[kictanet] East African Organization Receives International Library Award

[Alice Munyua]

Congratulations James and your team at ALIN for this well deserved award
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*East African Organization Receives International Library Award For 
Creating Knowledge Centers in Rural Areas*

/$1 million Access to Learning Award recognizes Arid Lands Information 
Network for providing access to information and technology in 
hard-to-reach communities/

SEATTLE – The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today presented its 2011 
Access to Learning Award of $1 million to the Arid Lands Information 
Network (ALIN), which provides knowledge and information through a 
variety of innovative channels in remote communities throughout Kenya, 
Uganda, and Tanzania. Members of these communities use the technology 
and other tools at ALIN’s Knowledge Centers to gain information to 
improve their health, increase their incomes, and better their lives. 
Microsoft, a partner of the foundation in its efforts to help public 
libraries connect people  with relevant technology and skills, will 
provide ALIN with a donation of over US$270,000 worth of software and 
technology training curriculum to help the organization serve the local 
community.

ALIN’s 12 Knowledge Centers—known as Maarifa Centers—focus on providing 
practical information, particularly in the area of agricultural 
development. The vast majority of people in these regions are 
small-scale farmers who need information about issues such as drought, 
pests, and finding markets for their crops. The centers offer 
information geared toward the communities’ specific needs.

“We understand that each community we serve is different, and each 
individual we serve is different,” said James Nguo, director of ALIN. 
“Some communities need information about water harvesting, while others 
are dealing with a particular kind of pest. We’ve also found that while 
some people have taken to the computers and technology, others prefer 
live demonstrations or lectures in their native language.”

In addition to providing agricultural information to farmers, Maarifa 
Centers address health issues such as HIV/AIDS and malaria, ways to 
improve people’s daily lives such as how to create an energy efficient 
biogas stove, and administrative requirements such as applying for an 
official identity card or getting tax exempt status. Some people have 
used the centers to create groups for the disabled, earn advanced 
degrees online, or create thriving small businesses.

“Thousands of people in these remote communities of Eastern Africa are 
improving their lives through the information available at these 
centers,” said Deborah Jacobs, director of the Global Libraries 
initiative for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, at an award ceremony 
in San Juan, Puerto Rico. “All knowledge workers can learn from this 
inventive model of delivering targeted, customized information.”

All Maarifa Centers offer free access to computers and the Internet and 
provide free training in how to use them. Because there is only one paid 
staff member at each center, ALIN relies on volunteer facilitators to 
help provide core services. These volunteers receive training in a 
variety of key areas, including computer skills, good farming practices, 
treatment of medical conditions, and communications skills, which they 
use to educate others in their communities.

For example, ALIN and the staff of the Kyuso Maarifa Center formed a 
group of seven farmers to participate in a pilot project that sent them 
to other parts of the country where they could learn techniques to deal 
with their extremely dry, arid climate. When the farmers returned to 
Kyuso, they implemented those techniques and were able to significantly 
improve their yields. The farmers worked with the staff of the Maarifa 
Center to pass these innovations on to others, through demonstrations, 
field days, videos, podcasts, and articles in ALIN’s Baobab magazine. 
One community pastor even preached about the new techniques in church.

“From Baobab and from the information here in our Maarifa Center, I got 
to know about water harvesting. I came to know more about good 
agricultural practices from other areas,” said Ali Hassan Mulei, one of 
the seven farmers who participated in the pilot project. “During the dry 
seasons you get nothing from the farm. But I prepare the land during the 
dry season. I get some cash from my business, go to the farm, make 
terraces, make structures for water harvesting, and I wait for the rainy 
season to come.”

The foundation's annual Access to Learning Award recognizes the 
innovative efforts of libraries and similar organizations outside the 
United States in providing free access to computers and the Internet. It 
is awarded by the foundation’s Global Libraries initiative, which works 
to open the world of knowledge, information, and opportunity to help 
improve the lives of millions of people.

ALIN will use its award to expand its network of Knowledge Centers, 
upgrade its hardware and software, increase the number of computers 
available to its users, and expand on the training and education 
provided to its community knowledge facilitators. ALIN also hopes to 
create an innovation center to advance ideas in information and 
communication technology.

###

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