Project partners pay tribute to SAFIPA

Filed under Community news by Kerryn on 24 November, 2011 at 10:26 am {no comments}

Thiru Naidoo-Swettenham hard at work at the successful SAFIPA 2011 Conference

The most recent ICT capacity building partnership between South Africa and Finland – the South African Finland Partnership (SAFIPA) – which was the successor to the COFISA project, comes to an end in November 2011.  The project has run over a three-year period managed by a core trio of locally-based personnel, overseen by a Steering Committee which included stakeholders from within the South African and Finnish governments, and with supportive roles undertaken by the CSIR Meraka Institute.

SAFIPA has began winding down active operations with the final programme analysis and reporting process beginning in late October.  Perhaps setting the tone for these final reports has been the SAFIPA Conference 2011 which was held on the 19th and 20th October at the CSIR International Convention Centre.  At this time the programme was hailed as a success by project donor- and implementing-partners alike.

“We have played with the best.”

Representing the CSIR Meraka Institute at the conference was Executive Director, Lourens Cloete, who also took on the function of Conference Programme Director and Master of Ceremonies.  Lourens described this bilateral programme as significant in terms of broadening the information society in South Africa; meeting this challenge through partnerships to develop networks and enable cross-sector cooperation, whilst leveraging ICTs to make this goal possible.
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Looking ahead – the dialogue between MFA and southern Africa manifests in exciting new initiatives

Filed under Community news by Kerryn on 24 November, 2011 at 9:21 am {no comments}

As the SAFIPA programme comes to an end, the dialogue between southern Africa and Finland, does not end with it.  Newly established initiatives, in particular, the TANZICT and SAIS programmes are set to continue the legacy of dialogue – of which SAFIPA is a part – that began a decade ago.

The MFA has also conducted an external evaluation of the SAFIPA programme and the external reviewers were complimentary in noting that SAFIPA overall had contributed to and fulfilled its mandate of supporting and promoting the information society within SA.  Feedback regarding project implementation and grant management was given to the PMO and certain issues dealing with selection of projects, reporting requirements and monitoring and evaluation will be incorporated into the design of future initiatives. In particular the mechanism of support by the provision of in-country technical assistance and guidance and the capacity development and networking programmes coordinated by the PMO were highlighted as key factors contributing  to the success of the programme. It is important to note that sustainability of SAFIPA funded initiatives was critical and the PMO is pleased to report that of the 25 initiatives supported by the programme, at least 22 will be continued after the SAFIPA partnership has ended.

On reflection of SAFIPA outputs

Former counsellor of STI and Information Society, Embassy of Finland and member of the SAFIPA Supervisory Board and Steering committee from 2008 to November 2010, Ms Helena Tapper also commented that “one of the strongest impacts of SAFIPA is the creation of networks of people who work in the same area in ICT. These networks will remain after the programme. Further, the universities, public and private sector have today joint projects to develop ICT services in South Africa.”
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Part 4 “This is what we’re doing”: SAFIPA projects on building and information society

Filed under Inclusion, Accessibility and Community Connectivity by Kerryn on 23 November, 2011 at 8:23 pm {no comments}

The key issues in the fourth parallel session, were to look closely at the linkages with Government and the private sector, sustainability and further development, opportunities for replication and wider adoption within South Africa and in other countries, and the funding of future initiatives. The Living Labs South Africa, Meraka Code Sprints and Kujali Sociotech shared their experiences.

THE ECO-SYSTEM OF THE LIVING LABS SOUTHERN AFRICA NETWORK

Professor Marlien Herselman from the CSIR Meraka Institute discusses Living Labs in Southern Africa initiative which is an embodiment of the innovation system where all sectors engage in the innovation process.

“The concept of a Living Lab is that it incorporates different stakeholders such as users, innovators, and institutions, who submit and support ideas as applied to a specific value chain. They collaborate to create, prototype and use new products and processes.  In the African context, what works well is a lab environment that caters for a user-driver approach. Successful developments can then be replicated to improve living standards more broadly.

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Part 3 “This is what we’re doing”: SAFIPA projects talk ICT support for access to education

Filed under ICT and Education by Kerryn on 23 November, 2011 at 4:49 pm {no comments}

Learners trying out MoMaths at SAFIPA conference 2011

In the third parallel session Nokia’s MoMaths, the CECS Maths Portal and CampusNet find innovative ways of providing ICT support to enable access to education.

