The Soul Beat 180 - ICTs in Africa
In this issue of The Soul Beat:
- Experiences in using ICTs FOR HEALTH...
- Contribute to UNESCO WSIS VIDEOS...
- Placing ICTs IN THE HANDS OF WOMEN AND GIRLS...
- Information about MEDIA, DEMOCRACY, AND ICTs...
- SEARCHING Soul Beat Africa...
- The role of ICTs IN DEVELOPMENT...
- ICT-related EVENTS...
This edition of The Soul Beat includes information about programme experiences, strategic thinking, and resources related to information and communication technologies (ICTs) for development. Though ICTs have broad uses across the continent, this issue focuses on ICTs related to health, women and girls, democracy, and development, as well as ICT-related events.
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1. iHRIS Software to Track Health Workers in Botswana
In June 2011, Botswana's Ministry of Health began partnering with CapacityPlus to implement iHRIS Manage, CapacityPlus' free, open source software (OSS) designed to maintain information on health worker deployment and attrition. The goal of the programme is to track all health workers in Botswana, what districts they work in, and what cadre they belong to, in order to ensure that the right provider is at the right place with the right skills. Organisers say that, by using iHRIS Manage, decision-makers at the Ministry of Health, district health office, or health care facility can collect, manage, and analyse detailed information about employed health workers and applications. Because it is open source, it can be modified to meet a specific country's or organisation's needs.
2. Using SMS for HIV/AIDS Education and to Expand the Use of HIV Testing and Counselling Services at the AIDS Information Centre (AIC) Uganda
By Bas Hoefman and Bonny Apunyu
This report presents the findings of a study conducted by Text to Change and Deuttscher Entwicklungsdienst (DED) that used SMS (text) messages in an effort to improve HIV/AIDS knowledge levels and contribute to an increase in the number of people going for HIV counselling and testing (HCT) services in the Lira district of Uganda. According to the report, SMS is a feasible tool that connects users, allowing for the exchange of vital information and expert opinions in near real-time. SMS provides a trusted resource for asking time-sensitive questions, while providing an anonymous forum for gaining insights on potentially sensitive subjects. The authors say that over 8,000 unique phone numbers subscribed for participation, and just over 7,000 responded to an SMS message.
3. Kiss Malaria Goodbye - South Africa
Launched in 2011, Kiss Malaria Goodbye is an initiative implemented by Doctors Without Borders in South Africa that works to raise awareness, support, and funds for malaria treatment and eradication activities in Africa, particularly artemisinen-based combination therapy and malaria rapid diagnostic tests. The initiative uses new technologies such as SMS and online social networking platforms to encourage people to record videos or photos of kisses as part of the message to "Kiss Malaria Goodbye". The site includes key information about malaria prevention in Africa, as well as a summary of Doctors Without Borders' work in Africa. The website also includes links to both the Twitter and Facebook pages for the campaign.
4. Rapid Android for Malaria Prevention - Nigeria
This programme uses a new software application for Google's Android mobile phone operating system that turns the mobile device into a high-speed data collector and analyser to help relief workers get information and distribute aid more quickly. The application, called Rapid Android, was developed by the United Nations Children's Fund's (UNICEF) Innovations Unit with tech-for-change developer Dimagi. In January 2008, the programme was launched in Nigeria to help the World Bank, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and other partners monitor the deployment of bed nets for malaria prevention. Rapid Android is a version of RapidSMS, an open source version of instant messaging software that is designed for the Android operating system specifically. This means that there is no longer any need for a server or complicated computer hardware, or even a specialised technician, to get a RapidSMS system up and running.
5. Mpilonhle Mobile Health and Education Project
Launched in 2008, the Mpilonhle Mobile Health and Education Project, implemented by Mpilonhle (which means "Good Life" in Zulu) and the Health and Human Development (HHD) Division of the Education Development Centre (EDC), uses mobile units to provide health information and services and education programmes to rural schools and communities in the province of KwaZulu Natal in South Africa. The programmes are designed to: help prevent HIV and promote general health; provide medical and social services; and develop computer-based skills and knowledge. Each mobile unit includes a computer laboratory equipped with 24 computers which are available to students during the day, after hours, on weekends, and during school holidays. The students receive structured computer training, which includes guidance about how to use the computer, as well as basic software, email, and internet skills.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is calling for contributions of short video messages (up to 3 minutes) to be used as part of an online discussion taking place on UNESCO's social networking website, WSIS Platform of Communities. The videos should respond to the questions of what you see as the major contribution brought by ICTs, and how you would like to see the WSIS review conducted. Videos will be used to help shape an action plan towards the organisation of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) +10 meeting.
