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• financial and personnel support from experienced development
organizations in project planning and implementation
• easier access to governmental, academic and civil sector insti-
tutions and decision makers, including local networks
• access to expert knowledge on partner countries, development
sectors and legislative structures.
Although a number of successful project examples prove the suit-
ability of the model, there are still areas where a vacuum for the
provision of economically viable solutions remains to be filled.
The BMZ highly encourages partnerships where the private sector
takes responsibility for the provision of ICT benefits. The follow-
ing three PPP case studies present two good practice examples
and one outlook to future endeavours.
The Africa Drive Project – improving the quality of
education
The Africa Drive Project (ADP) is improving the South African
education system by means of ICT. The GTZ initiated this blended
learning project along with the North West University, SAP
Research, Siemens Business Services, eDegree and a number of
other local partners in response to the shortage of qualified primary
and secondary school teachers in South Africa.
According to President Thabo Mbeki: “Special attention needs
to be given to the critical shortage of mathematics, science and
language teachers and to the demands of the new information and
communication technologies.”
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In order to alleviate this shortage,
the project partners introduced ICT into teacher training.
Apart from improving the competencies of secondary school
educators in subject areas such as science, mathematics, business
studies and English, the ADP curriculum addresses the role of the
educator with regard to issues like HIV/AIDS and ecological conser-
vation. Furthermore, the project aims to improve ICT literacy
among teachers and students, to offer affordable “quality educa-
tion to people, even in rural areas” and to create new business
opportunities related to the education training sector, as Christian
Merz, SAP Research and Development Germany explicates.
The Africa Drive Project started its implementation in July 2003.
Since then a learning management system has been installed and
a number of learning centres have opened around the country.
Formal learning, preceded by basic computer training, commenced
in July 2004. According to the project partners, the PPP has already
proven to be successful, as Dr Ngoato Takalo from North West
University explains: “Our conviction of developing the skills of
our teachers using technology has come true with the support of
national and international partners.” Private sector project partner
SAP agrees that “ICTs have been accepted as a useful supplement
to existing methodologies. Participants apply the lessons learned
in their own classroom.” SAP sees its engagement as an invest-
ment in future business areas and emerging markets in the
developing world. Merz believes that by considering the needs of
developing societies, SAP can improve its software products, for
example, with regards to usability or robustness.
The ADP is an example of successful ICT mainstreaming in the
area of education. Often, however, basic infrastructure impedi-
ments hinder the rollout of such projects. The provision of ICT
infrastructure is thus another important development issue where
private sector involvement is indispensable.
Celtel – creating business solutions that work for the poor
Founded in 1998, today Celtel is the mobile phone operator with
the largest footprint in Africa, connecting 30 per cent of the conti-
nent’s population in 13 countries, including Malawi, Burkina
Faso, Uganda, Kenya and Sierra Leone. The example of Celtel
demonstrates that ICT projects can be both effective in terms of
development impact and profitable at the same time.
Celtel was a pioneer in meeting Africa’s need for communica-
tions infrastructure: In 1998 there were only two million mobile
The teacher Philip Tsimanes’ appraisal echoes a number of positive assessments of the Africa Drive Project: “Getting into dialogue with people across
the world via the Internet was an eye-opening exercise.”
Photo: SAP