September 2011 - KICTANet

Refugee Camps to Benefit from Resource Centers
by Grace Githaiga 29 Sep '11

29 Sep '11

Refugee Camps to Benefit from Resource Centers By Mutwiri Mutotia NAIROBI, Kenya, September 28- Software manufacturing giant, Microsoft Corporation has established three computer resource centres in Kenyan refugee camps to ensure the displaced are in tune with the information technology age. This was disclosed by the company’s senior vice-president, Prad Smith, who led a high powered delegation to the Kenyan deputy leader, Kalonzo Musyoka at his office on Wednesday. “This centres will help them access information about their families and relatives besides helping them access to online education as well as update the refugees in their respective camps on the day-to-day activities in other parts of the world,” Smith proclaimed. He said the organisation was working closely with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in ensuring that refugees become computer literate. Kenya has borne the majority of refugees fleeing the strife-torn Horn of Africa with the Kakuma and Daadab refugee camps in the Northern part of the country hosting almost a million displaced persons. The Community Technology Learning Centres (CTLC) as the project is known, was mooted in 2003 with the pilot at the Daadab camp that now host close to half a million refugees. CTLCs have also been launched in Afghanistan. But with Kenya hosting the 6th Internet Governance Forum (IGF) the stalwarts of the global tech industry have taken advantage of the gathering to seek new markets for their products. During the visit, Musyoka lauded the role played by Microsoft in the provision of knowledge, information and communication which is critical to the development of any country. “The Kenyan Government is doing everything possible to ensure that every child in the country gets access to a computer and internet connection as one way of preparing them to face the challenges of the modern world,” the vice-president stressed.

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Thoughts developing at the IGF 2011, 26th to 30th September 2011
by Philip Adar 28 Sep '11

28 Sep '11

Sharing thoughts at the IGF 2011, in Nairobi. http://isoc.org/wp/igf/?cat=4567 -- Regards Philip Adar

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Re: [kictanet] [Shujaa Solutions] Shujaa Solutions - September 2011 Digest
by Sean Moroney 28 Sep '11

