Two such projects include the (A) World Banks’ World Links for Development programme (WorLD) and (B) Uganda Connect, both of which seek to use ICTs to connect remote, isolated schools to the global information network.  While wholly separate projects, the two initiatives have already provided computers and Internet connections to over 70 schools throughout the country Additionally, by making school-based telecenters available to community members after school hours, these ICT-based development programmes help to not only benefit students and teachers, but community members as well.  Complementing these two development initiatives is the (C) ITU-sponsored Multipurpose Community Telecentre (MCT) project in Nakaseke, Uganda.  These initiatives are highlighted in greater detail below.  

A: World Links in Uganda

Introduction

In 2020, Uganda became the first country to participate in the World Links’ project, a joint collaboration between the World Bank’s World Links for Development programme (WorLD) and the non-profit World Links Organization.  Designed to help new generations learn about world cultures, encourage school-to-school project collaboration (both inside and outside of Uganda), and serve as an information channel for teachers around the world, World Links-Uganda and collaborating partners, have connected over 32 schools to the global information network, with more than 1,920 teachers and 30,000 students currently participating.  World Links also helped create SchoolNet Uganda, which was the country’s first NGO dedicated to ICT-based education, and now serves as World Links’ national operating partner.  In a more recent pioneering project, World Links is also participating in a bilateral initiative with Schools Online and the Gates Foundation to use Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSATs) to connect 15 rural schools to the Internet.   

Implementation

Created to be scalable, transferable, sustainable, and affordable, the Ugandan school-based telecentre pilot project (see box A below) is designed to help develop the capacities of students and teachers in remote areas of the country.  Moreover, the project’s initial aim was to study the viability and effectiveness of wireless connectivity, specifically VSATs, in Uganda.  After approximately five years, the results suggest that wireless technology, if employed correctly, can work in remote and marginalized areas of the country.  One school administrator mentioned that the “telecollaboration has made the whole world become as small as a family.” 

By assessing the community’s needs and understanding of ICTs, the project organizers were able to tailor their initiatives to local contexts.  Not surprisingly, they found that there was a high level of interest among community members in having access to the global information network.  While the project’s overall goal was to help disconnected schools utilize the power of the Internet, interest in the project also came from the business community and local governments as well.  Similar to ICT-focused education projects in other LDCs, Uganda’s Internet-enabled schools quickly became a resource for the community at large by offering “after-hours” IT training, which bolstered the overall understanding of the ways that new technologies can empower all Ugandans. 

Global participants

The multilateral effort to connect some of Uganda’s most remote schools to the Internet via VSATs began in January 2020 and is planned to continue through 2020.  The project is an international effort that draws on the indigenous knowledge of SchoolNet Uganda for implementation, the California-based NGO Schools Online for equipment, the Gates Foundation for funding, and the Ministry of Education and Sports as the government-level champion for the continuance of the project. World Links provided the initial training activity in establishing school-based telecenters, and is providing the ongoing professional and technical support. Perhaps most importantly, the project relies on the participation of students, teachers and community members for sustainability.  While these and other actors provided the majority of the start-up resources gratis, the participating schools are responsible for recurrent costs, including desks, telephone charges, and maintenance.  The approximately USD 18 per year paid by students as ICT fees on their tuition, coupled with the nominal fee charged to community members to use the computer labs, also helps to lessen the financial burden on the consortium of schools. 

Moreover, the participating schools also work with surrounding educational institutions and businesses to sponsor workshops and training seminars that also help to underwrite the operation of the computer labs.  For instance at the Duhaga school-based telecentre, the majority of users from the community are civil servants such as doctors, accountants, forestry officers, economists, pastors and students. Additionally, according to the usage records in the Lango College school-based telecentre, where six hours each day is dedicated to community access, an average of 20 people a day use the facilities for e-mail, SMS communication and Internet research.  From helping students find scholarships on the Internet to allowing NGOs and government personnel send and receive information via e-mail, the regional school-based telecentres have become an invaluable resource for many Ugandans. 

