ToroDev's Establishment of an ICT4D Research & Resource Centre in Western Uganda project Finalist in Stockholm Challenge 2008

Submitted by Baguma Johnstone on 4 May, 2008 - 16:06.
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The Toro region based ICT for Development Research and Resource Centre project initiated by Toro Development Network (ToroDev - Kabissa Profile, Website hosted on Kabissa), a community based ICT4D driven NGO since 2005, has shown such fine model and progressive results that the Stockholm Challenge jury selected it as one of the finalists in the Economic Development category of the 2008 award.

The staff is now invited to the Challenge Week, May 19 - 22 in Stockholm, Sweden featuring the award dinner and ceremony, a series of workshops, conference and exhibition of ICT for development projects from over 50 countries. There were 13 ICT projects nominated from Uganda and ToroDev's initiative managed to make it to the finals out of over 450 projects all over the world. ToroDev currently operates in Kabarole and Kyenjojo districts of western Uganda. The overall goal of the ICT4D Research and Resource Centre for Rural Development is to provide quality information services, ICT training to local youths, men and women and establish an SME Business Incubating Centre in Fort Portal town.

Currently, there is both a research program on available infrastructure and technology - and ICT for development awareness, sensitazation and orientaion program for the local people to embrace ICTs and later be able utilise the services offered by the centre on their own. The aim of the innitiative is to reach the specific goals like ICT-enabled small and medium scale entreprises (SMEs), agricultural production, an empowered and vibrant civil society in the region, a contribution to the socio-economic development of the Ugandan rural community by the year 2011.

The project now has a chance of winning the Stockholm Challenge Economic Development Trophy plus a prize award of 5.000 Euros. "We are committed to ensuring that the rural community understands and appreciates the enormous opportunities both traditional and modern ICTs have in accelerating sustainable social, economic and political development. At ToroDev, we endeavor to define ICTs in its broadest context. Our definition goes beyond modern physical computer equipment, software and networks that are often misunderstood to be designed for the elite and urban population. We also embrace traditional and rural techniques of gathering, processing and disseminating relevant and cheap information by established rural information centers that use oral sensitization and distribution tools that include cinemas, printed posters and other materials, public addresses, community radios and telephony. Accessing internet in a urban or semi-urban area where there are high literacy rates with enough power supply infrastructure, cheaper bandwidth and other connectivity rates, then using this electronic information to generate relevant development knowledge and disseminating it to the rural population in a relevant local content through a community radio is imperative, especially when a reasonable percentage of the population is illiterate", says Johnstone Baguma-Kumaraki, Ag. Executive Director.

Impact to date:

Toro Development Network builds the human capacity of rural people to access and use modern and traditional ICTs for development on their own. "Our emphasis is that Telephony, computer and Internet technologies are no longer a luxury. In the modern global village environment, they are basic needs!" adds Baguma-Kumaraki. This project creates awareness of the ICT4D potentials to shake up rural people's untapped cognitive abilities for starting up sustainable self-help income generating projects, advocacy and lobbying.

ToroDev targets to empower an average of 1,500 youth through ICT4D awareness programs in partnership with two private community radios where it was allowed to hold talk shows in the region. An average number of 700 men and women in the community can access online and printed ICT4D articles in local media, and 1,200 youth leaders will also soon benefit from basic ICT and Internet training with emphasis on the use of Web 2.0 tools at the established resource centre.The project advocates for equality in training, access and use of ICT between rural men and women. A total number of 700 members of organized women groups and 300 men will be freely trained at the resource centre by 2011. The preliminary community information needs assessment survey revealed that women were more marginalized to access and use ICTs in the rural community compared to men since most of the time were confined to doing domestic work.

Internet has been used to expand ICT4D research boundaries and improve ToroDev's Civil Society Partnership strategy through online networks established with other rural ICT projects in Ghana, Senegal, South Africa and Kenya. ToroDev has been able to create and maintain partnerships with funding organizations like Kabissa in USA, InfoDev, Computer Aid International (CAI), International Development Research Centre (IDRC), African Institute for Capacity Development (AICAD) and Bridges.org through online networks.

This ICT4D initiative has a special and unique SME Business Incubation Centre that it expects to house at the resource center in Fort Portal town. The center will offer services that nurture business start-up ideas and help Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to lobby for improved entrepreneurial skills training, information based agricultural production practices through the use of internet(e-mails and e-articles to farmers) and market research (the use of mobile and public payphones and internet to determine prices in urban centers and global markets).

 

ToroDev with support from partners trains staff and community development workers in quality information gathering, community knowledge sharing and management at affordable costs through the use of Web 2.0 Tools. The project staff members have also been trained in order to train community workers in the region.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ToroDev Executive Director (Center) Consulting Trainees & Facilitators during an ICT4D Workshop on the Use of Web 2.0 Tools funded by I-trainers in Uganda and IICD: (Picture Missing)

 

Toro Development Network demonstrates a unique model for approaching the use of ICT for Development tools in Ugandan rural communities and Africa in general through establishing an ICT4D Research and Resource Center for Rural Development in Toro region of Western Uganda.

"The Stockholm Challenge programme 2008 has been targeting ICT for Development projects globally", says project manager Ulla Skidén and adds: "Great efforts have been put into the search for excellent examples of information and communication technologies that show convincing benefits to people and communities both culturally and economically. The Establishment of an ICT4D Research and Resource centre in Toro Region is such a project and therefore it deserves its place among this year's finalists".

The winning projects in each of the six categories will be announced during the spectacular Gala Evening in the Stockholm City Hall on May 22. The program for Challenge Event can be found here: http://event.stockholmchallenge.se/. "This is great news for us at ToroDev. We are very humbled and thankful to the Stockholm Challenge Award 2008 Jury for honoring our project internationally. We look forward to bringing the Trophy to Uganda in May", says Johnstone Baguma-Kumaraki, the Executive Director, Toro Development Network.

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