| 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.
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Needs: Funding for Knowledge
design, organization and implementation of GRASSUP
NOW Program in Kenya.
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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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