Indian situation in that it is directed towards providing learning materials in Science and Engineering by adhering to the syllabi of All India Council for Technical Education and the slightly modified curricula of major affiliating Universities. Developing countries, such as Malawi, can also customize these courses to their own circumstances. They may wish to get in touch with NPTEL to learn one lesson or two.

NPTEL intends to build a course-specific web space for each course where students, teachers and other users anywhere in India and outside would be encouraged to create threaded discussions. It is said that direct interaction among students all over the world and teachers would be encouraged through a bulletin-board approach/threaded discussions with the help of moderators who would be appointed for this purpose. The purpose is to eventually build a digital library for each subject which will include a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for the section.

Phase I of the programme was completed recently. Course materials have been developed for approximately 125 web courses and are accessible freely through the NPTEL website. The video content, composed of 110 video (approximately 4500 hours) lecture courses, is available in MPEG-4 format with a bit-rate of 512 kbps with H.264 compression for streaming through the Internet. They are accessible freely through the YouTube channel. Google Inc. has offered NPTEL free bandwidth for hosting this channel. In phase II, NPTEL will create about 400 video lecture courses (with about 16000 hours of lectures). In addition, IITs have large repositories of video lectures prepared already from their own efforts outside of NPTEL and these are also being made available as free and open educational resources for all. When this is completed, it is reported that it will become the largest video repository of technical lecture-courses in the world in the streaming video format and will be helpful to everyone who is interested in enhancing his/her learning.

Any one who has a connection to internet can access the contents freely and without any registration to the website. For viewing video lectures which are streamed with the help of YouTube, broadband connectivity is a must. However, if your connectivity is limited or you do not have broadband and if you want to get the lectures in DVD media from them, you need to pay a fee per course.

Who is Who publication for Malawians in the diaspora

Clement Nyirenda — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 13:23:41 +0000

The Malawi Government has announced that it would like to come up with a list of professionally qualified Malawians who are based abroad to comprise a Malawi Government Publication to be known as Malawi’s “WHO IS WHO”. The Malawi’s “WHO is WHO” Publication will serve as a reference document for Government in search or expertise that is not readily available, to be engaged on specialized assignments on mutually agreed terms.

The government is, therefore, inviting all professionally qualified Malawians who are resident outside Malawi to enlist themselves in the “WHO is WHO” publication by submitting personal particulars to the Department of Human Resource Management and Development. The press release from the Malawi government contains a form which one has to use in order to submit personal particulars. I can send this press release to any Malawians in the diaspora who have not yet received it. Just give me a shout if you need it.

This is an excellent development as it will enable government to utilize the unique skills that have been acquired by Malawians through their service in some of the most developed countries in the world. However, it looks like some people are not happy with the fact that the registration form includes “sensitive details” such as traditional authority and home village. Since a good number of Malawians in the diaspora fled the country during the days of the dictatorship when issues of district of origin were so sensitive, it will be difficult for such people (and their children) to supply such information. Others think that once government is armed with such information it will be easy for it to track down its critics. One wonders why government is asking for such information. Does it have any significance on a person’s professional skills? Maybe, the best way should have been to include TA and home village as optional details. Otherwise, a brilliant idea is being wrecked by petty misconceptions emanating from our past experiences.

While I agree that folks in the diaspora have unique skills, I think that we also have some highly skilled people on the ground whose skills are going unnoticed. I, therefore, would like to ask the government to make this database all-inclusive. It should just be a WHO IS WHO publication for all professionally qualified Malawians regardless of whether they are based in the diaspora or not. After all, life is dynamic. People do not remain in the same place forever. Recently, we have seen some brilliant Malawians (e.g. Dr Matthews Mtumbuka, Mr Cheke Ziba etc.) returning home and we have also seen others (names withheld for obvious reasons, ha ha ha!) going into the diaspora.

Finally, the email based method that the government is using in order to collect information is ~~archaic~~ cumbersome. Government should have engaged the services of locally based web specialists, such as my good blogger friend Austin Madinga, to develop a web-based self-registration software application for them. With such an application in place, all they would be doing is to broadcast its URL. People would then register online. Upon submitting the form, the database would be updated automatically.

