1 July, 2002

The World Links Uganda VSAT School-based Telecenter Project been announced as one of 101 finalists for the Stockholm Challenge award in education.

Begun in 2001 with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the project provides powerful VSAT installations to 12 Ugandan schools, plus planning and operational support designed to enable the schools to serve their communities and recover operating costs for their computer labs and wireless connections.

The Stockholm Challenge prize is awarded annually to projects in seven categories, based on their levels of innovation, improvement of people’s lives, transferability to other contexts, and increased access. Award winners will be announced October 10, 2002, in Stockholm, Sweden.

Nearly 600 projects from 78 countries were nominated initially, with finalists determined by an international jury and announced on June 16, 2002. Winning projects will receive one-of-a-kind sculptures crafted by the artist Jonas Torstensson to commemorate their awards.

All the finalists will participate in the three day Global Forum in Stockholm. The Forum is convened to enable finalists to forge new collaborative networks, increase their visibility among potential funders, exchange solutions, generate new ideas, and craft a vision of an equitable and empowering Information Society.

The Uganda VSAT School-based Telecenter project deploys earth-satellite VSAT technology in remote communities around the country, focusing on areas where dial-up or spread-spectrum have not penetrated. The VSAT installations offer round-the-clock access at 256 kilobytes per second (KBPS).

The VSAT network of 15 sites shares the costs of this solution. Schools provide core financing through student tuition fees (each family pays a token fee on top of tuition) while the community is allowed regulated access and pay for use at determined fee.

The net result is that the VSAT Telecenter operates without administrative or financial problems and the community, through its participation in a management committee, is involved in the planning and operation of the installation.

The project has nation-wide presence in Moroto, Lira, Kabale, Hoima, Masaka, Jinja (5 sites), Iganga, Luwero, Mbale, Soroti and Arua. It is implemented locally by SchoolNet Uganda.
For more information about the Uganda VSAT project, please contact:

Contact Meddie Mayanja tel: 077 502288 (Mayanja@hotmail.com) or Daniel Kakinda tel: 077 427389 (dkakinda@hotmail.com)

For more information:
The Stockholm Challenge
Stockholm Finalists