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TIGA awards celebrate 'ICT for Education' projects at
eLearning Africa
Dar es Salaam -The second leg of the long-awaited 2011
Technology in Government Awards (TIGA) in the 'ICT in
Education' category were celebrated at a high-profile event
and ceremony, Friday morning. Over 1,400 participants from
about 80 countries are attending the eLearning Africa, 6th
International Conference on ICT for Development, Education
and Training, at the Mlimani City Conference Centre, Dar es
Salaam, Tanzania.
The awards, according to the Information and Communication
Service of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) are co-organised
by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the
Government of Finland in collaboration with the eLearning
Africa Scholarship Trust, the organizer of the eLearning
Africa annual event. The awards are given in recognition of
initiatives aimed at exploiting information and
communication technologies (ICTs) for education and training
in Africa.
In remarks read by his representative at the ceremony, ECA's
Executive Secretary and UN Under-Secretary-General, Mr
Abdoulie Janneh said, "today we see signs that more and more
ICT applications are being integrated in all sectors in
Africa including in government, education, health and in the
economic sectors."
He, however, noted that whilst the adoption of ICTs in
education in Africa is on the increase, "it is a fact that
the continent still falls behind, which is why these awards
are so important." He added, "It is indeed necessary for the
youth in Africa to gain acquainted with the 21st century
skills in order to increase the competitive advantages of
Africa."
The following projects won this year's 2011 awards in the 'ICT
in Education' category:
The Speaking Book: This project aims to make education about
critical issues accessible to all regardless of literacy or
education level. This 'world first' is created by South
Africans for Africans and focuses on rural, vulnerable and
excluded people living in disadvantaged regions of
Sub-Saharan Africa and communities around the world.
Improving health care is a top priority for Africa and
through the Speaking Books (http://www.sadag.co.za,
www.booksofhope.com), access to essential medical
information for low literacy, rural, and vulnerable Africans
is improved.
Dr Math, South Africa - Dr. Math (http://www.csir.co.za) is
a mobile tutoring service that provides access to credible,
personal, on-demand tutoring in the subject of Mathematics.
eLimika e-learning programme, KENYA ? eLimika (http://www.elimika.ac.ke),
which is a Kiswahili word for "get educated", is the vehicle
through which Kenya Institute of Education (KIE) delivers
its courses.
Plate-forme de formation à distance de l'Academia Aberta de
Angola: Formation partout et à tout moment!, ANGOLA (www.academia-aberta.com)
is the training platform of the Open Academy of Angola 2 and
provides a distance training space and collaborative working
environment.
Background:
For the first entries to the award in 2007, there were 36
TIGA entries from 17 countries. Two years later, there were
60 entries from 20 countries in 2009. This year, 89 entries
were received from 24 countries, with over 44 projects
short-listed for the Awards. In general, an increase of over
40% in the number of entries is received with every
subsequent TIGA Award. According to ECA, this suggests that
there is significant interest and increased use of ICT in
delivery of innovative services to the people by African
governments.
During the next TIGA process in 2013, ECA will be launching
a G-Government category or Geospatial Government, which
encompasses the use of the Internet and GIS in making the
delivery of services more effective by governments.
Issued by:
ECA Information and Communication Service
P.O. Box 3001
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: 251 11 5445098
Fax: +251-11-551 03 65
E-mail: ecainfo@uneca.org
Web: www.uneca.org
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