Zim WiFi:Project Chapter - Revision history

Ajay: /* Acronyms */

2008-04-17T12:33:51Z

Acronyms

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	* The socio-economic discourse and challenges in Zimbabwe cannot be ignored and it is important to give an indication of how it has affected and continues to affect the projects work. It is common cause that the country is going through an unprecedented economic decline – the worst ever recorded in a peace time conditions. At the point of writing this report in Dec 2007, official inflation is at 8000% which to the uninitiated is very difficult to contemplate. The cause for this decline is multiple and invariably the project has had to work in such a difficult situation. A point that any reader who is not from Zimbabwe needs to understand is that despite the contextualisation of our challenges in the international media, there are still people in the country that need and can benefit from external assistance. This project fills that role and has been an island of inspiration, which has resulted in connecting a school to the internet using low cost solutions. The recommendation to IDRC is to continue providing support to project on the ground, despite some of the depressing socio-economic estimates and indicators that come out of Zimbabwe.		* The socio-economic discourse and challenges in Zimbabwe cannot be ignored and it is important to give an indication of how it has affected and continues to affect the projects work. It is common cause that the country is going through an unprecedented economic decline – the worst ever recorded in a peace time conditions. At the point of writing this report in Dec 2007, official inflation is at 8000% which to the uninitiated is very difficult to contemplate. The cause for this decline is multiple and invariably the project has had to work in such a difficult situation. A point that any reader who is not from Zimbabwe needs to understand is that despite the contextualisation of our challenges in the international media, there are still people in the country that need and can benefit from external assistance. This project fills that role and has been an island of inspiration, which has resulted in connecting a school to the internet using low cost solutions. The recommendation to IDRC is to continue providing support to project on the ground, despite some of the depressing socio-economic estimates and indicators that come out of Zimbabwe.

	~~==Acronyms==~~
	~~''CSR/CSI'' – Corporate Social Responsibility or Investment~~

	~~''FMFI'' – First Mile First Inch project~~

	~~''ICDL'' – International Computer Driving Licence~~

	~~''ICT'' – Information and Communication Technology~~

	~~''ICT4D'' – Information and Communication for Development~~

	~~''ISM'' – Industrial Scientific and Medical radio frequency spectrum in the 2.4 and 5.0 GHz~~

	~~''ROI'' – Return on Investment~~

	~~''Potraz'' – Postal and telecommunications authority of Zimbabwe~~

	~~''UNECA'' – United Nations E commission for Africa~~

	~~''WiFi'' – which is the radio standard that uses the 802.11 suite of wireless protocols~~

Ajay: /* Recommendations */

2008-04-17T12:33:28Z

Recommendations

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:33, 17 April 2008
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	* The socio-economic discourse and challenges in Zimbabwe cannot be ignored and it is important to give an indication of how it has affected and continues to affect the projects work. It is common cause that the country is going through an unprecedented economic decline – the worst ever recorded in a peace time conditions. At the point of writing this report in Dec 2007, official inflation is at 8000% which to the uninitiated is very difficult to contemplate. The cause for this decline is multiple and invariably the project has had to work in such a difficult situation. A point that any reader who is not from Zimbabwe needs to understand is that despite the contextualisation of our challenges in the international media, there are still people in the country that need and can benefit from external assistance. This project fills that role and has been an island of inspiration, which has resulted in connecting a school to the internet using low cost solutions. The recommendation to IDRC is to continue providing support to project on the ground, despite some of the depressing socio-economic estimates and indicators that come out of Zimbabwe.		* The socio-economic discourse and challenges in Zimbabwe cannot be ignored and it is important to give an indication of how it has affected and continues to affect the projects work. It is common cause that the country is going through an unprecedented economic decline – the worst ever recorded in a peace time conditions. At the point of writing this report in Dec 2007, official inflation is at 8000% which to the uninitiated is very difficult to contemplate. The cause for this decline is multiple and invariably the project has had to work in such a difficult situation. A point that any reader who is not from Zimbabwe needs to understand is that despite the contextualisation of our challenges in the international media, there are still people in the country that need and can benefit from external assistance. This project fills that role and has been an island of inspiration, which has resulted in connecting a school to the internet using low cost solutions. The recommendation to IDRC is to continue providing support to project on the ground, despite some of the depressing socio-economic estimates and indicators that come out of Zimbabwe.


