concept notes template

8/12/2019 Concept Notes Template

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R1: Virtual lab

Proposed call Undecided

Theme Education

Introduction A major obstacle facing students doing science subjectsin Tanzania is the insufficiency of laboratory apparatus,

chemicals, reagents and other items that students would

use for practicals. Many schools opt for alternative to

practicals during the final examinations of secondary

education. The scarcity of the virtual labs that address the

challenges of Tanzanian education is another concern.

Many virtual laboratory software programs are not freeand do not adequately fit with the syllabus of the science

subjects taught in Tanzania Secondary Schools. Many

schools lack adequate ICT physical infrastructure and

electrification in schools, low level of ICT skills and

experience and lack of localized software and content.

Purpose

/need/rationale

The Virtual Labs Project will enable students with no

access to real laboratories to have a feel of what is

happening in the laboratory using the multimedia. This

will improve their understanding and the zeal for

creativity as concepts that are difficult for teachers to

instruct will be visually illustrated.

The project will enable students with real laboratories to

increase their confidence by using the virtual labs before

getting into the real laboratories. The multimedia in the

virtual lab allows a student to visualize experiments,

restart or correct a mistake he/she has made thus the

fear of destroying apparatus or wasting the

reagents/chemicals is minimized.


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The cost of reagents and chemicals will be minimized as

the probability for students to misuse the reagents and

chemicals is reduced. This has the advantage of helping

schools to reallocate the budget that would have been

otherwise used in purchasing reagents/chemicals to other

school priorities.

The successful undertaking of the virtual lab project shall

effectively complement the Tanzania Beyond Tomorrow

project being undertaken by the MoEVT.

Project Description Virtual labs are one way of using the ICT to address

teaching and learning. Virtual labs constitute an

environment that use technologies to illustrate concepts

learned in class by students simulating the real labs.

Virtual labs provide the students with tools, materials and

lab sets on computer in order to perform experiments

subjectively or within a group anywhere and anytime.

These experiments are saved on CDS or on web site.

Virtual labs do not replace the real labs but are a means

to complement what has been learned in class before

going to the real lab. For schools that do not have real

labs as is the case with most schools that are located in

rural areas, virtual labs are a good means for students to

experiment and have a feeling of what is happening in the

lab. Students can use reagents, apparatus, samples and

other resources visually as many times as possible

without depleting them. Virtual labs too have been said to

reduce the fear to students in handling chemicals and

other apparatus before getting into the real lab.

Budget and Contacts Still working on it

Members interested 1.Augustine Malero


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in the research 2.

R2: Telemedicine

Proposed call

Theme Health

Introduction Tanzania faces serious challenges to improving the healthand well-being of its people. The Ministry of Health and itspartners in government, the donor community and civilsociety have responded with concerted action, in manycases achieving significant gains. The current Tanzaniahealth system suffers from continuing disparities in healthoutcomes between the poorest and the richest and thosein rural versus urban areas. At the same time the arebarriers to service experienced by the poor due to

distance, formal and informal health charges, and otherobstacles. The normal workflow of the Tanzania healthsystem requires the patients in need of service to travelto the closest clinic or hospital to receive basic treatment,and to more distant institutions for specialized oremergency care or for hospitalization. This model doesnot provide comprehensive and efficient access to healthcare in developing nations like Tanzania. With a largepopulation living in rural areas, some of which are notreachable by road, ill patients often lack the time and

resources to reach the closest clinic. In urban areas, partof the population lives where clinics are few,overcrowded, and poorly funded. One of the options toget specialist care in areas isolated from the rest of themedical world is by means of telemedicine.

Purpose/need/rationale

Project Description This study will explore the potentials available within andoutside Tanzania health facilities for expanding the reachof Health Care with Telemedicine. Using interviews,

documentary review and experiments the project seeks torealize the Telemedicine system that will be used as themodel for future Telemedicine developments and projects.

Budget and Contacts

Members interestedin the research

1. Victor Claret2. Lucian Ngeze


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R3: e-kilimo / e-agriculture (or any other name)

Proposed call COSTECH

Theme AgricultureIntroduction f Tanzanians are considered to be involved in agriculture

for their survival. Most of them lack proper farming

methods to enhance their production. It is vital that they

know the effort (and resources) they are going to put and

what they can harvest.

