Proponents are asked to submit this form electronically, either as an attachment to an email, or mailed in to the office on a diskette. Proponents should use MS Word or Word Perfect for the proposal. While no particular graphical form is required for an infoDev proposal, it should be structured as a response to the requests for information listed below.
|
|
| Activity ID number: (to be completed by infoDev) |
|
|
1. Activity Title (one line only)African Component of the Global University SystemPrepared by John C. Afele, Ph.D Lane Smith, Ph.D and Kofi V. Anani, Ph.D
|
| 2. Date of Proposal. |
| 3. Name of participating organization serving as grantee. |
4. Participating organizations, with contact information. Include email addresses when available. (Note that letters of commitment may be required before award of a grant.)
Global University System: Overarching Structure
Acting President, Global University System Chairman, GLOSAS/Finland Professor and Chair Media Culture and Communication Education Hypermedia Laboratory University of Tampere P.O.Box 607 FIN-33101 Tampere FINLAND Tel: +358-3-215 6110 GSM: +358-50-567-9833 Fax: +358-3-215 7503 [email protected] http://www.uta.fi/~titava Dr. David A. Johnson, AICP Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D., P.E. University of Guelph: African Surrogate HubContact: Dr. John C. Afele [email protected] or [email protected] (In collaboration with the Office of the Dean, Ontario Agriculture College, University of Guelph)
& nbsp; b) Prof. Clarence Swanton, Chair, Department of Plant Agriculture c) Dr. Kofi Anani, Policy Consultant d) Prof. Rickey Yada, Chair, Department of Food Science e) Prof (Emer) Nora Cebotarev, Sociology and Anthropology USAID, Leland InitiativeLane Smith, Ph.D <[email protected]> Ghana Coordinating Nodes(Contact: Dr. John Afele at the University of Guelph)
|
| 5.a. Activity summary: please limit this to Half A Page only. 1. problem or opportunity to be addressed 2. proposed activities 3. the anticipated outcome. "The ink of the learned is as precious as the blood of the martyrs." (In: Ziedenberg and Till, 1997). However, "Upon all the expansion of education across the world, illiteracy has increased in the poorer countries" (Soedjatmoko, 1989). A major outcome of this project would be development of an infoculture in institutions of learning in Africa. That is, an information affluent society to take advantage of the merging information societies and its privileges. Inclusion of basic schools in the African component of the Global University System would ensure the acquisition of this new learning culture at an early stage of education. The concept of the Global University System is an integrated knowledge flow, from childhood through formal school years to a life-long learning system. Thus the African Component of the Global University System features connectivity for basic school, junior and senior schools, technical and vocational institutions, to universities and adult-learning mechanisms with Ghana as the pilot country. The major first target will be to:
The overall framework is to test the hypothesis that global knowledge can be concentrated within a target rural African community as brain power to decode and integrate indigenous African knowledge into modern knowledge or enhanced local knowledge. Enhanced knowledge is desirable for resolving local crises, human capacity development, rural poverty alleviation and environmental rejuvenation for human-human and human-environmental system sustainability. The group will develop, refine, and disseminate examples of the blended knowledge system. For example:
c. Funding Requested from infoDev (in $US): |
|
|
| 6. infoDev Program Objective? (see guidelines for explanation):
1. Creating market-friendly environments. |
| 7. infoDev Strategic Activity? (see guidelines for explanation):
1.Consensus building and awareness raising. |
| 8. Sector of Proposed Activity?:
1. Agriculture/Industry |
| 9. Grantee Organization Type?:
1. Academic/Research |
| 10. Geographic Location of Activity? (Specific country, or region if a regional project)
The target area is Africa, with emphasis on rural schools, with Ghana as primary country focus. The pilot studies in the proposal are in three administrative districts of the Volta Region of Ghana and the four national universities (outside these districts) which have a mandate for this region as well.. The pilot would serve as centres of innovation and following positive evaluation and Best Practice Assessment would be replicated elsewhere. Ghana was the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to gain independence from Europe and in that capacity has established itself as one of the primary centres of innovation in education, economic restructuring strategies, and democratization and decentralisation of rulership. Thus Ghana served as U.S. President, Bill Clinton's "Gateway to Africa." The general "booklessness" state and "information hunger" of Africa are visible in Ghana. Typical features of indigenous African knowledge and practices, e.g., Traditional Birth Attendants, indigenous healers, Faith Healing or Charismatic Churches, and indigenous governance mechanisms (the repository of indigenous African knowledge) which could form the basis for incorporating indigenous