	~~----~~

	==Acronyms==		==Acronyms==

Ajay: /* Acronyms */

2008-04-17T12:33:02Z

Acronyms

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	''UNECA'' – United Nations E commission for Africa		''UNECA'' – United Nations E commission for Africa

	''WiFi'' – ~~Wireless Fidelity~~ which is the radio standard that uses the 802.11 suite of wireless protocols		''WiFi'' – which is the radio standard that uses the 802.11 suite of wireless protocols

Ajay at 11:45, 8 February 2008

2008-02-08T11:45:38Z

Show changes

Ajay: Replacing page with '{{Zim_WiFi nav bar}} ''' Wireless Open Source Refurbished computers (W.O.R) project – Low cost Internet connectivity into schools in Zimbabwe''' {| !width="150" align="l...'

2008-02-07T06:49:53Z

Replacing page with '{{Zim_WiFi nav bar}} ''' Wireless Open Source Refurbished computers (W.O.R) project – Low cost Internet connectivity into schools in Zimbabwe''' {| !width="150" align="l...'

Show changes

Ajay: /* Recommendations */

2008-02-06T12:36:16Z

Recommendations

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:36, 6 February 2008
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	* The socio-economic discourse and challenges in Zimbabwe cannot be ignored and it is important to give an indication of how it has affected and continues to affect the projects work. It is common cause that the country is going through an unprecedented economic decline – the worst ever recorded in a peace time conditions. At the point of writing this report in Dec 2007, official inflation is at 8000% which to the uninitiated is very difficult to contemplate. The cause for this decline is multiple and invariably the project has had to work in such a difficult situation. A point that any reader who is not from Zimbabwe needs to understand is that despite the contextualisation of our challenges in the international media, there are still people in the country that need and can benefit from external assistance. This project fills that role and has been an island of inspiration, which has resulted in connecting a school to the internet using low cost solutions. The recommendation to IDRC is to continue providing support to project on the ground, despite some of the depressing socio-economic estimates and indicators that come out of Zimbabwe.		* The socio-economic discourse and challenges in Zimbabwe cannot be ignored and it is important to give an indication of how it has affected and continues to affect the projects work. It is common cause that the country is going through an unprecedented economic decline – the worst ever recorded in a peace time conditions. At the point of writing this report in Dec 2007, official inflation is at 8000% which to the uninitiated is very difficult to contemplate. The cause for this decline is multiple and invariably the project has had to work in such a difficult situation. A point that any reader who is not from Zimbabwe needs to understand is that despite the contextualisation of our challenges in the international media, there are still people in the country that need and can benefit from external assistance. This project fills that role and has been an island of inspiration, which has resulted in connecting a school to the internet using low cost solutions. The recommendation to IDRC is to continue providing support to project on the ground, despite some of the depressing socio-economic estimates and indicators that come out of Zimbabwe.


	----		----

	==Acronyms==		==Acronyms==
	''CSR/CSI'' – Corporate Social Responsibility or Investment		''CSR/CSI'' – Corporate Social Responsibility or Investment

Ajay at 12:36, 6 February 2008

2008-02-06T12:36:01Z

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	One particular constraint that presented itself because of the economic fall out was the lack of electricity in the country as a result of load shedding. The electricity supply situation was at best inconsistent and this meant that the project would only be able to go on site when the school had power. It was an arrangement were the head master would send a message that power is available and the project would then get hold of the service providers and partners to go on site. Unfortunately at times, stakeholders could not release themselves from their planned work to rush on site and this invariably introduced time delays - a total of five weeks was lost to power outages.		One particular constraint that presented itself because of the economic fall out was the lack of electricity in the country as a result of load shedding. The electricity supply situation was at best inconsistent and this meant that the project would only be able to go on site when the school had power. It was an arrangement were the head master would send a message that power is available and the project would then get hold of the service providers and partners to go on site. Unfortunately at times, stakeholders could not release themselves from their planned work to rush on site and this invariably introduced time delays - a total of five weeks was lost to power outages.

			==Recommendations==
			* The project makes a case for low cost connectivity into schools using low cost technology options and this solution is particularly appropriate in geophysical locations that do not have any other form of wire line data connections. Whilst this particular implementation was in an urban context, it would be an innovation to implement the same solution in a rural setup. It is the intention of this project to take this next step and secure new funding resources to roll out a rural wireless low cost solution. Clearly the technical and financial support that IDRC has provided hitherto has been invaluable and the project will make an appeal for further support in rolling out the concept in rural schools.

			* The socio-economic discourse and challenges in Zimbabwe cannot be ignored and it is important to give an indication of how it has affected and continues to affect the projects work. It is common cause that the country is going through an unprecedented economic decline – the worst ever recorded in a peace time conditions. At the point of writing this report in Dec 2007, official inflation is at 8000% which to the uninitiated is very difficult to contemplate. The cause for this decline is multiple and invariably the project has had to work in such a difficult situation. A point that any reader who is not from Zimbabwe needs to understand is that despite the contextualisation of our challenges in the international media, there are still people in the country that need and can benefit from external assistance. This project fills that role and has been an island of inspiration, which has resulted in connecting a school to the internet using low cost solutions. The recommendation to IDRC is to continue providing support to project on the ground, despite some of the depressing socio-economic estimates and indicators that come out of Zimbabwe.

