Pathways Towards Sustainable Development 

UniSchool, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Inbekon, has entered the final phase of its SDI project that has started in October 2001, and received financial funding from the ISETT SETA in July 2002.

Contracts have been negotiated with the communities of Leandra, Elukwatini and Mayflower in Mpumalanga Province, whereby ICT Training/Development Centres are established in these communities by UniSchool. At each centre two facilitators, trained by UniSchool, will assist the Communities to establish these Centres as self-reliant Community Centres. Initially, computer literacy courses offered to members of the communities will be the main activity of the Centres, that will gradually expand their activities to become economic development hubs of the Communities.

UniSchool is equiping each Centre with 10 computers and in some cases, with the necessary furniture. The supply of the infrastructure got under way on 25 February with the delivery of computers to the three Centres. The first compter literacy course will start at each of the Centres on 8 March 2003.

Access to Information and Communication technology is often seen as a way to get disadvantaged communities on to the information highway that promises to lead to the global village and, necessarily, to the development of the people and communities involved. Sadly, many such efforts have left individuals and communities stranded at a no entry sign.

However, the community of Siyabuswa - situated about 150 km north-east of Pretoria in the province of Mpumalanga - has discovered that the information highway can be reached via pathways created by their own efforts. SEIDET, the Siyabuswa Educational Improvement Development Trust, initiated by the Siyabuswa Community in 1991 is a good example of this community's initiative. Their main objective was to provide voluntary supplementary tuition in Mathematics, Science, Commerce and English to high school students.

Since 1995 the Department of Informatics of the University of Pretoria and personnel of INBEKON have been involved in several research projects at SEIDET in which various aspects of the introduction of ICT into a rural community have been studied. SEIDET had no local computer facilities, but early in 1998 the Department of Informatics and INBEKON established a computer laboratory with 27 computers, donated by the then Persetel (now Comparex). All students are now required to complete a computer literacy course, and regular and increased use is made of the laboratory for other teaching requirements. The recent upgrade of the facility to provide Internet connectivity has also done much to open the wider world of learning to the students of SEIDET.

The real success of ICT as a development catalyst at SEIDET is visible in the effect the presence of the computer laboratory has had on the local community. Following a request from the Board of SEIDET, computer literacy courses for the community started in October 1998. Initially the courses were offered via satellite from the campus of the University of Pretoria and since 1999 the same courses have been available in the community. Local people trained by UniSchool, a wholly owned subsidiary of INBEKON act as tutors in their own community. Signs of entrepreneurship soon emerged when graduates of the courses started providing ancillary services, such as computer repair and upgrade services, to the community.

As a result of the success of the training centre the second phase of development will be in converting the centre to a self-sufficient business, offering training to and creating employment opportunities for the local community. The business plan to transform the centre was developed by the teachers themselves and provides for the establishment of a closed corporation to run the business. Apart from the training role it was initially established for, the new business now enables graduates of the programme to provide most of the basic IT services to the community.

For more information:
Sustainable Development Initiative 
Prof. Dewald Roode - INBEKON 
Tel: 012 349 1206 
Email: jdr@inbekon.com