WikiCred/2022 CFP/Integrated Access to IT Center Development for Disadvantaged Students in Abbay Primary and Junior High School in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
| Integrated Access to IT Center Development for Disadvantaged Students in Abbay Primary and Junior High School in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. | |
|---|---|
| A WikiCred 2022 Grant Proposal | |
| Project Type | Other |
| Author | (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Philadelphia_Charitable_Organization) |
| Contact | philadelphia.et@gmail.com |
| Requested amount | 9994.385 US Dollar. |
| Award amount | Unknown |
- What is your idea?
Children going to most public schools in Addis Ababa don’t have access to basic information technology facilities. The quality of education provided in these schools is not up to standard of the basic requirement. This inhibits them from becoming less competitive when they grow up, and they mostly find it hard to go to college. This project is designed to respond to the government’s effort to improve access to basic IT needs of students in Primary and junior high schools. And one school which is nearby our head office, namely Abbay Primary and Junior High School has been selected. The basic need assessment has been conducted ahead of designing this project, and it has been found out that the school lacks IT facilities, and the children don’t have access to electronic reading and learning materials to improve their learning performances. The school has agreed to provide us with one well-furnished room to be used as an IT center, and through this project Philadelphia has proposed to conduct the following activities.
• Purchase 5 Computers and necessary cables and other equipment.
• Purchase 5 tables and chairs.
• Purchase 1 external Hard disk
• Install Wi-Fi services for the school.
• Install reading materials and reference books in the computers.
• Train selected teachers and school staff on Basic IT skills, and assign them as coordinators.
- Why is it important?
• The project will enable the school to have better access to IT and electronic books and reading materials. • The project will enhance school’s capacity to provide quality education. • The project will help students in Abbay school to improve their school performance.
- Link(s) to your resume or anything else (CV, GitHub, etc.) that may be relevant
We will attach the organizational Profile and other relevant testimonials upon request.
- Is your project already in progress?
We in Philadelphia have finalized writing the project proposal and are waiting for a good partner to fund it.
- How is this project relevant to credibility and Wikipedia?
• The students will grow up having access to reliable and healthy information and quality education. • The students will become more competitive in education and other walks of life when they grow up. • The school will make IT as its one art of program and look for other partners to support its needs and continue what we started through this project.
- What is the ultimate impact of this project?
We are committed to implementing this project with the highest quality possible, so that it will have a long term multiplier impact. Therefore, at the end of the project, it is expected that the following key impacts will be observed. • Taking the targeted school as best example, neighboring schools, as well as schools in other district will realize the important of planting an IT center for ensuring improved performance of disadvantaged schools. • The sub city level and city administration education offices will be motivated to allocate the necessary budget to develop IT centers in schools. • Capacity of the targeted school and staff will be better enhanced to implement future programs by their own. In addition they will develop technical and managerial skill of contacting potential partners, secure financial and technical supports and continue programs initiated by this project.
- Can your project scale?
We can label this as a small scale project. But the scaling is not based on the amount of budget that is to be allocated, nor its duration to complete all the tasks. In addition, size of the project does not imply the level of attention we are going to give it. Philadelphia is only 2 months old as an organization. And, if we are the successful candidates to win the funding, it is going to be one of the first projects we will be operating. Therefore, we give all the full attention to ensure its successful completion. The following key points are important to consider with regards to the project scaling. • The project is planned to have only two direct project staff, project officer and IT officer, with other head office staff playing managerial and supportive role. • The project is not complex in nature, and it is directly aimed at doing activities of IT and capacity Enhancement on the targeted school. • Through this project, Philadelphia is aimed at filling the gap of the targeted school and ultimately build partnership with the school as well as education offices of the sub city and Addis Ababa city Administration. Besides, it will create us opportunity to demonstrate that we as a newly formed organization are both committed and capable of successfully executing projects. • Philadelphia has a number of thematic areas designed to be intervened. But this project is entirely focused on IT and capacity building of targeted school. • This project is planned to be implemented with a total cost of 9994.385 US dollars. We will apply all the tools and project management methods to effectively and efficiently utilize the fund and, if possible multiply the results by more than what is already planned. • This project has only an IT development component at this time. But once the working partnership with education offices of the sub city and the city administration is established and strengthened through this project, we might scale up the program to other schools, and we can also design and intervene other development programs in target schools.
- Why are you the people to do it?
Philadelphia is a non-profit, non-religious and nonpartisan civil Society Organization based in Ethiopia. Established in Nov. 2022 by two passionate Ethiopians, it has been legally registered by Authority of Civil Society Organization of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. The main program areas that the organization is interested to be involved in include:- • Educational Support to children and youth, • IT and tutorial programs for disadvantaged students, • Technical and Vocational Training for youth, • Youth Employment, • Income generation and economic empowerment programs for women and youth, • Capacity Development programs for influential community leaders and local institutions, and • Provision of Social Services. Currently Philadelphia is staffed with 4 professionals:- • And executive director, with more than 20 years of pastoral services in Evangelical Christian missionaries. • Deputy Executive director, having more than 15 years of working in NGOs in areas of Education, child survival, economic empowerment, youth development and reproductive health (he will also serve as a project officer for this project). Finance Officer, with an accounting back ground and 5 years of work experience. IT officer with 2 years of work experience. We believe that this team of experts, and the organization’s enthusiasm to prove to potential partners like Wikimedia that Philadelphia is reliable to work with, will perform this project to the highest quality.
- What is the impact of your idea on diversity and inclusiveness of the Wikimedia movement?
Philadelphia is established as a local Civil Society Organization, free of religious affiliation and partisanship. And in the course of our operation as an organization, we will try our level best to avoid alienation and stigma of any kind against workers, target groups and people. With regards to this project, it is primarily aimed at providing access to IT services to disadvantaged school going children, who have been marginalized due to various socio-economic problems. The project has one key activity in an area of improving school performance of students through installing books and reading materials. In this program effort will be done to provide students with access to reading materials in their own language, for which we will be using some of Wikipedia products. We hope this will make Wikimedia achieve its goal of becoming essential infrastructure of the ecosystem of free knowledge.
- What are the challenges associated with this project and how you will overcome them?
• Once we commence implementing this project, we expect that more requests will be coming from neighboring schools asking us to do the same project for them. We will try to convince the schools and Education offices, that we will reach their needs in other projects. • The skyrocketing cost of goods and items might be a challenge for us while procuring materials. We hope the sooner we secure the fund, the easier we will face the challenge.
- How will you spend your funds?
1. Purchase computers and other necessary materials 2807.412
2. Purchase External Hard disk (8Tera Bite) 1029.384
3. Purchase Chairs and Tables 1497.286
4. Install Wi-Fi Service for the center 224.5929
5. Purchase Wi-Fi Router 93.58039
6. Setting up computers 187.1608
7. Installing reading materials and reference books 1497.286
8. Train teachers and school staff on Basic IT skills 991.9521
9. Program Cost Total 8328.654
10. Admin Cost (20%) 1665.731
11. Grand Total (Program Cost Total +Admin Cost) 9994.385
- How long will your project take?
The Project is planned to be completed within 6 months of its commencement.
- Have you worked on projects for previous grants before?
Philadelphia Charitable Organization is a newly established CSO, legally registered in November 2022. So we have not yet worked on any projects before.