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Ajay at 11:39, 6 February 2008

2008-02-06T11:39:54Z

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	*'''Training:''' A training and capacity building theme that would translate the technology into better teaching and learning in the school.		*'''Training:''' A training and capacity building theme that would translate the technology into better teaching and learning in the school.
	*'''Policy:''' A policy and influence theme that would target advocacy within the technology policy and education sectors so that appropriate Internet connectivity guidelines can be developed.		*'''Policy:''' A policy and influence theme that would target advocacy within the technology policy and education sectors so that appropriate Internet connectivity guidelines can be developed.

			==Unpacking the access, training and policy issues==

			*'''Questions on access:''' The connectivity option that was chosen for the first mile was a wireless link using the Industrial Scientific and Medical (ISM) frequency band in the 2.4GHz. The problem with the ISM band is that it is illegal under regulatory provisions in Zimbabwe, to use the frequency for anything other than industrial, scientific or medical applications. The project would work with the regulator in trying to get the inclusion of school connectivity as an acceptable application of the ISM frequency band.

			*'''Questions on training:''' Whilst the project would have appeared to be a technology project dealing with connectivity for schools, the outcome of uppermost importance was for an ICT enabled environment for better teaching and learning in schools. This could only be achieved if teachers were trained on how to integrate ICTs within classroom environment. Therefore capacity training of teachers in the use of ICTs is an important project component.

			*'''Questions on policy:''' The inclusion of ICTs in Education policy in Zimbabwe is not clear or detailed enough. There are several documents that mention ICTs in some form or other but there is no comprehensive set of guidelines that would inform schools on what they need to be doing with their computers and particularly how to move forward with Internet connectivity. This gap between policy and existing practices can be narrowed if the project could demonstrate and show case an approach that delivers low cost Internet connectivity.


	==Lessons Learnt (Take away lessons)==		==Lessons Learnt (Take away lessons)==

Ajay: /* Research Problem */

2008-02-06T11:38:48Z

Research Problem

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:38, 6 February 2008
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	*'''Training:''' A training and capacity building theme that would translate the technology into better teaching and learning in the school.		*'''Training:''' A training and capacity building theme that would translate the technology into better teaching and learning in the school.
	*'''Policy:''' A policy and influence theme that would target advocacy within the technology policy and education sectors so that appropriate Internet connectivity guidelines can be developed.		*'''Policy:''' A policy and influence theme that would target advocacy within the technology policy and education sectors so that appropriate Internet connectivity guidelines can be developed.


	==Lessons Learnt (Take away lessons)==		==Lessons Learnt (Take away lessons)==

Ajay at 11:01, 6 February 2008

2008-02-06T11:01:02Z

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	The methodological approach of the project has been a hands-on experiential and empirical process, structured around participatory partnership building with service providers and the engagement of the beneficiary schools in the process of technology planning and implementation.		The methodological approach of the project has been a hands-on experiential and empirical process, structured around participatory partnership building with service providers and the engagement of the beneficiary schools in the process of technology planning and implementation.

			==Research Problem==
			The purpose of the project was to solve a basic problem – connecting schools to the internet using a low cost bundle of technology solutions. Most secondary schools in the Highfields district of Harare had the physical computers in their computer labs, obtained either from self provisioning or from the government of Zimbabwe presidential computer roll out program.

			Invariably the proliferation of computer hardware in schools necessitated that guidelines are developed that would inform schools on how to adopt and develop an ICT connectivity technology plan defined by their own context and needs. Unfortunately the majority of schools interviewed in Highfields were not connected to the internet and in most cases the reason was that existing ICT in education policy guidelines did not provide a framework that deals specifically with connectivity options and this policy void made it difficult for schools to pursue a successful connectivity strategy.

			The project recognised this gap and sort to provide an affordable first mile and first inch wireless connectivity option. To deliver on this intention required that the project approaches the task on the basis of three interacting themes:

			*'''Access:''' An access theme that focused on building a low cost bundle of technology infrastructure that would provide connectivity into schools.
			*'''Training:''' A training and capacity building theme that would translate the technology into better teaching and learning in the school.
			*'''Policy:''' A policy and influence theme that would target advocacy within the technology policy and education sectors so that appropriate Internet connectivity guidelines can be developed.