Report of activities

Center for Information Technology and Development CITAD)

Flat 3, first floor, white house, above, opp Mobil filling station BUK Road, Kafar Kabuga, P.O.Box 10210, Kano

FOR THE YEAR 2003

OBJECTIVES OF CITAD

CITAD was established to serve as both a research and think tank and an action oriented centre for both the study and the use of ICTs for development purposes. Its overall aim is to provide guidelines informed by both research and practice on how ICTs could be properly deployed in the efforts to promote sustainable development. Its specific objectives include:

• Raise awareness about the use of ICTs in development

• Campaign for an appropriate national policy on ICTs

• Conduct research on ICTs in development

• Propagate best practices in ICT applications in development

• Use ICTs as tools for the promotion of democracy and good governance

• Run community computer resource centres for people to have access to computing facilities

• Conduct advocacy on the need to integrate ICT skills in the country's education systems

• Monitor the application of ICTs in the society

• Provide training to disadvantaged groups such as women, children and other marginal groups on ICTs.

In pursuing its aim and objectives, the organization conducts its activities through education, campaign and publicity, advocacy and research. It has five thematic units, namely, Computer Literacy Project (offers free training to targeted groups), Community Access Network (provides information to community), Schoolnet Project, IT Research and Adaptation Project (IT-TRAP) and Trade in ICTs Monitor.

INTRODUCTiON

This report covers the activities of Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) in the year 2003. Although the organization is structured along five programmatic units, the report is organized along thematic issues. This is because many of the issues/programmes/activities cut across a number of the programmatic units of the organization.

As the report illustrates, the organization has continued to grow both in terms of its activities and impact as well in its being recognized as an organization with competence on ICT issues in the country. These modest achievements are made possible by the commitment and dedication of its members, who have continued to render selfless services to the organization on the basis of volunteerism, which is the driving principle of CITAD.

SCHOOLNETACIIVI'I'JiiS

Schoolnet is one of the key planks of the activities of the organization. The strategic of objective f this is to ensure a significant growth in the engagement of the school sector in ICTs through which ICT skilled manpower can be generated. During the year, the following were the involved in this sector:

• LATO: The Learn and Teach Others (LATO) computer-training scheme for teachers of public secondary schools has remained a popular progrmame of the organization. It was offered in all the three school holidays of the year. With an intake of 12 participants per offering, this year, the organization has trained 36 teachers. This had brought the total number of teachers who have benefited from the scheme to 52 (see list in Appendix 1)

• Career Talk for Students: The career talk programme has been maintained and this year 12 schools have benefited. An additional feature of the progrmame that was introduced this year is the inclusion of secondary schools students from other schools in the team that conducts the career, who usually carry out demonstrations of computer use. This served not only a means of attraction to the students but also as an encouragement to the student as each student aspires to do the same as their colleagues in the team.

• Training for Students: In the year also CITAD experimented with computer literacy training for students, first at the Fatima Girls Secondary School, Gyadi-Gyadi and later in a partnership with Adeola Secondary School, Kofar Kabuga.

• Computer Literacy Quiz: For the past two years this had been on the plan of the organization. It could not hold because support in terms of prizes was not forthcoming. However, in September, CITAD decided that whatever it might take, the Quiz was going to hold this year. Thus on October 22, the first Computer Literacy Quiz for Secondary School students held at the Rumfa College. Six secondary schools participated while two others, represented by the Principals of the schools came as observers. The Kano State Commissioner of Education was the Guest of Honour at the Quiz. Prizes distributed to participants included a television set for the first place position, a radio/cassette player for second place and a giant wall clock for third place position while all guests and participants were each given a copy of Digital Quran as special prize of recognition. These copies of the Digital Quran were donated to the organization by Samanja Electronics, Kano.

• The Soft Option Scheme: During one of the graduation ceremonies of the participants of the LATO scheme, a challenge was thrown to the organization: noting that most of the teachers who benefited from the scheme did not have access to computers either at home or at school, it was suggested that CITAD should come up with a scheme to assist teachers purchase computers and pay installmentally. CITAD decided to explore the idea by first undertaking a needs assessment. It administered questionnaires to 200 teachers from across 24 secondary schools in the state. The result of the survey showed that overwhelmingly teachers would like to own their computers and would patronize a pay by installment scheme. On the basis of the survey result, and drawing from market survey and other schemes, CITAD proposed a skeletal scheme, which was presented to teachers as a follow up questionnaire. This follow up questionnaire was further followed up a by a round table forum on the scheme with teachers arid principals of the schools held on 18^thNovember at the Conference Hall of Rumfa College, Kano .The scheme is however yet to take up