Purpose

/need/rationale

The project can be useful, as farmers or stakeholders can

clearly predict what they can expect from their farms. The

application can also help to address the shortages of

agriculture field experts.

Project Description The project is about developing an application that tracks

the growth of crops (for food). It is intended to simulate

the various conditions such as soil composition, amount of

water, minerals and supplements that crops are / can be

subjected to, and how those conditions affect the growth

of plants on daily or monthly basis and eventual

production from the crops.

Budget and Contacts Still working it out.

Members interestedin the research

1. Gilbert Gilbert2.

R4: Improving the quality of education and learning outcomes


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Proposed call HDIF

Theme Education

IntroductionThe advancement of ICTs has changed the lives of people in different

ways such as, in work places, business, education, and entertainment.

Moreover, many people recognize ICTs as catalysts for change; change

in working conditions, handling and exchanging information, teaching

methods, learning approaches, scientific research, and in accessing

information. Integration of ICT in teaching and learning has a role to

improve access, equity, quality and relevance education.

In Tanzania, the integration of ICT in the teaching and learning processhas not reached the expected level despite several efforts by the

Government through the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training

(MoEVT). Tanzania Beyond Tomorrow (TBT) Project was one such

initiative which focused at introducing ICT into the classroom to help

teachers in reaching more students and building new skills. The current

National ICT Programme for Secondary Schools is another initiative

which aims to provide training to secondary school teachers to be

equipped with knowledge and skills of integrating ICT in teaching and

learning, administration and management.

In order to increase and improve the use of ICTs in secondary schools,

there are many factors that need to be worked on. These can be

classified as resource-related factors; factors associated with training,

skills, knowledge and computer experience; and attitudinal and

personality factors.

Purpose /need/rationale The Tanzania Development Vision 2025 speculates that Tanzania will

have a well educated and learning society. Providing education and

promoting ICT are keys to the achievement of the vision.The initiatives

by the Government have been directed to the provision of skills and

knowledge on some ICT facilities with the supply of few facilities to


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some schools. Effective ICT integration in teaching and learning

requires teachers to acquire Technological Content Pedagogical

Knowledge (TCPK) and their intersections. This project aims at

complementing the efforts made by the Government in integrating ICT

in education by attaining the following objectives:The project aims at achieving the following:

1. Providing training to secondary school teachers on the

effective use of different ICTs in teaching and learning.

2. To establish infrastructure where the knowledge obtained in (i)

will be applied to enhance quality of teaching and learning.

3. To develop digital content which can be used by teachers with

the skills obtained in (i) and established infrastructure in (ii) to

provide quality teaching and influence quality learning.

4. To evaluate effective use of the skills and infrastructure

developed in (i) and (ii) respectively for enhancing the quality of

teaching and learning.

Project Description In this project, few resource-limited secondary schools in the selected

region will be identified. Science and mathematics teachers from those

secondary schools will be trained on the use of different tools andtechnologies to ease their teaching process. Infrastructure will be put in

place make sure that the knowledge obtained is put into practice.

Teachers will then have to produce digital contents based on the

subjects they teach and use them for quality teaching and learning. At

the end of this period, evaluation will be done to make sure all the

objectives were achieved and suggest better ways of utilize ICT to

enhancing quality and accessibility of education.

Budget andContacts

Members interested in theresearch

1. Lucian Ngeze2. Eduard Elias3. Frederick Julius4.Deo Shao


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5.Rukia Mwifunyi

R5: Improving Teaching and Learning Mathematics in Primary Schools

Proposed call HDIF

Theme Education

Introduction Mathematics is a language of numbers which enables us to solve simpleto complex life problems. It is not only used as a computational tool butas a tool of science and technology enabling scientists to exploreconcepts which idealize models before applying them in reality.Mathematics is a subject that is taught at primary and secondary levelsfor eleven years in Tanzania. Teaching and delivery of Mathematics

content at these levels have been challenging in some areas. Theperformance of Mathematics has however, been decreasing from yearto year. The government through Ministry of Education and VocationalTraining (MoEVT) has been working hard to reduce the challengesfacing the education sector.One of the major steps taken by MoEVT is the induction of atransformation campaign coined as Big Result Now (BRN) whichintends to catalyze the performance of the sector. The specificobjectives of BRN in educational sector are to improve pass rate to atleast 80% in primary and secondary school levels, and to improvestudents abilities in the mastery of the 3Rs (Reading, Writing and

