Inveneo Ethiopia Archives
- Posted by Jana Melpolder on April 25, 2014 in the categories: Education, News, Projects
For many years students in Ethiopia were not educated in their own native language, and instead, they were only taught to read or write in one Ethiopian language called Amharic.
Inveneo is collaborating with the Ethiopian Ministry of Education and RTI as a partner in USAID’s Ethiopia READ project, a program that was created to enhance reading comprehension in one’s own native language for 15 million children in Ethiopia. To further the project, our Director of Project Management, Kassia Echavarri-Queen, and Project Engineer, Matt Crum, collaborated to create an ICT Showcase in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia that focused on discussing which educational ICT technologies would be the most efficient and suitable solutions for the Reading for Ethiopia’s Achievement Developed Technical Assistance (READ TA) program.
The READ TA Project is a five-year program created to improve the early grade reading skills of young students Grades 1 through 8 across the country. The project now promotes teaching reading comprehension in seven languages that allow students to learn to read and write in their own mother tongue language.
Inveneo gave several presentations at the ICT showcase. More specifically, Matt Crum spoke about local Content Server, LED/Hybrid Projectors, Virus Protection, and gave additional information about a baseline survey which was conducted last year. He explains further, “We want to be able to get some of the best teaching content available into these schools to help the curriculum through interactive multimedia, videos, and access to information. That’s the main purpose that we’re coming in with. With Internet connectivity you can show a video of a great teacher and people can interact with experts in a field.”
Representatives from certain organizations were also given the chance to present ongoing or completed ICT initiatives that would strengthen READ TA’s mission.
Other participants of the showcase included representatives from the Ethiopian Ministry of Education, local ICT initiatives, and READ TA Partners such as RTI, CoreNet, and Whiz Kids Workshop. The showcase was not open to the public but overall still had about 80 attendees.
As a first component in the READ TA project, Inveneo in conjunction with its local ICT partner Corenet did a baseline survey back in 2013. The survey measured ICT capacity in the College of Teacher Education (CTE), School Cluster Centers (SCCs), and satellite schools (which are all primary schools). Throughout the survey Inveneo measured power, current ICT equipment, Internet access, software in use, technical capacity, and current support plans (if available). From the survey Inveneo discovered that there’s diversity in all the CTEs and their individual capacity.
Our exciting work in Ethiopia will continue to grow throughout the next several months. Inveneo plans to build tools to enable monitoring and evaluation for this project in case there are any technical issues.
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*This article “Inveneo Presents at Ethiopian ICT Showcase in Collaboration with RTI” is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of Inveneo and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
- Posted by Inveneo on July 20, 2011 in the categories: News
In places where Internet access is hard to come by but computer viruses spread like wildfire, protecting a single PC or an entire computer lab is a huge challenge. When files are shared between friends and colleagues, so is malware. This is not necessarily a problem if the user has taken proper measures against viruses and other types of malicious programs. However, in the developing world many computer owners are either unable or unwilling to purchasegood anti-virus/anti-spyware software, and even with the proper software installed, limited Internet access means less frequent download of the critical updates. Without these updates, anti-virus and anti-spyware software are essentially useless.
To mitigate this problem, Inveneo has adopted the Faronics DeepFreeze software. DeepFreeze is a software program that creates a “frozen” snapshot of a workstation’s configuration and settings. It can freeze entire drives or select files, allowing a computer to boot to a pristine Operating System every single time.
Viruses can be malicious, disrupting the current session, modifying the registry, destroying user content, but when the system is restarted the effects of the virus or malware are wiped away. This is the only solution that Inveneo has found to be bulletproof in low resource settings, keeping the computers up and running over an extended period of time.
The Cisco Community Knowledge Centers (CKCs), scattered in eleven locations across Kenya and Ethiopia, are a great real-world example of Inveneo desktop installations utilizing DeepFreeze. The CKCs are community centers, places where locals from a village or region can gather to learn, explore the Internet, print or copy documents and socialize through events like movie nights. Even after two years, the CKC computers are still up and running with little to no maintenance from Inveneo or our local partners. This is a huge accomplishment considering the harsh environment and number of infected external media constantly cycling through the centers, all a testimony to the effectiveness of DeepFreeze.
DeepFreeze is valuable because it is both flexible and secure. Here are a few of the key features:
- Password protected software so that non-administrators cannot access the software to make changes or thaw a drive
- Choose which drive(s) to freeze. Further, the administrator can take a more granular approach, freezing/thawing only specific directories and files.
- Create up to eight thaw spaces, leaving frequently updated program files or system files thawed.
- Schedule a maintenance window so the system will reboot thawed for a specific time period, possibly synched with automatic system maintenance.
- Specify a WSUS (Windows Software Update Server) and batch file for scheduled maintenance period.
- Create embedded events schedules, like scheduling the system to reboot everyday at a specific time. Configure network settings, security options, and administer License Keys.
- There are many other more advanced options available with the Administrator Console. Examples include pushing configurations and installations from a centrally located or remote console.
We are grateful for the generous donation that Faronics has made to our efforts in Haiti, contributing complimentary licenses for use in the 40 rural schools participating in the “Haiti Connected Schools” program. This contribution is already making a great impact on the sustainability and longevity of the technology Inveneo is deploying, ensuring use by deserving Haitian schoolchildren for years to come.
For more information on DeepFreeze, please see the Faronics DeepFreeze Enterprise product page. From there you can see more product details, screenshots, read user reviews, and download user guide/tutorials.
- Posted by Inveneo on March 1, 2010 in the categories: Economic Development, News, Projects
FGAE is a large Addis Ababa-based NGO associated with the Ethiopian government, whose mission is to educate families and youth on a wide range of health topics with an emphasis on reproductive health. The organization was founded in 1966 and now operates 18 clinics and 26 youth centers around the country.
In order to promote the educational goals of FGAE, one room of a youth center in the Kirkos district of the capital, Addis Ababa, was converted to a CKC facility. The center also provides health care and advice and is open to all, regardless of age.
This community center was installed by Inveneo in March, 2010. Concurrent to this installation, Inveneo conducted a technical training and certification module for new partners (ICIPs).
