“Digital Doorways” for every village in Uganda
“DIGITAL DOORWAYS” TRANSPORTED TO KARAMOJA, JANU-
ARY 2010. THE INNOVATION WILL EMPOWER COMMUNITIES
THAT NOW HAVE INADEQUATE ACCESS TO INFORMATION.
UNICEF Uganda is engaged in a country-
wide drive to bring access to information to
every village. One solution the office is cur-
rently prototyping is a rugged computer cas-
ing built from locally available -- and dirt
cheap -- oil drums, which will then be fitted
with screens (currently, laptop screens), key-
boards, cameras and speakers, to become,
effectively, community communication hubs.
The team is exploring solutions for remote
internet connectivity, with the units built to run
on solar power.
This first prototype was built in just three
days, by a team of mechanics at an auto re-
pair shop on the outskirts of Kampala -- the
oil-drum concept, an original idea by UNICEF
Uganda IT Chief Khalid Arbab -- with design
and construction by UNICEF Fellow Jean-
Marc Lefebure, and guidance provided by
UNICEF IS WORKING TO ENSURE THAT EVERY VILLAGE
GETS A “DIGITAL DOORWAY” TO ENABLE INDIVIDUALS AND
THE COMMUNITY TO ACCESS INFORMATION.
THE UNICEF UGANDA TECHNOLOGY FOR DEVELOPMENT
TEAM ASSISTS TO SET UP A “DIGITAL DOORWAY” UNIT IN
KARAMOJA, IN NORTHEASTERN UGANDA.
Institute. The challenge was to build some-
thing that will protect computer systems de-
ployed in remote village locations, capable
of being quickly constructed using locally
available materials and tools, and local
manufacturing know-how, all the while fuel-
ing local job creation in manufacturing, in-
stallation and maintenance.
A CHILD IS ASSISTED TO TRY OUT THE NEW “DIGITAL
DOORWAY” IN KARAMOJA. SOON CHILDREN WILL BE ABLE
TO ACCESS LESSONS AND LEARNING MATERIALS VIA THE
“DIGITAL DOORWAYS”.
While still in the prototype stage, the initia-
tive builds on three years of work by the In-
novations Team of UNICEF New York, and
is also informed by the experience of the
Meraka Institute (at the Center for Scientific
and Industrial Relations) which built the rug-
ged computer kiosks now known as "Digital
Doorways."