Deadline for submission is September 1, 2011.
To participate, click here to visit the WSIS Community.
ICTs IN THE HANDS OF WOMEN AND GIRLS
6. Bring Voices in from the Margins Project
Launched in September 2009 by the Creative Centre for Communication and Development (CCCD) with funding from the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC), Bring Voices in from the Margins was a 12-month communication rights programme designed to empower marginalised and vulnerable women in Zimbabwe through training in communication skills and ICTs. The project worked to assist participants to express their needs through effective communication, thereby facilitating better participation in their own development. According to the organisers, beyond the training activities, the makeshift computer lab became a popular meeting place for women and girls, where they could freely have discussions with their peers and share their concerns, give advice, and motivate each other.
7. Cell Phones Help Save the Lives of Mothers, Infants and Children
According to this article published in November 2010 on the Global Health Council website, simple technology like cellphones can be used to save the lives of mothers in childbirth and improve the care of newborns and children, reaching underserved populations in remote areas. "The potential for the rapid spread of mobile technology suggests it will help those countries that lag behind, many of them in sub-Saharan Africa, in meeting the MDGs....mHealth has the ability to support those goals by improving information and communication for mothers, providers and administrators."
8. Because I am a Girl: The State of the World?s Girls: Digital and Urban Frontiers 2010
By Nikki van der Gaag
The 2010 Plan International "Because I am a Girl" report looks at the lives of adolescent girls in both the urban and the digital worlds. The study looks at the boom in city populations and the explosion of ICT and how it affects girls and young women's lives. Using case studies, girls' voices, expert opinion, and original research, the report highlights the positive and negative aspects of the urban and the digital worlds. The document states that employment opportunities for adolescent girls and young women require knowledge of ICTs. Barriers to use of technology include: discrimination; language differences; money, time, and freedom (particularly compared to that available to boys); confidence; and comparative numbers of their gender accessing computers.
9. ICTs for Democracy: Information and Communication Technologies for the Enhancement of Democracy - with a Focus on Empowerment
This September 2009 report examines the potential of ICTs for advancing democracy and empowerment, with a special focus on Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. Conducted by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) at the request of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the study intends to offer evidence to Sida and other stakeholders in Swedish development cooperation - that is, to demonstrate that access to and the strategic use of ICTs have the potential to help bring about economic development, poverty reduction, and democratisation - including freedom of speech, the free flow of information, and the promotion of human rights.
10. Harnessing Africa's Digital Future
By Francis Mdlongwa and Moagisi Letlhaku (eds)
This collection of essays, stories, and testimonies, published in 2010 by Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), provides perspectives from heads of Africa's media about the nature, power, and influence of emerging digital media channels and how Africa is tapping into these channels to better serve their markets. The papers were written ahead of the eighth Africa Media Leadership Conference (AMLC) hosted in Ghana in late 2009 by KAS and Rhodes University's Sol Plaatje Institute for Media Leadership. According to the editors, the experiences shared by contributors show that most African and even top global media firms are still not reaping sustainable profits from the emerging platforms. However, they add that Africa's media has taken the first steps to harness these technologies to improve their businesses to serve a rapidly transforming market.
11. Because Accountability Counts: A Journalists? Guide for Covering Post-elections
By James Hottor
Produced in September 2010 as part of the Ghana Post-elections Intervention Project, this guide is designed to help empower journalists and other stakeholders with information and knowledge to hold elected officers accountable to their pre-election campaign promises. It was published by PenPlusBytes, the International Institute for Information Communication Technology (ICT) Journalism in Accra, Ghana, with the support of the Open Society Initiative for West Africa. The guide provides an overview of the post-elections landscape in Ghana, covering governance, legislative issues, political parties and their manifestos, the ruling party and opposition, governing after an election, and lessons to be learned from the 2007 Kenyan elections experience.