• Partnership with Schools: During the year, CITAD signed an agreement with four of the schools that benefited from the Education Tax Fund (ETF) donation of e-centres. The schools are Rumfa College, Government Secondary School, Gwale, Government Secondary School Tarauni and Government Girls College, Dala. The partnership involves capacity building and training for the Schools' schoolnet node and joining running the e-centres on cost-recovery basis. The scheme cannot take up because the state government, which has agreed to provide generating sets for the schools, is yet to do so while the solar panels to be provided by EFT are also yet to be brought in.

NETWORKING ACTIVITIES

CITAD has during the year developed working partnerships with a number of organizations as follows:

• Pan African Development Education and Advocacy Programme (PADEAP) for computer training outreach at Hauwa Memorial College and Hauwa Community College both at Funtua in Katsina State. Also during the year, the two organization concluded arrangement with Happy Computers Limited (www.happy.co.uk) in the UK to send two of its staff in January 2004 for a three-week period to conduct an IT Training of Trainers (TOT) for the staff and volunteers of CITAD and PADEAP. The training would take place in Funtua, Katsina State.

• Women Farmers Advancement Forum (WOFAN) for a baseline study on HIV/AIDS in Kano State: CITAD was part of groups of seven organizations that undertook a baseline survey on stigma and discrimination against HIV/AIDS patients in ten local governments in the state. The survey sought to understand the attitudes of the communities to HIV/AIDS, assess the level of support available and given to HIV/AIDS patients as well as to discuss with the communities on what they could do to contribute in the fight against HTV/AIDS.

• Internet Training Partnership with the British Council, Kano: Following meetings between CITAD and the Director of the British Council, Kano, a partnership on Internet Training was entered between the two organizations. The aim of the partnership is to deliver Internet training to various interest groups free of charge using the British Council facilities and CITAD's resource persons. The first set of the beneficiaries of the partnership is to commence their training in January 2004.

• WHADNET for computer training for women groups: early in the year, CITAD in association with Women Health and Development Network (WHADNET) launched a training scheme for women. The first offer consisted of 18 participants, mainly members of WHADNET. Since then WHADNET has taken over the responsibility of the training and has run three sets so far.

• WOFAN, SFM, and CITAD on HTV/AIDS awareness campaign: from the 1-8, CITAD was part of a group consisting of Women Farmers Advancement (Network (WOFAN), Society for Family Health (SFH) and other organizations that organized a series of activities to mark the World AIDS Day. These activities included a rally, meetings with PLAs, radio programme, lectures and advocacy visits to the palaces of the Emir of Kano and other traditional rulers in the state.

• Kano NGO Forum: CITAD has been playing an active role in this forum. It was appointed to establish and moderate discussion list for the forum as well as plan and organize the monthly forum for January 2004.

• Formation of ITAN Kano State Branch: As part of the efforts to promote IT development, CITAD decided to consult with IT companies in Kano and with the national leadership of the Information Technology Association of Nigeria (ITAN) with a view to establishing a branch of the association in the state. CITAD was able to mobilize a number of the companies and in December held a successful maiden meeting. A steering Committee was set up with CITAD holding the secretariat and has since been meeting. Plans are on ground to hold an election and formally launch the branch.

• Partnership with the Department of Library and Information Sciences, Bayero University, Kano: During the year, CITAD and the Department of Library and Information Sciences at the Bayero University, Kano set up a joint committee for partnership activities.

CAMPAIGNS

CITAD was involved in several campaigns and advocacy activities including:

• Freedom of Information Coalition (FOI): The FOI was principally set up to campaign for the passing of die Freedom of Information Bill, which was developed by civil society groups. In addition to being part of the Coalition, CITAD is the coordinating organization of the coalition in Kano State. In that capacity, it organized visits to some members of the National Assembly resident in Kano State to seek their support in passing the bill. It also issued a press statement on the bill as part of the Right to Know Date, celebrated on October by members of the FOI nationally.

• Civil society ICT Coalition: The aim of the CS-ICT Coalition is to campaign for a national ICT policy. It has organized a series of activities, of which CITAD is an active participant.