Photos from the Nsima party in Tokyo, Japan

Clement Nyirenda — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:44:15 +0000

Last Saturday, I went to the Hiroo JICA office here in Tokyo where I attended the 2009 Nsima party, organized by the Malawi Society of Japan, in liaison with the Malawi Embassy, in commemoration of Malawi’s independence day, 6 July. As promised, here are the photos from the event:

Nkhuku, nsima, nyemba ndi therere

Taking some more meat, Mr Chilima from the Malawi Embassy standing beside me

With MORI, who used to work at Mikolongwe, and ISHIDA, who used to work in Senga Bay.

With MORI and MIKEKA

Chatting with friends

Most of the participants were former JICA volunteers in Malawi

My daughter Uchindami (Glory) doing the Japanese peace (heiwa) sign

Zimatha CHILIMA, Chomora MIKEKA and Uchindami NYIRENDA

The 2009 Nsima party in Tokyo, Japan

Clement Nyirenda — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:08:23 +0000

In order to commemorate Malawi’s Independence day, 6 July, the Malawi Society of Japan has organized the Nsima party in liaison with Malawi Embassy in Japan. The Malawi Society of Japan is a group of Japanese people who have worked in Malawi at differnt times since Malawi’s independence in 1964. The party will take place at JICA Hiroo Centre (Chikyu Hiroba, i.e. Global Plaza) in Tokyo on 4 July, 2009 from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. It will be preceded by a seminar from 2:00pm to 3:00pm.

I really enjoyed last year’s Nsima party. I also made a lot of friends (both Japanese and Malawian). Since I came to Japan, that is the only place where I ate nsima. Otherwise I always eat rice, chips, ramen, spaghetti etc. A Hiroshima based friend gave me the details of a maize flour shop only a few weeks ago. I am yet to buy my own bag of maize flour, the ingredient that we use in order to prepare nsima. If you wish to learn more about nsima, visit this page.

Of late, my postings have somehow become erratic because I am too busy with my research. But I will make sure that I do not miss the party this Saturday. I will go down there with my family and I hope that we will have a great time.

Steel rolling factory opens in Malawi

Clement Nyirenda — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 03:51:04 +0000

Malawi, the Warm Heart of Africa

The Daily Times is reporting that a new steel rolling factory worth K1 billion, that uses recycled scrap metal to manufacture steel bars, has opened at Makata industrial site in Blantyre, Malawi.The company, called Malawi Iron and Steel Corporation Limited (Miscor), is born out of the premises and left-over equipment of former Agrimal and Encor Products companies, formerly owned by the defunct parastatal Malawi Development Corporation.

The company has already provided employment to 250 people, including former employees of Agrimal and Encor. It will be producing between 15,000 and 20,000 tonnes of steel bars a year.This industry is the first of its kind in the country. Twelve employees of the company were early this month sent for training to steel rolling mills in Kenya and India. The steel bars produced by Miscor would mainly be used by the construction industry in the country. Miscor Managing Director Jayesh Patel said the company would initially target the local market but would start exploring the export market as part of its growth plan.

This is a good development in a number of ways. Idle premises and equipment left over by Agrimal and Encor are being reused. Folks who lost their jobs due to the closure of Agrimal and Encor have been re-employed. New jobs are being created. By sending their employees to other countries for training in steel rolling, Miscor is equipping them with the much needed technical skills, which is good for the country. Infrastructure projects will now get their steel bars locally. Last but not least, Miscor is using recycled scrap metal, which is good for the environment.

Africa Bags killing two birds with one stone

Clement Nyirenda — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 06:24:54 +0000

In her talk at the recent NYU Development Research Institute conference on What Would the Poor Say: Debates in Aid Evaluation in New York City, June Arungo, Director of Corporate Affairs at BSL, said that the aid industry is responsible for human resource diversion in Africa. She further pointed out that it is very easy to start an NGO in Africa; all you need to do is to know how to write a proposal. I entirely agree with June on this issue. In addition, most NGOs founded in this way do not really have the interest of the poor people at heart. They serve as an easy way for the founders to enrich themselves. They go for quick fix solutions which do not equip the people for long term self sufficiency. One wonders why donors continue to give such NGOs more money.