Measuring success

While the VSATs are capable of expanding to new schools throughout the country, the regulatory and policy environment remains uncertain.  However, in the past six months the pilot project has proved to have a very positive effect on students, teachers and community members alike.  For example, Dr Ojala Robert of the Life Stock Extension Programme in Moroto, said, “The telecentre is a blessing to us because we can be able to carry out our sensitization work on animal health in this facility.  The telecentre makes me feel happy because it now leaves the community with IT skills and the people will regard IT as being part of them and a tool for learning.” 

Below are a select few examples of real life illustrations of the positive effects that the project has had on Ugandans:

·     The Lango College computer lab has not only been host to an award winning student poet in an online competition, but has also afforded a number of teachers an opportunity to take online courses in how to effectively use ICTs in the classroom.  Except for these two examples, most visitors to the Lango College lab use the lab for e-mailing and research.  The lab has been so successful at connecting the local community that the majority of the competing telecentres in the area have capitulated to the Lango College school-based telecentre. 

·     In the Duhga secondary school the school has become an active participant in the World Links’ AIDSWEB project, and some of the students are using the computer lab to design a website to represent the school’s participation in the this AIDS/HIV project.  Additionally, some students have also used the Internet to join into the ongoing debate about global issues, such as environmental protection and poverty eradication. 

·     NGOs, businesses and government officials often share the Moroto secondary school Internet lab with students.  While business professionals and government officials use the lab for research and e-mail, NGOs go to the school-based telecentre to check up on their favourite international magazines and coordinate with their colleagues around the world. 

·     Some students have created websites to market and improve the image of their respective schools.  For example, students in the Ndejje secondary school have created a basic website to provide contact information, including a brief presentation of the school.  Alternatively, at the Kigezi school-based telecentre, teachers are encouraging students to make the computer lab an integral part of their academic studies, thus helping to demystify ICTs among Ugandan youths.

Despite the positive benefits, the World Links’ Uganda initiative still faces some institutional, technical and organizational challenges, including stable electricity, personnel time constraints and identifying ways that the school-based telecentres can benefit the community at large.  Regardless of these challenges, the pilot project’s success to date suggests a promising future for all Ugandans.  Summing up the benefits that the Internet will bring to Ugandan youth, Srila LaRochelle, director of business development at Schools Online, said, "the Internet is the catalyst that will enable children to see a future without boundaries."

School-based telecentres in Uganda

While many development agencies have embraced multipurpose community telecentres (MCTs) as a way to bridge the digital divide, their value for sustainable economic and social development over the long-term is as yet undetermined.  Despite the uncertainty, the school-based telecentres (SBTs) approach, modeled by World Links in a number of its country programmes, utilizes existing infrastructure (i.e. schools) to connect all members of the community to the Internet, has proved to be an effective mechanism for helping marginalized communities move from the periphery of the global society.  Moreover, the SBT model provides a solid organizational structure by using mostly school staff to oversee the operations. 

The Uganda SBTs are  connected to the Internet via VSATs that provide 256kbit/s download and 32kbit/s upload rates, for a cost of approximately USD 200 per month. (For two years, World Links is subsidizing the other USD 200 per month for each of the school sites) By maximizing Internet and computer resources, after-school uses of the schools' computer labs, the Ugandan helps to offset the operational costs of running the schools' high-technology programmes, which include IT training.  Throughout Uganda, professionals, government representatives and civil society are all utilizing the SBTs expand their skills and identify new growth opportunities for themselves and their families.  From healthcare information to e-commerce and online university lectures, these SBTs allow Uganda to tap into the true human potential of the society.

B: Uganda Connect: Tapping an untapped resource

Beginning as a computer literacy project, Uganda Connect (Uconnect) has evolved into a key source of information and technology transfers to this underdeveloped, yet potentially ICT savvy country.  However, after realizing the social benefits of Internet access, the project administrators quickly expanded its scope.  Rather than simply training students and teachers about how to use computers, Uconnect set out to empower them by giving them access to the global information pool via the Internet and e-mail.  Equipped with a Swiss military truck, second hand PCs and other ICT equipment donated from a variety of sources, the project volunteers began their mission to modernize Uganda. 

