IT Centers

Subcategories

• Siabuwa

  Article Count:

  3

• Binga Library - PAP

  Article Count:

  1

• Sinazongwe
  Austria Zimbabwe Friendship Association, Kunzwana Trust, Horizont3000 and the Tonga.Online team are very proud to announce a major step forward in the extension of Tonga.online project: Ziliikuchitika, it's happening in Sinazongwe across the river - Mulonga. The establishment of Sinazongwe ITC at Sinazongwe Basic School, Zambia has been completed. Five years after the start of the project in Binga, the network has now definitely reached the Zambian side of the Valley. What an occasion to celebrate together with the #50 edition of Tonga.Online newsletter!
  
  Previously, Tonga.Online trainer Theo Sianyuka made a wide reach with project awareness campaigning in Sinazongwe and Mweemba communities of the valley, Mamba Secondary School and other schools, with the support of the Honorable Chief Sinazongwe and Mr and Mrs Miyanda. The computer technician attached to Binga High School by Horizont3000, Uwe Allgäuer, has joined hands with Gary Brooking from Arachnid Design in Bulawayo and traveled to Zambia, successfully installing 15 computers at Sinazongwe Basic School.
  
  Gary wrote: "The installation went well. Connectivity and communications are a big issue there. But apart from that there is a lot of support and enthusiasm for the Project. Theo has been very well received and she is a great ambassador for the project. The Ubuntu and Open Office I am sure will be a great success and a model for many other schools to come".
  

  The photos documenting the installation of the computers are already online. Thanks to Uwe and Tenashi for the pictures.
  

  The IT Centre is expected to be operational by 3rd March 2006. The official opening of Sinazongwe ITC with lots of Ngoma Buntibe and Budima dance and music at another Mulonga.Net Festival is scheduled for the beginning of September.
  
  "I feel there is a call from down under the lake waters for the BaTonga people of the valley on both sides to remain united, sharing the same development and catching up with the world" said Binga coordinator David Mungombe.
  

  Article Count:

  17

• Siansundu
  SYANZYUNDU SECONDARY SCHOOL
  P BAG 5714
  BINGA
  ZIMBABWE

  The school was established in 1985 as a central point to ten primary feeder schools, and is located at a growth point along the Bulawayo-Binga road. It is the second school together with Siachilaba primary to be offered and offering centre in Binga district.

  SERVICES OFFERED

  • Training
  • Typing
  • Printing
  • Internet and e-mail
  • Games

  The Siansundu ITC Staff comprises the following:
  ELIA ELIYA MUTALE: Diploma in education
  FRANCIS MUNGA : Diploma in education
  TUSWANANE NOTYGYRAH SIANYUKA: Student on Attachment / IT
  LACKSON SIAGUNYU CHUMA: Diploma in education

  Mission

  To facilitate a just allocation of, and access to development resources and development practices, access to training and education, strengthening of the Tonga on line programme through grass roots institutional development.

  Article Count:

  1

• Siachilaba
  Siachilaba Primary School, Private Bag 5712, Binga, Zimbabwe

  Headmaster: Emmanuel Sinampande

  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  Teachers i/c ITC: Mildred Cheteni & Norman Mudimba

  The Siachilaba community has enjoyed a close working relationship and rich cultural exchange with the Austria-Zimbabwe Friendship Association (Austria) and Kunzwana Trust (Harare) for over 10 years, which included 'The Nyaminyami Festival - A celebration of Valley Tonga Culture' in 1997.The Tonga.Online project is one of the outcomes of this valuable exchange. The Siachilaba ITC was established in May 2004, after electricity was made available by the ZESA Rural Electrification Agency. Five computers are networked and access is offered to all people of the community, regardless of race, age, gender, tribal background or religious or political affiliation.
  Siachilaba Primary School welcomed electricity for the first time on Tuesday 04 May 2004, after 47 years. The BaTonga people of Binga are descended from those who were forcibly removed from their traditional homes and fertile riverside fields in the 1950s, to make way for the filling of Kariba Dam.

  Article Count:

  3

• ITC General + Stakeholder Updates

  Information Technology Centers ITCs or so called Telecenters

  In 2000, World Links introduced its Telecenter model to encourage school lab sustainability while promoting community development. World Links openned telecenters in Uganda, Zimbabwe, Mali, India, and Brazil. Though different in every country, the typical World Links model is an important source of local-level program sustainability to underwrite recurrent costs associated with the technology and to improve community-school relations. Equally important, this model extends the benefits of technology, the internet and life-long learning to the entire community for a wide range of development applications.