knowledge into the blend of knowledge, are transparent in the Ghanaian rural structure. Informal dialogue has already been entered into between the proponents and the target region in an eight-week field studies in Ghana during which networks were established among national institutions, indigenous leaders, the Kpando and Hohoe District Councils, and individuals at the national and district levels. (This report is available by request.). The target area has three urban communities (Ho, Hohoe, and Kpandu) and significant towns such as Peki, Kpedze, Anfoega, Logba and Ve. There are national libraries located in the four corners of Ho, Kpandu, Hohoe and Peki, into which the pilot could be tied. The three districts have a total of 350 primary schools, 240 junior schools, 30 senior schools. There are four universities nation-wide. In terms of enrolment: 60,000 primary school pupils, 26,000 junior schools, and 10,000 senior schools and some 20,000 students in four universities and polytechnics. The proposal would impact primary school and Junior Secondary Schools in two villages (Woadze and Anfoeta) and two towns (Ho Mawuli Primary School and one in Kpandu); Six Senior Secondary Schools and two Polytechnics to be accessed via the town libraries in (Ho, Kpandu, Hohoe, Kpedze and Peki), four universities (Accra, Kumasi, Cape-Coast, Kumasi and Tamale) and Accra Polytechnic. At least 50% of participants (pupils, students, and instructors) will be female. The villages would provide examples of the types of connectivity schemes required to reach areas without landlines while the towns and urban centres would enable sharing of resources among multiple institutions. For example, Ho has two SSS (Mawuli Secondary School and OLA Secondary School) and Ho Polytechnic while Kpandu has two SSS (Kpandu Secondary School and Bishop Herman Secondary School) and Kpandu Technical Institute. The shared national educational system within Ghana and between Ghana and the rest of Africa through the African Virtual University program and the Association of African Universities would allow for diffusion of positive elements to sub-regional and regional levels. Urban centres, towns and villages in the pilot area where the project would be situated and others which might benefit indirectly include (with rough estimates of population size):
|
|
|
| 11. What is the problem or opportunity that this activity addresses?
Sub-Saharan Africa's economic, technological, political and social emancipation and realisation of the New African Renaissance, would depend on the manner and extent to which it is able to access, assess, and integrate global knowledge, particularly critical technologies, into its indigenous knowledge platform. Nowhere is human security as threatened as in sub-Saharan Africa. The strength of any human civilization is its human resource base and knowledge system, however, Africa's ability to provide knowledge to its citizenry through education, was based on an elitist system which served only about 20% well, leaving the majority rural populations to Stone Age practices. Obviously, attempts to substitute indigenous African Knowledge and Ideas with alien theories in the development process have been expensive failures. The African Component of the Global University System describes the philosophical bases and themes, and the required knowledge networks to generate the blend of indigenous and modern knowledge systems and translation into integrated practical policy tools for the benefit of some of the world's poorest. It concentrates on critical technologies while conversant of the need to modernise and utilise indigenous governance systems to provide the peaceful domain in which advances in technology can be harnessed. Intellectualization of Indigenous African Knowledge for sustainable livelihoods, is built on the following issues:
Knowledge and ideas as critical inputs in economic development, stem from education which enables making informed decisions about social, political, economic, and ecological harmony. However, upon all the expansion of education across the world, illiteracy has increased in the poorer countries (Soedjatmoko, 1989). Access to education in Africa has continued to be limited at all levels. resulting in the lowest literacy rates in the world. The most crucial stages in human education would be the early ages, as this would determine a community's ability to rejuvenate itself. However, in sub-Saharan Africa, the primary school age population is the most deprived in knowledge resources. Primary school age population in Africa is increasing at about 3.3 per cent annually while school enrolment for the group is rising by only 2.2. per cent. To address Africa's chronic educational deficiency, the Assembly of Heads of State and Governments of the Organization of African Unity adopted the Decade for Education 1997-2006 (Resolution AHG/Res. (251 XXXII)) in June 1996 (Africa Economic Report, 1998) with the objective of removing obstacles which impede progress toward "Education for All." The international community as a whole has also resolved to strengthen educational systems at all levels in The 1995 Social Summit (Plan of Action) by calling for the creation of the necessary conditions for "... ensuring universal access to basic