ict in uganda - ist-africa · title: current and planned ict initiatives with brief information...

ICT Initiatives and Research Capacity in Uganda Copyright 2010 IST‐Africa & UNCST

ICT Initiatives in Uganda

eChallenges e‐2010 Conference

Warsaw, Poland

Miss. Namugenyi Loi Mirembe

National Council for Science and Technology

Uganda

1


Introduction• Uganda is located in East Africa, bordered by Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan and Tanzania.

• Uganda has an area of 236,040 km² and sixty nine administrative districts. Forty eight percent of the population of 31,367,972 is aged between 15 and 64 (median 15 years). English is the official language with literacy of 67%.

2


ICT Sector Structure levels (sub-sectors)

a. Policy

b. Regulatory

c. Operational

Composition of Sectors

Operation

i. Telecommunications – grown steadily since 1996

ii. Postal services and

iii. Broadcasting and information

Key player ‐ private sector

3


Policy

• Ministry of Information and Communications Technology.

• Established in June 2006 with a mandate of providing strategic and technical leadership, overall coordination, support and advocacy on all matters of policy, laws, regulations and strategy for the ICT sector.

• It also ensures sustainable, efficient and effective development, harnessing and utilization of ICT in all spheres of life to enable the country achieve its national development goals.

4


Implementation of ICT Initiatives• Uganda is currently implementing a number of ICT‐

related initiatives in the area of • eGovernment, • Technology‐enhanced Learning, • eHealth,• eCommerce and ICT for Rural Development.

• Regional projects are implemented at the following levelsAfrican union – through UNECACOMESA andEAC

5


ICT Initiatives: Adoption and ICT projects

eGovernment• 1. National backbone infrastructure and e‐government

project

• The Government of Uganda through the Ministry of Information Communication Technology is spearheading the development of the National Data Transmission Backbone Infrastructure (NBI) and the Electronic Government Infrastructure (EGI) The over US$ 100 million project is designed to complement the private sector initiatives to relieve the acute shortage of bandwidth and takes the form of public‐private partnership with the ultimate benefits being to the consumer.

6


ICT Initiatives: Adoption and ICT projects 2. Migration from analogue to digital broadcasting

• This project aims to provide choice to consumers with different service providers through

• ‐ Interoperability of systems

• ‐ Ensuring the presence of a competitive market

• ‐ Efficient use of spectrum

• The development of the national postal code to be harmonized regionally.

• Funding sources: Chinese government and implementation by the Uganda Ministry of ICT

• Geographic scope and time frame: National; ongoing.

7



3. Voter registration‐ Electro commission Uganda project

• This project aims to enhance transparency, accountability in the election management process, increase voter confidence in the electoral process in the 2010 general elections. This project is supported by the International foundation for Electoral systems and USAID

• The purpose is to support the voter registration process and enhance the credibility of the voter registers by strengthening access to the register and providing it online

• Organization(s)/funding sources: USAID and Uganda government, Implemented overseen by Uganda Electoral Commission



4. National Identity Cards project

• The project is focused on implementing a biometric and central data management and identity card registration. It aims to help government to have easy identification of Ugandans on the government pay roll, social security, police and army and within the east African community. The project, which is the intial stages, will cost over 189billions

• Organization(s)/funding sources: Uganda Government, Implementation overseen by Uganda Ministry of ICT


ICT Initiatives: Adoption and ICT projects Technology‐enhanced Learning

5. Connectivity for Educator Development Project (Connect Ed)

• Phase I of the Connectivity for Educator Development Project (Connect Ed) set up computer centres and Internet points of presence at Kyambogo University (KyU) and at eight primary teachers’ colleges (PTCs). It provided computer literacy and materials development training for teacher educators, and began to re‐purpose the print‐based national PTC curriculum into an interactive, accessible online version.


6. National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC)The National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) established the Curriculum Net project in an effort to create electronic learning materials using CD‐ROMs. The project is now using ICTs to provide instructors with multimedia materials they can use in selected core subjects.

• Government approval was given in 2004 for ICT‐based curriculum materials in mathematics and geography for primary schools and mathematics and science for secondary schools, thus enabling use of the material by all schools in thecountry.

• Organisation(s)/funding sources: SchoolNet Uganda with funding from IDRC


7. VSAT project• This project is using VSATs to offset the high cost of

connectivity and to demonstrate the use of ICT‐equipped schools as school‐based community learning centers.

• Organisation(s)/funding sources: World Links, Schools Online, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and SchoolNetUganda

8. SchoolNet Uganda project• SchoolNet Uganda’s mission is to make graduates of Uganda’s

education system more globally competitive. SchoolNetUganda supports educators and learners by providing pedagogical and technical expertise and advice, infrastructure and human resources, coordination, training and capacity‐building, and developing local and international partnerships.


9. Content Development at National Teachers Colleges, Uganda

• The goal of this content development project is to use computers and Internet to develop educational materials for secondary schools and National Teachers’ Colleges (NTCs) throughout Uganda. Its main focus is on developing educational content. For example, it aims to create over 20 modules for all ordinary level subjects and place them on CD‐ROMs so that they can be used by other National Teacher Colleges (NTCs) and secondary schools.

10. Providing donated computers to schools plus capacity‐building support to recipient local partners

• Organization(s)/funding sources: World Computer Exchange in partnership with local organizations.


• Uconnect – Providing computer connectivity and training for schools

• I‐Network Project

I‐Network Uganda is a national network of individuals and organizations that act as a platform for sharing knowledge and information on applying ICTs. One of its programmes, District Net, focuses on providing public information using ICTs.

eHealth• Improving health care delivery through continuing medical

education for rural health workers• This project is focused on improving health care delivery through

continuing medical education (CME) for rural health workers by using ICTsand multimedia. The major focus is on gathering and repackaging high‐quality health information for dissemination through ICTs. Training in the use of basic ICTs is provided.


• e‐Network

• Makerere University Faculty of Computing and Information Technology has won an Africa Union (AU) bid to create an e‐network that will provide connectivity for Eastern and Central African countries to a pan‐African network through fibre optics and wireless links. This will enable the sharing of resources such as BlackBoard digital learning software, backups, and elearning courses. The faculty has a department that trains staff in e‐learning and supports elearning in the whole of the university.


• Electronic Rural Health Information project: Feasibility and Acceptability of e‐Card Maternal‐Child Health Passport in Rural Community

• Towards the end of 2010, the Ministry of Health will release a Mother‐Child Health Passport (MCH HP). The Mother‐Child Health Passport is an initiative to improve maternal and child health in Uganda. It has already been started in a number of African countries including Malawi, Benin, Tanzania and Kenya.


Regional ProjectAFRICA4ALL PROJECT: REDEFINING THE WAY PARLIAMENTS AND CITIZENS INTERACT

• Focus: pilot trials of an innovative eParliament software solution • in the following countries:

•• KENYA LESOTHO NAMIBIA TANZANIA UGANDA

• Overall objective of project: provide the 5 African countries with an innovative open‐source software solution, methodology and training, designed to:

• Help Parliaments improve quality, transparency & efficiency of their work and provide a mechanism for interaction with citizens

• Familiarize & involve citizens in everyday functioning of democratic decision making processes

http://flags.redpixart.com/kenya/fluttering_flag/

http://flags.redpixart.com/lesotho/fluttering_flag/

http://flags.redpixart.com/namibia/fluttering_flag/

http://flags.redpixart.com/tanzania/fluttering_flag/

http://flags.redpixart.com/uganda/fluttering_flag/


• National ICT Research institutions – Busoga University

– Bugema University

– Gulu University

– Kampala International University

– Kyambogo University

– Makerere University

– East African School of Library and Information Science, Makerere University

– Mbarara University of Science & Technology

– Ndejje University

– The Inter‐University Council for East Africa

– Uganda Martyrs University


Current ICT related challenges• Limited infrastructural facilities pose challenges to implementing telemedicine;

• Costs of ICT equipment, level of awareness and skills of the potential users, technology compatibility and policy provisions amongst others.


Current ICT related challenges

• Low IT literacy levels,

• Digital divide‐ High and unequal access to ICT facilities,

• Current high costs of access to internet, ICT equipment like computers and electricity, old mind set/culture and low levels of income.


Prioritized challenges ‐ shortlisted for funding

i. Low levels of awareness and skills of the potential users – Establishment of six pilot District Business Information Centers aimed at narrowing the digital divide and enablingSME’s access to real and timely information in the rural and semi‐urban areas.

ii. Limited infrastructural facilities– The development of ICT infrastructure in the country, particularly in terms of the ICT Fibre backbone and E‐government infrastructure with a total distance of 2118 km of Fibre Optic Cable; Phase I of the project linking Kampala to Jinja, Entebbe and Bombo is complete, Phase II will be completed by July 2010. Phase II will strategically link the backbone to the borders with our neighbours atBusia, Nimule, Katuna, among others.


Prioritized challenges ‐ shortlisted for funding

iii. Current high costs of access to internet, ICT equipment like computers and electricity, old mind set/culture and low levels of income

Liberalization of the telecommunications industry and availing tax waivers for imported IT equipment to encourage investment in ICT.


Shortcomings of current ICT infrastructure and projects

Low computerization: Not all medical units are computerized and this makes it hard to implement telemedicine plans as proposed in Uganda’s ICT policyWrong fibre optic cable for

the national backbone infrastructure,G652 instead of G655 for the kind of data Uganda will need to transmit.

23


Shortcomings .cont’….

ICT Capacity – limited in terms of numbers and expertise

Insufficient energy supply

Digital divide: rural –urban. Equipment Access is usually concentrated in the major urbancentres, and most often found at the workplace rather than in people’s homes.

Bandwidth: constraining projects like e‐health or e‐education using video‐links


Shortcomings of current ICT infrastructures and projects

Project designs: Telecentre design at the three project sites assumed that rural women would be able to pay for ICT services such as telephone, training, and access to information on the Internet.

The other assumption was that ICTs are a priority need among women. Women expressed the need for credit, yet this was left out of the project design.

Poverty and other social issues:low incomes, high illiteracy, and a lack of appreciation or perhaps relevance


Lessons learnt from projects now underway or completed• Proper needs assessment study of projects before implementation

• A full technical audit is urgently required to reduce on loss of funds resulting out of fatal technical problems.

• Project evaluation to ensure that projects are having the impact which they were intended.

• Build local skills and local ownership to ensure sustainability


Lessons learnt from projects now underway or completed

• Sustain the organization as well as the projects; the well‐being of the organization as a whole must not be neglected. Funding, staffing, and logistical needs of the organization are not sufficient for success, but are certainly necessary


ICT gaps ‐ issues that could be addressed in a regional context

• E‐health

• Band width

• Capacity building and training.


Thank you.www.uncst.go.ug

ict in uganda - ist-africa · title: current and planned ict initiatives with brief information...

Documents