A group of marginalized, Peri-urban women will be trained in effective use of computer, internet and mobile phone technology to bridge information gaps/tap into economic and social benefits of ICTs. The citizenry will be positioned and mobilized to share business and life experiences via new communication channels. Activities include ICT training, personal testimony, storytelling skills building, running a computer laboratory. 60 women will benefit from training and will easily access computer service. Trained members will train peers and other community members to cascade project benefits.
Topical focus:
Country:
What locality or neighborhood will your project focus on?
Kampala
Describe the specific population with whom you will be working.
Committee members :Chairperson-Educationist, certificate in teaching; Vice Chair- Mobiliser, Trainer of Trainers, Tax collection experience; Publicity Secretary, Mobiliser; Secretary- HIV Counselor,mobilizer; Treasurer, Development Activist, Social Scientist, Public Health Scientist, 60 community leaders. Committee pinpointed high computer illiteracy compelling project inception, reviewed and sharpened proposal draft.Only 20% are computer and internet compliant. Most therefore entirely rely on other committee or outside members for internet service and benefits. Working with these to gain/use on line skills will translate into cost effective means of sharing social and business information, and enhance operations and performance, hence accelerate achievement of Organisational goal.
Who else will be on your team to help implement the project?
Loan Manager (Janet Nahamya) holding B.A. Education, Counsellor, Diploma in Counseling;
Office Manager (Godfrey Mbalirwa)- www.linkedin.com/pub/mbalirwa-godfrey/41/a88/ab6 ,Diploma in Business Administration and Accounting.
Computer expert- certificate in computer course;60 selected women leaders of SACCO.
Computer expert (Reymond Wamalwa), Data Manager- certificates in computer and 10 years’ + computer programming experience, Raymond Wamalwa (@fundi_handyman), • http://www.fundihandyman.co.ug, https://twitter.com/fundi_handyman ; 60 selected women leaders of diverse background.
What kinds of news, stories and other content will be created?
Women social, business news, success stories, challenges, solutions will be created. Blogs, twits, personal testimonies shedding light on life experiences/social change such as managing challenge/complexity of taking on breadwinning role despite presence of male (spouse) in home, will be generated. Includes managing Domestic Violence resulting from dwindling/no income on part of spouse. Trained members will share skills with peers in community; hence a multiplier effect/more voices. Participants will access/apply e-business information and share results digitally, accelerate empowerment. Project will enhance talent development of music/drama artists who empower communities through skits to be shared digitally through video recording, social media platforms and tools such as You Tube.
What technologies and digital tools do you plan to use in the trainings?
Describe the connections that you or your organization have already established or plan to establish that will contribute to the success of the project.
Existing partnerships: Microfinance Support Centre LTD, Commonwealth Foundation, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Gender, National Women’s Council, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Industry, Uganda Cooperative Savings and Credit Union Ltd (UCSCU), Uganda Cooperative Alliance (UCA), Kampala Capital City Authority, World Pulse (established from using Microgrant Platform); pulsewire@worldpulse.com, http://worldpulse.com/, http://worldpulse.com/pulsewire, several SACCOs. Future partnerships: Uganda ICT Ministry- http://www.ict.go.ug, Uganda Communications Commission-www.ucc.co.ug, Cisco- http://csr.cisco.com/, csr.cisco.com , Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, https://ssl.linklings.net/conferences/ghc/. Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology.
How many participants do you think will be trained in your project?
67 participants will be trained,these have been involved in conceptualizing project, hence committed to participate and see to successful completion and scale up of project. Sustenance of participation will hinge on demonstration of extensive benefits of project, polite reminder to participants about their roles in development, empowerment and accountability to those they lead. Participatory exciting, engaging training methods such as visual & practicum training methods and sharing experiences globally,will be used to ensure sustenance. Simplicity in delivering sessions, sensitivity and flexibility to needs of participants will be observed. Participants will then train their community peers and continue to sharpen/ expand their digital skills and continue to learn/use other media tools.
Describe which technologies, tools, and media you will focus on when training participants.
