[GKD] AIDSWEB: ICT and AIDS Education in Africa

[Abloome]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

World Links has the proud honor of announcing our first project
adaptation of locally produced HIV/AIDS and Reproductive Health material
from print to an electronic platform for schools and the general public.

The new site, Auntie Stella (described below) is featured at the
Zimbabwean Training and Research Support Center (TARSC) NGO, website at
www.tarsc.org/auntstella/index.html, and is part of our ongoing AIDSWEB:
HIV/AIDS and IT in Schools' Project  with ongoing participation from
students and teachers in several African countries -- Botswana, Ghana,
Kenya, Nigeria, So. Africa, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe -- and schools
in the United States.

Please let us know what you think about it -- feel free to circulate
this e-mail -- and/or contact me if you any further questions about our
project activities.

Tony

Anthony Bloome
Anglophone Africa Regional Coordinator
World Links
202-473-2282

P.S. We'll talk about the website as well as other AIDSWEB project
activities at a Brown Bag event on February 27th (J7-044 at 12:30-2:30)
with teachers from each of the above countries here in Washington to
share their AIDSWEB project-related experiences.

  AUNTIE STELLA
   A new web-based resource for adolescent reproductive health

The Training and Research Support Centre (TARSC) based in Harare,
Zimbabwe (www.tarsc.org) announces the creation of a new site linked to
the TARSC website specifically developed for young people to engage in
discussion and problem solving on issues related to their reproductive
health.

The website Auntie Stella: Teenagers talk about sex, life and
relationships can be reached through the TARSC address above or directly
on www.auntiestella.org. The site, developed with support from World
Links has been adapted from the print version of  Auntie Stella which
has been successfully used by youth in and out of school.

Both the print and electronic versions use the question and reply format
of problem page letters written to agony aunts in magazines, a popular
source of information for young people. The basic method is for a
question letter to be read and the problem discussed, usually in small
single-sex groups, or by individuals reflecting on their own. They then
turn to Auntie Stella's reply for expert information and suggestions
about how to apply any new knowledge in real life, and to explore ways
to change their behaviour.

There are over 30 'questions' covering such topics as emotional and
physical changes in adolescence, relationships with peers, parents and
the opposite sex, forced sex, gender roles, wanted and unwanted
pregnancy, STDs and HIV/AIDS.

The content of the letters, as well as the format and methodology used,
was based on research with secondary school students in Zimbabwe and
reflect their real experiences, needs and concerns.

The website also includes detailed information to facilitators on
various ways young people can use the site, a glossary of difficult
words and a bulletin board in which young people from around the world
can talk to each other about issues related to sex, life and
relationships. The emphasis is on creating an informal and
non-judgmental atmosphere where teenagers can work in privacy and focus
on their own experiences, knowledge and needs.

Using a participatory (PRA) approach throughout, Auntie Stella stresses
that young people should learn through discussion and through doing
things themselves, rather than by having teachers/facilitators (who
know) pour knowledge into teenagers (who don't know). The PRA philosophy
begins with the knowledge and experience of the learners, and uses
various methods to provoke discussion and encourage them to action.

The print version has been widely used in schools in Zimbabwe, as well
as in AIDS support organisations, youth centres, sports clubs, child
abuse support centres, family planning centres, and church and debating
clubs.

Auntie Stella was developed by Barbara Kaim, Programme Manager of the
Adolescent Reproductive Health Project at TARSC. TARSC is a Zimbabwean
non-profit organisation which provides training, research and support
services for civic organisations to develop social capacities,
networking and action. Funding for the print version of Auntie Stella
was provided by the Ford Foundation and the Royal Danish Embassy
(Danida).  The electronic version was produced with financial assistance
from World Links Organization (www.world-links.org) and technical
oversight by the World Bank's WorLD Program to provide and promote
access to and training in information and communications technology for
schools in developing countries.

For more information about TARSC and Auntie Stella, visit TARSC's
website at www.tarsc.org or contact us at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or 
[EMAIL PROTECTED]


  AIDSWEB:An Ongoing Project Exploring the Use ICT for HIV/AIDS
  Education in Schools in Africa

  with contributions from African teachers from

  Botswana

Re: [GKD] Linux Aid Server Project

[Edmond Gaible]

Hello,

There are several aspects of this discussion that are important:
Although I agree with Dr. Morrison, generally, that simple and durable
systems are best, simplicity and its virtues can been seen from several
perspectives. In addition, new tools are called for to meet new needs
and to make new/appropriate technologies available in otherwise
underserved areas.

