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StatusCompleted
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Status date2014-12-09
The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015 - form a blueprint agreed to by all the world's countries and all the world's leading development institutions.
The Millennium Development Goals, together with the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS ) have paved the way to a number of Capacity Building (CB) projects related to ICT in developing countries. Satcom technology and knowledge can contribute to achieving education worldwide, especially in area or regions that have no or a bad infrastructure.
For ESA, this study activity has the underlying goal to identify how to federate and catalyse a major line of actions to be undertaken with the participation of 3rd party institutions in line with the action plan proposed by the UN.
The goal of this project is to define and validate a reference model for CB projects using satellite communications (Satcom).
In order to create this reference model, 5 challenges have been identified and further refined:
- What are the sectors that can benefit from capacity building projects through ICT?
- In which one(s), could Satcom be an added value?
- What is the holistic description of these sectors?
- Is there a reference model for successful capacity building projects using Satcom?
- How to validate the reference model?
Our consortium explicitly recognises the added value of producing a reference model; as we ourselves have all found out (through successful and unsuccessful experiences) that such a model is critical for the success of sustainable CB projects. Furthermore we also are enthusiastic about bringing Satcom technology through a holistic and well-defined reference model to the people in developing countries in this project, allowing them to benefit from this tender in a direct way as well.
Satcom technology and knowledge can contribute to achieving education worldwide, especially in area or regions that have no or a bad infrastructure.
With regard to the MDGs, Capacity Building (CB) is primarily about the empowerment of organizations and people. CB entails the strengthening of individual, organisational and institutional competencies of the local partners. It is a broad definition and in its essence, capacitating people and organisations is a component of the core strategy of empowerment of people and partner organisations. Empowering people and organisations relates to the strengthening of knowledge, skills and attitudes so that people and organisations are capable of taking their development in their own hands. In practical terms it means that at every stage of a project, people have to acquire different skills and knowledge.
The technical work is subdivided in 5 work areas (WA):
WA1000 Identification and Selection of Potential CB Sectors
WA2000 Characterization of the CB sectors
WA3000 Definition of Reference Model for Capacity Building Projects
WA4000 Application and Assessment of the Reference Model
WA5000 Review and Finalisation of the Reference Model, and Recommendations for Future Actions on Capacity Building
WA1000, WA2000, WA3000, WA4000, and WA5000 correspond to Task1, Task2, Task3, Task4, and Task5 respectively. These WAs are complemented by a WA9000 Project management.
The picture below shows a flow chart for the technical WAs.
- In WA1000, we will identify and select the potential CB sectors.
- In WA2000, the sectors selected in WA1000 will be further detailed, and a database of CB projects will be created.
- In WA3000, using two projects described in WA2000 and the consortium experience, a reference model will be defined for CB projects.
- In WPA000, four projects described in WA2000 will be pre-selected. Using two of these pre-selected projects, the reference model defined in WA3000 will be applied and assessed.
- In WA5000, the reference model defined in WA3000 will be updated with regard to the lessons learned when applying it in WA4000. Recommendations towards an action plan for CB will be drawn upon activities carried out in WA1000, WA2000, WA3000, and WA4000.
T0 (start of the project is 5th March 2008). The planning below is in months:
- Identification and Selection of Potential CB Sectors: i.e. User Needs, Applications and Utilisation Scenarios
Timeline: T0 till T0+2 - Characterisation of the Selected Sectors
Timeline: T0+2 till T0+5 - Definition of Reference Model for Capacity Building Projects
Timeline: T0+5 till T0+9 - Application and Assessment of the Reference Model (for 2 projects in parallel.
Timeline: T0+9 till T0+21 - Review and Finalisation of the Reference Model, and Recommendations for Future Actions on Capacity Building
Timeline: T0+20 till TO+22
The deliverables of the main contracts have been finalised and are available in the links on the right side of this page. The deliverables include the Reference Model, in the form of an interactive PDF document which is aimed to assist in the conception, design and implementation of capacity building projects.
The Reference Model includes:
- A set of checklists to successfully deploy ICT solutions in developing countries. These checklists span four sectors in particular (healthcare, education, civil society, governance) and include elements such as risk analysis, sustainability issues, ownership and project management.
- Numerous pointers that provide additional information about specific topics (e.g. round table process). Templates are also presented to facilitate the application of the concepts proposed by the reference model.
The activities for the development of the Business Model (covered by the Contract Change Notice #1) aimed at investigating the provision of CBICT sustainable services are currently ongoing. The WPs dealing with the Characterisation of the Problem and the Inventory of Service Offerings and Need by NGO’s are under finalisation. A first draft of the WP report covering the Definition of Alternative Models for Addressing the Problem is being produced by the team.
