Background of CFSK
Computers for Schools Kenya (CFSK) is a charitable non-governmental organisation registered under the Kenya Non-Governmental Organisations Co-ordination Act.
The CFSK program is an adaptation of the highly successful, award-winning Computers for Schools Canada, which has inspired sister organisations elsewhere in the world. CFSK was the first African initiative on this model, and has since helped establish similar programmes in several other countries on the continent.
Establishment of CFSK was spear-headed by the Founder Executive Director, Mr. Tom Musili – still serving as the organisation’s Chief Executive Officer. It was registered in October 2002, and officially began operations in January 2003.
Mr Musili was inspired to found the organisation after a chance meeting in the United States with Mr Wayne Tosh, Founder Director of Computers for Schools Canada, now retired. It has since been growing steadily in both personnel and operational activities.
Having fruitlessly sought support and host facilities from various government
ministries and departments over several months, Mr Musili finally approached
Starehe Boys’ Centre whose Technical Training Institute he had a long-standing
relationship – providing internships through Media Technology, his company.
Dr Griffin received the idea most enthusiastically, offering the nascent
organisation all the space it needed within the Technical Training Institute.
Thus begun CFSK's meteoric rise.
Vision, Mission and Core Values
Vision
An information-rich Kenyan society actively contributing towards sustainable
development.
Mission
Empowering youth and communities for life in the Information Age through
building ICT capacities.
Through our work, we are facilitating individuals and their communities
to improve their socio-economic productivity by enhancing skills, management
and administration of all social enterprises; create jobs and wealth through
the empowerment that enhanced knowledge and access to information brings;
and ultimately make Kenya more competitive on the global stage.
CFSK is guided by the following:
Excellence, Integrity, Volunteerism, Client-centeredness, Teamwork, Innovativeness, and Eco-friendliness. Every member of the CFSK team makes a personal commitment to these values and is expected to perform their duties with a conscious regard to the same.
Corporate Governance
Computers for Schools Kenya (CFSK) is run by a three-tier Board drawn from Chief Executive Officers of a cross section of leading institutions in the public and private sectors and civil society, and individuals that have shown a commitment to our vision and mission.
The Executive Board performs the routine oversight functions. It is comprised of six members appointed in their personal capacities and three ex officio members representing Government of Kenya Ministries and Agencies that are critical to the mission of CFSK. The Executive Board meets quarterly.
The Partners Advisory Council comprises of seven members representing CFSK's main donors and supporters – usually their Chief Executives. The Council, whose primary role is to advise on and help mobilise resources for CFSK's operations, meets annually.
The Board of Trustees is the pinnacle governance organ of CFSK. It meets twice a year to make fundamental decisions as to the policies of the organisation.
Day to day operations at CFSK are ran by a Management Team comprising
of the Executive Director, the Deputy Executive Director and
Departmental Managers responsible for Finance & Administration;
Training and ICT in Education; Technical Services; Resource Mobilisation;
Sustainability; Research, Monitoring & Evaluation; and Partnerships
Liaison.
CFSK’s Core Activities and Programmes
Sourcing & deployment of PCs to learning institutions is one of CFSK's core activity. A huge percentage of the computers that CFSK has placed in its partner institutions have so far been sourced from overseas, mainly Great Britain. Concerted efforts to generate local donations are however also beginning to bear fruit, with an increasing number of local donors. Once we receive the donated computers, they are cleaned, refurbished, installed with software and are then deploy to learning institutions that meet CFSK's standards.
Technical support and maintenance – CFSK runs a comprehensive maintenance programme for the PCs deployed through preventive and curative interventions. Rapid responce is also available to our partner institutions via telephone and over the Internet for those institutions that have connectivity. This ensures that the machines are functional throughout.
Capacity development - One of the fundamental
problems of ICT in Kenya is
a lack of capacity for the optimum utilization of ICT in teaching, learning,
in institutional management and administration. Through CFSK programmes
for training trainers, educational administrators and managers, they have
significantly eradicated the hitherto conservative attitude that ICT skills
are only for the young generation. We have had an increasing demand for
these programmes over the years, and strongly advocate for ICT literacy
amongst educators so that they can transform and enrich pedagogy for the
benefit of all students. Thus, the people in the education sector are
our primary target clients.
Curriculum and resource materials development to facilitate the optimum use of the computers we place. We have developed curricula for use in learning institution, administer examinations and issue certificates to those that successfully undertake them. Digital multimedia content for secondary school subjects has been developed and is in use in a number of schools .
National Volunteer and Internship Programme - Every year, CFSK takes a large number of freshly graduated interns and volunteers to serve in the organisation on three to six-month rotations. This enables them to transform their theoretical knowledge into practical experience in a busy professional environment with numerous experienced potential coaches and mentors.
