A sustainable model for ICT capacitybuilding in developing countries

Rudy Gevaert

Ghent University

About me

I GNU/Linux sysadmin

I Postmaster

I Devops

I ICT for developmentin Ethiopia and Cuba

I http://webworm.org

I @rgevaert

Rudy Gevaert 2/22

A sustainable model for ICT capacity building

in developing countries

I Context and background of our programmes

I Overview of the ICT projects in Cuba and Ethiopia

I What did we learn?

Table of contents Rudy Gevaert 3/22

I’m not going to talk about. . .

Rudy Gevaert 4/22

Background and Context

Overall objective: academic capacity building in developing countries

Background and Context Rudy Gevaert 5/22

Overview of the ICT projects inCuba and Ethiopia

Projects in .cu and .et Rudy Gevaert 6/22

Cuba

La Universidad Central “Marta Abreu” de Las Villashttp://www.uclv.edu.cu

SantaClara

Projects in .cu and .et Rudy Gevaert 7/22

Ethiopia

Mekelle Universityhttp://www.mu.edu.et

Jimma Universityhttp://www.ju.edu.et

Jimma

Mekelle

Projects in .cu and .et Rudy Gevaert 8/22

Objectives of the ICT projects

Help the local university expand andprofessionalize their ICT services

Projects in .cu and .et Rudy Gevaert 9/22

Accomplishments

I Establishment of a solid network infrastructure and associatedservices

I E-administration system developed

I Internet access improved and managed

I Establishment of a central data center

I Human capacity building in software engineering, system andnetwork administration

I Apply bandwidth management and optimization techniques

I University e-mail system created

I Capacity building in Free Software technologies

Projects in .cu and .et Rudy Gevaert 10/22

What did we learn?

Sustainable model Rudy Gevaert 11/22

Bandwidth is limited, manage it!

Improve and manage Internet access by applying bandwidthmanagement and optimization techniques

Sustainable model Rudy Gevaert 12/22

Capacity building is more important than

infrastructure building

I Iterative train the trainer process

I Be prepared for high staff turnover

Sustainable model Rudy Gevaert 13/22

The level of knowledge is limited,

but the people aren’t!

I Level of education is different

I Adapt to local cultures

I Failures happen due to external circumstances

Sustainable model Rudy Gevaert 14/22

Establish a good relationship with local

management

I Otherwise they won’t use the systems you helped with

I Development cooperation is big business

I Selection of trainees is tricky

Sustainable model Rudy Gevaert 15/22

Purchase of IT equipment is difficult

I Purchasing procedure:I Locally? Painful procurementI Abroad? Painful shipment and customs clearance

I Add spare equipment

I Choose Free Software

Sustainable model Rudy Gevaert 16/22

Small is beautiful

I Don’t over engineer!

I KISS

I Don’t become a dependency

Sustainable model Rudy Gevaert 17/22

How to handle project follow up

I Two visits a year are the minimum

I This is when you get things implemented

I Experience conditions where you partners work in

Sustainable model Rudy Gevaert 18/22

Conclusions

Model: keep sustainability in mind

Projects: Variable success

For myself: Don’t panic: Rome wasn’t built in a day!

Sustainable model Rudy Gevaert 19/22

What’s next?

I EthiopiaI Mekelle: programme finishes March ’13, after that ?I Jimma: half way the programme, 5 years to come

I Cuba: from April ’13, two new 10-year programmes:I University of Oriente (Santiago De Cuba)I ICT network Cuba

What’s next? Rudy Gevaert 20/22

Thank you

Gracias

Rudy Gevaert 21/22

Questions?

Rudy Gevaert 22/22