[apc] The lives of Maasai men and women in rural Kenya’s community will never be the same now that they have access to maarifa – knowledge in the Kiswahili language. Launched in April by APC member Arid Lands Information Network (ALIN), the new Community Knowledge Centre commonly referred to as Maarifa centre lies in the heart of Massai country and is the newest of four containerised community knowledge centres in the region.
Men and women from the local communities can now walk over to the station from their village to surf (or learn to surf) the internet and ALIN’s website to learn about better agricultural practices, marketing, environmental management, as well as content generation and dissemination including the cultural knowledge of the Maasai. The centre will also facilitate delivery of e-Government services, e-Education and support skills-building among the youth from the area.
Noah Lusaka, programme manager at ALIN is responsible for the implementation of this centre and the eleven other knowledge centres, where the goal is to create local content rather than saturate rural Kenyans with foreign content, to which the communities are not as receptive. This local information can help them learn about livestock diseases, improve their pasture and develop other types of agriculture, and other communities as far as Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda have also been able to trade skills and information.
“Cybercafé in a container”: Rural Kenya's mobile internet stations
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