Arithmetic) at Standard I and II by implementing skills assessment andtraining to teachers (URT, 2013). In order to realize the said BRNobjectives, a lot need to be done. Technology is the corner stone inaccomplishing the BRN objectives. BRN campaign has intentionallyconcentrated at the root level of Tanzanian education system to ensurethe higher levels get qualified candidates. This project will be devotedto scale up attainment of the BRN objectives by developing amathematics learning kits for primary school pupils.Tanzania Development Vision 2025 clearly shows in one of its visionsthat Tanzania will have an educated and learning society by 2025(URT, 2011). This project will fuel the attainment of this vision by

building a strong foundation of Mathematics at lower level.

Purpose /need/rationale Mathematics is one of the most important subjects covered in differentlevels from primary schools to university level where it is taught as aparamount subject in studies involved in technical engineering.Scholars are suggesting Mathematics as a central part of the scienceapplied in engineering and theoretical foundations of the world. Arecent statistics from National Examination Council (NECTA) hasshown a decline in students' performance in national examinations


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which according to this study has happened because of the lowperformance of mathematical learning styles at primary and secondaryschool levels. There are many factors that have attributed the massfailure of students in mathematics. These factors include less or notextbook ownership by students, less technical assistance in solvingmathematics problems (TWAWEZA, 2013).

This project aims at designing and developing a low cost embeddedcomputer for improving the delivery of mathematics in primaryschools. Then mathematical digital content based on the primaryschools Syllabus will be developed. The developed content will beintegrated in the mathematical learning kit. Finally, the impact of thedeveloped product will be tested and accessed on the performance ofprimary school mathematics in Tanzania.

Project Description The artifact from this project will be used in primary schools topromote learning of mathematics. The artifact will be a Mathematics

Learning Kit (MLK) developed from Raspberrypi microcomputer andother components. The MLK will be a portable solar poweredcomputing device embedded with digital learning content which will beused by pupils in Tanzania. Currently the coverage of nationalelectricity supply grid is only 14%. More than 70% of schools inTanzania do not have electricity. The use of solar power could beeffective in ensuring access to the digital contents by many pupils.MLK will help in building strong foundation in mathematical skillsfrom the grassroots of educational career of students. Moreover, MLKwill increase mathematics learning hours to pupils.

Budget andContacts

$ 890,000


1. Lucian Ngeze2. Anthony Faustine3. Hassan Seif4. Steven Edward5. Deo Shao

R6: Leveraging on Hybrid ICTs to Combat Wildlife Poaching in Tanzania

Proposed call HDIF & DANIDA

Theme Natural Resources Management

Introduction In recent years, Tanzania has been battling over elephant poaching. It isreported that; about 50 elephants are killed every day. It is further


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estimated that 30,000 to 38,000 elephants are poached every year fortheir ivory. With statistics like this, the African elephant is doomed forextinction in 15 to 20 years (SOS, 2014). The governments have tried tosave the lives of elephants through different campaigns under itssecurity agencies.The significant development of technology developing around the

world could be an important tool to combat this crime. Technologiessuch as wireless sensors, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) andscanners could be leveraged to add fuel to the battle against poaching.These technologies could be used to design a drone surveillance systemto enhance the tracing of wildlife while in their living areas

Purpose/need/rationale The use of emerging technologies (hybrid ICTs) can significantly,strengthen activities against poachers and the illegal ivory trade byenhancing the capacity of local wildlife authorities to conserve andmanage elephants

Project Description The impetus of this research project is to analyze and apply variousICTs for example tagging wildlife using RFID technology to enhancewildlife surveillance. Data analytics techniques and prediction modelscould significantly help the drone rangers in monitoring wildlifeeffectively.

