Thursday 28 May 2009

#ela2009 thursday sessions: Boots on the ground - the only way to ensure impact in ICT4D projects


Ignatz Heinz from Avallain Education for Development, Switzerland
(A man in black with a obvious ethically, warm heart. he has dark hair with a wave in it and a kind face.)
Ignatz focused on major issues to consider when starting an eLearning project:
  • sustainability is key, not the (high tech) technology proposed (do not push technology)
  • no longer open arms, if eLearning does not suite the audience needs, it won't take off anyway
  • too much thinking too early from too far away is wasteful
  • what does not work here, does not work anywhere
  • simple here is not simple there and complex here is not complex there
  • keep things in proportion to the local scale
  • the world is flat! e.g. solar panels are available locally, so look for local solutions
  • Potemkin, Potemkin, Potemkin: effect of 'projects-that-cannot-fail', but that are not sustainable but that was marketed for the wrong reasons = 'jungle of smiles'
  • Believe too much or too little in government (lobby, shifts...)
They do early feasibility tests and look locally for technical solutions, which I like enormously.

Information: http://www.avallain.com/e4d

(sorry for the blurry pictures by the way, my camera lens was smudged and I only noticed once I was back)

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