NOKIA’S MOMATHS

Jacqueline Batchelor, an independent consultant who works with Riitta Vanska’s team on the Nokia MoMaths project, talks about the hugely successful uptake of the MoMaths initiative by school students in South Africa and Finland.

Overcoming the Maths crisis
“There is a crisis in mathematics in South Africa. It is imperative that the South African secondary school educational system produces the kinds of results that will deliver scientists, engineers and the like.   Learning needs to be embedded in the learner’s every day life.  The value of the MoMaths project is that it goes where the learner goes.  Almost every youth in South Africa has MXit on their phones and that is why MoMaths leverages this platform.
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Part 2 “This is what we’re doing”: SAFIPA projects show solutions to improving service delivery for rural development

Filed under Rural development by Kerryn on 23 November, 2011 at 3:01 pm {no comments}

ESTIMA's stand at the SAFIPA conference expo area

In this parallel session, projects looked at the practical and innovative solutions that have been developed to improve service delivery in rural areas.  Here ESTIMA’s Teleweaver, Municipality in a Box and Naledi3d showcased their projects and activities in this area.

ESTIMA’S TELEWEAVER:
A MARRIAGE OF IDEALS TO MEET SOCIAL GOALS

Professor Alfredo Terzoli, Head of the Telkom Centre of Excellence (CoE) and Reed House Systems (RHS), Rhodes University, discussed the ESTIMA initiative, which talks to ICT4D and ICT entrepreneurship.

“It is both possible, and in fact, essential to marry ICT for development and ICT entrepreneurship.  But is it possible to make real and empowering ICT deployment in marginalised or disadvantaged areas?  The answer is that at the moment, not really.  Many townships are completely unconnected.  Infrastructure and the provision of ICT resources are just too expensive.   Also, application relevance for these areas is very limited.  And the expertise of ICT solution providers is inadequate and disconnected, with providers generally having different vantage points and backgrounds.

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Part 1 “This is what we’re doing”: SAFIPA projects on technology commercialisation

Filed under Innovation and ICT Entrepreneurship by Kerryn on 23 November, 2011 at 12:37 pm {no comments}

The SAFIPA programme would not be what it is without the projects that it has supported over the past three years.  During the SAFIPA two-day conference, much has been said about these projects by partners and organisers alike.  They have been applauded and rewarded for the innovative ways in which they’ve endeavored to meet the challenges around rural development, entrepreneurship, health,

View of SAFIPA 2011 Conference

education and social upliftment.  But it didn’t end there.  The conference programme provided project partners with opportunities to showcase their wares at a ‘marketplace of ideas’:  demonstrating their products and applications, encouraging discussion about their processes, and generally showing what they have been able to achieve with SAFIPA support.

SAFIPA projects were able to present at the Exhibition Showcase and Expo sessions, and in four ‘deep dive’ thematic sessions which allowed opportunities for projects to share insights, lessons learnt, project achievements, and future plans to be presented.  The sessions were clustered around Technology Commercialisation;  Service Delivery and Rural Development; ICT Support in Access to Education; & Mechanisms and Networks that build an Information Society. .

The first parallel session was on Technology Commercialisation.  Here, the WhereIsMyTransport team, JamiiX and the Tech Transfer project lead shared their experiences so far with regards the successful commercialisation of their ventures.

Technology Commercialisation

THE DRIVE BEHIND WHEREISMYTRANSPORT

This hugely successful transport tracking initiative – WhereIsMyTransport – was started up by two childhood friends and UCT graduates, Devin de Vries and Chris King.  They were tired of using private motor transport.  They experienced the primary issues around public transport which were a lack of reliability, being unsafe, the inaccessibility of public transport services, and lack of predictability.
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The SAFIPA Newsletter

The final SAFIPA Newsletter, Spring 2011

This is the final edition of the SAFIPA newsletter. The month of November 2011, marks the conclusion of this dynamic initiative.



This newsletter pays tribute to the SAFIPA programme in the form of commentary and insights gathered during the very successful SAFIPA 2011 Conference. Project partners from the MFA, DST and CSIR Meraka Insitute applaud the programme. And SAFIPA supported projects have a final opportunity to showcase their innovations and processes.



[Download the PDF version ]



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