  World Links telecenters are either school-based computer labs or community centers that are converted into telecenters for the purpose of introducing ICT skills and IT-enabled resources to underserved communities, with the intent of enabling adults and youth to participate successfully in the global knowledge-based economy. To that end, World Links empowers both the school and general communities to convert school-based computer labs or community centers to self-sustaining community-accessible technology learning centers. Increasingly, World Links has been introducing its telecenter model to non-school structures, including government offices, community centers, and NGO offices.

  While every World Links Telecenter is different, all World Links Telecenters focus on capacity building for several population segments, within and outside the school. At the school level, World Links builds capacity in principals, teachers, and students to manage the day-to-day operations of the school-based telecenter; this facilitates the building of entrepreneurial skills. Outside the school, the telecenters focus on introducing ICTs and IT enabled resources to underserved populations. To that end, World Links telecenters have provided communities with access to information on health, environment, and agricultural issues, while creating a safe, secure, and inviting environment for under-reached populations such as out of school youth, women, and senior citizens to acquire IT skills.

  A World Links Telecenter is a combination of a computer lab and a private Internet cafe. Whereas a computer lab’s purpose is pedagogy, and an Internet cafe's purpose is profit for sustainability, a World Links Telecenter seeks to fulfill both pedagogy and sustainability. At no point, however, will the quest for profits ever overpower the desire to diffuse technological knowledge. The profit-seeking nature of a World Links Telecenter exists solely to further its educational mission.

  Sustainability of World Links’ telecenter programs is achieved in several ways. While some World Links telecenters achieve sustainability through guaranteed government support for all recurrent expenses, other centers develop solid revenue generation models to support ongoing costs. In all instances, World Links works closely with key stakeholders to ensure that expenses are being met in the long term.

  The Tonga.Online Project has been collaborating with World Links since early 2001 in the establishment of ITCs at Binga Highschool, Siansundu Secondary and Siachilaba Primary School in Binga area in Matabeleland North. After the donation of computers by President Mugabe to some other schools in the district there is potential to expand the network of ITCs further and to reach out to even remote communities. In 2006 the first ITC across the lake on the Zambian side of the Zambezi Valley at Sinazongwe Basic School was established.

  

  Article Count:

  45

• Recording Studio

  Article Count:

  6

• Binga Secondary
  Binga High School, Private Bag 5722, Binga, Zimbabwe
  Tel: (015-358)
  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  
  Headmaster: Similo Ncube
  Teachers i/c ITC: Blessmore Zele Siasweka and Stanford Muchineripi

  
  

  Objectives/Mission Statement

  To offer enhanced education and improved quality of life for the Binga community through access to information and communications via computers and the Internet.

  Services Offered

  • Computer use
  • Access to Internet
  • Training courses
  • Printing
  • Typing and design service
  • music recording
  • scanning

  Background Information

  The Binga community has enjoyed a close working relationship with the Austria-Zimbabwe Friendship Association (Austria) and Kunzwana Trust (Harare)since 1999.The Tonga.Online project is one of the outcomes of cultural exchange activities over the last ten years. The Binga ITC was established in February 2001, officially opened by the Minister of Information Professor Jonathan Moyo. and enjoys the support and custom of a wide cross section of the Binga community, from teachers and students to fishermen and doctors. Binga ITC are proud to have given Introduction to Computers training to over 400 individuals to date.
  Fifteen computers are networked together with a scanner and printer, and access is offered to all people of the community, regardless of race, age, gender, tribal background or religious or political affiliation.
  
  The Binga Studio at the Binga ITC was established with a donation of hardware and software from AZFA and the Austrian jazz group Windhund, who visited in 2002 and generated a lot of attention for the project and rich cultural exchange for all musicians involved, in Victoria Falls, Binga, Siachilaba, Bulawayo and Harare. The aim of the studio is to offer the opportunity for recording and documentation of traditional music styles which are in danger of disappearing, and encouraging young Tonga musicians the opportunity to develop in line with their urban counterparts.
  
  

  Donors, Partners & Stakeholders

  The Austria-Zimbabwe Friendship Association source and procure hardware and software for the project. They also provided funding for the refurbishment of the classroom, electrical fittings, security, installation of computers, networking and training. Kunzwana Trust are the local coordinator on behalf of AZFA.
  
  Partners of the Binga ITC through the Tonga.Online project, are
  
  * World Links for Development - technical support and teachers
  * Horizont3000 - technical support
  * Arachnid Holdings - installations and networking
  
  
  Major stakeholders include local authorities, teachers, students, community craftspeople, musicians, traders and fishermen.

  Article Count:

  17