education and lifelong educational opportunities while removing economic and socio-cultural barriers to the exercise of the right to education as a precondition for an open political and economic system which requires access by all to knowledge, education and information." But Africa's education and research communities are facing severe problems at all levels, therefore our designs should have the perspective of integrated distance learning and research. The West African Examination Council released its annual review recently. The examination board is responsible for secondary and high school examinations in Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra-Leone, and The Gambia. That is GCE O and A levels. It said "... there was a high failure rate in the November/December 1998 SSCE for private candidates ... in which the Chief Examiners reported "massive show of poor knowledge on the rules of grammar." In a separate case, the Committee of Vice Chancellors and Principals and vice-chancellors of universities of Ghana met on September 23, 1999 and deliberated on the current crisis in funding tertiary education and observed that $BE1(Jurchase of items such as chalk, chemicals, books and journals, equipment and what goes into direct teaching has been virtually impossible. This has made it very difficult for the Universities to effectively carry out their programmes. $BG (Jbr>http://www.africanews.org/west/ghana/stories/19991102_feat6.html Or the state of scientific investigations which could be generalized for Africa: The Director-General of Ghana$BCT(J Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) said $BEU(Jhe new expenditure framework could not provide the needed funds to address demand-driven researches. Prof. Alhassan said the awareness had been created but the commitment to practise does not appear to be total and it is contributing to low performance. Other factors were lack of seed money to carry out projects through pilot-phase testing. $BG (Jbr>http://www.africanews.org/west/ghana/stories/19991103_feat2.html IT and EducationConventional teaching and learning methods, however, have become inadequate in the wake of deepening illiteracy, paucity of well-trained teachers and diminishing resource allocation toward education (d'Orville, 1996). Innovative teaching and learning schemes are therefore required if sub-Saharan Africa should ensure the evolution of its civilization in the face of globalization. Rapid advancements in IT herald unprecedented potential for the resolution of the knowledge hunger in rural sub-Saharan Africa. However, teledentsity, the principal index of IT utilization, in sub-Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa, is only 0.48 telephone per 100 population while the region's rural peoples (70% of the population) share only 228,000 telephone lines (d'Orville, 1996). In Ghana, for example, teledensity is 0.31 lines per 100 people nationally but some 40% of the nation's population (of 18 million) contained in the Volta, Upper, Northern, and Brong-Ahafo administrative Regions share 3,800 telephone lines, or 0.06 lines per 100 people. The Ghana Government's Telecommunications Policy for an Accelerated Development Programme 1994-2000 for telecommunications seeks to meet short-term demands in telecommunications by providing 100,000 new lines but businesses are the priority of that program while overall demand is estimated at 300,000 - 500,000. The government has acknowledged that network growth of about 35% pa would be required to meet even the lower end of demand estimates; that is a network growth rate of almost two times the level achieved by some more advanced economies. The government's connectivity target for rural Ghana, even if achieved, would mean one public telephone line in each village of 500 people, which is far less than the modest five lines per 100 population recommended by the International Communication Union. Considering that the investment cost in telecommunications in Ghana is about $1,500 - $4,200 per line, the chances of educational reform via IT are unrealistic except innovative methods in communication and education are devised. What is needed is a poor person's learning system which, in this case, would enable an entire community to utilise a few units of the convergence of television, radio, telephone, Internet, CD-ROM, and print media, to offer new prospects in the delivery of sophisticated information to the previously $BAV(Jneconomic' regions of the world. That is, IT systems in development of school curricula in rural Africa should be adapted to local realities. The impact of IT on local education demands planning at national and regional levels so as to make these tools relevant to socio-cultural needs. This proposal features development of an enabling educational environment which would include integration of all data on Africa and permit dissemination of such data, as well as extend the oral storytelling of the African traditional system. It is said that "an archive is the most precious gift a generation bequeaths onto the next." Oral traditions of information storage and retrieval in Africa should therefore be viewed with scrutiny in the age of IT. Njinya-Mujinya and Habomugisha (1998) have called for the establishment of rural information or data