28 Sep '11

Hi Michael, Congratulations on the progress you are making in so many different directions. I’d like to invite you to make a presentation on your Apps Store in the Mobile Apps stream of our East Africa ICT Summit over 2-3 November. The programme of confirmed presentations so far is attached for your reference. In addition, would you like to make a short (10-min) Innovation Showcase presentation on the M-Ganga project at our AfriHealth conference over 30 November – 1 December (programme attached) delegates from other countries would also find this interesting and it may open opportunities for collaboration across the region. I hope you can contribute to both conferences and look forward to having your response. Regards, Sean Moroney Chairman AITEC Africa seanm(a)aitecafrica.com UK Tel: +44(0)1480-880774 UK Fax: +44(0)1480-880765 UK Mobile: +44(0)7973-499224 Skype: seanmoroney www.aitecafrica.com From: shujaa-bounces(a)shujaa.co.ke [mailto:shujaa-bounces@shujaa.co.ke] On Behalf Of Michael Wakahe Sent: 28 September 2011 10:33 To: shujaa(a)shujaa.co.ke Subject: [Shujaa Solutions] Shujaa Solutions - September 2011 Digest Greetings folks. It has been a while since I posted on our mailing list but now intend to do so more regularly. A lot has been happening on the local and international scene. In the diaspora we have seen the acquisition of Motorola by Google, the Windows 8 BUILD conference and the exit of Carol Bartz from Yahoo! and Leo Apotheker from HP. The "Kenyans for Kenya" campaign was very successful and goes to show that the solutions for Africa's problems lie in Africa. The shilling has slid against the dollar in a big way and we want our economy restored - "Haki Yetu" ;-) Some of the activities we have had since I last blogged include: * Setting up to be a Premium Rate Services Provider (PRSP) with Airtel Kenya and Safaricom Kenya. This means we are now offering short code, bulk SMS, USSD and IVR services with the mentioned operators. With our Safaricom line, you can send any message to the short code 2024 and will get an automated response from us. The cost is KES 5/- and we will not subscribe you to any services; * I facilitated the module 'Mobile Web' at the Safaricom Academy <http://www.safaricomacademy.org/> this July and August; * We have been applying for various grant requests and competitions including the Kenya ICT Board Grant Round 2 <http://www.ict.go.ke/index.php/component/content/article/74-books/366-grant…> , the Enablis Business Plan Competition 2011 <http://www.businesslaunchpad.co.ke> and the Ashoka Changemakers More Health Competition <https://www.changemakers.com/morehealth/entries/m-ganga-mobile-healer> . This Friday is the deadline for the Orange African Social Venture Prize <http://www.starafrica.com/en/news/orange-african-social-venture-prize/the-c…> and the 2012 Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA); <http://aip.uneca.org/aif> * We were at a training for Safaricom Content Providers this August as we are set up to provide them with mobile apps. I must say kudos to their efforts on creating a content management platform. Am prodding them to release it as soon as they can so that apps can be a big phenomenon here; * As usual working with business partners and seeking collaboration with universities and other institutions. Some of the commercial activities we are now undertaking include: * Revamping our website and social networks to expose our products, activities and social events; * Building up our product dubbed the Shujaa SMS Gateway. This will be our management system for SMS services. Some of the features will be an HTTP API to send and receive SMS, reporting through graphs and email briefs, documentation, SLA and other legals. It will allow you to set up your code to call our API to trigger and receive SMS through the local operators; * We have just formed an exciting team to put out a fully fledged app store under the Mobisoko <http://mobisoko.com/> flagship. The focus is Kenya and then Africa. An app store concept that we developed last year can be seen by clicking this link: http://appstore.shujaa.mobi. With the experiences learnt from this initiative I believe we are well placed to contribute a lot. More details coming soon. On the community side, some upcoming activities include: * I will be a mentor <http://garage48.org/nairobi/mentors> for the Garage48 <http://garage48.org/nairobi> event this Saturday here in Nairobi; * We are putting out the M-Ganga <http://mganga.shujaa.mobi> healthcare project which aims to conserve traditional medicine in our country. We will request for volunteers to use our mobile app to take interviews and photos of medicine men and herbs and submit to the database. This project is inspired by Shikoh Gitau who is now working in Google Kenya. * We will be doing some interviews with players in the tech industry and putting them on our Youtube page. Essentially just to get a feel of the local scene from people in different areas including SME, large corporate and government. Our quote for this month is from Archimedes, a Greek mathematician and inventor (c. 287 BC – c. 212 BC): "Give me a place to stand and with a lever I will move the whole world". I believe IT is our lever for this task and we are standing here in Kenya B-) -- Regards, Michael Wakahe Director, Shujaa Solutions Software & Mobile Land: +254 (0) 20 250 9260 Web: www.shujaa.co.ke Mobile: shujaa.mobi

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Women and Internet Governance @ IGF
by Grace Githaiga 28 Sep '11

