Collaboration opportunity - Mobile phones in rural Africa - ICT4D or ICT4Ed April 11, 2010
I am wondering if anyone has any contacts with anyone who is planning research in rural Africa and needs to find collaborators on the ground who can geve feedback via smart phones.
I ask because I need your help in coming up with a win-win collaboration idea to involve two teachers in Ago-Are, Oke-Ogun (a rural area in SW Nigeria). I am in contact with the two teachers (Fola and Popoola) via the Internet, thanks to their mobile phones. I first met them several years ago when I was In Ago-Are doing what the locals called "computer orientation" sessions. These teachers are early adopters of digital technology.
Their ICT knowledge has come from a mixture of short training courses, their own interest in communication (phones and Internet), their contacts with me and my network, and advice from a distance via the Internet.
As teachers they are potentially in positions of influence in their community. The influence of teachers comes about because they are educated and can use English to speak (and to read and write). This is important because it is the English language, not the local language (Yoruba), which is the official state and federal language for education and administration. Many rural children do not attend primary school long enough to master the English language sufficiently well to use it for reading and writing. Many adults in rural areas therefor need to rely on educated people, such as teachers and religious leaders, as their interface with bureaucracy. Teachers and religious leaders tend to be consulted on various serious matters and are active in community groups.
Fola and Popoola are sharing their knowledge of ICT with their families and friends and in their schools where there is no electricity and precious few books. They live in an area where there are no cyber cafes and where phone coverage is patchy (and was non-existent until a couple of years ago).
They use their phones to go on the Internet - but have trouble affording the costs of the calls.
They both have PCs at home and connect their phones to the PCs in order to use the Internet.
Electricity supply is another problem. Power outages are common. The cost of buying and running a generator makes that a luxury, so powering the phones and PCs is a an ongoing challenge.
They are discouraged by the poor prospects for rural teachers and are looking for new opportunities, away from rural Ago-Are.
In my opinion it would be a loss to Ago-Are as people in rural areas like Ago-Are need all the input they can get from teachers who are interested and capable regarding ICT.
I feel that if I could find additional paid work for Fola and Popoola where they are, (providing local information of some kind) then there could be some kind of win-win situation for them and whoever they did the work for. Then they would be more likely to stay in Ago-Are (a place that is dear to my heart for various reasons and because of various people I know there).
Any thoughts or contacts that you could share with me would be much appreciated.
Pam