The effort to get more young learners in rural communities in Kenya to access and be more productive online got a boost during the just concluded Internet Governance Forum held last week in Mexico. Kids Comp Camp from Kenya was one of the winners of the FIRE (Fund for Internet Research and Development) Africa Awards 2016 presented last week during the 2016 Internet Governance Forum #IGF2016 which took place in Guadalajara, Mexico, from 6 – 9 December. Chosen from nearly 60 applications, Kids Comp Camp won the hotly contested Internet and technology for social and economic development category.
The FIRE Africa Awards is African Network Information Center (AFRINIC)’s, which is Africa’s Internet registry, flagship grants and awards programme. It’s designed to encourage and support the development of solutions to the region’s unique information and communication needs by supporting projects and initiatives that emphasize the role of the Internet in social and economical development for the benefit of Africa. The 2016 FIRE Africa Award winners received a US$3,000 cash prize and a travel grant to attend the 2016 IGF to showcase their projects on the global stage, meet winners from other regions and network with other like-minded individuals and tech entrepreneurs. In attendance of the award ceremony was Vinton Cerf widely known as a “Father of the Internet,” Cerf is the co-designer of the TCP/IP protocols and the architecture of the Internet and He is also the Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist for Google.
Alan Barrett, AFRINIC CEO, gave the opening speech and thanked the Seed Alliance sponsors, IDRC and the Internet Society, as well as former sponsor Sida who played a key part in setting up the strong foundations on which the Seed Alliance programme is based. Dr. Raúl Echeberría, Vice President Global Engagement – Internet Society, Paul Wilson, Director General – APNIC, Phet Sayo, Senior Programme Officer – IDRC, and Oscar Robles, CEO – LACNIC, also delivered speeches. The Seed Alliance is a collaborative partnership between the Internet registries in Africa, Latin America and Asia via FIRE Africa, FRIDA and ISIF Asia. Together, these programs support innovation on Internet development across the global south. You can watch the entire Award ceremony here.
On the Photo: The Seed Alliance partners, Award winners and Vinton Cerf who is considered as the Father of the Internet. This comes at a time when the Kenyan government has started to supply all the primary schools with devices and connections through the Digital Learning Program dubbed ‘digischools’