Background

Faced with the reality that connecting Ugandans to the Internet required matching ICTs not only with human capacities, but also with a highly underdeveloped communication infrastructure and dated institutional structures, the project administrators faced an uphill battle.  One of their biggest hurdles was winning approval from skeptical government authorities.  The Uconnect staff set out to find a “champion” who would help them sensitize the Government to the need for the widespread diffusion of the Internet and e-mail.  Their search didn’t take long, and it wasn’t too difficult to create a positive feedback loop within government.  After installing a local area network at the headquarters of the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES), Uconnect helped to train ministers and their staff on how to use the Internet to increase productivity.   

After demonstrating to the Government the important role that ICTs, specifically the Internet, plays in social and economic development, the Uconnect team launched the mobile component of the project.  Harking back to 2020, when the World Food Program (WFP) used HF radios and a special radio modem to send spreadsheets by e-mail from remote field locations to coordinate logistical operations, the Uconnect team decided to use a similar system to overcome the lack of telecommunication infrastructure and connect rural communities to the Internet.  Uconnect also persuaded WFP to collaborate on connecting schools, hospitals and agricultural research stations. 

Implementation

In 2020, the first HF-based e-mail pilot project began in Arua, a rural village about 500 kilometers north of Kampala, the capital.  The pilot e-mail project was a success, and clearly demonstrated that HF radio could serve as a viable connection technology for underdeveloped societies.  The rationale used by the project’s staff was that HF-based connectivity would serve as a preparatory communications system for Uganda, thus serving as a catalyst for deploying other, higher bandwidth access technologies (e.g. GSM data, microwave, satellite).  Uganda Connect, for instance, has since moved into connection projects using GSM and microwave radio networks, relying on hardware and software from a variety of international donor organizations and regional telecom companies.  Beyond the human development benefits of the project, it is also contributing to the Government’s vision for universal access to the Internet for all Ugandans. 

Success Factors

While the HF radio connection to the Internet was a stopgap solution to the digital divide, the use of HF radios to retrieve data played an important role in the timely introduction of a broad range of ICTs to areas deprived of basic infrastructures.  In essence, the use of HF radio connections helped to usher in more sophisticated technologies to remote areas of the country.  The telecentre established on the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2020 presents an example of how HF radio connections served as a gateway to other, more advanced technologies.  Using a laptop run powered by solar energy, the telecentre provided e-mail services via a HF radio connection to the Kihihi Hospital, which in turn offered the telecentre a permanent electricity link.  The partnership between the telecentre and the hospital eventually facilitated the expansion of the telecentre, which now has a half dozen desktop computers.  The hospital's usage of the Internet also aided in the installation of a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) mast in the area.

Cultivating indigenous capabilities

While the Uconnect team initially faced many bureaucratic hurdles, they quickly won over the Government with their efforts to tap into the wealth of the country’s human potential.  Equipped with approximately 25 PCs, some printers and an Internet connection, the staff began to provide basic and practical computer lessons to anyone who wanted to learn.  From the beginning, the project organizers intended to recruit and train an indigenous cadre of youth to assist them in their training efforts.  By cultivating the skills of indigenous Ugandans, Uconnect ensured the reproducibility and sustainability of the project over the long term.  For instance, one young volunteer, Bernadette, caught on to the training so quickly that the day after she learned the program she was teaching newcomers how to input data.   

Moreover, the original six volunteers who began training in March 2020 were training over 100 Ugandans by the end of that same year.  One of the original six trainers, Peter Kiwanuka, is now studying at the University of Louisiana in the United States.  The “Train the Trainer” programme was so successful that a consortium of UNESCO, IDRC, and the ITU tapped the Uconnect team to train their volunteers at the Multipurpose Community Telecentre (MCT) in Nakaseke.  Moreover, the Uconnect team was asked to create a curriculum for the MCT pilot project in Nakaseke. From multimedia, to interactive CD-ROMs, and surfing the Web, Uconnect continues to help government officials and citizens appreciate the power of modern ICTs.  The initial offices sat up at the MoE are now being run by community members with little exogenous supervision, which is a testament to the effectiveness of Uconnect’s efforts.