Participants will gain skills in ICT and blogging. I will share skills in surfing and navigating various sites and offer encouragement to fellow women participants as well as demystify the web. I will also deliver sessions on writing compelling stories. The computer expert will take on sessions of basic computer training as well as internet use. The education and TOT/communication expert will share skills in writing business stories. Community lacks basic computer knowledge and this is a big contributor to the digital divide status, hence this will be a first step, followed by skills in blogging. Blogging is appropriate and user friendly since it is familiar- target group has been doing something similar to blogs; difference is they have not been documenting or sharing widely/ globally.
Describe the facilities where you will hold the workshops.
The Chairperson will provide space big enough for 10 participants and 3 facilitators; tables and seats for the above and power connection. The project will have 10 computers and USB modems; we plan to obtain 10 modems from Orange provider. Approximate internet connection speed will be 21 Mbps. We will have a flip chart stand.
What is your current relationship with the community with whom you plan to work? What makes you the most appropriate individual or organization to implement this project?
As community woman leader I will be working with fellow leaders/community. We are engaged in socio-economic development projects/activities with community and keen to build synergies.I am front runner in community projects for instance research on progress of MDGs in Uganda-2013, delivered by Nakawa Blessed SACCO –NBS, this project proposer. NBS: is recognized for results/effective mobilization of the vulnerable for development/innovations as this; supported resettlement of citizens affected by demolition of Nakawa Estate in 2011;was selected as Lead SACCO in 2010; mobilized communities to tap into IDA/government Community Demand Driven (CDD) program and formed a CBO that now benefits a CDD quarterly disbursement of USD 2,000. We plan to train other community members on ICT and blogging.
What specific challenges do you expect to face when planning and implementing your project?
Stigma, low esteem; some participants may feel they may not cope. Target community (women) are burdened with many roles hence may be poor time keepers. Project targets older rather than young women, since former are less exposed to computer opportunities, hence anticipate positive discrimination in selecting beneficiaries. Need to use local language will slow teaching-words are longer; some translations are evasive; this will be unavoidable. Power outages, internet connectivity issues anticipated; Orange is known fast service.
Women will be encouraged through reference to other successful women training. Will be flexible/responsive in time schedules; to agree appropriate time frames; younger members will be offered opportunity in cascade trainings; will use generator for power cuts.
How will you measure and evaluate the project’s impact, specifically: your primary participants, the wider regional community, or the global digital community?
We shall work with facilitators to assess skills learnt on on-going basis during training through written assignments and observation of individual learners. Assessment results with numbers trained will be captured in Training report following each training. Beneficiaries will be followed on line to provide feedback on their web engagement including their views on benefits and any challenges. We also will keep track of beneficiaries’ shared stories on social media at local and global levels and feedback on such stories from the global community. Beneficiaries will report on number of other community members they have trained and feedback on achievements following such community training. Numbers using the lab will be tracked on monthly basis and opinion on this service will be obtained.
If your project were to be selected as a Rising Voices grantee, what would be the general timeline of project activities in 2014?
Preparations/invitation to participants /facilitators 1st May 2014 to 6th May 2014.
Purchase/procure project items: 2 Desk computer sets
1 printer & accessories, 10 USB modems hire 5 computer sets -1st May 2014 to 15th May 2014.
6 ICT workshops for 10 days each (for total 60 women members) -19th May 2014 to 19th July 2014.
Set up computer lab – 21st to 31st July 2014.
Monitoring & Evaluation – May to 15th August 2014.
Cascade training – May 2014 onwards (ongoing).
Detail a specific budget of up to $2,500 USD for operating costs.
10 USB modems @ USD 36 =USD 360
Bundle (2 months) = USD 220
6 ICT workshops for 10 days each (for total 60 women members)= USD 1460
Coordination =USD 200
Monitoring & Evaluation = USD 160
Besides the microgrant funding, what other support can Rising Voices provide for your project to ensure its success?
Other support from Rising Voices: Publicise our project globally on its websites and other facilities, provide technical support and training tools related to social media training which we can adapt for our use. Share project related videos and experiences of other similar projects so that we learn from such experiences; for instances demonstrations of disadvantaged women from other parts of the world undergoing ICT training sessions.
Contact name
Eva Magambo
Organization
Nakawa Blessed SACCO.