YOUTH’S EMPOWERMENT THROUGH ICTS INTERVENTIONS

PROJECT GEOGRAPHICAL AREA OF OPERATION:
Homa Bay District
Rangwe Constituency

“MOTTO”
“Quick entry in ICTs World”

VISION
Aspire to inspire youths
Through ICTs Interventions.

MISSION

To improve availability of and access to, appropriate, relevant, accurate, finally and well adapted ICTs Interventions to enhance and ameliorate both rural and urban settings livelihoods.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE ORGANIZATION

Formed in 2004 BITSOFT COMPUTER TECHNOLOGIES emphasis is on providing various sectors of the community, particularly on the empowerment of the youths ICTs high quality. The organization draw it’s strength from balancing academic preparation, professional training and hand –outs on experience. Since its inception one of the organizations principles project is the establishment of BITSOFT KENYA whose operations have evolved and expanded to be recognized as a Premier ICTs educator and trainer in preparing both youths and adults in ICTs sphere for future careers and job opportunities.

Problems and challenges to be tackled:.

Many areas of Kenya, more so Homa-bay and Mbita District have slow uptake of information communication technology hence most operations are still manual operations i.e Paper and files.

In this modern world where changes are now revolutionary instead of being evolutionary computer literacy have become agent in terms of;
Ø poverty and hunger eradication ,
Ø promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women
Ø promotion of sustainable development of global partnership by way of ICTs interventions

Computer illiteracy and lack of ICTs operations and knowledge are common problems and challenges prompting the project in this geographical area of operation, particularly on youths and adults in the locality. For any employment or job consideration, computer literacy is becoming a must.

To enable the population involved in different activities to scale up their operations, there is no better platform than that of I.C.T.
Embracing the I.C.T at an early age equally hastens modern life. However, this need is hindered by lack of IT resources more so in rural Kenya and most public schools.

9.0 Justification
In order to tackle problems and challenges out lined in 8.0 above, it is justifiable to establish a computer literacy and ITCs intervention education and training programs both in urban and rural settings of Rangwe constituency whose project title is as indicated below

PROJECT TITLE: YOUTH’S EMPOWERMENT THROUGH ICTS INTERVENTIONS ( Rangwe Constituency (rural and urban)

THE TARGET GROUPS / BENEFFICIARIES
The target group / beneficiaries are targeted to be:-
Regular students from the local youth polytechnic in Rangwe Constituency selected one per location which will also form partnership with development agency BITSOFT COMPUTER TECHNOLOGIES to facilitate the promotion of computer and ICTs skills to the youth polytechnics students
Post secondary schools students
school leavers
Teachers and other interested parties in the locality who want to become computer literate

OBJECTIVES
· To provide computer skills and training and ICTs operations
· To bridge the digital “ divide” and informational “gaps” still prevalent in most rural and urban locations in Rangwe Constituency
· To intensify contacts and informational exchanges by way of ICTs intervention
· To provide relevant ICTs based products and activities

BASIS FOR ACTION
The following bottlenecks have already been identified as hindering and slowing down any computer training and ICTs interventions namely
· Hardware and Softwares constraints and inadequacies
· Lack of , or ( and inadequate ICTs skills and capacity building in most parts of Rangwe Constituency.
· High connectivity cost and operations which calls for adequate funding to be put .in place.
· Lack of power (electricity) as most places in project area are not connected to the National Power Grid so the use of generators to provide electricity will be desirable
PLANNED ACTIVITIES AND PROGRAMMES.
The ultimate goal of this plan is to bridge divide between computer literate society and those who are challenged in this age of information highway and eased transactions through I.C.T platform.

In order for the project to take off financially and materially, support will be needed as follows:

Provision of both hardware and software equipments and materials
Provision of ICTS skills, Training, Capacity Building.
Hardware repair and maintenance
Provision of ICTS Services and products by the development Agency. ‘Bitsoft Computer Technologies’’


TIME FRAME – WORK / SCALES.

Time frame – work / scale will be as indicated below:-
Year 1 -to start by January 2009
Year 2 - continue by activities of year 1and also introduce internet connections.
Year 3 - by 2011 to continue by phase 1 and 2 activities.