Namibia Case Study Team Meeting November 23, 2006

2 Agenda History of GeSCI engagement in Namibia Current status Achievements of ICT Steering Committee Working Groups Next steps Major obstacles encountered Summary of sustainable achievements Outstanding risks Primary lessons learned

3 History of GeSCI Engagement in Namibia September 2003: McKinsey workshop in Namibia as part of initial UNICT Task Force study November 2003: Namibia active participation in WSIS I in Geneva March 2004: GeSCI workshop with Steering Committee on Policy Development April 2004: Creation of ICTs in Education Steering Committee April 2005: Country Programme Facilitator appointed and placed in Windhoek June 2005: ICT in Education Policy launched by Prime Minister July 2005: First workshop held on Implementation Plan development December 2005: Draft Implementation Schedule approved by Steering Committee April 2006: Government of Namibia allocates US$3million for Implementation Plan June 2006: Draft Implementation Plan Guide approved by Steering Committee September 2006: Implementation Plan launched by Prime Minister of Namibia

4 Current Status Functional ICT Steering Committee with nearly 50 partners including: relevant directorates within the Ministry of Education, other pertinent line Ministries, development and donor organizations, civil society and private sector partners – Working groups created for each component of end to end solution with chairperson and 2-3 deputies – Working groups have led the completion of sizeable work preparing for the commencement of implementation All key stakeholders engaged, empowered and supportive of the Initiative Decision makes within the Ministry of Education engaged and supportive of the Initiative Ministry of Education has approved the creation of an ICT Division within an IT Directorate Ministry of Education has allocated approximately US$3 million for Implementation plan – Accounts for 20% of the Education and Training Sector Improvement Sector (ETSIP) budget

5 Components of Implementation Plan

6 Achievements of Steering Committee Working Groups Infrastructure Readiness and Platform Deployment Working Group ICT Mapping Survey of all schools – Establishes what ICTs exist at all schools in Namibia and which schools have the necessary infrastructure and are ready to receive ICTs – Over 80% response rate currently Development of a deployment criteria to prioritize the deployment of ICTs in all schools Creation of a comprehensive ICT Technical Standards for all deployments –Established agreed upon minimum standard for all ICTs deployed in educational institutions Development of a mechanism to provide internet connectivity for all educational institutions – Creation of an ISP exclusively for education (EduNet) has been approved by all stakeholders and recruiting for Executive Director has begun – Agreement by all key stakeholders on framework of the proposal – In final negotiations with Telecom Namibia on pricing Created an agreed upon tender process and deployment schedule with all stakeholders

7 Curriculum Working Group Development of the Namibian ICT Literacy Certification (NILC) for use by all segments of Namibian society – includes Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced qualification Locally created the unit standards, curriculum and training materials for the Foundation Level of the Namibian ICT Literacy Certification (NILC) introducing basic computer literacy Agreement with International Computer Drivers License (ICDL) to provide the Intermediate and Advanced levels of the NILC – Ministry of Education provided with a sub-license to offer ICDL in all schools – First such agreement with ICDL on the African continent Locally created the unit standards, curriculum and training manuals for five modules aimed at providing teachers with skills in integrating ICTs in the curriculum Search underway for relevant curriculum on First Level Technical Support that can be adapted for local use Achievements of Steering Committee Working Groups

8 Content Working Group Creation of a Namibian e-Learning Center based on an MoU with InWEnt (German development organization) e-Learning Center has completed the training of approximately 60 individuals in the major components of content development Namibian e-Learning Center has become the recognized partner of InWEnt throughout Africa – currently training 25 individuals from Tanzania, South Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya and Zambia on a nine month course Using the content evaluation tool developed by GeSCI, e-Learning Centre and NIED conducted an evaluation of all relevant content for Math, Science and English in grades 8-12 – Learn Things and Cambridge University Press selected Content developers trained by e-Learning Centre prepared to begin developing local content to replace Learn Things and Cambridge University Press beginning in January 2007 Achievements of Steering Committee Working Groups

9 Training and Usage Support Working Group Developed an agreed upon training schedule for all educational institutions Secured N$1 million from the Embassy of Finland to provide International Computer Drivers License (ICDL) training to lecturers at Colleges of Education and staff at regional Teacher Resource Centres Training of trainers on ICDL began in May 2006 Training of lectures at Colleges of Education and staff at Teacher Resource Centres began in September 2006 Training of teachers to be conducted on site by a school based trainer, simultaneously with ICT deployment – All teachers trained in Foundation Level of ICT Literacy and ICT Integration – At least two teachers to be trained up to Intermediate Level of ICT Literacy – At least two teachers and one staff member to be trained in First Level Technical Support Achievements of Steering Committee Working Groups

