Tag Archive for: Virtual Kenya

With a greater sense of collective security and a fast-growing economy fueled by its budding oil industry, most of The Republic of South Sudan is poised for recovery and development at the onset of nationhood.

Although South Sudan’s slate of challenges are not easily enumerable, issues relating to the environment, including land degradation, deforestation and the impact of climate change, must be addressed with urgency. This constellation of challenges threaten the newly independent nation’s long-term peace and stability, food security and sustainable development.

But an effective response requires copious, accurate and reliable data that isn’t readily available. This paucity of information about South Sudan’s environmental landscape is due to unique factors brought about by the more than two decades long civil war with its now northern neighbor. The war, which ended with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005, displaced nearly a half of the population of 8 million and claimed nearly 2 million lives.

Throughout the years of displacement, previously overgrazed lands and wildlife were naturally replenished to some degree. But as an estimated 4 million people return to their ancestral lands on the cusp of independence in a resource rich but ecologically unsound and economically stagnant society, the natural gains made in restoring the environment is in jeopardy. It would be illogical to suggest that the return of a displaced people is within and of itself the cause of this crisis, rather, it is the lack of information about where people will settle and the state of the environment in those places that is at the core of the problem.

To respond to this challenge, the Government of South Sudan (GoSS) ought to make more coordinated use of the 2005 post-conflict environmental assessment it commissioned UNEP

A scatter herd on grass

Photo Credit: Frank Langfitt/NPR

to conduct. The finding from the UNEP study may be transformed into a resource akin to Virtual Kenya, an online interactive web  platform for charting human environmental health with related material for those with no access to the internet. This is one tangible way in which ICTs, including GIS technologies may be used to tackle South Sudan’s environmental challenges.

As I’ve noted in previous blogs focused on South Sudan and the role of ICTs, there is limited scope for the use of high tech ICTs at this point, due to systemic and structural impediments, including literacy, connectivity, access and market environment. However, traditional technologies such as radio ought to be used to provide timely, accurate and contextually appropriate information about environmental conservation. It is important that the farming community, the largest economically active block in the country, be sensitized about this. Land degradation, for instance, is heightened by population pressure, intensification of agriculture, water-logging and salinity, among other things. Both water-logging and salinity are caused by poor irrigation and drainage, deforestation, overgrazing, soil erosion and poverty.

So, as South Sudan claims nationhood, it is imperative that the environment be a priority for the GoSS and its people. A clear ICT strategy with medium to long-term goals is needed. It ought to emphasize how ICTs will be leveraged to improve basic farm extension services to reduce poor soil management, and other agricultural related causes of land degradation. The wider thrust to sensitize the nation about environmental issues ought to also prioritize the well-being of wildlife, much of which was devastated during the war. There is clear economic, environmental and social benefits to be reaped from this.

As with so many nations on the cusp of self-determination, South Sudan can take a path that will secure the fortunes of its people. The preservation of the environment is central to achieving this, and that is only possible if there is national buy-in. Too few governments have been proactive in informing their citizens.

A metal solar panel (Credit: Capital Business)

Previously, I dubbed east-Africa’s ICT hub, Kenya, the Land of the Apps, but Kenya’s wider e-development prospects and challenges are more nuanced than that. We ought to consider a range of intersecting questions.

Last week, I chronicled the Kenyan government’s plans to channel US$10 million into its much vaunted digital village project and plans to provide computers and reliable connectivity to schools across the country.

These bold policy positions are indicative of why Kenya’s success is no fluke. In fact, its concerted focus on and sensitivity to the information poverty of its legion of unconnected people, amid a rapidly transforming and pioneering telecoms sector, is a game-changer. The range of policy positions adopted recently gives credence to this view, particularly the move to rectify the country’s ailing electricity sector and the launch of ‘Virtual Kenya’ last week.

The East-African country will spend US$62 million to electrify 460 trading centers and 110 secondary schools, among other public facilities under the rural electrification program. The ICT sector will also benefit from the $730 million allocated to the Ministry of Energy for the next fiscal year. As I have noted before, this will further bridge the digital divide because none of Kenya’s—or the wider African continent’s— ambitious ICT expansion plans will be achieved without improved electricity infrastructure. According to the World Bank, 70% of Africans are not connected to a power grid.

Resolving the energy sector crisis is pivotal, as it will not only boost the expansion of the ICT sector, but also improve livelihoods. The successful ‘Songa mbele na solar‘ (Move ahead with solar) campaign of 2010 offers lessons, too. It shows that any effort to electrify Kenya’s more rustic regions will require a diversified energy mix—and given the state’s economic constraints, solar—readily accessible and easily tapped—ought to be an integral part of that mix. The ‘Songa mbele na solar” reached over nine million Kenyans, improving productivity by extending business hours, and buttressing lives through reduced air pollution.

It is clear to me that there is a growing, albeit very slow, trend towards merging the questions of sustainable development, particularly clean energy and natural resources conservation, with the ICT4D push. I am inclined to think that the link between the two ought to be further cemented. I consider the launch of ‘Virtual Kenya’, an interactive web platform for charting human environmental health, to be a step in that direction. ‘Virtual Kenya’, which was developed by the Nairobi-based web mapping technology firm Upande Ltd, in collaboration with the US-based World Resources Institute, caters to the needs of Kenya’s unconnected as it comes with “related materials for those with no access to the internet”. So, I think this is important on two fronts: first, it tackles the information divide; second, it broadens the pool of people who have ready access to environmental and health information.

It is easy to imagine the impact this will have on an educational landscape where schools and universities are constrained by outmoded data sets and other resources. Ready access to high quality, spatial data and cutting edge mapping technology on an interactive platform is golden.

For more details on ‘Virtual Kenya’, please go here.

Effective development and program management is crucial for sustained economic growth and positive social change to be achieved. But limited high quality spatial data and cutting edge mapping technology (coupled with widespread connectivity issues) impede proper planning in much of the developing world.

Logo for Virtual KenyaLast week’s launch of Virtual Kenya, an online interactive web  platform for charting human environmental health with related material for those with no access to the internet, offers a guide on how to improve this paucity of high quality and reliable spatial data. The innovation will enable Kenyans to use and interact with spatial data in their educational and professional pursuits, which will undoubtedly improve the relevance of their education and work for improved livelihoods, society and nation building.

The newly launched platform will provide online access to publicly available spatial data sets, as well as, interactive tools and learning resources to utilize the vast array of data. This unprecedented opportunity to download, publish, share and comment on a myriad of map-based products will promote data sharing and spatial analysis.

As I suggested earlier, this is a game-changer in the development space because it will enable sound decision-making and development planning in Kenya. This is possible because Virtual Kenya will be of use to a wide cross-section of people, including high school and university teachers and students, government planners, GIS professionals and local government officials.

This development shows that web-based spatial planning tools have the potential to structure and strengthen the development space. In discussing the strengths of Virtual Kenya with my colleagues, we pondered about the sustainability of this initiative because of the difficulty with gathering and sorting spatial data. But, Virtual Kenya is likely to outlive these concerns because of its democratic, community-based nature, and the range of organizations involved in this project: Wildlife Clubs of Kenya, International Livestock Research Institute, World Resources Institute, Upend (the Kenyan-based developer), and technical support from Danida and SIDA.

Upend, the technical lead on the collaborative Virtual Kenya project, provided the following list (and notes) of interactive tools that will be utilized:

  1. Virtual Kenya Tours using Google Earth with 2D and 3D maps, images, and graphs to explain data from the Atlas with voice overs in an interactive and entertaining format.
  2. Interactive Map Viewer that allows users to view, create, and download maps of Kenya
  3. Social networking community to share GIS and mapping experiences among Virtual Kenya users;
  4. Baseline data on Kenya’s environment and geography in multiple file formats that are freely available and comprehensive;
  5. Learning resources, including a teachers guide and student activity booklets, to help educators use maps and information from the Atlas in their classrooms even without access to the Internet or computers;
  6. Tutorials to help users take advantage of all that Virtual Kenya has to offer

This mix of tools shows that even those with limited/no with  GIS technology will find Virtual Kenya user-friendly.  The visual nature of the innovation will also limit the constraints posed by issues of illiteracy, functional and otherwise.

The Honorable Dr. Ottichilo, a Member of Parliament for the Emuhaya Constituency, shares his thoughts on Virtual Kenya and its potential for improved development planning. Dr. Ottichilo earned a PhD in natural resources planning, assessment and management.

For more details on Virtual Kenya, please go here

 

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