| Holistic ICT and Open and Distance Learning
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Project Pillar: Governance
Project cost: $26,000 over 2 years
Project Status: we are currently reviewing our
participation in this project.
Needs: Funding for Knowledge design, organization
and implementation of GRASSUP NOW Program in Kenya.
Support Project |
Project Name: Grassroots
Underpinnings: Poverty, Nutrition, ODL/ICTs and Women
Location: 4 Projects in Kenya as part of the COL-Kenya/GRASSUP
NOW Consortium.
description: GRASSUP NOW (Grassroots Underpinnings:
Poverty, Nutrition, ODL/ICTs and Women consists of four Kenyan based
non-profits. Their goal is to promote an educational program that
is focused on local empowerment, nutrition and health, open learning
and sustainable development.
Background: These groups by working together collaboratively
were able to receive a grant proposal for 20,000 Canadian dollars
from the Commonwealth
of Learning (COL). COL is a Canadian organization that focuses
on developing programs that can be augmented with ICT to address
the needs of underserved communities. The money was distributed
evenly between the four groups and was earmarked for the purchase
of computers and other related hardware to create Information
Communication Technology (ICT) Education Centers as part
of a process to spread the vision and mission of the GRASSUP NOW
program.
Vision: Bringing together diverse groups to develop
effective solutions for Kenya through ICT.
Mission: To develop materials which can be shared
by all members for mutual community benefit. GRASSUP NOW assists
underserved communities in Africa by raising money to develop an
ICT infrastructure that addresses the socioeconomic roots of dependency
thinking.
Concept: GRASSUP NOW will achieve its mission
by bridging cultural, tribal, racial, gender and religious barriers
to create an open environment for learning. To create an open learning
environment, a leadership model needs to emerge that is focused
on coordinating knowledge sharing and training towards the empowerment
of people, particularly women as it is that many women and minority
groups are discouraged from getting an formal education. An important
objective of this program is to address social issues that promote
the spread of AIDS. Women are empowered to protect themselves from
HIV/AIDS by earning their own living. This addresses one of the
greatest causes of infection among poor single women - relying
on transient, but relatively well-paid men to support them.
Project Design and Rationale: GRASSUP NOW is a
collaborative program that seeks to demonstrates how ICT can reduce
poverty and encourage sustainable human economic development in
Kenya. Still in the concept stage this joint venture was designed
to function in a complementary way to COL-Kenya which was formed
as a consortium of Kenyan and US NGOs. COL Kenya successfully obtained
funding from the Canadian based Commonwealth of Learning Program
in 2004 to fund the purchase of computers to promote ICT open and
distance learning. One of the goals was also to create GRASSUP NOW
is a multi-purpose program that seeks to develop innovative learning
and replication tools to build capacity in open and distance learning
with a focus on environmental, nutritional, agricultural and health
issues.
GRASSSUP NOW seeks to instill a self-help/social enterprise approach
that gives people a sense of achievement and validation. This is
done by providing local people with the tools and information so
that they can develop a sense of what is the best way to build and
organize their local economies. Towards this end, this initiative,
creates and distributes educational content that serves underserved
communities in areas of:
1. |
Agriculture, nutrition and health care |
2. |
Income-generation through business education and e-commerce |
3. |
Environmental education |
4. |
Grass-roots empowerment through literacy using ICT to augment
existing teaching and communication tools |
ICT and organizational initiatives can be the drivers of social
transformation ensuring equal participation in civil society government
for minority groups and basic welfare and safety net services such
as health care education, healthy nutritious food and safe drinking
water. This process of collaboration is at its root about learning
from the collective wisdom that defines us as a living and evolving
human global community. GRASSUP (NOW) is a successful demonstration
of how committed people can overcome the challenges of collaboration.
Goals:
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Identify appropriate and readily available
information and communication technology (ICT) and open and
distance learning (ODL) methods to support locally-produced
educational content creation. |
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Integrate the best functionality in ICT and ODL systems
and capabilities provided by leading innovators. |
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Provide practical ICT solutions for underserved communities |
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Support the poverty reduction and sustainable human development
goals of the COL-Kenya GRASSUP-NOW initiative |
Project Partners:
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Francis Anyona of the Ikonzo Musanda Self-Help Group |
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James Onyango, Director of KAIPPG
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Kennedy Edwine Onyango, Director of Community Initiatives
and Social Support Center Organization (CISSO) |
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Kiragu Maina Coordinator of the Interactive Learning Network
Ltd (SchoolConnect) |
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Janet Feldman of KAIPPG International
helped to facilitate the process of bringing together these
groups, inviting them into the process of applying for the
grant with COL |
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Krishna Alluri of COL, has played an important role as
an advisor, helping to guide and navigate this collaborative
process of developing a grant proposal suitable to COL |
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Mark Roest of oneVillage Foundation USA |
Target Groups: People in underserved
communities in Kenya with a focus on Women.
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