Budget andContacts

$ 1,000,000


1:Deo Shao2:Leyla Liana3: Steven Edward

4: Anthony Faustine5: Hassan Seif

R7: Development of a Smart Integrated Radio Frequency and Bicycle Pedal Energy Harvesting

Kit for Lighting Rural Areas.

Proposed call undecided

Theme ICT4D

Introduction Access to electricity is very important for the economic development ofa nation. According to the World Bank only 14.35% of the Tanzanianshave access to electricity, the situation is very critical in rural areas. Thelack of energy for basic human activity such as agriculture, transport,medical care, communication, education, and enterprise marginalizespoor people and limits their ability to increase their incomes. SeveralWorld Bank group projects are now underway exploring means toprovide modern energy service to more than 2 billion people in the


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developing countries. Renewable energy technologies are becomingprogressive popular in providing reliable services to rural areas wherethere is no electrical power supply. Tanzania through Rural EnergyAgency (REA) promotes and facilitates improved access to modernenergy services in rural areas. Different projects have been developed toprovide access to electricity in rural areas, however the problem is still

far from over.To address this problem different energy harvesting techniques can beused. This project will be devoted to scale up attainment of the REAobjectives by developing a smart integrated renewable energyharvesting solution.

Purpose/need/rationale The lack of energy for basic human activity such as agriculture,transport, medical care, communication, education and enterprisemarginalizes poor people and limits their ability to increase theirincomes. About 80% of the population in Tanzania lives in rural areas

where most of the agricultural products are cultivated. To largepercent, the Tanzanian GDP depends on the agriculture. However, thelivelihood of the community in rural areas is still experiencing socio-economic challenges such as the lack of infrastructure and electricpower supply. Improving rural livelihoods could escalate economicgrowth and increase employment opportunities in rural areas.With the advancement of technology worldwide, there is a serious needfor innovative and smart approaches in improving the rural wellbeing.Sustainable electric power supply could be one of the first attempts inimproving the rural livelihoods.Innovative approaches to increase electric power supply in rural areas

are needed to provide sustainable power solution in rural areas.Renewable energy sources like solar, wind and biomass are currentlyone of the most technologies in place. However these technologies havehigh initial installation cost and their reliability is limited. In most ruralareas the means of transport used are bicycles and motorcycles(bodaboda) which can be utilized to produce electricity throughconversion of kinetic energy. Furthermore, the increase of informationand communication technologies adoption such as TV, cellular phones(61%) and radio in the rural areas lead to increase of Radio frequenciessignals in these areas. These Radio Frequency (RF) signals can besignificantly leveraged to produce electricity for rural lighting.Most of the current initiatives of harvesting renewable energies do notoffer a smart way for managing the harvested energy. For example, it ishard to balance the production and consumption of energy generated.The consumers do not have a mechanism of optimizing theconsumption of energy at their homes.

The overall significance from this project is contribution to efforts of

the government in lighting rural community through innovative


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approaches of energy harvesting technology. It is quite evident that an

increased coverage of electric power in rural areas would improve the

livelihood. It is expected the solution that will be delivered in this

project will be able not only lighting the community but also power the

ICT tools such as radios, and mobile phones and therefore increase

access to information. Eventually, the digital divide will be reduced in

rural areas through access to information.

The project aims at achieving the following

1. Design an integrated Radio Frequency (RF) and bicycle pedal

energy harvesting system.

2. Develop smart integrated Radio Frequency (RF) and bicycle

pedal energy harvesting system for lighting rural areas.

3. Design and development of a power efficient LED lamp for

rural areas.

4. Assessment and evaluation of the impacts of the developed

solution on reduction of usage of fossil fuel based lighting

product in rural Tanzania.

Project Description

Budget andContacts


1: Anthony Faustine2. Deo Shao3. Nyaura4.5.

R8: UjamaaCom:A Low Cost Cellular Network For Rural Communities in

Developing Countries

Proposed call Undecided

Theme ICT4D

Introduction Cellular coverage is often lacking in low population


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density and low income rural areas of the developing

world like Tanzania, this is because big

telecommunication companies hesitate to deploy their

expensive infrastructure in these areas fearing

unprofitability. It is proposed that the use of cellular

open source technologies as the basis for a new rural

cellular network can go a long way in meeting this

challenge by providing coverage in rural areas whilst

simultaneously bringing down the cost of

communication.