• Nigeria Youths World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Caucus: The Nigeria Youth WSIS Caucus was formed by a group of civil society organizations to provide a platform and venues for youths in the country to contribute to th


	Report of activities Of Center for Information Technology and Development CITAD) Flat 3, first floor, white house, above, opp Mobil filling station BUK Road, Kafar Kabuga, P.O.Box 10210, Kano FOR THE YEAR 2003 OBJECTIVES OF CITAD CITAD was established to serve as both a research and think tank and an action oriented centre for both the study and the use of ICTs for development purposes. Its overall aim is to provide guidelines informed by both research and practice on how ICTs could be properly deployed in the efforts to promote sustainable development. Its specific objectives include: • Raise awareness about the use of ICTs in development • Campaign for an appropriate national policy on ICTs • Conduct research on ICTs in development • Propagate best practices in ICT applications in development • Use ICTs as tools for the promotion of democracy and good governance • Run community computer resource centres for people to have access to computing facilities • Conduct advocacy on the need to integrate ICT skills in the country's education systems • Monitor the application of ICTs in the society • Provide training to disadvantaged groups such as women, children and other marginal groups on ICTs. In pursuing its aim and objectives, the organization conducts its activities through education, campaign and publicity, advocacy and research. It has five thematic units, namely, Computer Literacy Project (offers free training to targeted groups), Community Access Network (provides information to community), Schoolnet Project, IT Research and Adaptation Project (IT-TRAP) and Trade in ICTs Monitor. INTRODUCTiON This report covers the activities of Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) in the year 2003. Although the organization is structured along five programmatic units, the report is organized along thematic issues. This is because many of the issues/programmes/activities cut across a number of the programmatic units of the organization. As the report illustrates, the organization has continued to grow both in terms of its activities and impact as well in its being recognized as an organization with competence on ICT issues in the country. These modest achievements are made possible by the commitment and dedication of its members, who have continued to render selfless services to the organization on the basis of volunteerism, which is the driving principle of CITAD. SCHOOLNETACIIVI'I'JiiS Schoolnet is one of the key planks of the activities of the organization. The strategic of objective f this is to ensure a significant growth in the engagement of the school sector in ICTs through which ICT skilled manpower can be generated. During the year, the following were the involved in this sector: • LATO: The Learn and Teach Others (LATO) computer-training scheme for teachers of public secondary schools has remained a popular progrmame of the organization. It was offered in all the three school holidays of the year. With an intake of 12 participants per offering, this year, the organization has trained 36 teachers. This had brought the total number of teachers who have benefited from the scheme to 52 (see list in Appendix 1) • Career Talk for Students: The career talk programme has been maintained and this year 12 schools have benefited. An additional feature of the progrmame that was introduced this year is the inclusion of secondary schools students from other schools in the team that conducts the career, who usually carry out demonstrations of computer use. This served not only a means of attraction to the students but also as an encouragement to the student as each student aspires to do the same as their colleagues in the team. • Training for Students: In the year also CITAD experimented with computer literacy training for students, first at the Fatima Girls Secondary School, Gyadi-Gyadi and later in a partnership with Adeola Secondary School, Kofar Kabuga. • Computer Literacy Quiz: For the past two years this had been on the plan of the organization. It could not hold because support in terms of prizes was not forthcoming. However, in September, CITAD decided that whatever it might take, the Quiz was going to hold this year. Thus on October 22, the first Computer Literacy Quiz for Secondary School students held at the Rumfa College. Six secondary schools participated while two others, represented by the Principals of the schools came as observers. The Kano State Commissioner of Education was the Guest of Honour at the Quiz. Prizes distributed to participants included a television set for the first place position, a radio/cassette player for second place and a giant wall clock for third place position while all guests and participants were each given a copy of Digital Quran as special prize of recognition. These copies of the Digital Quran were donated to the organization by Samanja Electronics, Kano. • The Soft Option Scheme: During one of the graduation ceremonies of the participants of the LATO scheme, a challenge was thrown to the organization: noting that most of the teachers who benefited from the scheme did not have access to computers either at home or at school, it was suggested that CITAD should come up with a scheme to assist teachers purchase computers and pay installmentally. CITAD decided to explore the idea by first undertaking a needs assessment. It administered questionnaires to 200 teachers from across 24 secondary schools in the state. The result of the survey showed that overwhelmingly teachers