The Gambia Technical Training Institute (GTTI)
GTTI offers two year craft and technician training programs. The courses offered include information technology, mechanical, electrical and construction engineering. Students earn either a certificate or a diploma, and some of these qualifications are awarded or validated by British institutions such as City and Guilds of London Institute, Pitman, and the Royal Society of Arts examining board.   The DOSE has ministerial purview over GTTI.

Management Development Institute (MDI)
MDI is an in-service management training, research and consultancy institution.  Courses are part-time and include accounting, economic management, general management, information technology, and courses on gender.  MDI, in collaboration with the Personnel Management Office (PMO), also runs courses for middle and top-level managers in the civil service.  MDI is under the office of the President.

An assessment of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in The Gambia

Like most African Countries, Gambia still has a lot to do with regards to  its Information and Communication Technology Sector. The nation as a whole has made great strides to embrace the use and spread of ICT. Thanks to the  UNDP Internet Initiative for Africa (IIA) the ICT culture has already been imbibed. However, like in most developing country limited finances, lack of  IT personnel and inadequate planning pose serious problems and serve as major constraints to the sustenance of effective IT systems in the country. Through numerous projects ( of International and National nature) institutions and state departments  have been able to procure and  set up computer labs. But over the years, lack of maintenance due to various issues most often related directly or indirectly to financial constraints has prevented the country from sustaining these projects. 

On the brighter side, the Gambia already has an extremely impressive telecommunication infrastructure. Access to Telephones is wide spread and extends to the rural areas. Along side the National Telecommunications operator; GAMTEL, numerous private owned Telecenters  also exist. In any case the National Telecommunications operator is the primary ISP and the country's gateway is a satellite system from the GAMTEL  Satellite Station in Abuko, The Gambia to Teleglobe in Canada. All other ISPS make use of this gateway to provide services to their users.

However, even with the impressive telecommunication infrastructure within the country the widespread use of computers and the Internet still remains a problem. There is a high level of computer illiteracy and even though the desire to extend Internet services to rural areas exists, other numerous problems exist including the lack of  or inconsistent power supply (electricity) as well as high costs of  setting up such systems. Because of the restrictions within the country the use of satellite technology has not been adopted.

Thus, though the nation still has far to go, it can not but be mentioned that they have made considerable progress. It appears to be a recognized fact that the nation needs to not only incorporate ICT into it's national policy but there is a need for the public and private institutions (especially the educational institutions) to develop strategic IT plans.

Actual work done in The Gambia
Whilst I was at the college, I worked closely with Mr. Abdou Karim, the sole computer expert for the entire College. In the first week, we concentrated on getting the small network set up i.e. an Intranet and local area network comprising of 5 workstations and a server. This involved setting up the network components donated by The WiderNet Project, in Iowa. We set up the 5 personal computers and connected them to an eight port hub with network cables and ensured that the work stations could access the Digital Library ,(information on health, literature, general facts, etc) we had on the 60G hard drive of the server. Though a pretty simple procedure, it took us about 3 working days to actually get it set up and to a point we could call it functioning. The first week started off pretty slowly and we were faced with several issues that either just slowed us down or out rightly prevented us from completing the set up of the network. The first day at work involved the delivery of the machines and a visit round to several of the principal officers of the College. Not having the correct cables to set up the computers, we were forced to  do other things whilst we placed an order for them. Thus, the first 2 days were spent trying to familiarize myself with what was going on with regards to ICT and education in the country, see where the college was within the broader spectrum of things and to get a feel of what the decision makers, other College Staff and students felt about ICT generally and specifically in their field of specialization and their school within the college. Thus I had several discussions with various principal officers like the principal and vice principal of the college, the computer expert himself and some of the students.

By the end of the first week, we had the Intranet set up and the computers configured and working, though not perfectly. Two of the computers appeared to have developed some minor problems probably in the course of their movement from The United States to The Gambia. Having several computers available and not currently in use, the school of public health provided two more computers (in almost better condition than the ones we brought) such that by the 5th of July we had  7 workstations functioning.