An important aspect of CFSK's work is pioneering new and appropriate technologies. This essential activity is informed by the need to adapt existing technologies to Kenya's unique circumstances as much as the fact that the nature of our core business demands innovativeness and creativity. In this respect, working with various partners, CFSK has piloted and implemented thin client computer laboratories that make effective use of older computers; conducted field tests for both EDGE technology and other forms of wireless Internet access; and introduced open source software to teachers and their pupils.
Internet connectivity and access is another area in which CFSK is working. This is essentially for purposes of developing a business model that would enable schools enjoy the immense benefits of the World Wide Web in a sustainable manner. In this way CFSK has enabled a large number of partner institutions obtain Internet access either for free or at concessionary rates.
Policy and advocacy is another area in which CFSK is actively engaged. This is necessitated by the fact that the policy, statutory and regulatory framework for ICT use in Kenya is still in its nascent stages. CFSK works with various partners to ensure that the formative work is moving in the right direction and will bring the greatest benefit to the greatest number of people
Finally,
CFSK is a recognised national leader in the Management of electronic
waste. In keeping with our core value of eco-friendliness, CFSK
endeavors to ensure that its operations are eco-neutral – safeguarding
both the environment and human health. Our innovative management programme
for decommissioned computers and auxiliary equipment is a unique combination
of cannibalisation; conversion to alternative uses; local recycling and
selective take-back by partners oversees.
CFSK’s Achievements
Since inception five years ago in 2003, CFSK has made great progress registering significant achievements in a number of areas;
• Sourcing, placement and support of over 16,000 computers in over 520
Institutions
• Training of well over 3,106 Principals & Deputy Principals, ICT
Teachers and other Teachers; sensitisation of over 1,600 members of BoGs
and PTAs, GoK educational administrators and other policy makers.
• Development of model curricula for training from simple user proficiency
to high level professional competence
• Development of model examinations, administered to over 10,000 students
so far
• A successful Volunteer and Internship Programme for national capacity
development in ICT, which has benefited over 200 young people
• Extension of ICT access to disadvantaged groups in society – including
two children’s homes, a school for the deaf and a rehabilitation centre
for street children
• Defining standards for computer labs, computer hardware & software,
maintenance, curricula, resource materials and evaluation & certification
• Assistance to several other African countries to establish similar programmes,
including Uganda, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, South Africa and soon, Zimbabwe
• Active participation in national policy formulation for the ICT sector,
especially in training and education
• Development of an organisational model for sustainable provision of
ICT's to schools and related institutions
Awards and Formal Recognition
In 2006, the CFSK eWaste Management programme received special mention at the conference of the parties to the Basel Convention – held at the United Nations Environment Programme Headquarters in Nairobi. The Government of Kenya Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources subsequently made a substantial grant to CFSK to develop the programme further.
In the same year CFSK was declared 1st Runners up in the category of Top Civil Society to Bridge the Digital Divide in Africa at the Africa ICT Achievers Awards ceremony organised by ForgeAhead in Johannesburg, South Africa.
In 2007, CFSK won the award – receiving widespread acclaim for being the Top Civil Society Organisation to Bridge the Digital Divide in Africa. The CFSK programme was particularly commended for achieving so much with only very limited resources.
In the same year, the Computer Society of Kenya, at the Kenya National ICT Achievers Award, also recognised CFSK as the Top Organisation Bridging the Digital Divide in Kenya.
The Future
In addition to continuing its routine core activities, CFSK has ambitious new plans for the future.
We intend to network all the educational and training institutions on the programme into a single widespread community of learning through a shared remotely accessible eLearning Platform. We hope to do the same for all our community centres to enable them truly share information, experiences and best practices for sustainable development. To help us achieve this, we look foward to obtain ISP capability and status – specialising in supporting educational establishments and community-based programmes.
We plan to launch a special programme of sensitisation and training targeting key policy- and decision-makers and opinion leaders – amongst them Members of Parliament, members of the Constituency Development Fund Committees, Civic Leaders and high ranking government officials.
Working with partners, we intend to actively pursue the establishment of more Community ICT Centers to empower communities in keeping with CFSK’s vision of an information rich society actively engaged in sustainable national development.
Finally, again working with our partners, we anticipate to make further progress towards sustainability. This we will achieve through: enhanced local donations of computer equipment; continued cost sharing with partner institutions and communities; secondary income generation activities to cater for operational and administrative expenses; continued and enhanced least-cost volunteer contribution; Government budgetary support through grants-in-aid; encouraging the use of ICT as a facilitative tool encompassing all teaching subjects; and mutually beneficial partnerships with semi-commercial community-based social enterprises such as Tele-Centres.