banks in Africa to document Indigenous livelihoods and as a means to redressing the "booklessness" state of rural Africa. The advent of IT in rural Africa should seek to tie the notion of telecentres into this rural infobank concept as a process toward the intellectualization of African tradition, and for building human capacity in rural Africa. Essentially, such an approach would integrate formal school curricula development, adult education programs, and continuous learning systems. Thus the role of national library systems, university faculties of education and communications, ministries of education and information services or their variations, should be revised to reflect the need for modern information storage and retrieval systems. Gender ComponentAt least 50% of participants - pupils, students and instructors will be female. Access to lower levels of the educational structure in Ghana (basic and secondary schools) might be "gender neutral," however, female pupils and students face difficulties above their male colleagues in career drives and available time to prepare for competitive national test scores which determine a pupil or student's advancement on the educational ladder. For example, domestic duties detain girls at home while the boys play and socialise; keeping one's appearance, e.g., braiding hair, etc consume time, and the social norm of a young woman being married off eventually to a richer man, prey on the ability of girls and young women to pursue concentrated academic and career drives. The "gender in development" philosophy of our initiatives is been based on substantive, systematic and innovative diagnosis of the state of women, family and development, and finding appropriate solutions. For example: 40% of pregnancy related maternal deaths occur in Africa, largely because most of the child deliveries are under the supervision of traditional birth attendants who could be provided with some internship programs by municipal hospitals, to minimise infections and stop excessive bleeding; rural African women give birth anywhere - at home, on farm roads, etc; many young African girls do not have reproductive health counselling; etc. There is a need for intellectualizing and coordinating women activities and professions, such as trading in African textiles or other retailing forms, for effective participation in the globalized market. We have made contact with female professors at the University of Ghana, and others in the information sector of Ghana (e.g., a woman producer at the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation; at the Ministry of Education; at the Ghana Information Services; and at the Home Science Department of University of Ghana, Legon) towards establishing a Women's Study Program in the Ghanaian university structure. We are also aware of statements that a Women's University would soon be established in Ghana, as partnership with an African-American group and the national government in Ghana. Our ability to interact with such an institution is foreseen. |
| 12. What is the anticipated outcome of the activity? (who will benefit, what type and magnitude of benefits)
A major outcome of this project would be development of an infoculture in institutions of learning in Africa. That is, an information affluent society to take advantage of the merging information societies and its privileges. Inclusion of basic schools in the African component of the Global University System would ensure the acquisition of this new learning culture at an early stage of education. The proposal would achieve this status through development of the virtual classroom for all ages of learning in Africa, with emphasis on basic education and adult or continuous learning in rural areas, where about 70% of the African population live. This would transform hitherto information-starved communities into learning societies. At the university level, the goals would be connectivity to global information systems, such as matching university systems in the developed and other developing countries, and to global centres of research and knowledge, e.g., via on-line library and journal sharing. The three districts have a total of 350 primary schools, 240 junior schools, 30 senior schools. There are four universities nation-wide. In terms of enrolment: 60,000 primary school pupils, 26,000 junior schools, and 10,000 senior schools and some 20,000 students in four universities and polytechnics. The proposal would impact primary school and Junior Secondary Schools in two villages (Woadze and Anfoeta) and two towns (Ho Mawuli Primary School and one in Kpandu); Six Senior Secondary Schools and two Polytechnics to be accessed via the town libraries in (Ho, Kpandu, Hohoe, Kpedze and Peki), four universities (Accra, Kumasi, Cape-Coast, Kumasi and Tamale) and Accra Polytechnic. The goals are:
The model is for personalized learning eventually while beginning with the community as the focus group until such a time that individual classrooms in rural African can be connected to global information systems. |
| 13. What specific activities will the activity undertake? (That is, what will the activity produce, such as training, databases created, policy dialogue, etc. These are the actions that will have the impact described in question 11.)
