Filed under Community news by Kerryn on 31 January, 2012 at 12:03 pm
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With the first month of 2012 already under our collective belt, we caught up with SAFIPA-supported projects to find out what 2012 has in store for them. In this article we share developments within FBSA, Reed House Systems, CampusNet, JamiiX, WhereisMyTransport and LiftclubSA.
FBSA brings out the bubbly at Bloekombos!
Fireworks image from Flickr by Bayasaa CC-BY
First Business South Africa (FBSA) has already had some extremely heartening developments within their initiative. Tim White, the founder of FBSA says, “2012 might just be the year that we have all been waiting for! Finally our facility has its power and so we are able to take the next important steps.”
Tim refers to the Bloekombos Uluntu Plaza, which is FBSA’s living lab business incubator, and which also happens to be an African first! The project involves the establishment of a business training centre, or incubator, at which previously unemployed learner-workers are placed in retail based micro-enterprises, backed by a fully integrated supply chain and business services platform, whilst engaging in skills programmes and learnerships to embed the required knowledge. The Plaza is an initiative of City of Cape Town Local Areas human and Economic Development department (LAED). The business incubator provides an unprecedented opportunity for suppliers and manufacturers to participate actively in the local economic development of South Africa.
During the latter part of 2011, implementation of the project was hampered by delays in the electrification of the plaza. Whilst having to endure a number of frustrating months until power was finally delivered to the plaza, Tim can now enthusiastically report that, “Our immediate aim is to attract suppliers and manufacturers to participate in the supply chain processes.”
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Filed under ICT and Education, SAFIPA capacity building by Kerryn on 17 January, 2012 at 11:46 am
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The insights, steps and tips on how to run a successful code-sprint have been made available in the form of a user-friendly, Creative Commons licensed toolbox to assist other organisations and companies in using the methodology that was developed during the Meraka Institute’s very successful series of code sprints.
What is a code sprint?
A code-sprint is a dedicated training event aimed at empowering tertiary students with software development skills to improve their work-readiness and enhance their opportunities for uptake in the industry. A small group of students contribute to a real-world programming project under the guidance of a skilled technical leader. Through the close collaboration between the group and the technical leader, programming skills are shared and transferred, whilst key deliverables are achieved within the target project.
The Meraka Institute’s code sprints
The Meraka Institute (supported by SAFIPA donor funding) has successfully executed two phases of code-sprints, 2009 and 2011. 2009 consisted of two and 2011 having three code-sprints. The programme was a resounding success with 26 code-sprinters (tertiary students) participating over the two phases. The code-sprints programme has a well developed methodology to measure the growth of each student as well as other outcomes. The results extracted through the measurement methodology were extremely positive with clear indicators of the success of the code-sprint programme.
The first two code-sprint phases were hosted at the Meraka Institute. An opportunity exists to host the code-sprints at other development “hotspots” while following the code-sprints methodology. An example of a potentially viable hosting environment is the newly created “African Regional Mobile Application Laboratory” where the code-sprints targets are those of importance to the Laboratory at that time. Another potential code-sprint hosting environment can be a Living Lab, as it already contains the basic elements (various stakeholders such as students, communities and community innovators within a real life context containing multi-disciplinary challenges to be solved) required for the execution of a code-sprint. Tertiary education institutes are also well positioned to host code-sprints. With the addition of the code-sprints methodology, a technical solution can be developed, while significant knowledge and skills transfer are taking place.
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Filed under Inclusion, Accessibility and Community Connectivity, Innovation and ICT Entrepreneurship by Kerryn on 15 December, 2011 at 7:37 pm
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The Moveecom trike on display at the SAFIPA Conference 2011
There was recently great excitement for the MoveeCom Mobile Internet Café (MIC) team when they won two awards for their innovative mobile internet café.
The first award was from the inaugural SAB Foundation Innovation Awards which were introduced in November this year. With a total purse of R1.5 million the awards aim to promote innovation delivering sustainable solutions to the daily challenges facing persons in low-income areas. Moveecom received a seed grant of R 100,000.00 towards further development of the project. And within the same month, the team were named Entrepreneur of the Year by the Polokwane Chamber of Business’s Annual Awards Gala Banquet.
The MoveeCom™ Mobile Internet Café (MIC) is an innovative concept that delivers access to IT resources, to under-serviced communities via a mobile communication unit. The fully portable communications system has been designed specifically for deep rural areas and poorly serviced urban areas. It enables communities to have access to technology and information in order to engage with other sectors of society and contribute to their economic well being.
The mobile unit is fully enclosed and is complete with two fixed monitors, two computer keyboards, a four-in-one scanner, printer, fax and copier. The entire system is driven by a generator, and the complete unit is transported on a motor-powered trike. During development, the team paid a lot of attention to the design and sourcing of durable components which could weather extreme environments and be used on a rugged terrain. The mobile unit will provide a variety of uses, such as word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software; internet connectivity and real-time chat; general printing, copying, scanning, faxing and a mobile phone charging station.
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Filed under Community news by Kerryn on 24 November, 2011 at 10:26 am
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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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Filed under Community news by Kerryn on 24 November, 2011 at 9:21 am
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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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Filed under Inclusion, Accessibility and Community Connectivity by Kerryn on 23 November, 2011 at 8:23 pm
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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.
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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This is the final edition of the SAFIPA newsletter. The month of November 2011, marks the conclusion of this dynamic initiative.
