ECA Announces Winners of TIGA Awards in ICT in Education Category
By Zachary Ochieng
DAR ES SALAAM----The UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has today announced the ICT in Education winners of the third edition of the Technology in Government in Africa (TIGA) awards. The awards celebrate and recognize the efforts and concrete steps that African Governments and their institutions are taking in exploiting ICTs in their everyday functions. The awards were announced at the eLearning Africa currently underway in the Tanzanian capital, Dar es Salaam.
In the ICT in education category, four winners were picked. They included Ms Elizabeth Matare, CEO, The South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) for her project titled The Speaking Books, a world first created by South Africans for Africans, which focuses on rural, vulnerable and excluded people living in disadvantaged regions of sub-Saharan Africa and communities around the world. SADAG has created books on teen suicide prevention, how to get a government grant, caring for child headed households and substance abuse.
Also winning in the same category was Dr Adele Botha, Senior Researcher, CSIR Meraka Institute, South Africa. Titled Dr Math, Botha’s project is a mobile tutoring service that provides access to credible personal on demand tutoring in the Maths subject. Under this project, university students under the supervision of lecturers provide live interactive tutoring to secondary school students.
Another winner was Esther Gacicio, Assistant Director eLearning, Kenya Institute of Education (KIE) for her project titled eLimika eLearning Programme. The programme is the vehicle through which KIE delivers its courses. The name “elimika” is a Kiswahili word meaning “get educated”, which was coined to capture the idea behind online training and also give it a Kenyan identity. The eLimika Content Management System is supported by a community of experts and is always under review to be in tandem with the ever changing technology.
Not to be left out was Ms Gloria Aquas from Academia Aberta de Angola for her open distance learning platform that offers access to all.
Speaking during the awards ceremony, Thierry Amoussougbo, Regional Adviser, ICT Initiatives, ECA, observed that whilst the adoption of ICTs in education in Africa is on the increase, it is a fact that the continent still falls behind, hence the importance of the awards.
“It is indeed necessary for the youth in Africa to get acquainted with the 21st century skills in order to increase the competitive advantages of Africa”, said Amoussougbo.
Winners in other categories were announced on May 2 at the Second Session of the Committee on Development information, Science and Technology (CODIST-II) held in Addis Ababa.
The biennial TIGA awards are organized by ECA in collaboration with the Government of Finland. The concept of TIGA is premised on the African information Society initiative (AISI) framework that was developed under the auspices of ECA. It calls on African Governments to use ICTs to “improve the effectiveness of government service delivery and stimulate the information and communication industries”, namely institutionalization of e-government.