The East African Telecentre Leaders Forum (EA-TLF) is around the corner. This third of its kind will be co-hosted in Kenya by UgaBYTES and Kenya Network of Telecentres – KenTel in Kenya Siaya District. The event is planned to run in two phases; the online and face-to face sessions. The online sessions will be guided by subject matter specialists. Each of the session is important in fostering learning and sharing within the sub region and beyond about key telecentre issues

The EA-TLF is an East African telecentre event that occurs twice a year and with rotating venues within the sub region and focusing on different themes. It is part of the global framework of telecentre.org and partners’ gatherings that are focused at facilitating learning and sharing of ideas and solutions among telecentre practitioners. As such the EA-TLF uses open space facilitation methods – in which every participant is a learner and facilitator.

Telecentre practitioners in the sub region are encouraged to contact the following National network leaders who are charged with selecting national participants to the event, who will be facilitated by the organizers.
Sekiku Joseph – Tanzania sekiku@satconet.net
Paul Barera – Rwanda pbarera@yahoo.fr
Ken Chelimo – Kenya chelimoken@yahoo.com
Sulah Ndaula – UgaBYTES ndaulasula@ugabytes.org.

Participants from Burundi are advised to contact UgaBYTES’ Pamela Ogwal opamela@ugabytes.org. We encourage participants who can facilitate themselves to the event to also contact the respective national representatives. For details about the event see below;

Theme; PROMOTING ICT FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT; MEETING THE MOVEMENT CHALLENGES

Event Parts & Dates;

Online sessions: 14th ¬ 25th May 2007 (hosted on UgaBYTES mailing list)
Face-to-face session: 4th/5th June, 2007 Telecentre Visit: 6th June, 2007 Deadline for express of interest: 11th May 2007

Areas of discussion for the 3rd EA-TLF;

Connectivity improvement: The session will explore various connectivity options that are reliable and affordable to telecentres. Ideas such as bandwidth sharing, pay as you go connectivity… will be discussed
Management skills building; The session will cover skills development in the most important areas of management that affect telecentre performance. The areas will be identified by participants.
Knowledge sharing & Online support services: This will be an ongoing side event throughout the days of the event. It will focus on developing practical skills and understanding of how the telecentre community can access and use of the online tools (web 2.0 tools) and technology like blogging, podcasting, wikipidia etc The session will also explore the existing online support services that can be utilized by telecentre practitioners; online support centre, online training, online resources etc.
Partnerships for Content development: This session will focus on understanding how telecentre practitioners can develop content and services while taking advantage of various NGOs and Community development groups. Ideas such as involvement in HIV/AIDS and Malaria eradication campaign will be discussed. This discussion will help telecentre practitioners to develop practical skills in identifying key stakeholders in content development, key issues and challenges in identification and development of content. It will also be important in identifying ways of deepening socio-economic impact created by telecentres.
National networks enhancement: The session will examine issues concerning; Network funding and sustainability, practitioner and networks’ capacity building, promotion of CMC for rural development and enhancing e-business in telecentres.
Capturing & sharing our stories: The sessions will discuss how telecentre practitioners can effectively capture, assess and share their impact in the community using multiple tools. It will also discuss the importance of telling our stories and successes.
Strengthening the EA-TLF;
Fundraising for EA-TLF; Ways, means & approaches to source funds for an inclusive EA-TLF. How marketing of the event; locally, regionally nationally & internationally - the role of the media. Identification of the next host country and setting the core strategy.
Exhibition: The forum will have an information point; where all participating organizations will display their showcases, information leaflets and materials. This point will be kept accessible throughout the forum’s period.

Hope to read from you online and see you in the face-to-face to event...

On Mentorship…

From 10:30am yesterday — until about 4pm — twenty young people had the opportunity of experiencing the first in the series of Lagos Digital Village Mentorship Roundtables. Supported by Heinrich Boll Foundation, the selected applicants had the chance of listening to the diverse experiences of those who’ve been there and done that within the ICT industry.

One of the mentors a CEO of an IT firm came in from the UK.He talk about how the particpants could provide IT solutions and create Entrepreneurship Opportunities and services, one is an IT executive based in Nigeria and the third from Action Aid Nigeria arrived from Kenya that same morning and facillitated a personal profile analysis of each of the particpants(it was almost like a SWOT analysis but more on personality,morals,expectations and individual relationship with people at work,home and society at large).

Now, talk about willingness to reproduce their success stories in others! As speak from a participant view of the Mentorship roundtable that the process will move online and bring thousands of Nigerians face to face on the same issue of mentorship within the ICT sector.

The online platform will soon be announced, Watch Out…

our easter holiday was spent with refugees at the popular Oru camp in Ogun State, Nigeria. With a population of a bout 5,000 refugees from Liberia, Sierra Leone, Congo and Sudan, you need to be there to know that these people have been through alot
I was invited to train them on ICTs and computer networks(LAN & WAN).the trainig took place at the 842 Computer Center.(History)The computer center was built by the community to support a young man Eric Wowoh who Someone donated a computer to and he learned how to use the system, and at some point realised his life was being changed.With the interest of his fellow youth at heart,he worked towards training others. After a few years,we the support of the community and support from other organisations the center was completed and now had ten (10) computers — and a standby generator. There, refugees — and some students of the nearby Olabisi Onabanjo University are trained at no cost!
A group of young volunteer and medical doctors conducted medical counselling,treatments for the refugees.the health clinic was on for three days,8hours per day.there was a health seminar on Hiv/Aids and STD's based on the observation during the clinic that one out of every three persons had sexually transmitted disease.
there was also a childrens easter party and vocational training on beads making,baking cakes etc.we left the camp monday to come back to lagos.
we had 50 youths in attendance and it was an experiernce one will never forget.