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” — Lao Tsu

I am fascinated by NGOs which are not founded based on buzzwords of the day, but rather based on passion for the poor. Such NGOs will always strive to equip Africans with lifelong skills that will lead to their financial independence long after the work of the NGOs is over. I encourage donors to pour more money into such NGOs. Africa Bags, which was started by Todd and Holly Petitt in 2007, quintessentially belongs to this category. Instead of giving poor people charity, Africa Bags gives them a chance to help themselves.

Africa Bags entered into the villages of Kamweko, Viweme, and Nkhata Bay in Malawi and introduced the production of reusable cloth shopping bags. The villages were provided with foot powered treadle sewing machines, cloth and all other items needed to make the bags. They trained small groups from each village to operate the treadle sewing machines. Each bag is signed by the village that created it. These bags are being sold in the US with 100 percent of the proceeds returning to the people in Malawi who made them.

Two years later, the project is having a great impact on the villages involved, with more than 4,000 bags sold in the United States last year. In the five villages that currently participating in the the program, many have used the proceeds from the bags to create community funds that help sustain the village. Some of these projects include raising chickens and selling the eggs, starting a garden to feed orphans and offering micro-loans so others can start businesses. Apart from bags, Africa Bags is also selling numerous wood carvings, paintings and jewelry that have been hand made in Malawi, thereby further diversifying the income sources for the people.

By promoting the use of reusable cloth bags, Africa Bags is literally killing two birds with one stone. Increased use of the cloth bags will reduce the use of plastic bags which are characterized by a wide range of environmental problems.

This must stop!

So by buying an Africa Bag, you will help to economically empower the poor people in Malawi while at the same time helping to reduce environmental degradation. If you are in USA, you can buy these bags from retailers.

One of the bags

Apart from bags, you can also buy handmade art works, and promotional materials such as Africa Bag bumper stickers, calendars, shirts and hats. You can also make a contribution towards the following developments:

The building of a second Community Development Centre at Viweme Village: The first one was built at Kaweko village.The new center will be constructed by the members of the Viweme village. The bricks will be hand made. This building will not only be used as a center for the production of Africa Bags, but also for other important community development programs including a preschool to help local orphans prepare for primary school. This will be a location for school children to study, community members to have meetings, educational seminars on subjects such as AIDS awareness.
Sponsoring a new village startup: Donations will provide a new village with a treadle sewing machine, cloth for the first 200 bags, training of the new village, and a sewing kit.
Buying a roll of cloth: A roll will make approximately 130 bags. By buying this cloth, higher profits will be returned to the villages.
Giving scholarships: Primary school in Malawi is free. Secondary school is not and is many times the end of education for children. This is especially true for girls. If a girl cannot afford to go to school she is expected to find a husband and to start a family. By donating a scholarship you can put a girl through secondary school for a year.
Buying a treadle powered sewing machine: By adding another treadle to a village, it will increase the number of bags that can be made each month.

Mobile Money service thrives in East Africa.When will it come to Malawi?

Clement Nyirenda — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 20:40:45 +0000

Lives of thousands and thousands of poor people in the rural areas of Kenya are being transformed because of M-PESA, a service that allows users to transfer money using a mobile phone. M-PESA (M for Mobile and PESA for money in Swahili), operated by Safaricom, Kenya’s leading mobile operator, is tailored for mobile customers who do not have a bank account, typically because they do not have access to a bank (in rural areas) or because they do not have sufficient income to justify a bank account (those who are living on less than one dollar).

Anyone who has a Safaricom mobile number can register at an authorised M-PESA Agent. Once registered, customers can put money into their account by depositing cash at a local agent; send money to other mobile phone users by SMS instruction, even if they are not Safaricom subscribers; withdraw cash at local agent; and buy Safaricom airtime for themselves or other subscribers.