28 Sep '11

Women and Internet Governance By Mutwiri Mutuota NAIROBI, Kenya, September 28- While many sectors struggle to achieve gender parity, women have played a proactive role in the development, advancement and consumption of the internet. The Women and Internet Governance session at the 6th Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Nairobi recognised and hailed the role female leaders and consumers of ICT have played in the global growth of cyber space. Interventions from some of the world’s leading female ICT policy makers at government and private sector as well as web technology based entrepreneurs acknowledged that women were not shying away from being part and parcel of the digital revolution. The Association of Progressive Communicators (APC) while making an intervention on Women access to the internet for instance, told the meeting that many women in Asia countries such as Taiwan and China had turned to the internet to highlight gender bias and injustices to great effect. “In Taiwan for example, more women are using social networks such as Facebook and Twitter to report cases of domestic violence and their voices are being heard,” an APF representative told the forum. Nigerian entrepreneur, Nnenna Nwakanma stated during her intervention that while women were making significant strides in attaching themselves to the policy making machinery in ICT, there was need to make many more able to generate web content. “We need to create more women to generate content tailored to their needs so that they can enjoy (cyber) space. I’m an example of how one can make a living from churning content for the internet and my firm runs from the table room and kitchen,” she intoned. With millions of women accessing ICT through mobile phones and computers, the cyber world has unfortunately opened another front for gender violence against them. The keynote intervention during the Women and Internet Governance session was the presentation of a report by the Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANET) titled Study on Women and Cyber Crime in Kenya: The Dark Side of ICTS presented by Alice Munyua, Muriuki Mureith and Grace Githaga. It tabled grim findings on how the internet was being used to make women the subject of gender abuse at an alarming scale as Githaiga explained when she presented the report. “Women continue to be at risk of being victims of psychological violence through the internet and mobile technology,” she summed. In her illustration, she recounted the tribulations of Patricia Kihoro, a Kenyan contestant at the reality television show, Tusker Project Fame. “Patricia had to change her Facebook account settings after receiving thousands of hate messages on her inbox after voting out one of the audiences favourites. She told us she was so afraid of moving out to the streets when she returned home the show ended. The other rising technology induced violations of women’s rights was through sending abusive text messages that had evolved to include images with the advent of multimedia enabled phones. “The lack of specific cybercrime/cyber security legislation makes it even more difficult to punish those who use ICTs tools to conduct violence against women. “While, the review of the Kenya Communications Amendment Act, enacted in January 2009, begins to deal with the problem, it does not explicitly deal with all cyber crime and cyber security issues on the person and specifically women,” Githaga quoted the expansive report commissioned last year. With all present resolving to press for enactment of policies to safeguard women from cyber crime, Eunice Kariuki of the Kenya ICT Board stressed the urgent need to develop programmes to ensure global e-justice. “We need more women leaders in IT space as a lasting intervention to ensure e-justice. Women leaders in ICT will play a key role in formulation of policies meant to safeguard their interests in addition to making the advancements more user friendly to them,” Kariuki said. Drawing from her personal experience, she conceded the path towards ensuring gender parity in ICT was still long. The KICTANET report highlighted, “Cyber violence is more difficult for police to handle because people do it in the privacy of their homes. People can use the internet and email facilities wherever they find themselves and in this way hide what they do. It can be anonymous and therefore more dangerous.” “There is need to ensure a proper balance between the interests of law enforcement and respect for fundamental human rights. Such rights also include the right to freedom of expression and the rights concerning the respect for privacy,” it recommends. Alice Munyua, the Chair of Kenya IGF Steering Committee lead the women present in paying tribute to the late Nobel peace laureate Wangari Maathai. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you have the strength to survive, you have the power to succeed. Life is all about choices we make depending upon the situation we are in. Go forth and rule the World!

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Re: [kictanet] Kalonzo Opens the IGF
by meshack emakunat 28 Sep '11