"Convergence of IT" would enable identification of excellent formal school teachers of defined school courses, or the knowledge of local trade and artisan groups and practitioners of rural occupations (e.g., toolsmiths, pottery makers, market women) in the country and the capture of their course deliveries or trade practices into web-based systems, CD-ROM, HF-Radio broadcasts, video documentation and text-based manuals for pupils of other schools, and adult communities. University LevelTo establish a Satellite Earth Station at the University of Ghana, Legon which will serve as the hub in Ghana and connected to the African Host of the Global University System at the University of Guelph, Ontario Canada. Three other universities in Ghana (Kumasi, Cape-Coast, and Tamale) will be connected to the Legon node. The goal is to enable sharing of on-line journals and library information systems among the Ghanaian universities and external sources of learning. The program will interact with the African Virtual University of the World Bank of which University of Ghana is already a node. Also, interaction with the Association of African Universities which is located in Ghana will allow for diffusion of positive elements at regional and sub-regional levels. National Research System LinksOur plan entails interaction between the universities and national research systems of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (C.S.I.R), through the Science and Technology Policy Research Institute (STEPRI) and the Institute for Scientific & Technological Information (INSTI), both of the C.S.I.R. Indigenous InstitutionsA unique feature of our design is the interaction of formal educational system and research centres with indigenous institutions for advancement of indigenous knowledge and practices, such as tools and process. Technical and Vocational Third-cycle InstitutionsThese institutions are critical in middle-level human resource development for the private, government bureaucracies, and trade sectors, e.g., secretarial, management economics and accounting, tools and engineering, hotel and food industry, agricultural and health management and extension services. The efficiency of such sectors, e.g., human resource, managerial and technologies are required for the perceived expansion into the global market. These institutions will be coordinated from the Office of the Principal, Accra Polytechnic, in Ghana. It will entail development of on-line training in the defined disciplinary areas. Basic School and Second-cycle Educational SystemMawuli Primary School, which is of high reputation, would lead the basic school project, in development of a computer literate culture among the other schools and pupils in the target area:
|
14. What type of inputs, such as human and financial resources, facilities, etc. will be required for these activities? Infrastructure
Content Development
Administration
Interactivity among agencies such as the Bureau of Ghanaian Languages, universities' Departments of Linguistics, Languages and Communications, Computing Science, health personnel, indigenous institutions and associations in the project design would lead to decoding indigenous health knowledge into the modern format and vice-versa. Nodes and sub-nodes:An Earth Station will be established at the University of Ghana which will become the major Internet Service Provider (ISP) $BK(JThe ISP in Ghana will be connected to the Northern hub which will be located at the University of Guelph, Canada. Junior and High schools, and primary schools will be cascaded down from the Legon node and equipped with convergent information tools (e.g., Internet, email, HF-Radio, CD-ROM, Digital Camera, Scanner, VCR, Fax, Copiers, Laser Printers, etc.) with wireless and remote access devices for sharing and ensuring universal access. The Ghana Earth Station will serve as connectivity hub to:
|
| 15. Why is this set of activities a cost effective method of achieving the outcome described in question 12? Is there a lower cost method?
