The Emerging Phenomenon Of Community Knowledge Centers In Africa (includes video)
25 September 2012
Huffington Post: In today's world access to digital information is must be a basic human right and is a necessity for economic viability. Unfortunately, Africa is disadvantaged compared to other continents because of its lack of a reliable broadband infrastructure. The rural poor have been left out of many stages in the development process due to their lack of information and communications.
Ninety percent of rural Africa lives without electricity and majority of the population have to walk many miles to overcrowded schools without desks to learn. Few communities have libraries or resource centres and are thus socially and economically deprived of the much-needed resources of information, even information about their own country! There is no sense of belonging to the wider global village.
Cisco is working with non-profit organizations, local communities, Government leaders and International Partners like Inveneo, OGE and AppleSeeds Academy to create a bottoms up, sustainable social businesses in rural and underserved communities in Africa. By creating Community Knowledge Centers (CKC) , that are are technology hubs in rural communities we can contribute to creating vibrant, connected communities. CKC's helpi people improve the quality of their lives through leveraging information technology. They are driving economic growth in underserved areas. It took a village to get it started: Cisco used an ecosystem approach to bring together a community of actors to create and support the CKC model. This approach ensured that the CKCs could access the best technology solutions to address communities' education, healthcare and economic needs.
Category: ICT