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Time to Get Online: Simple Steps to Success on the Internet - West Africa

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In 2002, The Deutsche Gesselschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) (or German Agency for Technical Cooperation) commissioned the NGO Kabissa to launch a capacity-building project in West Africa. The programme involves developing learning materials to enable non-profit organisations to use the Internet more effectively in their work. "Time to Get Online: Simple Steps to Success on the Internet" will initially target organisations in West Africa that focus on human rights, freedom of information, responsive government, and democratisation. Capacity-building workshops support learning materials, to the end of addressing barriers to the use of technology by building awareness and bolstering skills.
Communication Strategies

Learning materials were developed from November, 2002 to January, 2003. The materials are designed to allow organisations to work at their own pace through the stages of Internet usage, from the basics of getting connected to the Internet to the use of the Internet actively as an advocacy tool.


The materials will then be piloted in workshops with Nigerian rights groups in February, 2003. The on-site workshops will give these organisations the opportunity to ask questions and interact with an Internet expert, while at the same time providing Kabissa with an opportunity to distribute materials and collect feedback.


After this pilot phase, Kabissa will distribute the materials throughout West Africa through a combination of electronic copies made available through the Kabissa website and hard copies available through partner organisations and on-site workshops.

Development Issues

Technology, Rights, Political Development.

Key Points

Established in 1974, GTZ is a German government-owned corporation for international cooperation whose aim is to improve the living conditions and to highlight the perspectives of people in developing countries.


Founded in 1999, Kabissa is a non-profit organisation that seeks to use technology to strengthen organisations working to improve the lives of people in Africa. In the process of conducting its work, Kabissa found that many African non-profit organisations are still unaware of the potential that the Internet holds for the non-profit sector, while others are frustrated by a lack of necessary skills. This finding has inspired the present project.


In the course of the project, Kabissa hopes to distribute more than 3,000 copies of the learning materials and to reach more than 1,000 organisations through its workshops.

Partners

GTZ, Kabissa.

Sources

Press release dated November 13, 2002 forwarded by Tobias Eigen, Executive Director of Kabissa, to the Global Knowledge for Development (GKD) list server on November 14, 2002; and GTZ site.