ICT4 developmentin an Ethiopian context:

Ahead's plan for a community college

Coral Jepson

Introduction

Ahead’s vision, mission and goalsThe Ethiopian context: the learning and the digital dividesCommunity college and radio as core projectsDiscussion points

Ahead (Action for Health, Education and Development)

Vision - A healthy, educated and prosperous community that enjoys life with justice and dignity.

Mission: To work with disadvantaged people to eliminate poverty, lack of education, ill-health and injustice.

Goals: - Disadvantaged people's awareness of, and access to,

healthcare services will increase. - Marginalised people’s access to responsive

education will be improved.- Excluded people will be empowered to participate in

development initiatives.

Why Ahead and why focus on the Gujii region?

Ethiopia in general and Gujii region in particular have immense health, education and development needs.

Organised efforts can help to address these needs.

Trustees’ connections with Ethiopia and Gujii Zone - responding to requests from local people.

Tigray

AfarAmara

OromiaSomali

SNNP

Gambala

Borana Zone

Gujii

AddisAbaba

Dolo OdoMoyalē

Jima

Gonder

Werdēr

Hārer

Dirē Dawa

Desĕ

Nasrĕt

Bahir Dar

Benish-angulGumuz

Sudan

Eritrea

Yemen

Somalia

Djibouti

SomaliaKenyaIndian Ocean

Red Sea

Gulf of Aden

Blue Nile T’ana

Hayk’

Lake Rudolf

What projects are planned?

Health Education Development

Education

Ahead seeks to:

address the learning divides and widen participation

promote digital dividend or inclusion

tackle the digital divides

Gender learning divides (primary education)

Year Male Female Total

99/00 51.2 36.6 44.0

00/01 55.7 41.7 48.8

01/02 59.0 45.2 52.2

02/03 60.6 47.2 54.0

03/04 62.9 51.8 57.4

Source: Education Management Information System, (EMIS), Ministry

of Education. 2005, Addis Ababa

Gender learning divides (Secondary education)

Year Male Female Total

99/00 7.0 6.6 6.8

00/01 7.1 6.1 6.6

01/02 8.6 6.2 7.4

02/03 10.1 6.7 8.4

03/04 12.0 7.5 9.8

Source: Education Management Information System, (EMIS), Ministry

of Education. 2005, Addis Ababa

Technological divides

Computers, TV and RadioComputers, TV and RadioStock of computers, TV and Radio

75,000 367,000

11,689,631

18.41

2.80.12

0

2,000,000

4,000,000

6,000,000

8,000,000

10,000,000

12,000,000

14,000,000

Computers TV sets Radio

Source: Demeke & Biru (2002)

Technological divides

Source: Demeke & Biru (2002)

InternetInternet

Introduced in 1996/97 with 1042 subscribers Increased to 6487 in 2002 (by 5 fold) Coverage of Internet services expanded to

12 major towns 96% of the total subscribers are from Addis

Ababa subscribers per 1000 people

2.5 Addis Ababa 0.24 other towns

or 0.1 country as whole

Ahead Community College (ACC) will:

Deliver high quality, flexible & responsive learning opportunities for:

Health practitioners, teachers, adults, apprenticees, entrepreneurs etc

Improve vocational and technical skills

Deploy new technologies to widen access

Link with national & international agencies

Promote local innovation and self-reliance

Ahead Community Radio (ACR) will:

Link with ACC and promotes its programmes

Widen distance education via radio

Broadcast high quality programmes on:

Health, education and development

Encourage participation of civil society organisations and businesses

Build self-esteem and cultural renaissance

Promote global & environmental awareness

Proposed structure of ACC

Bule Core Centre(Gujii)

Shakiso Core Centre(Gujii)

International partnerships

National Hub(Ethiopia)

Proposed structure of ACC

Local centre

Local centre Local centre

Local centre

Local centre

Core centre

Discussion pointsReality - what does/will ICT4 development mean for Gujii zone’s• rural communities • local practitioners (community, district and regional level)• civil society organisations such as Ahead and its partner

organisations?

and how can the limitations of infrastructure, technical expertise and resources be addressed by a small charity such as Ahead?

Potential - what’s the potential for various ICT tools in these different contexts (radio, computers, internet/email, distance education, mobile phones)?

Support – how can Ahead collaborate with Centre for Distance Education (funding applications, technical expertise, resource development, deployment of staff)?

www.ahead.org.uk

elfneh@ahead.org.uk

Thank You!