Staff

The school-based telecenter project in Uganda is implemented by SchoolNet Uganda with support from ICT for Eduaction Program of the World Bank Institute and World Links Organisation.

In Uganda the project is facilitated by two key officials:

MAYANJA Meddie is currently the ICT Community Development Specialist responsible for coordinating and training support for the School-Based Telecenter (SBT) initiative in the African Region. He previously worked as a project officer for Nakaseke MCT a UNESCO/IDRC/ITU supported project. Meddie has extensive experience in ICTs for Rural Development and has served with a number of initiatives on ICTs for development including the National ICT Policy Task Force in Uganda. He has written, presented and published several papers on promoting universal access for rural and remote areas. Most notably notable conference presented include Building the Information Community in Africa (BICA) Conference in South Africa in 1999, the Global Knowledge (GKII) conference in Malaysia in 2000 and the OECD/UN/UNDP Global Forum on "Exploiting the Digital Opportunities for Poverty Reduction: How ICTs Can Help to Achieve Education For All" in Paris France March 2001. He was also a key speaker at Networking Africa's Future Conference on ICTs and development in South Africa March, 2003.

Eng. LUYIMA Allen is the Technical Coordinator for SchoolNet Uganda and particularly the Uganda VSAT School-Based Telecenter Pilot project. Allen is responsible for overseeing all technology aspects within SchoolNet Uganda including technical training for the schoolnet technical sustainability. Prior to joining SchoolNet Uganda Eng. Luyima worked for Sanyutel Limited a local (ISP) in Uganda where she served as Assistant Systems Engineer (1997) and Systems Engineer (1999). Eng. Allen has been involved with a number of ICT for education initiatives; she conducted an Education Technology feasibility study for USAID-Rwanda in 2002. She also served as Internet Connectivity consultant for World Links programs in Rwanda in 2002. On the international scene, Allen represented World Bank Institute and delivered a keynote address at the Satellite and Wireless solutions for African schools Connectivity and Development in Windhoek, Namibia December,2002. Beyond handling technology issues, Allen advocates for increased female participation in ICTs for development at large. She recently concluded females-only Technical training workshop for 20 SchoolNet Uganda female teachers at Kampala, Uganda (April 2003). She was also a key speaker on the gender involvement at the ICT for African schools conference held in Gaborone, Botswana end of April, 2003.

Every School-Based Telecenter has an ICT Coordinator who is responsible for day-to-day management. A management/steering committee helps the ICT Coordinators with policy and general management oversight while headmasters play a supervisory/advisory role.