M-PESA is a phenomenon. It has grown very quickly, hitting 6.5 million subscribers by May 2009 with 2 million daily transactions.Banks, which, like elsewhere, are characterized by lots of hidden charges, became concerned with the rise of MPESA such that in December of 2008, they reportedly lobbied the Kenyan finance minister to audit M-PESA, in an effort to kill MPESA. This ploy failed, as the audit found that the service was robust. As of now, MPESA continues to grow and is signing up new customers at an enormous rate. Their charges seem to be reasonable. MPESA now intends to launch an international money transfer service through their network. They are targeting African diaspora remittances. Driven by success in Kenya, Vodacom, which, like Safaricom, is an affiliate of Vodafone, launched MPESA in Tanzania in April 2008.

In an effort not be outdone by its rival, Zain Kenya, launched its Zap mobile money transfer services. A Kenyan blogger, Moses Kemibaro reports that

Zap’s charges are only Kes. 10.00 for ALL money transfers up to a limit of Kes. 35,000.00 whereas Safaricom transaction fees range from Kes. 30.00 to Kes. 400.00 depending on the amount of money being transferred. Zain expects to expand the use of Zap to the payment of goods and services that is currently used to only a very limited extent via Safaricom’s M-Pesa.

Zain has also launched its Zap service in Tanzania and Uganda. It is being reported that it is planning to bring Zap to all of its 22 operations across Middle East and Africa. But it has not announced when it plans to extend the service to its other subsidiaries.

I made some effort to find out from friends in Malawi the prospects of Zain launching their Zap service in Malawi in the near future. From the unofficial reports that I am getting, Zain is facing regulatory hurdles from the Central Bank. This is, however, not strange because Zain faced the same problems in Kenya.

In order to ensure that Malawi is not left behind in this revolution, the authorities at the Central Bank in Malawi have to borrow a leaf from their counterparts in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda as soon as possible. If Kenyans, Tanzanians and Ugandans can do it, we can also do it.

Old phones save lives in developing countries

Clement Nyirenda — Sat, 30 May 2009 01:13:10 +0000

Last summer, Josh Nesbit, a student of international health and bioethics at Stanford University, and his friends came up with an interesting system that uses mobile technology in the delivery of health care in low resource settings. This system was first implemented at tiny St. Gabriel’s Hospital in Namitete, Malawi, in order to better serve the quarter million people living in the surrounding 100-mile radius. The system relies on SMS, or text messaging, plus a single laptop using a GSM modem and running FrontlineSMS, a free mass messaging program to non-profits.

Community volunteer health workers, from different areas within the hospital’s catchment area, were given cell phones notched with identifying numbers and loaded with prepaid airtime credit for communicating with the hospital. Some of the volunteers were using cell phones for the very first time. $500 was allocated as the annual budget for messages (10 cents per = 5,000). An administrator manning the laptop back at the hospital could send (or forward) messages to all (or some) of the field workers. The volunteers could report on the condition of patients, or spare a home-care nurse a wasted trip to see a patient who’s not at home. If a volunteer sent a message with a drug name, the system automatically kicked back the correct dosage and other information.

In just six months, 150 patients received emergency care, community health workers saved 1,000 hours of travel time which they used to visit more patients, the number of people being treated for Tuberculosis (TB) doubled, and the hospital saved $3,500 worth of fuel which was used to purchase medication.

Health workers trained to text message and a nurse responding to an emergency care request - Source:hopephones.org

Motivated by success in Malawi, Nesbit and his friends now want to scale up the project and duplicate it in Bangladesh, Burundi, Honduras, Uganda, Lesotho and additional clinics in Malawi. They need lots of phones in order to achieve this. They need your help to collect phones for clinics and community health workers who need them most. The Hope Phones campaign which was launched last Monday has now collected over 700 phones.

Apart from donating your old phones, you can help by spreading the word, tweeting, emailing info@hopephones.org to get involved etc. If you’d like to start up a program at your school or workplace, they would also love to hear form you.