28 Sep '11

Dear lister. I find the issue of protecting the children on the internet of great importance especially in an african setting considering the igf is being held right here in africa. If we want to have ict for development in a set up that is opinionated on a more traditional foundation of moral ethics, then the issue of moral ethics has to be adressed in policy fomulation and advocacy. We heard from mr. Karim Toure from gambia that people dont take there children to school not because of any other reason but they just shun the western education. regards. On Tue Sep 27th, 2011 4:44 PM PDT Grace Githaiga wrote: > > > >Kalonzo Opens the IGF > >NAIROBI, Kenya, September 27- Kenya’s vice President Kalonzo Musyoka on Tuesday underscored the importance of internet and related technologies as a potential tool for economic growth and social change. > >Musyoka consequently noted that internet has played critical role in the promotion of good governance through access to information thus restoring the public trust in political process. > >Addressing the ongoing 6th Internet Governance Forum (IGF) at the United Nations Office in Nairobi as it marked its official opening, the deputy leader stated, “This significant development creatively interfaced with mobile telephony can achieve enormous results in record time and to a great majority.” > >Kalonzo stressed the net has become an indispensable facet of modern day life and singled out information and education resource, commerce, employment, design and deployment of efficient administrative systems and access to public and official information as some of the benefits. > >The Vice president observed that access to knowledge, information and communication is critical to the development of any country and initiatives such as the Open Data Portal could give great impetus to public participation in translating government data and information into a reservoir of development ideas. > >He underscored the need for concerted effort in tackling emergent cyber-based security issues as he urged all stakeholders to come up with innovative ways of protecting children online. > > “I call upon all stakeholders to pay special attention to protect children on line as well as develop ways to address other forms of attacks against the integrity of the infrastructure, networks and services of the internet” Mr. Musyoka said. > >The three-day IGF, the first in Sub-Saharan Africa has the theme of “Internet as a catalyst for change, Access, Development, Freedom and Innovation and has drawn over 1,500 participants from across the world to share ideas on the emerging trends in the cyber world. > >“The impact continues to have dramatic effects including the overwhelmingly successful mobile telephony cash transfer platform M-Pesa pioneered in Kenya a few years ago. In Kenya, we have made great strides towards making Internet accessibility readily and cost effectively available to every region in the country,” he stated. > >He said this had been possible by the installation of three undersea fibre optic cables along the coast of East Africa. > >The Vice President added that the fibre connectivity via long-distance wireless communication technologies such as WiMAX and 3G has increased internet access tremendously, and encouraged more initiatives and partnership on the use of the internet for development purposes and in particular, in areas such as healthcare and education. > >He told the IT experts to come up with innovative programmes that will make the internet the watershed of ideas that will determine how effectively human capital, talents, skills and other resources could provide solutions to challenges facing them. > >Musyoka lauded the Kenya Internet Governance Forum for actively representing Kenya in all Internet governance processes. > > >----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >If you have the strength to survive, you have the power to succeed. Life is all about choices we make depending upon the situation we are in. Go forth and rule the World! >

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Kalonzo Opens the IGF
by Grace Githaiga 28 Sep '11

28 Sep '11

Kalonzo Opens the IGF NAIROBI, Kenya, September 27- Kenya’s vice President Kalonzo Musyoka on Tuesday underscored the importance of internet and related technologies as a potential tool for economic growth and social change. Musyoka consequently noted that internet has played critical role in the promotion of good governance through access to information thus restoring the public trust in political process. Addressing the ongoing 6th Internet Governance Forum (IGF) at the United Nations Office in Nairobi as it marked its official opening, the deputy leader stated, “This significant development creatively interfaced with mobile telephony can achieve enormous results in record time and to a great majority.” Kalonzo stressed the net has become an indispensable facet of modern day life and singled out information and education resource, commerce, employment, design and deployment of efficient administrative systems and access to public and official information as some of the benefits. The Vice president observed that access to knowledge, information and communication is critical to the development of any country and initiatives such as the Open Data Portal could give great impetus to public participation in translating government data and information into a reservoir of development ideas. He underscored the need for concerted effort in tackling emergent cyber-based security issues as he urged all stakeholders to come up with innovative ways of protecting children online. “I call upon all stakeholders to pay special attention to protect children on line as well as develop ways to address other forms of attacks against the integrity of the infrastructure, networks and services of the internet” Mr. Musyoka said. The three-day IGF, the first in Sub-Saharan Africa has the theme of “Internet as a catalyst for change, Access, Development, Freedom and Innovation and has drawn over 1,500 participants from across the world to share ideas on the emerging trends in the cyber world. “The impact continues to have dramatic effects including the overwhelmingly successful mobile telephony cash transfer platform M-Pesa pioneered in Kenya a few years ago. In Kenya, we have made great strides towards making Internet accessibility readily and cost effectively available to every region in the country,” he stated. He said this had been possible by the installation of three undersea fibre optic cables along the coast of East Africa. The Vice President added that the fibre connectivity via long-distance wireless communication technologies such as WiMAX and 3G has increased internet access tremendously, and encouraged more initiatives and partnership on the use of the internet for development purposes and in particular, in areas such as healthcare and education. He told the IT experts to come up with innovative programmes that will make the internet the watershed of ideas that will determine how effectively human capital, talents, skills and other resources could provide solutions to challenges facing them. Musyoka lauded the Kenya Internet Governance Forum for actively representing Kenya in all Internet governance processes. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you have the strength to survive, you have the power to succeed. Life is all about choices we make depending upon the situation we are in. Go forth and rule the World!