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12. Realising the Potential of ICTs in Tanzania
By Jim Yonazi
This policy brief, published in October 2010, summarises a report conducted by the Institute of Finance Management as part of the Thetha Regional ICT Discussion Forum Project, coordinated by SANGONeT and funded by the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa and the Embassy of Finland in South Africa. The report and brief provide information about the achievements and weaknesses of Tanzania's ICT for development experience, and considers the next steps that are needed to meet the information and communication needs of the coming generation. According to the policy brief, ICTs can contribute to improving development outcomes, but countries, including Tanzania, face some constraints such as inadequate technical infrastructure, limited human skills to use available networks and services, relatively high cost of communications equipment, and poor policy and regulatory environments.
13. ICTs and Development In Zambia: Challenges and Opportunities
By David Souter
This policy brief, published in October 2010 by Panos London, summarises a review of the successes and failures of Zambia's attempts to include ICTs in their national development plans and considers the next steps that are needed to meet the information and communication needs of the coming generation. According to the report, Zambia has experienced a tremendous upsurge in telephone ownership and use since the advent of mobile phones. In addition, despite the limited fixed line network proving to be a major constraint on internet access, the rapid growth of internet cafes and telecentres has led to an increase in internet users. However, a major constraint on ICT development in Zambia has been the lack of adequate international communications infrastructure. The author indicates that the problem is particularly acute for Zambia because it is landlocked and has had to rely on satellite links or interconnection agreements with neighbouring countries.
14. The Talking Book - Ghana
Developed by Literacy Bridge, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in the United States, The Talking Book is a handheld audio computer which records locally produced agricultural and literacy information for Ghanaian farmers to play back in their own language. The initiative was created to investigate how local organisations could affordably use laptop computers, cell phones, and digital audio recorders to improve the delivery of agricultural, health, and educational information to rural areas. The device can be programmed to include learning exercises and quizzes to test the listener's understanding of the subject. Users can play, record, and categorise audio recordings and copy those recordings directly to any other Talking Book with a USB cable, or via computer.
15. Envaya - Tanzania
Envaya is a non-profit organisation operating in Tanzania that builds online and mobile tools designed to allow grassroots civil society organisations (CSOs) to easily create their own websites. It also provides larger non-government organisations with tools to support and communicate with these CSOs. As a first project, Envaya developed envaya.org, which is intended to be an easy-to-use website builder tailored for the needs of small CSOs who may not have the technical capacity or budgets to build their own sites. Using Envaya's builder, CSOs can create and update their own simple websites, enabling them to write about their projects and share resources and ideas with other organisations around the world.
16. Sixth Annual Internet Governance Forum - Sep 27-30 2011 - Nairobi, Kenya
The overall theme of the sixth forum, being hosted at the United Nations Office in Nairobi (UNON), will be "Internet as a Catalyst for Change: Access, Development, Freedoms and Innovation." Organisers say that this theme reflects the outcome of a broad and inclusive consultation process as well as the mandate of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) to develop a common understanding of the best way for all stakeholders to realise the opportunities offered by the internet.
17. SANGONeT ICT4RD Conference 2011 - "Rural Realities, Real Solutions" - Nov 1-3 2011 - Johannesburg, South Africa
The 7th Annual Southern African NGO Network (SANGONeT) Conference will focus on information communication technologies for rural development (ICT4RD) under the theme "Rural Realities, Real Solutions". The conference will bring together government, investors, non-governmental organisations, and social entrepreneurs from across the region and beyond to explore the realities of rural development and explore the use of ICT to catalyse the growth of ICT4RD solutions for scale.
18. AfriHealth 2011 - Nov 30-Dec 1 2011 - Nairobi, Kenya
First run in 2007, the annual AfriHealth conference brings together researchers, medical practitioners, and ICT personnel to share information on the developments in the use of ICT to improve health care in Africa. The focus of AfriHealth 2011 is to question the extent of current research and development using ICT and the amount of effort being made to foster ICT developments in the African Healthcare arena. The organisers say the conference will be a meeting point for all healthcare participants to share ideas, showcase developments, and develop action plans to speed up improvements in the industry.
Related previous issues include:
The Soul Beat 157 - Mobiles for Development in Africa
The Soul Beat 152 - ICTs for Development in Africa
The Soul Beat 133 - Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Africa
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