The second week was basically spent preparing and conducting interviews for the needs assessment research.  In addition to the questionnaire I brought to conduct my ICT campus survey, I designed questionnaires for the various institutions I wanted to visit, for students and other ICT users. I was able to meet with the Head of the Information Technology Human Resource Development Directorate (ITHRD) a directorate under the Department of State for Education (DOSE) and the body concerned with policy issues with regards to ICT and education in the country. From this meeting, I was able to learn that attempts are being made to spread out the use of ICT in education. Presently, there are computers in each of the regional offices of the department of education across the country. Though there are only one or 2 computers in each office, they are supposedly connected to the Internet. This was also part of The Third Educations Sector project.

During the second week,  I was able to meet with the director of one of the popular ICT organizations and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the country (from these interviews, I got a better understanding of the national situation and a view of  the perspectives of the private ICT related organizations.  I was also able to pay a visit to the computer lab of the University of Gambia. This was quite a shocking experience. Though the institution had an impressive infrastructure set up, the utilization capacity was low. The University student lab was furnished with 13 computers and 1 (one) lab manager, as the sole computer expert is presently on study leave abroad.

My experience in The Gambia was very enlightening and intriguing. I have been able to discover that like the country as a whole, Gambia College, (with respect to ICT) also depends to a large extent on aid in various forms. No computer at the college was actually purchased by the Institution. They were all acquired via projects and programs of donor agencies. I was also able to see that though the country is a small one, they have made considerable progress with regard to ICT provision in educational institutions. However, the major problems seem to be related to issues such as wide spread accessibility and sustainability. For the Gambia College, there appears to be a vision but no means to transform the vision to reality. Not having a network is preventing the institution from attaining the heights it is capable of. It’s lack of a network already prevented it from benefiting from a UNDP led initiative on ICT and education in the country.  The Nation's University  and The The Gambia Technical Training Institute (GTTI) which already had networks were able to benefit from this project. The UNDP project has made it possible for these 2 institutions  to have free Internet access for a whole year (which ends in a couple of months). However, the University is still yet to come up with some sort of plan or strategy to handle the inevitable change once the one year period of free Internet Services is up and to ensure that this IT system is sustained.  GTTI on the other hand is making moves to cater for the taking over of the responsibility of the payment for this previously free service 

The last 3 weeks were spent generally fine tuning and ensuring that the small network and Intranet set up were working properly. During this time I also worked generally with the computer expert at the college and gathered more data. The 3rd week was generally lower keyed than others. Lack of light (electricity) on Monday and Tuesday completely halted all attempts to get things done. Wednesday found us working with the newly acquired computers at the School of Public Health. I spent the day ensuring that all the links were working on the Intranet and talking with some of the students of public health about who WiderNet is, what we do and my personal interest in ICT. The light situation at the college was actually much better than in the other major  areas like Bakau and Kotu. This was attributed to the fact that the college shared the  same line as the Airport and was thus known to have reliable power supply.

One thing which we were able to do during the third week was identify and rectify (with the help of the VSO personnel at the Gambia College and to the best of our ability given the available resources) the problem with the 2 problematic machines mentioned earlier in the report. For one we just played around with the cables and it worked and for the other we replaced the processor that had fallen out. However, upon fixing that problem we identified another problem; a faulty fan. Thus though the computer is presently working we are not using it but are waiting for a new fan to be acquired, either from another computer or purchased.

Though hindered by access to power, this week, the computer unit head  still worked tirelessly to get an air conditioner and a phone line put in the room. With light on Thursday, I focused on preparing a tutorial/workshop outline for introducing people to power point.

The last 2 weeks at Gambia College went by so quickly. They were fun packed, exciting with quite a lot to do. I began the second week of the second half of the program at The School of Nursing in Banjul. I administered some questionnaires to the students and talk with the acting head of the school. The school of nursing was recently given several computers. About 12, which are not functioning now, because they require different cables before they can be set up.