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Uwezo app
by Ory Okolloh 27 Sep '11

27 Sep '11

Is there a link somewhere to the app? Thanks, Ory On Thu, Sep 22, 2011 at 7:24 PM, <kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke>wrote: > Send kictanet mailing list submissions to > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > > You can reach the person managing the list at > kictanet-owner(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of kictanet digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Vizualisations on Student Teacher Ratio (bitange(a)jambo.co.ke) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Thu, 22 Sep 2011 20:32:02 +0300 (EAT) > From: bitange(a)jambo.co.ke > To: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> > Cc: k-internetusers(a)bdix.net, KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions > <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> > Subject: [kictanet] Vizualisations on Student Teacher Ratio > Message-ID: > <244efa5e3b9fafd3b7abd46be35c5c81.squirrel(a)mail.jambo.co.ke> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > Listers, > Uwezo has deveoped a visualization tool on the distribution of teachers in > the country. If you carefully review this piece of open data, you will > find that teachers had no case in the recent strike threat. What is > disturbing is the growing number of decisions made without proper > scientific methods. > > I am glad media tried to dismiss the teachers' case. What the public did > not know is that once the contract teachers are confirmed, the same union > officials will demand transfers for their relatives from marginal areas > (often with teacher deficit) to surplus regions. They will then use > marginal or deficit areas to ask for more recruitments. The cycle will > continue. Further the union dues will increase but education in marginal > areas will decline. > > Can we be ever embrace rational approaches to decision making especially > on critical development programmes? Where I come from teachers have > outsourced their services as they do their businesses or visit relatives > in far flung areas as in the US. KNUT knows this and nobody bears > responsibility on the declining standards. There is no performance > apparisal and if it was ever introduced 50% of teachers will go home. > Last year myself and three other friends randomly gave the past KCPE exam > to 10 teachers in five districts, only one scored 350. We can do this on > large scale but I doubt that the result will be any different. Can we > stand up and be counted on this. Education is the foundation of any > nation. > > > Regards > > > Ndemo. > > > > > ---------------------------------------------- > This message has been scanned for viruses and > dangerous content by Jambo MailScanner, and is > believed to be clean. > --------------------------------------------- > "easy access to the world" > > > ---------------------------------------------- > This message has been scanned for viruses and > dangerous content by Jambo MailScanner, and is > believed to be clean. > --------------------------------------------- > "easy access to the world" > >

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Tributes to Wangari Mathaai at IGF 11
by Grace Mutung'u (Bomu) 27 Sep '11

27 Sep '11

It is so striking that the IGF programme book, which I imagine was printed way before the sad demise of Prof Wangari Mathaai extensively quotes her on page (as an introduction to Kenya)...whoever had this great foresight! In addition, delegate after delegate today sent messages of condolence to Kenyans on her loss. She was truly a world heroine. R.I.P -- Grace L.N. Mutung'u (Bomu) Kenya Skype: gracebomu Twitter: GraceMutung'u (Bomu)

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Fwd: Registration form WCCC and Computer Olympiad
by waudo siganga 27 Sep '11

27 Sep '11

This could interest some, particularly programmers who can write computer games to play chess, draughts, checkers, Go, backgammon, bridge, and more. Waudo ----- Original message ----- From: "J.W. Hellemons" <J.W.Hellemons(a)uvt.nl> To: "J.W. Hellemons" <J.W.Hellemons(a)uvt.nl> Date: Tue, 27 Sep 2011 12:51:17 +0000 Subject: Registration form WCCC and Computer Olympiad *Apologies for multiple postings* Dear member of the ICGA, Please be so kind to register for the events in Tilburg in November via http://www.grappa.univ-lille3.fr/icga/news_item.php?id=66 for the WCCC, WCSC and Computer Olympiad. For participation in the ACG13 conference please register via https://www.conftool.net/acg13/index.php?page=logout Best regards, Joke Hellemons

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Follow the IGF on twitter
by Grace Githaiga 27 Sep '11

27 Sep '11

Follow IGF proceedings on twitter: @KICTANet ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you have the strength to survive, you have the power to succeed. Life is all about choices we make depending upon the situation we are in. Go forth and rule the World!

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