Curriculum Development for the Telecentre Academy in East Africa

Presentations of challenges faced by telecentres and telecentre managers for the East African Telecentre Academy meeting held at Kyambogo University
Peter Balaba- Nakaseke Community Multimedia Centre

Location; Nakaseke CMC is located at Nakaseke Sub-County Headquarters, Nakaseke District, 75 km North of Kampala (16 km off Kampala –Gulu road). The CMC was established in 1997 as part of the series of a pilot initiative to introduce, test, disseminate and assess the impact and viability of CMCs in Africa with funding from International Telecommunication Union (ITU) UNESCO and IDRC and executed by Uganda National Commission for UNESCO on behalf of the Government of Uganda.

The centre provides telecommunication and information services including telephone, library, internet, educational videos, daily newspapers, photocopying, typesetting, printing, computer training, video coverage, phone charging and a community radio among others.

Challenges
- Content development and packaging ie most of the content (on-line and off-line) is packaged in English, a language which is not familiar to the local community.
- Since ownership of the CMC isn't specific and legal, this affects the flow of business and management in case of breach of contract.
- Shortage of skilled labor for repair and maintenance of I.T equipment, for financial accounting, records keeping and marketing, for networking and trouble Shooting, radio web browsing and script development, radio presenters, general management skills and also business entrepreneurship.
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Paul Barera- Nyamata Telecentre

Location: Established in 2004 with the support of USAID, Nyamata is located in semi-urban area and runs on Entrepreneurial basis. The telecentre provides diversified services, with ICT facilities being the core of the business and about15 staff are employed by the telecentre.

Challenges
- High illiteracy levels among telecentre users affects the work of the managers
- Growing competition in ICT business for instance with Internet cafes
- Lack of Technical skills in ICT is increasing the cost of running Telecentre (maintenance of equipment)
- Lack of managerial skills such as financial management, Marketing e.t.c is Killing daily performance of Telecentre
- Lack of team work spirit and also the unwillingness of skilled community members to volunteer is another challenge
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Dr. Karorero Barnabe- Burundi Telecentre Network
- Conflict of interest between the government and private investors in the ICT industry affects the works of telecentres in the country
- Load shedding i.e since power is on/ off, telecentre activities don’t run smoothly
- Marketing the product is a big problem since people don’t understand the need of ICT skill and services in their communities.
- Poverty. Initially, training was free in telecentres but later, people were required to pay a small fee to learn. However, this greatly affected turn up as most people are poor.
- Management and maintenance of the equipment is another challenge
- Adaption of the internet/ ICT culture is a big challenge in the local communities
- The youth are more interested in entertainment facilities such as face book, webcams, chat rooms e.t.c. Also, teachers at the telecentres are more interested in teaching foreign courses rather than those that appeal to the interests of their communities

Cleopa Otieno Timon- Kenya Telecentre Network ( KenTel)

The telecentre is a rural based CeC which was established as a Community Based Organization (CBO) in 1980 but later registered as an Non Governmental Organization (NGO).

Challenges
- Community members don't feel attached to the telecentre since they don't own it and this affects operations.
- Sustainability
- Maintenance of I.T equipment is hard
- The telecentre lacks clear knowledge of what its community needs to develop socially and economically
- Lack of a clear vision, objectives and strategic business plan is also a challenge at the telecentre
- Poor management and accountability of resources
- Shortage of labor/ under-staffing
- There isn't a spirit of voluntarism from the community
- Lack of Government support and goodwill
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Curriculum development; John Maani (Curriculum Expert, Kyambogo University)

In his presentation, he defined the curriculum as ''sum total of all experiences a learner undergoes under the guidance of the school, institution or academy''. Therefore, the specific and formal knowledge and skills that the learners or managers will acquire from the Telecentre Academy should constitute a core curriculum.

Synthesize materials for management module

He pointed out that the main components of a curriculum should constitute its aims and objectives, content/subject matter, methods of how skills, knowledge and values will be developed and an evaluation.
Also, important facts and figures must be established first before developing the curriculum. This is done through baseline surveys/or Needs Assessment

Therefore, the situational analysis for the development of the management module should involve:
- Identifying tasks and problems and seeking possible solutions.
- Identifying difficulties and possible areas of resistance
- Clues to planning for the resources and the organizational changes that will be required.

NOTE: Due to the ever changing society, both local and international, there is needed to select from the abundance of generated knowledge and skills. Also, The need to remain current by replacing content that may be outdated is paramount.
Quality: There is need to ensure quality
Quantity: There is need to gauge how much to cover on a particular course.
Scope: helps in demarcating or deciding on the breadth and depth of what to cover
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