By Brenda Zulu

Microsoft and ESAMI are today launching the first session of the ‘Schools of Government’ initiative in Arusha, Tanzania.

In a statement made available to Instablogs, Twenty-four trainers will undergo an ICT policy training programme that is based on a curriculum that was piloted in conjunction with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), USC School of Public Policy in California and the Dubai School of Government in the United Arab Emirates.The first session will runs for five days starting on from 19th to 23rd January 2009.

“Microsoft Corporation has, for the past two years, worked to develop a programme that can be used worldwide to train government officials in IT-related policy and planning issues. We are pleased to announce that this programme has been officially launched in East Africa,” said Dr. Cheick Modibo Diarra, Microsoft’s chairman for Africa.

“Microsoft pioneered this program in Africa from 2007 with the intention to build the capability of African educational institutions by providing them with the tools to equip current and future government leaders, officials and policy makers with a modern education on technology policy trends and policies that enable the success of ICT projects and programs,” he says.

Technology is a key element that can help accelerate Africa’s growth and industrialisation - whether it is technology being used by government agencies to assist with the delivery of better civil services, or technology being used to transform education to benefit the people themselves.

However, World Bank data suggests that 50% of ICT projects in Africa fail and that this is typically due to a combination of poor initial design along with insufficient execution and maintenance capabilities.

“Good policy lays the foundation to overcome such problems - and considers critical factors that underline all infrastructure needs, in order to not only create successful and sustainable individual projects, but also projects which complement each other as part of a broader governmental system,” adds Dr. Diarra.

“The program curriculum is developed in English and the possibility of developing content in Portuguese for subsequent training in Lusophone countries, such as Mozambique and Angola, is being considered,” adds Professor Bonard Mwape, director general for ESAMI.

“The goal of this program is to put the building blocks in place for a sustainable, multi-year government training program on ICT policy for the whole of Africa.”

“This cannot be achieved by providing a limited number of workshops to government officials,” he adds. “Only by creating a structure and capacity within existing training institutions to conduct ongoing programs will this initiative bear the expected positive outcomes.”

The ESAMI programme follows on from a similar, highly-successful memorandum of understanding that was concluded between Microsoft and the Centre Africain d’Etudes Supérieures en Gestion (CESAG) earlier in 2008.

CESAG is an institution specialising in the delivery of government-related training and leadership capacity building across French-speaking Africa.

Along with a number of other citizenship programmes that are operated across Africa, Microsoft believes that this initiative addresses a huge challenge with regard to the reasons that ICT projects very rarely work in Africa.

“The steps to economic prosperity in Africa could almost be considered pieces of a grand puzzle, and effective ICT policy implementation training is one piece of this entire puzzle,” Dr. Diarra says.

“It cannot work on its own. Instead, it requires a number of other pieces in order to complete Microsoft’s vision of how it would like to help the people of Africa meet the economic and social demands of the 21st century.

“Other pieces of the puzzle will fall into place over time as initiatives like the Microsoft Leadership Lecture Series and the ICT Best Practices Forum gain momentum and begin attracting more interest from other African countries.”

In October 2008, Microsoft and the Eastern and Southern African Management Institute (ESAMI) signed a memorandum of understanding to develop and deliver a programme aimed at providing ICT policy training to government officials.

By Brenda Zulu

President Rupiah Banda, who is Commander In-chief of the Armed Forces of Zambia, said his government was working hard to improve the conditions of service for the defence and security personnel.

He said this on 10th January 2009 when he held a scheduled Defence Council Meeting where various issues concerning the welfare of the defence and security personnel were discussed.

He appealed to political leaders to desist from using issues involving the Security and Defence Forces for their political propaganda, which could bring unnecessary discontent in the nation.

President Banda noted with sadness the trend by some opposition leaders who have continued issuing careless statements that border on inciting the Defence and Security personnel by claiming that government was not addressing the problems affecting them.

President Banda said his government through the Defence Council has addressed several issues concerning the Security and Defence Forces, including, accommodation and the general welfare of the entire personnel. He said issues concerning senior officers on contracts have also been tackled by his government.

President Banda said he has held two meetings with the Defence Council within two months after he was elected President of Zambia because he attaches great importance to the welfare of the Defence Forces.

TWAS, the academy of sciences of the developing world, Microsoft Research, and the African Academy of Science (AAS) announce the creation of the Microsoft Awards and Grants programme.

