COL-PROTEIN promotes use of ODL, technology to combat poverty

COL has selected five new community education programmes that make innovative use of open and distance learning (ODL) techniques and technology and are designed to reduce rural poverty for support under its latest Poverty Reduction Outcomes through Education, Innovations and Networks (COL-PROTEIN) programme.

The proposals are from not-for-profit groups and institutions in Cameroon, India, Kenya, Nigeria and Solomon Islands. These non-governmental organisations will receive resources and materials, consultancy and expert advice from COL. They will also get financial support up to CDN $20,000.

The main objective of COL-PROTEIN is to support projects that adopt open and distance learning and information and communications technologies (ICTs) to help build rural capacity in food security, environmental protection, rural development, nutritional education and micro-enterprise. This is the programme's third year.

"COL-PROTEIN has stimulated a number of innovative ideas from grassroots as well as national and international organisations on how ODL and ICTs can be used to address rural poverty," says Dr. Krishna Alluri, COL Education Specialist, Food Security and Environment. "With increasing access to ICT coupled with a growing body of case studies on the use of ICT to alleviate poverty, we hope to move the developing world closer to achieving the Millennium Development Goal of reducing poverty."

The five programmes supported by COL-PROTEIN in 2005 span a diverse range of countries and challenges.

Solar cooking lessons via telecentres in Nigeria
This initiative, submitted by the Fantsuam Foundation, plans to produce training materials on solar cooking and spread the knowledge using ICTs. It also hopes to do research on materials and methods for sharing information and knowledge via ICTs and distance learning in Africa.

Learning for fishing communities in India
From Andhra Pradesh, India, the organisation Constant Service in Developing Education and Rural Reconstruction is developing community-based distance learning for development among fisher folk. The project aims to create awareness of improved methods of fish post-harvesting technology and self-supportive women's co-operatives. The focus is on women and girls of fishing communities who stay on land while men are out deep-sea fishing.

Kitchen gardens and nutrition initiative in Kenya
This proposal was submitted by Women in the Fishing Industry Project Trust in Kisumu, Kenya. The idea is to enable women and other community members in Lake Victoria, Western Kenya, to improve their health and economic status by receiving information on good nutrition and its impact on health, establishing and maintaining kitchen gardens and making and using organic compost for their gardens.

Small business training for rural women in Cameroon
This initiative, brought forward by Protégé QV, aims to help rural women in the Upper Nkam Division develop new skills and start micro-enterprises. The idea is to demonstrate that the use of radio and cell phones using short message service (SMS) would enable rural women in Cameroon to learn and develop new skills, prompting them to move from a survivalist mentality and engage themselves professionally in a micro-enterprise.

Computer skills coaching in the Solomon Islands
The Rural Development Volunteer Association of Honiara, Solomon Islands, is developing a project for the coaching of rural trainers. The main aim of the project is to strengthen the Youth First Computer Centre, an existing ICT resource and learning centre for young people.

 

What Qualifies?

COL-PROTEIN provides start-up, limited-term support to qualifying projects in the developing Commonwealth. The focus is on innovative uses of ODL to address poverty in rural areas. In particular, COL-PROTEIN seeks to support initiatives that will adopt ODL and information and communication technologies (ICT) to help build rural capacity under the following areas:

• Food security

• Environmental protection

• Rural development

• Nutritional education

• Micro-enterprise

Activities that are considered for support include:

• Innovative models that use ODL and ICT

• Self-learning materials and their piloting

• Detailed content design that can be ICT-enabled and would benefit the rural poor

Proposals are solicited each year for a September deadline with notification to approved projects in November and commencement of the projects in December for one year. For more details about qualifying organisations and the application process, go to www.col.org/protein  or write to info@col.org

 

 

Stockholm Challenge Award recognises COL-PROTEIN project 

A project funded by COL-PROTEIN has received international acclaim. The Mobile Internet-Educational Unit on Boats (MIEUB) project in Bangladesh was named a finalist in the Environment category of the 2004 Stockholm Challenge Awards. The prestigious awards recognise organisations and individuals who use ICT to improve living conditions in developing countries.

This innovative project in Bangladesh, developed by the voluntary NGO Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha, educates farmers in remote areas about important environmental and health issues as it travels down waterways. Funding from COL-PROTEIN enabled the start-up of this programme in 2003. This award is significant because it provides international recognition and promotion. Already there have been a number of groups who have expressed interest in replicating the Mobile Internet-Educational
Unit on Boats initiative in other developing countries.

The MIEUB project has also received honours from other groups recently. It was the winner of the Global Junior Challenge Award 2004. This global award is promoted by the Digital Youth Consortium, a non-profit organisation founded by the Municipality of Rome and six major ICT companies. It recognises best practices on the use of new technologies in education and training. The MIEUB project was also awarded a Tech Museum Award in the Environment category. Organised by the United Nations Development Programme, The World Bank Institute and Santa Clara University, the 2004 Tech Awards honoured 25 laureates for their pioneering work in developing technology for the benefit of humanity