ChangeWaves

If I were a boy

13. August 2010

August is Women’s Month in South Africa, my new home at the moment. While watching some of the women celebrate their achievements over the years and demand for what needs to be done, I remembered this piece that I read on Women’s Day back home in Uganda. Interesting piece! Beyonce has a popular song – If [...]

CSO Research training in Addis Ababa ends on a high note

10. November 2009

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The 12 day intense research training to 17 participants from Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa and Sudan ended on a high note last Friday at the Christian Relief and Development Agency (CRDA) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Divided into five groups, the participants had to demonstrate what they had learnt over the two weeks. The results were [...]

Violence Against Women – Understanding the complexities

31. October 2009

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The tireless work and effort of grassroots organisers, researchers, policy-makers and advocates over the past two decades have put violence against women and girls (VAW/G) on the map as a critical issue to be addressed in the international arena. Development partners have dedicated funds and provide technical assistance for research and programmatic efforts aimed at [...]

ChangeWaves partners with CPAU to conduct ICT training

28. July 2009

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ChangeWaves is partnering with the Common Wealth People’s Association of Uganda to conduct ICT training (Social Technopreneurship) for young people in Uganda. The training will be conducted in August. The course modules include Elementary Class: Basic Computing (MS Office & Internet) Intermediate Class:Web Designing, HTML (Namo, Macromedia, Dreamweaver, Macromedia Flash and Photoshop) Advanced Class: Networking & Applications Web 2.0 (Introduction to [...]

Opportunities for young leaders

20. July 2009

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Emerging Leaders International Fellows Program The Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society is pleased to announce a unique fellowship opportunity: the spring 2010 Emerging Leaders International Fellows Program. The program provides nonprofit sector leadership training through seminars, applied research and mentorships. The program is open to young scholars and practitioners from outside the United [...]

Blog or Block?

18. March 2009

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“Did you say a blog or block” asked a university student at the Kampala International University who until Friday last week didn’t know what a blog was. My visit was therefore timely. I had been invited by AEISEC to talk about new age communication especially using email and blogs. Clifford told me; “I used to communicate [...]

Meeting Noerine Kaleeba

19. February 2009

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M ention Noerine Kaleeba’s name and the first thing that comes to anyone’s mind is HIV and AIDS. One Scottish University described her as the “angel of Africa.” Noerine Kaleeba is globally recognized for her efforts in facilitating meaningful involvement of people living with and affected by HIV and AIDS, which is believed to be one of [...]

Visiting the ancient wonder in Pharaoh’s land

10. February 2009

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I spent the third week of November in a land that is very popular for ancient civilization and stuff like that. Don’t tell me Greece. Anyway I was in Cairo, Egypt for a Telecentre Leaders Forum for Middle East and North Africa at the invitation of telecentre.org. For starters, Egypt is a land of many surprises. [...]

TLF MENA 2008: Event Summary

16. December 2008

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The telecentre movement has come a long way. More than two years ago when I first heard about telecentres, they were scattered and mostly working in isolation. Now many of these are working in networks either national or regional. But it’s been a long time coming. During the third week of November, I was privileged to share experiences with the knowledge sharing team of the Telecentre Network in Egypt. I was facilitated by telecentre.org.telecentre.org is a social investment of the International Development Research Centre in Canada, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and Microsoft. Here is my blog summarising the event. Telecentre MENA Network off to a strong start If the success of the just concluded Telecentre Leaders Forum for MENA is anything to go by, then the regional network is off to a good start. “Two years ago, we didn’t know who was using technology for development. Now through Nayer’s report, we have learnt a lot and the first network that can be used to strengthen these initiatives has been set up,” explained Meddie Mayanja, telecentre.org senior program officer on the final day of the MENA TLF in Cairo, Egypt. Nayer Wanas in the report titled ‘The state of telecentres in MENA’ highlights the need to support the emergence of stronger telecentre networks in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). In this research commissioned by telecentre.org, Wanas explains that this will encourage telecentre practitioners to share knowledge and support each other across the region. “We believe through knowledge sharing we can strengthen people working in telecentres individually and collectively to be more effective in what they are doing,” Mayanja explained. A part from organizing the face to face meetings, the network runs a mailing list for people working or interested in telecentres in the MENA region. The network also publishes the Telecentre Times in Arabic every six months. So far one edition has been produced with the second expected any time soon. All these activities aim at encouraging telecentre practitioners to share knowledge. To join the listserv or contribute articles to the Telecentre Times (Arabic edition) send an email to telecentre.org Community Content Facilitator for MENA Rasha El Baz (rasha_elbaz@yahoo.com) or Karim Kassim (kkasim@mcit.gov.eg). The two day MENA TLF was attended by over 70 telecentre practitioners from Sudan, Yemen and Egypt. Some of the discussions centered on · Internet safety The middle East is becoming a major force in information and communications technology (ICT). The expansion of the use of internet connections, advanced access technology and unregulated cuber café, where young people meet, share network information and surf without any parental guidance or technical blocs, has been both a blessing and a curse. Unattended surfing of the internet or use of mobile phones may expose young users to risks related to content, contact or commercialism. A team from the Suzzane Mubarak Women’s International Peace Movement explained what online dangers children face and how parents, children and telecentre or IT club managers can do to avert the dangers. (Suzzane Mubarak is Egypt’s First Lady) · ICT for Special Needs Education (SNE) Eng. Nabil Eid (Salamieh Telcentre, Syria) held a discussion on how ICT can be used to support people with special needs including the deaf, blind and people with Down’s syndrome. He has developed special software in this regard (the good news is it is open source). · Genderstanding telecentres We heard so many experiences of how telecentres are used to empower women. SOUL for example is a non-profit, non-governmental Yemeni organization, committed to raising the quality of life of Yemeni women and children through development projects and partnerships with civil society, government and international organizations. SOUL conducts training and consultations, research, advocacy, awareness campaigns and service provision activities. We heard how SOUL has proven success and experience in implementing a variety of training programs for women, including in the field of Information Technology. · Mobiles and telecentres In addition to their services, Ahmed Eisa from the Gaderef Digital City in Sudan, explained how they are adding the mobile component to their services. GDCO is partnering with India’s Drishtee to start sending agricultural information to farmers through the mobile phone. This will be launched in January 2008. See some of the pictures here http://telecentrecommunity.ning.com/photo/album/show?id=2086278%3AAlbum%3A4887 · Biggest challenge Participants highlighted the lack of content as one of the biggest challenges telecentres in MENA face. But it was envisaged that with the growth of knowledge sharing activities and creation of partnerships and networks among telecentre practitioners in the region, this would soon become a discussion of the past. See some of the events pictures here http://telecentrecommunity.ning.com/photo/albums/mena-tlf-2008

TLF MENA 2008: Knowledge sharing and networking key for the growth of telecentres in MENA

16. December 2008

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A t 1,001,450 square kilometers, Egypt is the world’s 38th-largest country. In terms of land area, it is approximately the same size as all of Central America, twice the size of France, four times the size of the United Kingdom! Egypt is one of the most populous countries in Africa and the Middle East and [...]