would like to own their computers and would patronize a pay by installment scheme. On the basis of the survey result, and drawing from market survey and other schemes, CITAD proposed a skeletal scheme, which was presented to teachers as a follow up questionnaire. This follow up questionnaire was further followed up a by a round table forum on the scheme with teachers arid principals of the schools held on 18^thNovember at the Conference Hall of Rumfa College, Kano .The scheme is however yet to take up • Partnership with Schools: During the year, CITAD signed an agreement with four of the schools that benefited from the Education Tax Fund (ETF) donation of e-centres. The schools are Rumfa College, Government Secondary School, Gwale, Government Secondary School Tarauni and Government Girls College, Dala. The partnership involves capacity building and training for the Schools' schoolnet node and joining running the e-centres on cost-recovery basis. The scheme cannot take up because the state government, which has agreed to provide generating sets for the schools, is yet to do so while the solar panels to be provided by EFT are also yet to be brought in. NETWORKING ACTIVITIES CITAD has during the year developed working partnerships with a number of organizations as follows: • Pan African Development Education and Advocacy Programme (PADEAP) for computer training outreach at Hauwa Memorial College and Hauwa Community College both at Funtua in Katsina State. Also during the year, the two organization concluded arrangement with Happy Computers Limited (www.happy.co.uk) in the UK to send two of its staff in January 2004 for a three-week period to conduct an IT Training of Trainers (TOT) for the staff and volunteers of CITAD and PADEAP. The training would take place in Funtua, Katsina State. • Women Farmers Advancement Forum (WOFAN) for a baseline study on HIV/AIDS in Kano State: CITAD was part of groups of seven organizations that undertook a baseline survey on stigma and discrimination against HIV/AIDS patients in ten local governments in the state. The survey sought to understand the attitudes of the communities to HIV/AIDS, assess the level of support available and given to HIV/AIDS patients as well as to discuss with the communities on what they could do to contribute in the fight against HTV/AIDS. • Internet Training Partnership with the British Council, Kano: Following meetings between CITAD and the Director of the British Council, Kano, a partnership on Internet Training was entered between the two organizations. The aim of the partnership is to deliver Internet training to various interest groups free of charge using the British Council facilities and CITAD's resource persons. The first set of the beneficiaries of the partnership is to commence their training in January 2004. • WHADNET for computer training for women groups: early in the year, CITAD in association with Women Health and Development Network (WHADNET) launched a training scheme for women. The first offer consisted of 18 participants, mainly members of WHADNET. Since then WHADNET has taken over the responsibility of the training and has run three sets so far. • WOFAN, SFM, and CITAD on HTV/AIDS awareness campaign: from the 1-8, CITAD was part of a group consisting of Women Farmers Advancement (Network (WOFAN), Society for Family Health (SFH) and other organizations that organized a series of activities to mark the World AIDS Day. These activities included a rally, meetings with PLAs, radio programme, lectures and advocacy visits to the palaces of the Emir of Kano and other traditional rulers in the state. • Kano NGO Forum: CITAD has been playing an active role in this forum. It was appointed to establish and moderate discussion list for the forum as well as plan and organize the monthly forum for January 2004. • Formation of ITAN Kano State Branch: As part of the efforts to promote IT development, CITAD decided to consult with IT companies in Kano and with the national leadership of the Information Technology Association of Nigeria (ITAN) with a view to establishing a branch of the association in the state. CITAD was able to mobilize a number of the companies and in December held a successful maiden meeting. A steering Committee was set up with CITAD holding the secretariat and has since been meeting. Plans are on ground to hold an election and formally launch the branch. • Partnership with the Department of Library and Information Sciences, Bayero University, Kano: During the year, CITAD and the Department of Library and Information Sciences at the Bayero University, Kano set up a joint committee for partnership activities. CAMPAIGNS CITAD was involved in several campaigns and advocacy activities including: • Freedom of Information Coalition (FOI): The FOI was principally set up to campaign for the passing of die Freedom of Information Bill, which was developed by civil society groups. In addition to being part of the Coalition, CITAD is the coordinating organization of the coalition in Kano State. In that capacity, it organized visits to some members of the National Assembly resident in Kano State to seek their support in passing the bill. It also issued a press statement on the bill as part of the Right to Know Date, celebrated on October by members of the FOI nationally. • Civil society ICT Coalition: The aim of the CS-ICT Coalition is to campaign for a national ICT policy. It has organized a series of activities, of which CITAD is an active participant. • Nigeria Youths World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Caucus: The Nigeria Youth WSIS Caucus was formed by a group of civil society organizations to provide a platform and venues for youths in the country to contribute to th