But hearing Tim speak about how geographers’ understanding of space and time, that the world is not the same, and that one economic model would not be applicable to another community made the study of Geography sound exciting and interesting to me.

Tim Unwin

You see, Tim is actively involved in ICT development projects particularly those involving out-of-school youths (OSY) and people with disabilities in Britain.  He has initiated a program for Ethiopian OSYs identifying a range of ways to educate them through computers, the Internet, video, audio, and other media.

He took great interest in CICTs e-SKUELA project when CICT Commissioner Emmanuel Lallana mentioned it to him when they met in a conference Tim organized abroad.  Thinking the project was a brilliant idea, he flew in, conducted teacher-training sessions, a monitoring and evaluation workshop for those involved in the project, and focus group discussions involving OSYs from Smokey Mountain, San Jose Del Monte and juvenile delinquents from Cagayan de Oro.

He already had an initial assessment of the project and made some suggestions for its improvement so that it will truly meet the needs of the out-of school youths.  Based on the raw data his team has gathered from the FGD, they were able to draw out what the young people think about and what interests them. He was further surprised to find out that all the boys at the juvenile rehab center know a lot about computers and that all of the OSYs who took part in the FGD were all looking forward to going back to school.

Aside from the CICT project, he was also on the lookout for possible linkages and partnerships so that he could bring into the country the resources of global corporations he is connected with that would greatly help in ICT development projects.  He hopes he can be able to do collaborative work with Sandiwaan Center for Learning’s Educational Outreach through E-Learning (EDO) having seen the work done by the deaf programmers.

Besides doing development work (he has worked in 25 countries working on development issues and is in the process of writing a book on ICT for development), he teaches Geography at the Royal Holloway University of London.  As an academic, he believes in “using teaching and research skills to help poor and marginalized people.”

He brings into his classroom ICT and uses it not only to disseminate content but also as a way of communicating with his students in developing group work projects, doing collaborative activities, and training people.  Not believing in exclusivity, he shares course content on his web site at www.ict4d.org.uk and at www.gg.rhul.ac.uk/tim. His discussion forums is open to any one who’s interested to participate, as in any one, so that according to him “people from poor countries can gain access to it”.  Besides content, he also shares reading lists, presentations, and though limited, podcasts.  As if these were not enough, he gives copies of his lectures in CDs, again, to any one who is interested.  Whew!  Talk about free education.

He proudly showed us a website on yellow fever in Africa his students did as a project with people from all over the world contributing to the web site’s content.  A perfect example of putting theory into practice.

While our little chat has left me wanting more for Philippine education, he did assure me that the country is “leaps and bounds ahead of many countries”.  And you know what, I believe him because the country is showing so much promise in ICT.

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eGovernance partnership launched.  The British Embassy Manila and the Asia Foundation has launched a partnership project last Friday, January 27, to enhance eGovernance initiatives and push for transparent accountable governance in the country.   

The project, ‘eGovernance for Transparent Accountable Governance” is a one-year project and will be implemented in partnership with local government units through the eGovernance Technical Working Group, the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP), national government agencies, and other development partners.  It will provide a venue for access to information and technical coaching for local governments that are new to eGovernance through the eGov website and sharing conferences.

LGUs shouldn’t miss out on this opportunity to take part in eGov because local governments who have implemented eGovernance such as the provincial government of Bulacan; and Cebu, Antipolo, and General Santos cities have proven that it can be a powerful tool to effect reforms at the local level and have showed significant improvements in revenue collection, reduced processing times and paperwork, and improved citizen confidence in government operations.

(For feedback, comments, suggestions email me at openingpagemb@yahoo.com)