Community ICT Project
objectives | documentation | testimonials | highfields | mubayira | mutoko

EKOWISA is on a mission to empower local communities, especially women through the use of ICTs. The organization is working with three communities which are Highfields (urban) and Rio Tinto Mhondoro, Mubayira and Mutoko Central (rural). From past meetings and workshops, great enthusiasm has been shown by community members who feel that a project like this was long overdue. Equipment has been donated to all the three communities which include: refurbished computers, printers and digital cameras and this will enable community members to create, exchange and disseminate locally-relevant information for social action and sustainable development.

Under this output, EKOWISA collaborated closely with other organizations that already had a presence in communities. The main collaborative partner is the World Links Programme (established with funding from World Bank and working through the Ministry of Education, Sport and Culture) which has at least forty five computer labs (each with at least ten networked computers) through out the country that provide computer access to school pupils and their teachers.

The Community ICT component which is receiving 100% funding from HIVOS, makes it possible for community women and men from the surrounding villages to access and use the computers and other ICT tools. The advantage of working through World Links is that the project fits into an institutional set up that has been functioning for the past six years and has a pool of trained IT teachers. The project works within a community set up among people who already know each other and may have heard of the importance of ICTs but never had an opportunity to access them

In the first year of operation, one joint urban site of Highfield and Glen Norah participated in the national sixteen days of activism against gender based violence by attending expert led discussions and writing about their own experiences in on line chat rooms. EKOWISA called these online chats ‘cyber dialogues’. The community had its first contact with policy makers and could ask questions and get answers. The Community Management Committee (CMC) made cyber dialogues a large part of 2006's activities. They have discovered that they can make constructive suggestions through these anonymous chats. Currently they are focusing on the domestic violence bill, which is due for discussion in parliament.

Work to continue in 2007 is the broadband internet access to be established at Highglen resource center making cyber dialogues easier to do as people would not need to travel to an internet café in town.

Objectives and Activities:
Under the Community ICT Project, EKOWISA sets out to encourage communities, particularly grassroots women to access and use various information and communication technologies to address their communities’ felt needs.
The key objective is to promote both the creation and exchange of local content by local communities.

The creation of local capacities to handle content generation and dissemination among local and neighbouring communities is vital to the success of the project.To achieve this overarching objective, the following activities are important:

• To research into the felt needs of communities and identify those that can be satisfied with acquisition of information and knowledge.

• Build the capacity of local community groups to understand concepts of development and self -actualization.

• Encourage community members to carry out listening surveys within their communities to identify topical problems faced by their communities. As a group, the community ICT project participants prioritize the problems they would like to tackle using various ICT tools. Together the Community ICT Project members develop codes that will enable the community to get together, discuss the problems and offer home -grown solutions.

• Launch the Community ICT project at an event attended by traditional and community leaders, community based organizations, the local Member of Parliament, business community and other critical stakeholders. The codes are shared at this event and together the community finds ways to solve their felt needs

• Documentation of selected digital stories on topical issues as determined by the community. For example, the Highfield and Glenorah communities decided to document stories by survivors of domestic violence

• Encouragement of participating communities to engage in national and international events like the sixteen days of activism against gender violence and the International women’s day through on -line tools like cyber dialogues

• Basic computer training for community members

• Website design and development of websites for local entrepreneurs and publishing on local intranet for community use

• The facilitating organization withdraws from the community and monitors progress from a distance offering assistance wherever needed

Read more on the Community ICT Project Reports:
• Information Needs Analysis report for Highfields
• Information Needs Analysis report for Rio Tinto Mubayira
• Information Needs Analysis report for Mutoko Central
• Multistakeholder Planning workshop on ICT Community Project: Highfield & Glen Norah
• Multistakeholder Planning workshop on ICT Community Project for Mutoko
• Multistakeholder Planning workshop on ICT Community Project for Mubaira
• Sensitization Workshop Report for Glen Norah
• Sensitization Workshop Report for Highfields

>> Testimonials from Community ICT Project Beneficiaries >>

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