Name ICT and Vocational Training in Kenema
Project Name: ICT and Vocational Training in Kenema
LOCATION: 104 Hangha Road, Eastern Region, Kenema District
START DATE: FEBRUARY 2024
END DATE: FEBRUARY 2024
Project Lead: Michael Jobie Musa
Contact Name: Ibrahim Patto Conteh
Phone: +23280394664
Email: mnsl@maximnyansa.com
INTRODUCTION
Maxim Nyansa IT Solutions is a charity established by Ghanaian law in 2016 and registered in Sierra Leone in 2021 with the mission to create career opportunities for young Africans with information technology. It has three business lines:
- Learning transformation programs for African schools: An integrated approach to improve the quality of education and introduce 21st-century skills to prepare children for the future job market.
- Vocational training centers: practical 1-year programs for senior high school graduates to become certified hardware and electronics maintenance and repair professionals and eventually start a quality workshop as an entrepreneur.
- Professional boot camps for young IT graduates: young BSC engineers in Computer Science receive 4-6 months of intensive training to specialize in software development, network security, or data science and prepare for the international job market.
These programs are evidence-based and are being monitored and evaluated in collaboration with the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands and various education colleges.
Background Summary
We are currently in a technological era and a few years from now Information Technology will be a significant driving force for human society in their journey towards development and progress.
In today’s world, Information Technology is a key component in the success of any other country. Unfortunately, the high cost of acquiring computer-related skills in certain regions around the world prevents the poor, orphans, and unprivileged youth from availing these skills which are in demand.
Unemployment is a primary challenge that is affecting many youths in Sierra Leone, Kenema district to be specific. It is estimated that 80% of the unemployed Kenema district are below the age of 35 years.
Therefore, the main objective of the project is to get a computer lab and computer in the district for training in other to make the teaching and learning environment conducive for both the unprivileged and privileged.
Digital Minds Institute Sierra Leone, Hangha Road, Eastern Region, Kenema District was established in June 2023 by Mr. Micheal Njjoku and Mr. Wallace Amara. Digital Minds Institute Sierra Leone is collaborating with Maxim Nyansa Sierra Leone to execute its Learning Transformation Programme in the Kenema district, as part of its efforts to improve education in Sierra Leone and to provide ICT skills to the youth of Kenema district. This partnership will be in two phases as stated below;
- Support with ICT equipment.
- Conduct training of at least 50 youths in the Kenema district for two weeks.
Currently, the Digital Minds Institute has over 200 hundred youths on board who are actively subscribing to our ideas of unity and empowering each other. Therefore we believe that through the Digital Minds Institute and Maxim Nyansa Sierra Leone, we will be able to conduct Vocational Training courses in IT to help the youth in the Kenema district by empowering them with 21st-century IT skills.
What do we want to achieve at Digital Minds Institute Sierra Leone?
The objectives of the project;
- Aim to improve the youth of the district by equipping them with 21st-century ICT skills.
- Empowering and strengthening their learning capacity with the right 21st-century computer skills.
- Addressing modern education gaps in low-resource contexts.
- Provide adequate Computer skills to encourage youth to be self-employed, self-reliant, and useful partners in society and the community they find themselves.
- Support them with affordable hardware and maintain it themselves with a remote support system.
We aim to implement the successful Maxim Nyansa Learning Transformation Programme at The Digital Minds Institute Sierra Leone, Eastern Region, Kenema District in Sierra Leone, and where necessary adapt it to suit the local circumstances and have a better result.
We want all school children, teachers, and staff to benefit from this project.
What are we doing to get there?
The building in Kenema will be prepared by the local leadership. After that, Maxim Nyansa will equip the Community ICT Center with equipment to have a fully functional ICT classroom including a local server version of our digital library with open-source learning materials for young Africans.
We will train all the teachers and core staff in ICT skills during a two-week intensive training program. After the training, they will be able to
- Teach and train at least 50 youths in digital skills and hardware repairs. Ideally, they will also train a lot of additional youth in Junior High Schools in the town (how do they see that Michael?)
- Be able to use smart boards and interactive teaching materials (Smartboard is not part of this package for now).
- Enable youths to use ICT skills for their day-to-day activities.
We have done this before with our partners from India (www.computershiksha.org) who came to Ghana to train our staff, freelancers, and about 30 school teachers in 2018. After that, we were able to take over a lot of their approach and materials which we intend to spread over to others. In Sierra Leone alone we have been executing numerous similar projects successfully as you can see on our website: Sierra Leone – Maxim Nyansa Foundation
| COMPONENT | RESOURCES | UNIT/QNTY | BUDGET( € ) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
40 Desktop computers |
System unit, monitor, keyboard, mouse with other accessories |
40 |
|
|
First visit to Kenema |
Transportation, feeding, and communication costs for staff |
3 |
70 |
|
Second visit to Kenema |
Transportation, feeding, and communication costs for staff |
3 |
70 |
|
Digital materials |
Professional printers, smartboards, and others |
|
204 |
|
Training cost |
Training fee for 50 youth in Kenema in two weeks |
2 |
300 |
|
Transportation |
Transportation of equipment from Freetown to Kenema |
|
204 |
|
Transportation |
Transportation of three Maxim Nyansa staff from Freetown to Kenema (roundtrip) |
3 |
400 |
|
Food and Communication |
Food and Communication For three MNSL Staffs for two weeks |
3 |
200 |
|
Refreshment |
Feeding of trainees and staff during training |
2 weeks |
250 |
|
Management cost |
|
|
400 |
|
Supervision cost |
Supervision fee by MNSL staff |
|
200 |
|
Total with digital set-up |
2298 |
||
| COMPONENT | RESOURCES | UNIT/QNTY | BUDGET( € ) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
40 Desktop computers |
System unit, monitor, keyboard, mouse with other accessories |
40 |
|
|
First visit to Kenema |
Transportation, feeding, and communication costs for staff |
3 |
70 |
|
Second visit to Kenema |
Transportation, feeding, and communication costs for staff |
3 |
70 |
|
Digital materials |
Professional printers, smartboards, and others |
|
204 |
|
Training cost |
Training fee for 50 youth in Kenema in two weeks |
2 |
300 |
|
Transportation |
Transportation of equipment from Freetown to Kenema |
|
204 |
|
Transportation |
Transportation of three Maxim Nyansa staff from Freetown to Kenema (roundtrip) |
3 |
400 |
|
Food and Communication |
Food and Communication For three MNSL Staffs for two weeks |
3 |
200 |
|
Refreshment |
Feeding of trainees and staff during training |
2 weeks |
250 |
|
Management cost |
|
|
400 |
|
Supervision cost |
Supervision fee by MNSL staff |
|
200 |
|
Total with digital set-up |
2298 |
||
We have removed solar panels from the building maintenance cost list, we proposed an inventor to be shipped from the Netherlands as it is very expensive if decide to buy them here Items can also be shipped (from the Netherlands) if they are available i.e. Tables and chairs etc.
Monitoring and Evaluation
After the completion of this project, we will evaluate and see where we need to adapt our program and materials to the local situation. The project will also be monitored by our team and findings will be communicated to our headquarters in Accra, Ghana, and Climbing the Right Tree in the Netherlands for prompt intervention where necessary.
Note: the sum of €300 is to be set aside in case of price fluctuation in addition to the building maintenance cost