MIT Solve

Solution Overview

Solution Name:

ACCESS TO ICT IN RURAL AREA OF UGANDA

One-line solution summary:

In response to fight against the (COVID-19) pandemic, we intend to set up information resource centre in rural areas of Uganda.

Pitch your solution.

The global community has been overwhelmed by the novel corona virus disease (COVID-19) pandemic that started in Wuhan China towards the end of 2019. To date COVID-19 has claimed close to 823,000 lives with almost 8,264,400 cases. As other countries are progressing well in managing this crisis the magnitude on the African continent is yet to be defined due to the relatively earlier stages of this pandemic and modeling predicts that approximately 446,135 deaths could happen. Novus Terra intends to set up computer resources to help the local people have knowledge on how to use computer related tools

What specific problem are you solving?

Principles of communications indicate that information dissemination is complete when the receiver or end-user successfully receives, decodes such information and provides the desired feedback to the sender. Any factor limiting such flow of events significantly affects the achievement of set objectives. In the case of COVID-19 whose health promotion campaigns have relied significantly on user friendly ICT platforms to achieve wider coverage, increasing ICT awareness especially to the vulnerable communities would spread up control efforts. So far, almost 90% of effective ICT users live in urbanized areas thereby creating a communication gap with the rural communities1.
Based on that observation above, we started a company operating under Novus Terra Uganda Limited 9 years ago to fill this unmet need in the areas of Mubende, Kassanda and Masaka specializing in increasing ICT literacy and coverage to the local people. We have worked with a number of youth organizations and business enterprises in Uganda and worldwide to bridge this technology gap through training and innovations suitable for the local communities. We recently conducted a survey targeting the youth who are the main pillars of societal transformation and we found that in Kassanda district only 10% had access to smart phones.

What is your solution?

To establish computer youth training programs through a training of trainers model from each sub-county that could be deployed for community support;
To gather reported contact community information about possible COVID-19 exposure through call centers and volunteers
To produce simplified community awareness health information into locally consumable formats in terms of visual imagery, language and audio forms.
To educate people on how to use smart phones as a source of rightful COVID-19 information; and develop user friendly applications for end-end business and telehealth.
To manage on-line media communication campaigns using a top-bottom approach.

Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?

The local people in the rural areas of Kassanda, Mityana, Mubende and greater Masaka and especially those who can not use computers and related technologies efficiently.

Which dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?

Enable small and new businesses, especially in untapped communities, to prosper and create good jobs through access to capital, networks, and technology

In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?

Mityana, Mityana, Uganda

What is your solution’s stage of development?

Concept: An idea being explored for its feasibility to build a product, service, or business model based on that idea

Who is the primary delegate for your solution?

Chief Executive Officer