Battery Operated Systems for
Community Outreach

Northern Uganda
 War and Displacement
in the last 20 years
 Ongoing Peace Talks
with rebel LRA group
 Massive Internal
Displacement at
Height of War
 Nearly 2 million
displaced
 Extreme isolation of
people in IDP camps

BOSCO—A solution to isolation…
and so much more
 Increased access to
information and
communication will be a key
issue for economic and social
reconstruction. Currently it is
unusual for any rural school
to offer education related to
Information Technology (IT)
and computers. Basic service
providers (such as schools,
health centres, local
government, local NGOs,
CBOs, etc.) have very limited
access to information through
the Internet, especially in
rural areas.

BOSCO - History
 Initiated by group of University of Notre
Dame Alumni and Archbishop J.B. Odama
in 2004
 Licensed for operation by UCC in Dec.
2006
 Land Survey and meeting Communities
done early 2007
 Phase I Deployment and Installation with
Inveneo finished in April 2007

BOSCO Mission
 Provide Communication and Information
Technology to foster social and economical
Development and Peace Building in Rural
Communities of Northern Uganda using a
collaborative, web-based approach.

Technical Solution
 BOSCO is using technologies designed for
rural areas with no access to power grid
 Low-power, solar powered “thin client” PCs
linked over long-range WiFi to central server
and Internet
 Internal (Intranet) network content
management page
 Free VoIP telephony access from station to
station within network and to selected area
codes in U.S. and Europe

BOSCO Content Programming
 Collaborative ICCT (Information, Communication and
Collaboration Technology) Education
 “Training of Trainers” (ToT) program at current locations
 Training key leaders at our sites and working with them to encourage them to
train their local community members using collaborative Web 2.0 technologies
for self-advocacy in each community

BOSCO Content Programming

BOSCO Content Programming
 Development
 Fostering creative partnerships with local organizations in e-agriculture, human
rights monitoring, and economic development projects
 Individual users using the Internet and wikispace to post proposals for funding
community development projects
 Micro-donor program for educators at site locations

BOSCO Content Programming

BOSCO Content Programming
 Information Access
 Accessing basic local news resources in remote locations for the first time
 Using the web to seek out education opportunities and/or advancement of
current profession (e.g. information on agriculture or small business accounting
practices, human rights monitoring)

Phase I Deployment—April 2007
 Phase I deployment covered 9 sites,
including 6 rural IDP camps

Current Status
 Technology has been proven successful in rural environment
 Collaborative ToT user groups forming at each site (38 registered
volunteer trainers)
 Need for new 30 meter broadcasting tower
 Various programming and connectivity partnerships underway:
Human Rights Focus-Gulu, local and district government, NGO’s
around Gulu
 Grant proposals for funding: Unicef, USAID, WCRWC, Gates
Foundation
 Local Capacity Building
 BOSCO now established under umbrella of Archdiocese of Gulu
 Two new, local, full-time coordinators (project coordinator and technical
assistant) hired

BOSCO-Uganda and Inveneo
 Inveneo is a partner to BOSCO supplying
all equipment as well as remote technical
support after installation
 http://www.inveneo.org

BOSCO Needs
 Construction of 30 meter tower
 Should be built on BOSCO property to avoid future disputes over use
 Further implementation and evaluation of Web 2.0 training
programs at each site
 ICCT curriculum support and evaluation
 Evaluation and monitoring of ToT program
 Funding to expand the current network's infrastructure by
installing long-range Wi-Fi relay points in already-mapped
strategic locations across northern Uganda.
 Transportation funding is needed to help establish local user groups to
host communication stations

Current Partners
 BOSCO-USA
 Provides managerial oversight to BOSCO-Uganda
 Vetting of all technology and remote monitoring
 Fundraising and collaboration with US based partnerships
 Horizont3000
 Provides salary for one full-time development worker/advisor
 Providing 50 percent salary each for capacity building (local
technician and project coordinator)
 Human Rights Focus-Gulu
 Partnering with BOSCO-Uganda on a Women’s Commission
grant opportunity
 Partnering with BOSCO-Uganda on a USAID proposal to train
human rights field volunteers in collaborative ICT use for
peace building and human rights monitoring