The insecurity state of Africa, particularly rural areas, is a reflection of lack of modern knowledge and consequently inefficient production systems, management of natural resources, or ensuing ethnic rivalries. Knowledge has become the most strategic asset in development today. However, conventional learning methods would be inadequate in wake of the extent of the decay of the African state. A learning system which is both interactive and widely diffused would be the necessary requirement to reach so many people at different learning states simultaneously. There are several connectivity schemes targeting Africa, however, most of such schemes are devoid of realistic integration of the indigenous platform into the designs. The program content is based on modernising the indigenous knowledge system and to be accessed by the majority of the target population. The proposed activities provide the lowest cost-effective method to promote the use of advanced broadband Internet for the benefit of societies in Africa. The World Bank and African Partners have been operating the African Virtual University system. There is also the Association of African Universities. Both of these programs include the University of Ghana Satellite Earth Station and hub. Positive elements of the pilot would therefore be easily transferable across the West African sub-region and the African region. The University of Guelph which may serve as host of the African Program is well-adapted to the critical needs of rural Africa. Guelph has been involved in educating many citizens of Africa through various programs. This proposal would enable the university extend its knowledge development program in Africa beyond those students who are physically present in the Guelph environment to the larger mass of students in Africa through sharing on-line journals and library resources. Wireless Internet requires (i) less regulation, (ii) less initial investments, and (iii) less operating costs. Distance Learning and telemedicine would provide greater flexibility, enhanced content and greater accessibility. |
16. Why would this activity be important for the rest of society? Does it represent a general solution to the problem discussed in question 11? Are its activities replicable? How will other groups be able to utilize the experience of this activity?
|
|
|
17. What are the specific deliverables to infoDev from this activity?
|
18. How will the activity be sustained following the end of infoDev grant funding, both institutionally and financially?
|
19. What are the major risks to the success of this activity, and how will they be mitigated?
5. Introduction of a new learning tool could be a hindrance to performance initially. Therefore, the infoculture development includes and emphasises skill acquisition at early stages of education 6. A tendency for dominance of technologies by male pupils and students. This program would require 50% of participants to be female, including instructors. |
| 20. How will activities and outcomes be measured, and evaluated? Include plans and schedule for measuring and evaluating impact.
Critical Success Factors in utilisation of IT and distance education methods will be applied in the continuous assessment/review of the scheme. The benefits of an educated and knowledgeable society is a qualitative factor. It cannot be easily measured. However, performance of pupils/students in national tests would be one method of evaluating basic school connectivity if the content is well-designed; the individual participant would be assessed by personal satisfaction in knowledge enrichment. Programs targeting tertiary technical and vocational institutions would be measured by increased output in the trade assigned, e.g., if the sector has been able to derive more competent personnel.
|
21. How will ownership and control of physical or intellectual assets of the activity be determined? Please certify that infoDev will have title to all intellectual property produced using grant funds.
