1. Networked Readiness -- Planning
for ICTs in the Developing World
Building Human Capital in Uganda:
Cisco Networking Academy Program
Presentation to
Reebok Human Rights Foundation
September 20, 2004
By
Tariq Mohammed
Returned United Nations Volunteer
2. • The mission
• Program sponsors and beneficiaries
• Challenges / problems
• How we achieved our goals
• Lessons learned
Agenda
6. Least Developed Countries Initiative –
Background
• G-8 Summit in July 2000
• Called for new private and public sector efforts
• Bridge the global digital divide
• Cisco Systems invested $3.5 million
•Established Cisco Networking Academy Program in LDCs
7. • Provide students in LDCs educational opportunities
• Develop human resource capacity
• Create a community of learning
• Enable businesses and governments to compete
• Demonstrate the power of IT for Development
Least Developed CountriesInitiative –
Goals
8. • Trains students to design, build and maintain computer
networks.
• Delivers: web-based educational content
online testing
student performance tracking
hands-on lab
instructor training and support
• Industry certifications: Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)
Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP)
Cisco Networking Academy Program
9. Least Developed Countries Partners
Educational
Institutions
Governments Students
International Development
Organizations
Business
11. Implementation:
Established New Academies
• Researched and identified 10 Academies
• Organized stakeholder workshop
• Developed implementation plans
• Calculated program fees
13. Operations and Monitoring:
Academy Management and Maintenance
• Site visits to Regional and Local Academies
• Quality Assurance standards
• Facilitate communication between Academies
15. Work-Site Tours…to let students see how and where the pros work.
Information Sessions…to promote company, attract top talent.
On-Campus Interviews...to recruit directly from the campus.
Resume Writing and Referral…to share resumes of promising students.
Posting Internship Listings…to assist partners with short term projects.
Networking with Alumni/ae…to develop links with other IT professionals
Workforce Development
Program
18. Training and Development:
Quality Control
• Conducted training needs assessment
• Designed short business/management course
• Delivered course to instructors and support staff
• Obtained feedback from participants
19. Basic Business and Management
Training Program
• Career Management Plan
• Adding Value as a Team Player
• Strategic Planning
• Verbal and Written Communication Strategies
• Following up On Unfinished Business
• Inspiration, Motivation and Meaning at Work
• Writing Grant Proposals
• Time Management Techniques to Ensure Productivity
• Capturing and Sharing Knowledge
• Embracing Life-Long Learning
21. Information Management:
Data Collection and Maintenance
• Tracked student enrollment
• Maintained graduate database
• Exchanged information on best practices
• Provided weekly/quarterly reports to LDC Initiative Team
23. • Highest Country Female Enrollment
• Highest Country Enrollment
• Most Graduates, Regional Academy (Uganda Institute of
Information
and Communications Technology)
• Highest Enrollment, Local Academy within the LDC Initiative
(Institute of Computer Science at Makerere University)
• Job Placement Award (Institute of Computer Science at Makerere
University)
5 Awards at Africa Academy Forum
24. Lessons Learnt
• Patience – don’t expect immediate results
• Persistence – if you don’t succeed try again
• Develop consensus – keep partners involved
• Tact/Follow Through – give reminders for results
• Sensitivity – local expertise vs. global “cut and paste”
I would like to share with you my experiences as a United Nations Volunteer working to build human capital in Uganda through the Cisco Networking Academy Program.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to make this presentation today.
My presentation will cover
The Mission
The Players
Challenges / problems
How we achieved our goals
Lessons Learned
Uganda is located in East Africa. It is a landlocked country that borders Kenya (in the East), Tanzania and Rwanda (in the South), the Democratic Republic of Congo (in the West) and Sudan (in the North).
During my 13 month assignment, I was based in Kampala, the nation’s capital.
Uganda has a population of 26.4 million.
It is slightly smaller than the state of Oregon.
The country has a GDP per capita on PPP basis of approximately USD 1400.