10 Maintenance and Technical Support Working Group Stakeholder agreement on the develop of a National Education Technology Service and Support Centre (NETSS) – NETSS Centre will be the central distribution centre through which all ICTs destined for educational institutions will be cleared – NETSS Centre will ensure adherence to agreed upon minimum standards on all ICTs deployed – NETSS Centre will also have a help desk with toll free number available to provide technical support for all schools NETSS business plan and operational process/metrics approved by all stakeholders Governance Trust of NETSS Centre established and actively pushing operating plan Physical location of NETSS Centre provided by Ministry of Education refurbished and ready for operation Director and 4 staff members hired and in place Achievements of Steering Committee Working Groups

11 Monitoring and Evaluation Detailed annual targets developed and agreed to by ICT and Education Steering Committee in December 2005 IICD (International Institute for Communications and Development) to conducted a two day workshop in October 2006 Existing targets and metrics expanded into a comprehensive M&E plan – to be approved by the ICT Steering Committee at year end meeting on November 30, 2006 Achievements of Steering Committee Working Groups

12 Next Steps November – December 2007: Complete preparation for Implementation commencement January 2007: Progress on staffing of ICT Division within the Ministry of Education January 2007: Commence Implementation with the deployment of ICTs January – Feb. 2007: Independent assessment of GeSCI work in Namibia End Feb. 2007: GeSCI concludes in-country support of TECH/NA! March 2007: GeSCI commences remote support of TECH/NA!

13 Major Obstacles Encountered Lack of sufficient human resources or capacity within the Ministry of Education to plan, implement and oversee a national plan One strong partner that overshadowed and dominated all other partners Conflict between open source and proprietary (Microsoft) supporters Namibia is considered a middle income country and thus sources of donor funding are more limited

14 Summary of Sustainable Outcomes A comprehensive Policy and Implementation Plan are in place Partners are fully engaged, committed and feel ownership of the Implementation Plan – Implementation Plan was developed by the partners themselves with Ministry leadership – Partners outside MoE chair or are deputies of the Steering Committee Working Groups – Many partners have already begun to contribute resources to the Initiative – All major partners have signed a symbolic Partnership Declaration Ministry of Education at all significant levels fully committed – Steering Committee is Chaired by the Undersecretary of Formal Education – Ministry has allocated 20% of the ETSIP budget to this Initiative New organizations such as an e-Learning Centre, a National Education Service and Support (NETSS) Centre and an educational ISP (EduNet) have been created to address identified gaps Detailed documentation of the planning process and solutions developed

15 Outstanding Risks Project Manager appointed for ICT Initiative within the Ministry of Education recently resigned and new Project Manager is yet to be identified – Current point person on ICT initiative is also the head of the IT unit and is completely overwhelmed Issues between open source supporters and Microsoft supporters have the potential to flare up again Insufficient funding currently allocated to implement the Plan on schedule Newly created organizations to fill the identified gaps (e-Learning Centre, NETSS Centre and EduNet) will undergo some growing pains and require significant support from all partners

16 Primary Lessons Learned Process Issues Trust and neutrality must be reinforced through constant communication of objectivity, lack of hidden agenda and lack of presubscribed solutions We are change agents – must remember we are engaging with individuals to effect change and progress – need to be sensitive to their personal issues, ego’s and agendas. Can’t be influenced by them but must take them into consideration Success breeds success – engagement of partners and contributions were slow in the initial stages but with some clearly defined “wins” unsolicited contributions are now coming forward Objective can not be to solve all the problems but to assist in creating the framework and the tools to address the problems Engaging all stakeholders in the planning process takes time but is effective in developing an Implementation Plan that has wide ownership

17 Primary Lessons Learned Operational Issues Easy to rely on specialists to do lots of heavy lifting – must use them effectively to build capacity rather than do the work for our partners Must set realistic goals and expectations for our partners – otherwise they will agree in principle but will never do the work Engagement strategy must be different from stakeholder to stakeholder (sometimes a carrot and sometimes the stick) Must constantly reinforce that this is their plan and we are just advising and facilitating Must engage with the Ministry of Education very early in the process to create a unit/team devoted specifically to the ICT in Education initiative