|
| 22. What is the activity schedule? Include beginning and end date, as well as major milestones. |
|
|
| 23. Resources required for activity. Provide separate columns for expenses funded by infoDev and other sources. This budget should be compatible with the inputs listed in question 14. Where possible, disaggregate the budget by activities listed in question 13. For example:
Item Units Amount infoDev funding Other Funding Total Cost |
| 24. Sources of Financing? Include all sources of financing, including contributions other than infoDev and in-kind contributions by proponent organizations. (Written commitments for non-infoDev funding will be required prior to grant award. In the absence of written commitments, infoDev may award a grant contingent upon the securing of co-financing). |
|
|
| 25. Proponent Capability Statements |
26. Resumes of proposed staff
Biosketch of John AfeleJohn is Director of International Programs for Africa at the Ontario Agricultural College, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada. He has been described among three other "African Making News" on the Voice of America Radio (Africa Program: Voices of Africa, September 25 and 26, 1999). John obtained a doctorate degree from the University of Guelph in 1990, M.Sc. from the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium (1986) and B.Sc (Hons) from the University of Ghana in 1984. John and colleague, Dr. Kofi Anani, have defined The Indigenous African Perspectives on Sustainable Livelihoods and the necessary international and local network units whose activities would translate into a synthesis and application of knowledge which would be relevant to the cultural and philosophical platforms of the target region in promoting sustainable livelihoods. John is a member of the Diaspora Focus Group within the African Development Forum of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. The African Development Forum held its inaugural session in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia, and is an attempt to define Africa's entry into the knowledge economy. He also participated in the infoDev symposium The New Networked Economy (Washington D.C., November 9 - 19, 1999). He is also a member of the Science and Technology Working Group of the Constituency for Africa, and was a panelist in the Ronald H. Brown African Affairs Series during the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Forum (September 15, 1999, Howard University/Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.). John is also a member of "ICT for Rural Development" working group of Arbeitsgemeinschaft fuer Tropische und Subtropische Agrarforschung-Council for Tropical and Subtropical Agricultural Research (ATSAF e.V.) with whom he was a co-organizer of a Symposium on "IT and Development" which was held within the 2nd Conference of the European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture (EFITA/99) on September 28, 1999, in Bonn, Germany. John and his colleague (Dr. Kofi Anani) also initiated an on-going exploration of affiliation between the Sustainable Livelihoods Program of the Bureau for Development Policy of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the University of Guelph. John has also served as a panellist of the World Bank's "Technet Think Tank for Identifying Critical Technologies for Developing Countries" (Feb 15 - March 15, 1999). These perspectives also have been encouraged by members of the United States Congressional African-American caucus, such as Representative Carrie Meek; Malik Chaka (professional staff, House sub-committee on Africa); Florida State Legislators Beryl Robert-Burke and James Bush III; Mr. Melvin Foote, Executive Director of the Constituency for Africa; the Foundation for Democracy in Africa and the Africa Leadership Forum. The perspectives are also encouraged by Caroline Wagner, Special Assistant to the Director of the Science & Technology Policy Institute, and Senior Policy Analyst at the RAND Corporation and Prof. Takeshi Utsumi, Chair of GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation Association in the U.S.A.and Laureate of Lord Perry Award for Excellence in Distance Education. John has provided the background paper for Africa's participation in Emerging Global Electronic Distance Learning (EGEDL '99) which held an International Workshop/Conference at the University of Tampere, Finland, August 9 to 13, 1999. John is also a member of the Ghana Computer Literacy and Distance Education Project (GhaCLAD) of which he is chair of the Research Committee. John is also among the group which is providing the structural framework for extending telehealth programs from local hospital nodes to unconnected rural communities under the Africa Telemedicine Project design which is a joint initiative of the Africa Telemedicine Consortium and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). A micro-credit scheme, which is based on the indigenous Ghanaian forms of social capital (susu and fidodo), is being developed by the group for PlaNet Bank (Paris) and the Ghana National Investment Bank. John co-edited and contributed a chapter to a book [Now and in the Next Millennium,1990s-3000 CE: Assessing Africa's Scholarly Publishing Needs and Industry1999 Edition, Journal of African Religion and Philosophy (JARP)] and has been active on many Listservs, e.g., the Global Knowledge for Development Listserv. European Union