Microsoft Research, in partnership with TWAS (the academy of sciences for the developing world) and AAS (the African Academy of Sciences), will support two new programmes designed to recognize and assist scientists working in Africa in the field of computer science.

The Microsoft Award for Young Scientists will recognize young scientists in Africa whose research in computer science promises to have a positive impact in the developing world. Each year, three winners will be selected from different countries on the continent. Scientists who have received their most recent research degree within the past 10 years will be eligible. Each recipient will receive a euro €7,000 cash award.

Nominations may be made by members of national academies and senior academics. Winners will be chosen on the basis of their past achievements. The nomination and selection process will be administered by TWAS in collaboration with AAS.

The first winners of the prize will be announced in 2009. The award ceremonies will be held in Nairobi, Kenya, and organized by TWAS and AAS.

The Microsoft Grant for Scientific Meetings in Developing Countries aims to encourage the organization of international and regional scientific conferences and workshops in Africa. Microsoft will provide support in the form of travel grants for some principal speakers from abroad and/or participants from developing countries other than the country in which the event is held.

Applicants, who may be of any nationality, must be involved in the organization of international or regional scientific meetings to be held in Africa in the field of computer science. Selection will be undertaken by TWAS.

“To achieve the Millennium Development Goals, Africa must create knowledge- and skills-based wealth,” says Dr Cheick Modibo Diarra, Microsoft’s Chairman for Africa. “The prosperity of the continent is dependent on Africa’s small and medium enterprises relying on results from research and development. They can then develop locally relevant solutions and value-added opportunities that will lead to the accelerated industrialisation of Africa.”

Andrew Herbert, Managing Director of Microsoft Research Cambridge, adds: “Computer science has a key role to play in tackling some of the developing world’s greatest challenges, from education to infrastructure, and so it’s vital that we support and encourage the scientists and researchers who are working to address these issues.”

“TWAS and AAS are always eager to work with the private sector for the benefit of the developing world,” observes Mohamed H.A. Hassan, executive director of TWAS and president of AAS. “We believe that this initiative will not only mark an important step forward for science in Africa, but will also serve as a valuable model for future partnerships between international organizations and for-profit companies.”

Malaria Research Institute at Macha Mission Hospital has been able to facilitate access to the world’s medical knowledge and locally-relevant content resources for strengthening public health research through the use of e-health with the help of the internet and has also been able to develop safer methods for large scale malaria screening by detecting malaria parasite in urine or saliva than blood.

In an interview, Dr Philip Thuma Executive Director at Macha Mission Hospital said that the research was done because the institute embraced the use of the internet so that they could see what other research institutions had done and also enabled them to partner with researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s.

He explained that although not a diagnostic test for determining treatment, the method could potentially reduce the need for blood sampling in epidemiological studies where large-scale malaria screening was required. He said the large scale sampling using saliva was an important alternative for rural based communities in that when medical personal extract blood samples some communities in Zambia would think that the blood was being used for Satanism.

On the other hand Dr Thuma explained that drawing blood increases the risk of spreading HIV/AIDS and other diseases, particularly in those developing countries where both HIV/AIDS and malaria are prevalent. He added that the other problem with blood drawing for malaria test should be performed by trained personnel, whereas urine and salvia sampling does not.

“Using saliva to test malaria could be an easier and safer way to collect the information needed for studying malaria in communities. Urine on the other hand was not easy to get especially from babies,” said Dr Thuma.

He said the test uses polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a technique for duplicating and then examining unique bits of DNA from a sample, thereby allowing DNA to be multiplied in the laboratory. The same PCR technique is used for examining malaria in blood, but has never been applied to urine and saliva samples.

The study was conducted in collaboration with colleagues at the Malaria Research Institute’s research hospital in Macha, Zambia. Urine and salvia samples were obtained from 47 volunteers with malaria and 4 without, and were then examined with the PCR method. DNA from the Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite that causes malaria, was replicated at higher levels from the saliva compared to the urine samples. However, neither method was as sensitive as that using blood samples.

“Programs for monitoring anti-malarial drug and vaccine efficacy could therefore adopt such a bloodless method, while maintaining high sensitivity for clinically significant infections,” said Sungano Mharakurwa, PhD, lead author of the study and a researcher with the Malaria Research Institute in Macha.