Dear Friends,

I am glad to be able to write to you with good news. With the roll out of the Rural Internet Kiosks created by Intersat Africa, ICT in rural areas for long term sustainable development is closer to reality than ever before. VOA4SD’s work is finally gaining ground as we will be implementing a RIK in Msambweni Constituency at the Kwale local library with Voice of Diani, community based organization. This community based organization has been created and lead by youth with a desire to serve the community with emphasis on providing service to those infected and affected by HIV and AIDS. This project is funded by the Internet Society as part of its community grants program. This project is being implemented by Mariel, a volunteer who is working on her Master’s degree in Communications at American University, Jon, a US PeaceCorp volunteer specializing in Open Source software for development, Jeff, a US PeaceCorp volunteer who will lead the community training, and three leaders from the Voice of Diani CBO, Faith, Gideon, and Crispo. We are in the process of preparing the baseline study with implementation scheduled in the middle of February. Please keep looking to the website for more information and updates from our Msambweni team.

Our next project will be a larger scale study of the impact and effects of ICTs on entire community populations through the Webuye constituency of Western province. We are planning to implement 8 Rural Internet Kiosks in Webuye with one in each location. Community based organizations have been selected in each area in consultations with the area chiefs and local government. We have visited with each of these groups and explained the project and asked for their participation. All of the groups have been very excited and supportive of the concept to bring the RIKs into their communities.
This project is being supported by the Constituency Development Fund, the Youth Enterprise Development Fund, and the National Library Service. We are looking for more potential partners who seek long term sustainable development through information empowerment. The US PeaceCorps will be providing volunteers for RIK locations to train the kiosk operators and building capacity within the communities.

The kiosk operators are members of a local youth group selected the community based organizations. These youth groups will be responsible for ¼ of the cost of the kiosk through loans given by the Youth Enterprise Development Fund. While the youth groups are paying ¼ of the cost they are receiving 1/3 of the profits after the operators salaries have been paid. These profits will be invested into income generating activities that benefit the youth in the community. One group wants to invest in additional machinery to make interlocking bricks to bring down the cost of construction in the community. The small businesses will be social in nature to meet the needs of the community while providing local youth employment. Employed youth that are learning and growing are far less likely to engage in destructive behavior such as was witnessed in 2008 during the post election violence. If you are not engaged productively, the chance for their destructive behavior in 2012 will be higher. With over 75% of the population under the age of 40, education and business opportunities are critical to the stability of the county.

The youth impact must reach farther than the operators and youth groups directly involved in the RIK. Kiosk operators will train other local youth in the community to use ICTs for education and business for a small fee encouraging the youth to gain the knowledge and skills required to create their own income generating activities. The youth of Kenya need to take control of their own futures and are in great need for the tools to do so.

The RIK project expands beyond youth with their partnership with the community based organizations. The elders and opinion leaders must be involved to ensure any projects success in the community. These groups have been charged with the responsibility for taking care of the volunteers and as acting as an advisory board. The community based organizations will use 1/3 of the profits of the RIK to create social businesses that uplift the community and provide an income to families in the area. One example is a beekeeping project lead by a retired Ministry of Agriculture employee. This profits from the RIK will be utilized by the group to create more bee hives to be given to local families to boost the production of the honey. This engages more families into the business and help to provide much needed income to the community as a whole.

The remaining 1/3 of the profits will be invested in programs that provide for the most needed members of the community. The community based organizations have identified and chosen to serve orphans, widows, vulnerable children, and those infected and affected by HIV and AIDS. This approach looks at the entire community as stakeholders, as they are all important to the development process. Indeed, their futures are the outcomes.

The RIK technology provides the tools necessary for this development. Yet the technology is only the vehicle. The success is in how it is applied. Without information and communications, the people are isolated from the rest of the world and even from their own progress. Our mission is to bring the people the tools for change and we believe that together we can make a new Kenya.

Many blessings,

Crystal

crystal@voicesofafrica.org