On simplicity: Although laptops are durable and feature low power
requirements, they're more expensive and much more difficult to service.
In school computer labs, teachers and students often become adept at
scavenging parts to repair desktop computers. Such activities, although
arising out of need, become one of the "benefits" of participating in
school computers clubs. Such activities are _much_ more difficult with
laptops. In Zimbabwe, at least through 1998, servicing of a laptop
required that the machine be shipped to South Africa.

On new technologies: Several features of Matthew Grant's proposed server
design have already proven valuable for the Virtual Didactic Lab
education project in Sao Paulo -- and could be of similar value to other
projects that require heavy e-mail / Internet use in regions that are
infrastructure-poor or poorly regulated.

The LabVirt project engages secondary-school students in the design of
physics simulations, which are then built in Java by graduate students
at University of Sao Paulo, and uploaded to a central repository for use
as teaching/learning tools. Schools involved in the project, located in
underserved communities throughout the state of Sao Paulo, generally
have 10-computer labs, with machines on the order of Pentium 1s and 2s.
The project has designed and built a "blackbox server," which sits on
one of the school's 10 workstations. This server links the computers in
a LAN, giving them all access to the printer and maximizing the lab's
limited hard-drive space.

Critically, in a project that involves students uploading graphics and
downloading Java applets, the server uses call-scheduling to optimize
all email transactions -- processing these when the lab is unused and
when the city's phone lines have the least traffic. If the phones are
down or the connection is poor, the task is re-scheduled.

(The LabVirt project has completed its second year -- I'm unaware of any
publicly accessible "web artifacts.")

One could argue, as well, that _any_ Linux-based proposal for developing
countries should be given serious consideration as part of an effort to
reduce the future costs and constraints of participation in an otherwise
exclusionary networked society. Linux has already become much more user
friendly, with graphical interfaces (not unlike Windows) and simpler
distributions. It continues to run well on older computers (e.g., 486s),
and provides good Internet-browsing capabilities even on those machines.
And integration of Linux into development projects is one way to ensure
that this collaboratively created alternative evolves to better meet the
needs of developing-country users.

In an alternative view of the future, Microsoft is releasing its new
developers' toolkit (C-Sharp) this week, intended to compete with Java
[open-source, free], and to integrate with Microsoft's dot-Net and
Passport services -- all of these are designed to create greater
dependency on Microsoft's proprietary software and Internet services.

Regards,

Edmond Gaible


Natoma
350 Townsend Street, ste 312
San Francisco CA 94107
+1.415.543.6643 / fax 863.6398

www.natomagroup.com





***GKD is an initiative of the Global Knowledge Partnership***
To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type:
subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd
Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at:

[GKD] Extending the Information Revolution White Paper

[Kenan Jarboe]

Dear Friends,

I am pleased to announce that Athena Alliance's latest white paper,
Extending the Information Revolution, is now available at our web site
at www.athenaalliance.org.

The paper is a compendium of ideas aimed at improving our economy and
enhancing our safety through inclusion inclusion of all in our
networked society. America has a grand opportunity to lay the
foundations for a prosperous and secure future. We believe that real
sustainable economic growth and international security will come from
extending the information revolution to all communities, organizations
and individuals. This white paper contains analysis and ideas on how to
do that from experts in broadband technology, community Internet access,
education and training, entrepreneurship, small manufacturing and
financing.

The paper flows out of Athena Alliance='s earlier report, Inclusion in
the Information Age. That, in turn, followed a conference on 'New IT,
New Equity, New Economy' held in 2000.

If you would like a hard copy version of the report, please write us at
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>.

Ken Jarboe



Kenan Patrick Jarboe, Ph.D.
Athena Alliance
711 10th Street, SE
Washington, DC  20003
(202) 547-7064
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.athenaalliance.org




***GKD is an initiative of the Global Knowledge Partnership***
To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type:
subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd
Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: