UgaBYTES

UgaBYTES' strategic objectives are to:

• play an advocacy role and promote awareness of the potential of ICTs among the general public and decision makers at all levels;
• promote information sharing among stakeholders with a view of maximising opportunities and benefits of deploying ICTs;
• develop strategic and catalytic initiatives aimed at stimulating the adoption of ICTs in the rural development process;
• maintain a database of the status and trends of ICTs in East Africa;
• develop software applications;
• develop and maintain networks with 70% of ICT development donors and mover organisations engaged in rural development in the East African sub-region by the year 2015;
• engage in research and development activities in 65% of the already existing rural multi-purpose community telecentres and community radio stations in an effort to develop and package local content and indigenous knowledge in ICT formats; and
• develop local capacity to manage, package, and utilise information in multi-purpose telecentres of at least 60 advantaged trainee groups per year until 2010.

The organisation's goals include:

• increasing the network partnership, size, and strength by 20% each year;
• maintaining the network through coordination, empowerment, and building of a strong shareable information database on rural ICT performance;
• maintaining a lead in rural ICT developmental research, monitoring, and evaluation, with a growth rate of 25% per year; and
• maintaining a lead in capacity development trends in local communities at 60 resource persons per year until 2010 with a multiplier effect of 1 trainee to 10 new trainees per year.

In pursuit of its mission and objectives, UgaBYTES undertakes a number of activities that include the following:

• organising and convening regular stakeholders' fora for sharing information and strategies to promote ICTs in East Africa;
• maintaining an electronic database, newsletter, and mailing list to highlight the trends, opportunities, challenges, and available initiatives for ICT development in East Africa;
• researching and publishing issues, challenges, and opportunities, as well as any other matters of concern to the advancement of ICTs for development in the sub-region;
• developing an ICT directory for projects, initiatives, and experts;
• carrying out prospective studies related to ICTs in the sub-region within the perspective of the global digital divide;
• implementing ICT programmes to demonstrate the potential of ICTs in the development process;
• providing technical consultancies and support in the planning, designing, execution, and evaluation of ICT-related activities; and
• developing partnerships with institutions, agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and foundations within and outside East Africa aimed at advancing the general objectives of UgaBYTES.

In 2002, UgaBYTES also introduced a software package that was aimed at making the work of project managers in community ICT programmes easier. The Telecentre Manager was designed to help managers at telecentres in Uganda track users' activities each time they use telecentre services. Click here to download the Telecentre Manager.

Technology.

The UgaBYTES Initiative was formed in 2000 as a membership non-profit organisation. It set out to rally telecentre practitioners, researchers and development agencies to network and address issues collectively. The organisation's activities are funded by member contributions, consultancies, grants, and partnership arrangements.