Tapio Varis is currently Professor and Chair of Media Culture and Communication Education at the University of Tampere Finland (Journalism and Mass Communication and Department of Teacher Education), consultant on new learning technologies for the Finnish Ministry of Education and advisor to several international organizations. In 1996-97, he was UNESCO Chair of Communication Studies at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain. He has also been a faculty member of the European Peace University, the University of Art and Design in Helsinki and Communication and Media Scholar at the University of Helsinki. Tapio Varis is a former Rector of the University for Peace in Costa Rica and Professor of Media Studies in the University of Lapland, Finland. He has published approximately 200 scientific contributions, the latest being Media of the Knowledge Age, published by Helsinki University Press 1995 (in Finnish). He is listed in Who's Who in the World (1984 & 1995) and Men of Achievement (1986 & 1995). USADavid A. JohnsonUniversity of Tennessee, Knoxville, TNDr. Johnson, AICP, is Professor of Planning at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and has been at UTK for 16 years. He is also an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Previously he taught in and directed planning departments at Syracuse University and Ball State University. Prof. Johnson received bachelors and masters degrees in architecture and city planning from Yale University and a PhD in regional planning from Cornell University. He has been a Fulbright Scholar in India, Thailand, and the Soviet Union, and is a past President of the Fulbright Association of the United States. He has directed educational projects in Amazonas, Brazil and Coimbra, Portugal. Professor Johnson also has served as a professional planner on the staffs of the Washington National Capital Planning Commission and the Regional Plan Association of New York. His published writings have focused on planning theory and history and most recently have examined planning activities of the Tennessee Valley Authority and the development of the New York Metropolitan Region. He has served on the editorial board of the Journal of the American Planning Association and is the author of Planning the Great Metropolis, Chapman & Hall, 1996. Dr. Johnson is active in international distance education and is an advisor to the Global University. He was a member of the planning design team for Tennessee's Bicentennial Mall at the State Capitol in Nashville, dedicated in June 1996. Takeshi UtsumiGLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation Association, U.S.A.Global University System (GUS), New York, NYTakeshi Utsumi, Ph.D., P.E., is Chairman of the GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation Association in the USA (GLOSAS/USA) and President of the Global electronic) University (GU/USA) System (a divisional activity of GLOSAS/USA). He is the 1994 Laureate of Lord Perry Award for the Excellence in Distance Education. His public service has included political work for the deregulation of global telecommunications and the use of e-mail through ARPANET, Telenet and the Internet; working to extend American university courses to the Third World; the conduct of innovative distance teaching trials with "Global Lecture Hall(GLH)" multipoint-to multipoint multimedia interactive videoconferences using hybrid technologies; and lectures, consultation and research in process control, management science, systems science and engineering at the University of Michigan, the University of Pennsylvania, M.I.T. and many universities, governmental agencies and large firms in Japan and other countries. Highlights among his more than 150 related scientific papers and books are presentations at the Summer Computer Simulation Conferences (which he created and named) and the Society for Computer Simulation International. He is a member of various scientific and professional groups, including the Chemists Club (New York, NY); Columbia University Seminar on Computers, Man and Society New York, NY); Fulbright Association (Washington, D.C.); International Center for Integrative Studies (ICIS) (New York, NY); and the Society of Satellite Professionals International (Washington, D.C.). He received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the Polytechnic University in New York and his M.S.in Ch.E. from Montana State University, after studying at the University of Nebraska under a Fulbright scholarship. His professional experience in simulation and optimization of petrochemical and refinery processes was gained at Mitsubishi Research Institute, Tokyo; Stone & Webster Engineering Corp., Boston; Mobil Oil Corporation and Shell Chemical Company, New York; and Asahi Chemical Industry, Inc., Tokyo. Special Assistance Provided by: Steve McCarty |
| By submitting an activity proposal to infoDev, proponents authorize the infoDev Program to make public the information in fields 1- 10, for the purpose of promoting contacts between proponents and other interested parties.
infoDev Work Program Administrator Phone: (202) 458-5153 |
Back to
[ Top of this page | GLOSAS home page | List of Activities ]