As compared to the USA : USD 35, 750
Compared to Vietnam: USD 2,300
Compared to Bangladesh: USD 1,900
Uganda is largely an agricultural based economy however tourism is a growing sector.
Uganda is one of three countries in the world where the world’s 700 remaining mountain gorillas can be seen.
While on a gorilla tracking expedition, I shot this photo at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest where the movie “Gorilla’s in the Mist” was filmed.
When not on a safari, I spent majority of my time on the Least Developed Countries Initiative.
Here is some background.
During the G-8 Summit in July 2000, world leaders called for new private and public sectors efforts to bridge the global digital divide.
Cisco Systems, the world’s leading computer networking manufacturer, responded by investing US$ 3.5 milllion to establish its global Cisco Networking Academy Program in LDCs.
The goals of the LDC Initiative are:
To provide students in LDCs the same educational opportunities as those in other 100 countries where the Cisco Networking Academy Program operates.
To develop human resource capacity
To create a community of learning (between North and South; South to South)
To enable businesses and governments to compete in the global economy
Lastly to demonstrate the power of IT applications for social and economic development.
This was achieved through the Cisco Networking Academy Program, a course that teaches students and professionals to design, build and maintain computer networks.
The Program delivers:
Web-based educational content
Online Testing
Student Performance Tracking,
Hands-On labs
Instructor Training and Support
The course prepares students for industry certifications, namely, CCNA and CCNP
The LDC Initiative comprises of several players.
Cisco Systems developed the LDC Initiative; partnered with 4 international development organizations which was channeled through governments and educational institutions to students.
I was recruited by Cisco Systems, employed by UN Volunteers, reported to the UNDP Kampala office while based at Makerere University.
Given this complex supply chain things didn’t always run smoothly.
When I arrived in Kampala, the UNDP office had not been briefed by the previous UN Volunteer as to the reasons for my deployment. Thus I had to give a similar presentation to the UNDP office, UCC and Makerere University to get “buy-in.”
Communicating upstream and downstream was an essential part of my job.
I defined my project tasks into 4 categories:
Implementation
Operations and Monitoring
Training and Development
Information Management
I will explain in more detail the problems I encountered in each of these areas and how I resolved them.
On the implementation front, I established new Networking Academies.
To identify locations for the new Academies, I consulted with local stakeholders and conducted due diligence to create a target list of universities and technical colleges.
The Academies on our target list were spread across the country, mostly in remote areas each with their own priorties and agendas. In order to get “buy-in” and alignment we organized a stakeholder workshop in Kampala where we explained the requirements and benefits of the program.
This enabled us to develop implementation plans and calculate fees to ensure that the program was run on a cost-recovery basis.
One such Academy, I helped to implement was the first CNNP Academy in Sub-Saharan Africa.
This photo shows a CCNP student giving a demontration to the Minister of Communications, Vice Chancellor of Makerere University and Vice President for Technology Policy at Cisco Systems. This was the first time this had ever happened.
On the operations and monitoring front, I was responsible for supporting the day to day management and maintenance of 10+ Academies.
I did this by visiting local and regional Academies to create quality assurance plans as well as facilitate communication between Academies.
This is the Academy based at the Department of Women and Gender Studies at Makerere University. It is one of the only gender-focused Academies in the entire LDC initiative.
After initial discussions with staff and students, it became apparent to me that there was a disconnect between graduates and employers. There was a lack of career guidance and job placement.
Hence, I designed the Workforce Development Program to assist students and graduates to gain practical experience in Uganda’s growing ICT sector.
After identifying partners from the private sector, government and civil society we signed MOUs to implement numerous activities:
Work-site tours: to let students see how and where IT professionals work
Information sessions: to promote the company as well as attract top talent
Resume Writing and referral: to share resumes of promising students.
Posting internship listings: to assist partners with short-term projects.
Networking with Alumni/ae: to develop links with other IT professionals.
In the United States, we take such services for granted, but in a country like Uganda this was a novelty.
