The Siyakhula Living Lab (SLL) programme, aimed at Information Communications Technologies (ICT) development in rural areas, was officially launched last Thursday in Dwesa.
The Siyakhula Living Lab (SLL) programme, aimed at Information Communications Technologies (ICT) development in rural areas, was officially launched last Thursday in Dwesa.
A large crowd of community members, teachers, learners, academics and private funders converged on the little village to share in the progress of the Lab programme.
To date, 17 schools have been connected to the network in Dwesa, near Willowvale, and surrounding communities.
Professor Alfredo Terzoli, head of the Telkom Centre for Excellence at Rhodes University, and manager of the project, spoke of cooperation between the stakeholders.
“To continue to create these solutions we need the cooperation of the community, researchers, leaders in industry and the government. The good stuff is here. We need to go beyond imagining, to create the reality which we envision.”
The Siyakhula Living Lab programme is a joint initiative between Rhodes and the University of Fort Hare, in partnership with private funders.
They are committed to the development of ICTs in rural areas for education and up-skilling. In 2006 a field test site was established in the Dwesa-Cwebe area.
The objective of the project was to develop and test the prototype of a simple, cost-effective and robust e-business/telecommunications platform, which may be used in marginalised communities.
Considering that over 40 percent of the South African population lives in rural areas, the main principle of the project is the co-creation of solutions with empowered users.
Dr Rick Skeef, Executive Director of Applied Research Innovation and Collaboration of the National Research Fund (NRF) commended the programme and all those involved.
“It’s great once in a while to be able to be part of a project like this which is rooted in a community, seeing and realising how our research output is benefiting real people.”
Patiswa Ndawule, Principal of the Nondobo Junior Secondary School and product of the Lab's skills development programme, said, “Now I have an email address! I’m no longer a principal of the past who had no email address. Thanks for the nice tutors – and also we would like to thank the project itself,” she said.
Representing national government, Deputy Minister of Communications Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams stressed the necessity of developing ICTs at schools.
“We need to ensure that we provide learners with education that responds to what the market needs to contribute effectively to economic development,” Ndabeni-Abrahams said.
“Here is an opportunity presented to you, learners and community members: go Google yourself out of poverty.”
