Howdi!
Right, well its been a while since I actually wrote on this thing.
BUT we've been mighty busy, so thought I might throw down a few notes on what we are now doing in Malindi at the ICT Resource Centre.
I was over in Malindi in January, which was a great time to go, as even though I was getting bad reports here from people regarding how things were running over in the Centre, when I got there so many changes had been implemented, it was the perfect time to set a few other plans in stone and work on the office image and presentation.
Operations at the office are broken down into three separate functions. Training, Maintenance and Further Education.
Jimmy and Manasseh are employed at the centre and they manage all activities at the centre and our contact and work at the schools.
We also have a group of mainenance and training assistants who are working with us on a voluntary basis, they are out of work IT professionals and IT graduates. These guys help out at the office, but are mainly placed in primary schools where we have setup computer labs over the past few years. They train the pupils in the absence of a computer teacher at the schools and fix and maintain the computers.
What has been a great side to this program is that some of the assistants have been taken on as employees to the schools, which is great and really one of the main aims of all this work.
Training ProgramThe centre runs accessible and affordable computer training through different programs:
Providing trainers to primary school classes without a dedicated computer teacher
Private individual tuition at the centre
School student class groups for schools without computer labs
Training of trainers program with computer teachers with Camara Computer Labs using Edubuntu - Open source software
Training of trainers for Malindi Prison guards – who have a donated computer lab
Classes in computer maintenance
Maintenance Program
A serious problem with ICT technology in Kenya is finding correct and honest maintenance of equipment. The centre is now running programs itself to resolve this issue.
Maintenance contracts are signed by the schools that have received computer donations in the last few years, for this small fee a dedicated technician visits every week to service and repair all the computers. Reporting feedback structures are also in place to monitor this work.
Maintenance training courses are also run for all the schools with computer labs, and are also available to private individuals.
Further EducationA number of other programs are always being developed and created through the centre.
Sports competitions are run in basketball and football
School debates and quizzes are held
Member of the district development committee
Providing knowledge of and access to educational and informative resource material through specially designed CDROMs
Promoting Community Training Centres – run from the schools
Recycling and waste management – giving irreparable parts to scrap guys
Channelling donor funding to other associated projects
Over the next while I'm going to post a few more bits up here. Just to profile all the different bits we are working at. And to give those who support us through the pub quizes an idea of where the money is going.
Next Pub Quiz on Friday 20th March. 8.30pm Bowes Bar (behind Doyles Bar, Fleet St) €10 per person, and we'll help you get into tables of four if you don't have enough people with you already