Tuesday, the 25th of June takes me back to Brikama. Today I begin a workshop on PowerPoint with the 3rd year students of the school of Public Health. It was such a fun experience. The students were very interested and interesting. They absorbed the information and familiarized themselves with the necessary processes very quickly. We worked together for about an hour and a half. Then they were divided into groups of 4 they were given assignments to prepare short presentations to be shown on Thursday. On Wednesday, I just worked with them by standing aside as they worked on their presentations and being there incase they had any questions and to clarify issues. On Thursday, they made some very enlightening and awesome presentations. They took their projects very seriously and were very professional in their presentations. This was one of the highlights of my stay here...working with the students and seeing them taking initiative, coming up with great designs and though enjoying it, still taking it seriously.

 Also on Tuesday, I made a trip to the University. This is a very enlightening visit. I meet with the Vice Chancellor and the students as well as the lady in charge of the computer labs. My visit with the Vice Chancellor gives me a much better understanding of the situation there. As mentioned earlier, the institution appears to only now be realizing the need for serious consideration of how their Internet access is going to be sustained when the free Internet access provided by the UNDP project comes to an end in September. The institution has also recently hired a new IT professional. From my discussion with the VC, it appears that the pressing need of the University is to get its whole institution (which is fairly widely spread out) connected.  However, the VC was very interested in promoting the training of the IT staff and the promotion of the use of ICT.

My last week also included a visit to the GTTI (Gambia Technical Training Institute). This was a very interesting experience. This institution has a Local Area Network and over 80 computers connected to it. It also benefited from the UNDP project’s one-year free Internet access. It has 3 IT staff and apparent cooperation and support from the management. My last week at the college involved wrapping up…final meetings and discussions with people, a beautiful opening ceremony of the computer lab and a workshop on PowerPoint for some of the Staff of The School of Public Health.

During our first few conversations, the computer expert and I had mentioned the possibility of getting the computers in this newly set up lab connected to the Internet. Well after much hassle and tremendous effort, he was able to acquire some free Internet sharing software, which we have installed. This enables the computers in the lab to connect to the Internet. However, there are still a few hitches and it cannot be said to be functioning perfectly.

 The Institution really appreciated the donations and furnished the WiderNet Project with a Thank You Letter

In summary, I would just like to say that this has really been an awesome experience. I was highly motivated by the guys I worked with, I learned a lot from them and the experience in general and believe that the WiderNet donation will be very beneficial here.

The Intranet!!!		The Internet!!!
	Opening of The New Computer Lab and WiderNet Field Library

Needs Communicated and Observed

1. The University of The Gambia
   --Advice and assistance on the connection of the whole University campus.
   --Training of Technicians
   --Information and Consultation on The Development of IT plan
    

2. Gambia College
   (Generally)
   --A network that connects all 4 schools
   --More Computer Technicians and Technician Training for present Computer Expert
   --General Decision Makers Training
   --More information and general education related materials (this includes materials for the various schools as well as strategies to ensure that these materials are used effectively by those they are intended for
   
   (Particularly)
    

• School of Nursing
  --More educational information ( lack of Medical and Nursing Journals)
  --Staff training on the use of  computer for teaching and just the basic programs

   

• School of Agriculture
  --Modern Literature and research on Agriculture
  --More Journals and general Information
  --Staff training on the use of  computer for teaching and just the basic programs

• School of Education
  --Information on the Use of ICT for distance Education
  --Materials on Education and the training of Primary and Secondary level teachers
  --Staff training on the use of  computer for teaching and just the basic programs
   

• School of Public Health
  ---More information on health related topics
  -- The need to incorporate the use of the information on the Intranet
  --Staff training on the use of  computer for teaching and just the basic programs
   

From my observation and from the information communicated to me whilst in The Gambia, it appears that there are many areas within which  WiderNet could be extremely helpful and from which a link between Widernet and The Gambia could be very beneficial.

Where do we go from here?
Given our goal of improving digital communication in developing countries,  and our current focus on Africa WiderNet is willing to work with all African institutions of higher Learning committed to the improvement of digital communication in their institutions. However, as stated in our description http://www.widernet.org/Proposals/desc.htm  WiderNet is a non- profit project, thus we are not capable of funding the development of these Information Technology Systems. Nonetheless, we are willing to work with interested institutions to secure funding by working with them to develop  proposals and source for funds.