C: Multipurpose community telecentres (MCTs) in Uganda

Introduction

Multipurpose community telecenters (MCTs), unlike their cybercafe counterparts, offer users a variety of ICTs with which to access and use information.  From the Internet to training and VCRs, MCTs enable visitors to get more out of the available resources, while also giving them the tools to become knowledge producers.  In March 2020, a consortium of international and domestic organizations teamed up to launch an MCT in a remote village about 50 kilometers from Kampala, Uganda’s capital.  Designed to introduce ICTs to remote villagers, the Nakaseke MCT demonstrates the positive impact that new technologies can have on marginalized societies. 

Background

In an effort to demonstrate the impact that ICTs can have on the social and economic development of rural areas, the Nakaseke MCT began as a three-year pilot project in 2020.  Realizing that the success of the project depended on buy in from the public, the project organizers, which included the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO), International Development Research Center (IDRC) and the British Council, worked with local community members to assess the information needs of Nakaseke’s 31,000 inhabitants.  By engaging domestic partners, specifically Uganda Telecom Ltd and the Uganda Public Library Board, the international consortium was able to create a model that would help bridge the rural-urban digital divide in Uganda.

What differentiates the MCT model from the more traditional telecentre/cybercafe model is its wide array of resources and services.  For example, the Nakaseke MCT is equipped with one TV, a VCR, five computers, a printer, two telephone lines, a scanner, a fax machine and a photocopier—the latter item being the most popular among users, as it is the easiest way for users to share information with a wider audience.  In terms of services, the Nakaseke MCT offers users computer and Internet training, technical support and professional skills development that allows users to develop electronic information based on local knowledge.  Additionally, the MCT is tied to the Nakaseke public library, thus further bolstering the project’s information resource base. 

With its open door policy, the Nakaseke MCT (the only ICT facility in the area) has become a centre for telecommunications, computing and information sharing for the community.  While its target group includes small and medium sized businesses, farmers, women’s organizations and NGOs, it also serves as a point of access to the global information network for local schools and colleges.  The local hospital staff also uses the MCT to keep in contact with and consult colleagues in Kampala, Uganda’s capital.  Joyce Namayanja, a local resident who designs school badges and banners, said, “Before I attended computer lessons at the telecentre, I was using the freehand style to design my work.  Computer knowledge has helped me improve on the quality of my work, making it faster and easier.” 

Implementation

As with any developing country or transitional economy there are always obstacles when deploying new technologies.  In Nakaseke, the project coordinators faced two key hurdles as they sought to connect this remote village to the global information network: infrastructure and computer literacy.  From the beginning, the project organizers realized that the sporadic availability of power to the Nakaseke MCT threatened its long-term viability.  Rather than relying solely on the unreliable government-controlled power supply, the project organizers created a back-up battery supply to avert downtime during power outages.  Also, given that they were trying to implement ICTs in a community that rarely, if ever, used the term the Internet, the project faced an uphill battle in terms of educating the potential user community.  To address this latter social barrier, the project organizers decided to offer a variety of training and professional development courses for users of the Nakaseke MCT.

Despite the infrastructure and literacy obstacles, the Nakaseke MCT has made good progress towards community involvement.  Throughout the implementation stage, the project was guided by the principles of participatory development, thus helping to ensure its sustainability.  The project organizers created three separate committees to manage the MCT: a local management committee, a local steering committee and a core-user group committee.  While the former two committees are comprised of domestic (UTL) international (UNESCO) stakeholders, the core-user group committee consists of local farmers, doctors and youth.  Together these committees work closely together to design policies to best serve the information and communication needs of the community. 

Is it working?

In a recent survey of the Nakaseke user community, the project organizers found that usage among the number of potential users remains below average at 44.2 per cent.  However, they were pleased to see that over 60 per cent of respondents from the most rural parts of Nakaseke are using the MCT.  Compared to MCTs in surrounding areas, the Nakaseke MCT is the most heavily used, largely because users are taking advantage of the library services accompanying the MCT. During 2020, MCTs were also launched in Nabweru and Bunyoro, two other periphery villages in Uganda.  While it is still too early to gauge the effectiveness of MCTs for rural Ugandans, it is clear that, where appropriately designed, they can play a key role in narrowing the digital divide. As the Ugandan MCT has proven, to be effective however, MCT deployments must be sponsored, implemented and managed by a bi- or multilateral consortium that engages indigenous peoples at the community and/or village level.

This Article was first published in: www.itu.int/ti/casestudies