Here is Basil Tyaba, CEO of Information Technology Trends Ltd, a local boutique IT consulting firm – giving an information session for 50 students at Makerere University.
This had never been done before.
Likewise, here is Stephen Ciirah, Technical Manager of Africa Online, one of the largest Internet Service Providers on the African continent giving a group of students a tour of the company’s Network Operations Center.
Interestingly the young woman in the photo was hired as an intern.
Again, never been done before.
On the training and development front, I worked with Academies to improve their management skills and planning techniques.
First, I consulted the Academy staff to identify training gaps by using a survey.
After gathering the survey responses, I designed a series of modules to improve operational and planning capacity at the Academies.
I delivered the course over a 10 week period to 15 instructors and support staff from 3 Academies.
At the end of the course, I received positive feedback from participants who cited improved morale as one of the benefits from the training.
This is a more detailed look at the curriculum I designed. The modules ranged from how to add value as a team player to writing grant proposals.
When participants were asked “What was the most useful module for you?,” they responded by saying:
(a) Career Management Plan (b) Inspiration, Motivation and Meaning at Work
( c ) Writing Grant Proposal and (d) Time Management
For every module, participants were given worksheets. The sessions were 1 hour long and followed a case study method.
Here are some samples of the modules.
On the information management front, I was responsible for collecting and maintaining various types of data.
To track student enrollment I gathered information on class start dates, class size and gender.
To maintain information for the Workforce Development Program we collected the students’ contact information, job title, salary and checked to make sure they were registered alumni.
To exchange information on best practices, I facilitated face-to-face meetings between Academies as well as led them to use AOL chat. This enabled them to use Cisco’s 24/7 online technical help desk.
Lastly, I provided weekly/quarterly reports to the LDC Initiative Team. One such report was in preparation for a meeting with President Museveni of Uganda on his visit to Washington, DC in November 2003.
By keeping a close pulse on the program, we had 2 success stories during my tenure.
Ms. Lorna Ongejje (on the right) , a CCNA graduate was an unpaid intern at a local NGO during her CCNA course. After graduation she got a paid job as a Network Administrator at one of Uganda’s leading media companies. She was selected by Cisco to attend the Cisco Academy Africa Forum in Senegal.
Ms. Anita Mago-Sempa (on the left), a CCNA graduate was a Masters student at the Department of Women and Gender Studies. She used her CCNA skills to improve her business by networking customers’ systems. She was selected by Cisco to attend ITU’s Telecom World Conference in Geneva.
At the Cisco Africa Academy Forum, Uganda received 5 awards - the highest number of any LDC.
I am most proud of the Job Placement Award received by Makerere University.
Last but not least, there were several lessons learned during my UNV assignment.
Patience – When working in a developing country environment, with multiple partners who possess different mindsets – one should not expect immediate results. Instead one needs to set realistic targets and manage expectations.
Persistence – There were several instances of unanswered phone calls, emails that were not delivered or delays in equipment. One could not take anything for granted so you had to do double check everything.
Consensus – It was critical to align stakeholders by keeping them informed and involved in the decision making process. Open lines of communication were absolutely necessary.
Tact/Follow Through – Competitive forces were at play between Academies. One had to maintain neutrality, but not at the cost of missing deadlines/objectives.
Sensitivity – One had to be sensitive to the local expertise and be cautious of applying a “cut and paste” management style. Just because it works in Kyoto doesn’t mean it will work in Kampala.
Early on in my assignment I integrated myself by living, working and playing with Ugandans.
This is me dressed in a “Kwanzu” – the traditional attire worn by Ugandan men. With me are Fred Kakooza and Robert Buga colleagues from Makerere University. We were on our way to a wedding.
By the end of my stay assignment, I was just as comfortable wearing a Kwanzu as I was wearing a pair of Reebok shoes.
Once again, thank you for this opportunity.
For more information about my UNV experience, feel free to visit my weblog hosted at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at the Harvard Law School.