In the previous study, we have studied and compared

existing cellular open source technologies and identifed

the one which is most suitable for rural environments. A

prototype based on the identified open-source

technology was designed and implemented. Testing the

performance of the prototype network to confirm the

viability of such a solution was undertaken in a

labaratory setting and the results confirmed the

feasibility of deploying such a network in rural areas as a

credible alternative to conventional mobile operator

network in a bid to solve the challenge.

Therefore, this project seek to extends the previous


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study by setting up (installing) the proposed prototype in

a typical rural setting, evaluating its real time

performace and consequently designing a stable, low

power and cost-effective off-the shelf cellular network

for rural communications in developing countries.

Purpose/need/rationale The lack of transportation infrastructure, high illiteracy

levels, and migrant labor are some characteristics of

rural areas that emphasize the need for real-time voice

communication. In addition, even more than in the

developed world, voice communication in the developing

world is a strong enabler of political freedom, economic

growth and efficient health care. However while

residents of developed countries spend on average 2%

of their monthly income on cellular service, the cost in

developing countries is closer to 12%. In addition, the

ability of residents in developing regions to access

cellphone technology is limited by poor cellular coverage.

Low population density without grid power and low

income in rural areas makes them unprofitable for

telecommunication companies to invest in these areas.

This is because operators are unwilling to make the large


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infrastructure investments (or pay the large operating

costs) required to operate in areas without enough users

to cover expenses. Surveys have showed that in

Tanzania, 75% of the population live in these low

population density and low income rural areas (Thomas,

2007). The highest levels of technology penetration in

these areas are enjoyed by cellular networks, but even

they cover only 25% of the population (World Bank,

2006). As a result the problem of cellular coverage in

rural areas cannot be solved by traditional cellular

technologies and conventional telecommunication

companies which are driven by the need to make a

profit.

To address this challenge, recently, the Tanzanian

government has taken the initiative to set up the

Universal Communication Access Fund (UCAF) aiming to

provide low cost telecommunication services in rural and

undeserved areas. The fund was established in 2006

with an initial amount of 48 billion to provide low cost

telecommunication connections in rural and underserved

areas across the country, 1.6 million people were

targeted in the first phase of the programme (UCAF,


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2012).

Despite this government initiative, the challenge of

coverage in rural areas has not been solved. And recent

statistics show that over 5 million people have no access

to communications (TCRA, 2012).

In our view, cellular open source technologies which

emphasize software based implementation of the

communication processes instead of costly hardware

equipment can be the foundation for a new alternative

cellular network that is ideally suited for rural conditions

in developing countries like Tanzania. In (John et al,

2013), we made an attempt to study the various

existing cellular open source technologies, the

appropriate technology that is most suited to rural

Tanzania was identified. An implementation of a

prototype based on the technology in a laboratory

setting followed whereby the viability of the network has

been confirmed.

Therefore, this project seek to extends the previous

study by setting up (installing) the proposed prototype in

a typical rural setting, evaluating its real time


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performace and consequently designing a stable, low

power and cost-effective off-the shelf cellular network

for rural communications in developing countries.

Project Description The project will begin by studying the requirements of a

low cost cellular network that is suited for rural areas in

developing Tanzania and conclude by running a

prototype network in a chosen rural environment for

further requirement collection and analysis, thereafter a

stable and complete low cost cellular infrastructure

based on the prior prototype with the main aim of

serving all rural needs will be developed, finally, a fully

functional network that has integrated billing and value

added services and a front end gateway to other

operators will be developed.

The project aims at achieving the following

1. Perform in-situ evaluation of the proposed prototype in a typical

village setting in Tanzania with the aim of identifying requirements for

developing stable open cellular infrastructure for rural communications.

2. Design and implement complete and stable cellular infrastructure

with the following design goals: minimum power consumption,

reduced infrastructure cost, easy to implement and that continues to


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utilize existing GSM handsets.

3. Integrate other useful modules such as billing system, value added

services which will address rural communities challenges in areas such

as education and health.

Design and integrate a gateway to interface and interconnect with other

cellular operators

Budget andContacts


1. Anthony Faustine2. Nyaura Kibinda3. Deo

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