New chances and possibilities for Southern African partners

Education and knowledge lead to progress and innovation. On every continent, in every land. How can this be achieved? By further training of people of different nations and cultures.

For the progress in the south of Africa an IT-network has been built up. Up to now 30 companies from seven countries (Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia, South Africa and Tanzania) have been integrated. Different types of further education are proposed to these Southern African co-operation partners:

• Workshops for senior-manager
• Web-based training
• E-learning via the internet
• IT-consultations

The heart of this co-operation is the further education of 55 Junior IT-consultants (it@ab-students) , taking place in Germany. For one year selected students get the chance to extend their IT-abilities. Consolidated knowledge in computing is required for every participant. Their skills can be improved by intensive training with IT-experts. A wide spectrum of experience and know-how are being imparted. For example there is training for eCommerce, management, IT-security or advanced webdesign.

This new knowledge leads to an important part of the apprenticeship: local projects.
The it@ab-students work on eBusiness projects which are especially suited to their employers. The ideas come from the it@ab-students themselves, the further education allows the realisation. Thus Thomas Jonas from Namibia has developed an internet service provider (ISP) for the University of his country. Or Consuela Mwembeshi. For her employer, the University of Zambia, she has worked on an eLearning platform/help desk system. To mention just two examples that represent the diversity of the developed projects.

The results have got a direct and positive effect on the countries and companies of the network partners of southern Africa. As not only the students benefit from their one year long intensive training but so do the sending countries and their companies and population.

Below you find the local projects of the attendants of the longterm training 2003/2004 in alphabetical order: