Distance Learning Application of the Solomon Islands People First Network (PFnet)
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Abstract and Project Proposal
Project Title:
A Distance Learning Application of the Solomon Islands People First Network (PFnet)
Recipient Institution:
Rural Development Volunteers Association (RDVA)
Ministry of Provincial Government and Rural Development
Solomon Islands
Email: rdva@pipolfastaem.gov.sb
URL: www.peoplefirst.net.sb
Project Leader:
Alan Agassi, Chairman of the Executive, RDVA
Amount and Duration: USD 8,994 / 5 months
Commencement Date: Feb 2002
Abstract
This project aims to utilize an existing rural Internet connection through the rural-development and peace ICT initiative PFnet, to pilot a distance learning facility in one of Solomon Islands' rural Community High Schools in partnership with the University of South Pacific (USP) Centre of Honiara.
The People First Network, or PFnet, was conceived and initiated by the UNDP/UNOPS project Solomon Islands Development Administration and Participatory Planning Programme (SIDAPP) in the Ministry of Provincial Government and Rural Development. It has already established a web site development portal, a successful Internet Café, conducted research and field testing of a robust, proven and sustainable technology that permits remote locations on islands across thousands of square kilometres to have access to Internet emails using a simple computer, short-wave radio, and solar power.
Consequently, in October 2001, the PFnet Internet gateway base station was established and the country's first rural community email facility was opened at Sasamungga, Choiseul. This first station is well suited to develop pilot applications of the ICTs in various sectors, including education. It is later intended to expand this network to over 25 PFnet-managed and many more self-funding stations and therefore the pre-existence of good models will be invaluable.
This project will entail the design and application of a distance-learning programme especially designed to integrate with the PFnet facilities. It will create a computing centre at the community school close to the email station utilising existing solar power. Local capacity will be built to sustain the facility working in cooperation with the PFnet programme. The project will also study the impacts of the email station on the wider community, focusing on particular vulnerable groups such as women and young people. In doing so, this project will provide invaluable baseline data for the further expansion of PFnet to all rural areas of the country, and provide an excellent example of an application serving the needs of one information stakeholder group (i.e. education users and providers).
Background and Justification
This project aims to utilize an existing rural Internet connection through the rural-development and peace ICT initiative PFnet, to pilot a distance learning facility in one of Solomon Islands' rural Community High Schools in partnership with the University of South Pacific (USP) Centre of Honiara.
The project will entail the design and application of a distance-learning programme especially designed to integrate with the PFnet facilities. It will study the impacts of the email station on the wider community, focusing on particular vulnerable groups such as women and young people. In doing so, this project will provide invaluable baseline data for the further expansion of PFnet to all rural areas of the country, and provide an excellent example of an application serving the needs of one information stakeholder group (i.e. education users and providers).
1. 1 Information and Communications Context: The People First network (PFnet)
One of the gravest obstacles to development in the Solomon Islands now is the difficulty in communication between trusted family members and professional peers. It is precisely in deprived and remote areas that basic telecommunication has the most value and impact. For such locations, telecommunication is the only and vital link with the outside world, either to ensure health security, public services such as education, or essential contacts with family and professional peers. It is also a major block to investors, tourism and enterprise.
However, such telecommunications are very scarce outside of Honiara. The teledensity of 0.3 per 100 rural inhabitants is the lowest in the region and even those lines are concentrated only in a few provincial centres.
Since last 1998, social unrest has badly affected the country. The ethnic tension between Guadalcanal and Malaita, which has left approximately 100 people dead, decimated the economy and displaced thousands, has also badly eroded national solidarity. Three out of nine provinces have expressed their wish to break away as separate countries. Lack of trusted information, misinformation and the absence of communications have only served to heighten the misunderstanding and tension between communities.
To address this problem at the very grassroots level, the People First Network is an email service that facilitates communications and information flows to and from the remote provinces of the Solomon Islands. It was launched in February 2001 with the opening of an Internet Café in Honiara, which has been a resounding success and is already functioning in a self-sustainable way. This was followed in October 2001 with the country's first community-run rural email facility [Annex 1] at the remote village of Sasamungga in Choiseul Province, which will serve as a model for future expansion.
PFnet uses an email system based on a robust, proven and sustainable technology that permits remote locations on islands across thousands of square kilometres to have access to Internet emails using a simple computer, short-wave radio, and solar power. It aims to:
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Facilitate point-to-point communications to/from the remote provinces of the Solomon Islands;
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Facilitate rural development and peace-related information flows among all social groups;
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Facilitate the exchange of information between communities and development programmes, NGOs, government offices, the media, businesses and other stakeholders.
PFnet is established as a not-for-profit organisation through the Ministry of Provincial Government and Rural Development. It has received funding and technical support from the Solomon Islands Development Administration and Participatory Planning Programme (SIDAPP), a project of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS). It has also received start-up funding from the governments of Britain, Japan and the Republic of China through their missions in Solomon Islands.
One of SIDAPP's final recommendations made to UNDP and Solomon Islands Government during the closing tripartite review meeting held in Honiara on 19th November 2001 was that the National Government establish the rural information and communications system [PFnet] as top priority during the two-year reconstruction period and thus boost efforts at achieving national unity by facilitating the flow of development information and services to most of the country's villages. In the recommendation, PFnet is put forward as a vital component of the proposed National Integrated Rural and Provincial Development Programme (NIRPDP).
This recommendation has been approved by both Government and UNDP, and the project is now awaiting core 2-year funding (expected during the middle of 2002). Until this date, the project can continue operating self-sustainably.
Education System
The education system of the Solomon Islands is a three-tier system. The first level comprises of pre-schools and primary schools. There is a participation rate of 75 percent [1] at this level. The second level is comprised of secondary schools of which there are three types: provincial, national and community secondary schools. Since 1990, secondary school enrolment has increased at the rate of 13 percent [2] . This is largely due to the recent proliferation of the community secondary schools. The third level is the tertiary level. The Solomon Islands College of Higher Education (SICHE) and the University of the South Pacific's Solomon Islands Centre (now referred to as the USP Centre) are the main providers of tertiary level courses.
Distance Learning
The USP Centre began providing distance courses in the early 70s and SICHE in the mid 1990s. Most distance-based courses offered by SICHE are bridging courses targeting high school push-outs (high school students who have been pushed out of the education system due to lack of places in higher grades). In 1998, there were 744 students studying distance courses of SICHE [4] . In theory it is possible for successful candidates who have passed SICHEs Adult Education Proficiency Award (Distance) courses to study fulltime programmes at the SICHE main campus or enroll in the post-secondary courses offered by the USP Centre and thereafter access the range of distance based higher degree courses offered by the USP Centre.
Solomon Islands is an archipelago spread over 800,000 square kilometers of ocean. Due to the geographical distribution of the islands, many communities are far from urban centres. Approximately 90 percent of the population are rural dwellers while about 10 percent are urban/semi-urban dwellers. Isolation is a major constraint in providing educational services to the people of Solomon Islands. Many students who have been 'pushed out' of the education system and based in the rural areas encounter difficulties to access the educational opportunities provided the SICHE and the USP Centre. In addition to the constraint of isolation, the poor national mailing system and the general lack of accessible telecommunication system in the rural areas also contributes to poor servicing of students studying USP Centre courses. This is described below.
The student support services of the USP Centre does not extend to rural areas. For example, USP Centre extension students in the remote provincial areas (such as Sasamugga on Choiseul Islands) do not receive any assistance such as tutorial and counselling support. They are provided print-based course materials and basically left on their own to complete the course. They are not even visited by USP Centre Staff. It is because of this isolation that USP Centre courses have not been able to reach more students in the rural areas. This is different to students residing at or near Honiara, the capital of Solomon Islands. In addition to receiving their course materials, these students receive additional assistance through face-to-face tutorials, satellite tutorials (voice only, where lecturers at the Fiji based campus are able to talk to students), video based courses and summer classes. They are also able to discuss personal academic problems with the USP Centre staff.
Situational Analysis, effects of tension, needs for rural connectivity
· Extension students have access to computers to type assignments and transmit them electronically to the Centre;
These anticipated improvement would contribute to narrow the imbalance that currently exists between Honiara and rural based students.
1.3 The Rural Development Volunteers Association (RDVA)
The two-year conflict in Solomon Islands has caused devastating economic, social and political effects in the country. Subsequent events resulted in the forceful overthrow of the legitimate elected Solomon Islands Alliance for Change (SIAG) Government, and enthronement of a new realm under the leadership of Hon. Manasseh Sogavare. The new government managed to appease the warring factions and brought them to the negotiating table. A series of reconciliatory talks culminated in the signing of the Townsville Peace Agreement (TPA) on 15 October 2000.
In line with this initiative is the need to adequately take stock of development problems and potentials in the rural areas. Communities in the Provinces became the focus of comprehensive research and studies to determine the existence of development potential. To achieve this, local expertise was utilized as much as possible.
The UNDP/UNOPS Solomon Islands Development Administration and Participatory Planning Programmes (SIDAPP) incepted in 1997 became a major player in fostering this responsibility through the establishment of the Peace and Development Volunteers (PDV) Project in October 2000. Under this project 91 Peace and Development Volunteers (RDVs) were recruited, trained and mobilized throughout the country. The main activities of PDVs then included: conducting peace and development forums and gathering data on Internally Displaced People (IDPs), Internally Displaced Students (IDSs) and health services.
Building on the PDV Project, the Rural Development Volunteers Association (RDVA) was established in August 2001 with the following specific tasks:
Specific Tasks of Rural Development Volunteers (RDVs):
· To help identify areas of greatest needs within provinces and improve existing database on development problems.
· To gather, collate and disseminate information pertinent to development. Networking with government departments, educational institutions, private sector organizations, non-government organization and other stakeholders. Developmental information will be put to rural populations in order to sharpen their understanding of value-added utilization of resources.
· To conduct advocacy discussions in the rural communities aimed at helping rural people better understand the core issues in development.
· To involve in community services or projects like school maintenance, clinic renovations, roads/bridges/jetties rehabilitation's and other physical works.
· To identify specific NGOs, clans and community groups with expertise or technical skills, which can be documented and imparted to other people. A vital requirement is for SICHE lecturers and students to be able to document rural development cases for inclusion in the curriculum.
· To assist in the conduct of livelihood project identifications and formulation workshops for rural communities. This is an extension of the normal SIDAPP works.
· To assist solicit support to existing development initiatives of the various groups in the rural communities.
RDVA was formerly endorsed during the first annual general meeting held in August 2001. The meeting was attended by a total of 43 members from government departments, Solomon Islands College of Higher Education (SICHE), University of South Pacific Centre (USP Centre) and village based organization and individuals. The Board of Trustees membership reflects this maturity and diversity.
The RDVA was then registered and initiated by SIDAPP within the Ministry of Provincial Government and Rural Development, which would serve as partner agency to the Ministry's Rural Development Division, SICHE, USP and other entities involved in helping improve the quality of life in rural communities throughout the country.
One of the main task of RDVA will be to implement and operate the People First Network (PFnet) which is being developed by SIDAPP as a component of a national integrated rural development programme that aims to make available email facility to people from remote rural communities.
Two categories of RDVs are;
· Student RDVs
· Village Based RDVs.
Student RDVs will be assigned a Team Leader during the period of deployment to a project site in the provinces, coordinated and managed by the RDV Project Coordinator based Honiara. Prior to their deployment to the provinces, the RDV teams will undergo intensive training based on specific undertakings. Their activities will be supervised by RDD through the assigned Team Leaders and Project Coordinators.
Village-based RDVs are more or less working all year round. Their activities will be coordinated and managed by the Project Coordinator or identified provincial government officers in the provincial substations.
The RDVA is therefore, an ideal vehicle to conduct the proposed research in partnership with the USP Centre, the local Community High School at the site, and the PFnet rural email networking project.
Objectives
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Objective |
Activity |
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Provide baseline research for the PFnet programme and a model for it's further expansion |
Study impact of the Sasamungga PFnet station on the general population, focusing on vulnerable groups |
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Provide improved educational opportunities for rural people by exploiting new possibilities arising from ICTs. |
Design and field-test a distance-learning centre using appropriate technology integrated into PFnet and the local education system Develop procedures, activities, define capabilities, problem areas, etc. Monitor and evaluate. |
|
Build rural and national capacity in the use of ICTs |
Train teachers and students to use the centre and the email facility. Raise awareness of the ICTs through workshops and other activities centred on the community school and by attracting participation from teachers and students. Raise awareness and experience of the potential uses of PFnet and other ICTs in the national education providers community. |
|
Build research capacity of the rural development community. |
By participation. |
Project Staff, Management and Organisation
Research Coordinator will be Glynn Galo, Director, USP Centre, Honiara. The Research Coordinator will coordinate and support the research activities of the project.
PFnet Coordinator will be David Leeming, Technical Advisor to PFnet. PFnet Coordinator will provide technical support, training and facilitate the use of the ICTs, and provide input into the research and evaluative components.
Two RDVs will be identified to implement the project and conduct the research. These should be graduate students with computing experience. The RDVs will support the distance learning students, conduct research and evaluation and write the interim and final reports with the other coordinators.
The Sasamungga Community High School (and Primary School) will host the Distance Learning Centre and the Principal and Teachers will be participants in the project and the sustainable management of the facility thereafter.
Distance learning students in the catchment area will be invited to take part in the pilot PFnet application.
Backstopping the research activity and evaluation will be Professor Tracy Berno, Associate Professor, Coordinator Tourism Studies, School of Social and Economic Development, University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji Islands.
Beneficiaries
This project will pilot techniques which benefit students and particularly young people in the rural areas who wish to study in their villages. This will help provide opportunities for displaced people and women with child rearing responsibilities to better themselves.
The Solomon Islands Education System will benefit from the study and pilot application. Once the PFnet network is expanded to all rural areas of the Solomon Islands, learning opportunities will exist where before there was no possibility.
The impact of providing email services at low cost where previously there had only been unreliable, awkward ham-radio contact with other islands is not hard to imagine. Rural development activity, especially the kind of entrepreneurial opportunities which islanders are quick to recognize, are severely hindered by poor inter-island and non-existent international direct communications. Business, tourism, trade, education and health are some of the sectors that suffer. Investors are reluctant to take up opportunities in these conditions, and even when they do express interest, they sometimes find it impossible to contact the rural landowners. All of these areas will benefit from PFnet.
The People First Network is expected to improve information flows within the Solomon Islands, offering cheaper and more convenient point-to-point communication within existing and organic grassroots networks, and reinforcing the capacity of information providers both to disseminate to and collect information at the community level.
Beneficiaries of this process will primarily be the remote rural communities that currently most suffer from highly deficient transportation and communication networks. Members of these communities are weakly differentiated, making it easy for PFnet to reach the poorest social groups on geographic basis, as identified by the profiling process conducted under SIDAPP. It will thus pay special attention to the communication and information needs of those groups, notably subsistence communities and single-headed households (largely women-headed).
These groups will largely benefit from PFnet through better information linkages with their own relatives in other locations across the country, usually Honiara. It will also enable or reinforce professional and commercial linkages, essential to establish and conduct economic activities, civil society participation and coordination, government services and development projects.
Indirectly, PFnet will also benefit organisations working in rural development and service, allowing them to improve their operations through better logistics and information exchange, while improving the living conditions of their staff in remote locations, presumably helping to retain them in their functions.
Sustainability
The sustainability of the project outputs will be ensured through the following approaches:
· Location of the distance education facility in an existing community high school
· Community consultations and awareness raising
· Participation of the school management, staff and students in the project. The teaching staff will be trained to maintain the service. Ownership will give the project value.
· Integration of the ongoing management of the facility with the PFnet programme, including monitoring and technical support.
· The evaluative outputs of the project will provide valuable baseline data from which to better design the further expansion and exploitation of the PFnet rural community email network.
Time-line
|
1 |
Identify, recruit and brief RDVs |
mid Feb 02 |
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2 |
Redesign USP distance learning schedule and materials to exploit the PFnet email station. |
mid Feb 02 |
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3 |
Procure equipment for Distance Learning Centre. |
end Jan 02 |
|
4 |
Management team and RDVs visit site. |
end Feb 02 |
|
5 |
Consultations and orientation meetings with the High School and awareness raising meetings in the wider community. |
end Feb 02 |
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6 |
Consultations and orientation meetings with the High School and awareness raising meetings in the wider community. |
end Feb 02 |
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7 |
Deploy equipment and Commission Distance Learning Centre |
end Feb 02 |
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8 |
Training of participating teachers, RDVs and students |
beginning Mar 02 |
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9 |
Management team return to base, RDVs remain on site to support students and conduct research |
beginning Mar 02 |
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10 |
USP distance learning programme tested using PFnet and the Distance Learning Centre |
Mar - May 02 |
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11 |
Monitoring data collected and sent to base via email station |
Mar - May 02 |
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12 |
RDVs return to base for mid-project evaluation |
April 02 |
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13 |
Interim report |
April 02 |
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14 |
RDVs return to site to continue research |
April 02 |
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15 |
End of research period, RDVs return to base |
End May 02 |
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16 |
Evaluation and Final Report |
June 02 |
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17 |
Management team return to site for final training and provide feedback to the School and community. |
June 02 |
Schedule for Evaluation of the use of PFNet to Pilot a Distance Learning Facility
|
|
Objective |
Activities |
Indicators |
Evaluation methods |
Timing |
|
1.0 |
Provide baseline research for the PFNet programme and a model for its further expansion |
· Study impacts of the Sasamungga PFNet station on the general population, with particular reference to vulnerable groups |
· Research on impacts of PFNet station undertaken · Baseline and monitoring data collected and sent to base via e-mail station · Interim report completed · Evaluation and final report completed · Model for further expansion developed |
· Participatory qualitative interviews with catchment community members conducted by RDVs, with particular attention paid to the experience of vulnerable groups · Analysis of quantitative data on PFNet system use (as is already being collected) |
· Interviews to be conducted and data analysed March-May 2002 · Data collection on PFNet system use on going throughout the duration of the project. · Interim report April 2002 · Evaluation and final report written June 2002 · Draft model for further expansion developed June 2002 |
|
2.0 |
Provide improved educational opportunities for rural people by exploiting new possibilities arising from ICTs |
· Design and field test a distance learning centre · Develop procedures, activities, define capabilities, problem areas etc. · Monitor and evaluate |
· Distance learning centre designed and implemented · Procedures, activities etc. developed and documented · Evaluation completed |
· Participatory qualitative interviews with staff, students and RDVs · Review documents detailing procedures, activities etc. · Preparation and submission of evaluation report |
· Interviews to be conducted May 2002 · Review documents May 2002 · Submission of evaluation report at the completion of the project |
|
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Objective |
Activities |
Indicators |
Evaluation methods |
Timing |
|
2.1 |
Sub-objectives for the development of USP extension offerings: 2.1.1 extension students to have access to computers to word process assignments and transmit them electronically through the Centre 2.1.2 reduce the turn around time of assignments 2.1.3 improve access to USP courses and study opportunities for potential students within the PFNet catchment area 2.1.4 to improve contact between students and USP to resolve problems, provide counselling etc. |
· Activities as in 2.0 above. |
· Number of students who have access to computers for assignments · Number of assignments submitted through electronic medium · Length of time for turn a round of assignments · Number of students from the catchment area undertaking distance courses through the USP Centre using the PFNet · Number of contacts made between students and USP staff using PFNet · Turn around time for responses |
· Quantitative data on number & demographic profile of students enrolled in USP courses, performance indicators, length or turn-around-time and contact-response time prior to implementation of PFNet (from existing USP records) · Number of students enrolled in USP courses (including demographic data) · Courses enrolled for · Number of assignments word processed & non-word processed · Number of assignments submitted via PFNet and via post · Turn-around-time for marking of assignments by mode of submission · Performance indictors (attrition rates, grades, enrollment for subsequent courses) · Course evaluation questionnaire [6] |
· To be collated and analysed February 2002. · Student, assignment and contact data to be collected throughout the project duration. · Performance indictors to be collated and analysed in May 2002 · Students to complete course evaluation questionnaires early May 2002 |
|
|
Objective |
Activities |
Indicators |
Evaluation methods |
Timing |
|
3.0 |
Build rural and national capacity in the use of ICTs |
· Train teachers and students to use technology · Raise awareness of the ICTs through workshops and other activities · Raise awareness and experience of the potential users of PFNet and other ICTs in the national education providers community |
· Number of training sessions offered · Number of students and teachers attending training sessions · Number of ICTs workshops & other activities offered · Attendance at workshops & other activities · Heightened awareness of PFNet & other ICTs in the education providers community |
· Quantitative data on number of courses, workshops, attendance etc. · Participant evaluations of courses/workshops · Participatory qualitative interviews with education providers in the community (can be incorporated as part of evaluation for objective 1.0) |
· Data on training & workshop participation to be collected and analysed throughout the project duration. · Interviews with education providers to be undertaken March-May 2002 |
|
4.0 |
Build research capacity of the rural development community |
· Through participation. |
· Attendance at training for research participants · Participation in data collection · Participation in mid-project and final evaluation of the project · Research report writing |
· Number of members of the rural development community participating in training · Number of members of the rural development community participating in research · Qualitative interviews as part of de-briefing (Item 17 on time-line) |
· Data on training & research participation to be collected and analysed throughout the project duration. · Interviews to be undertaken June 2002 |
Outputs
The main outputs of this project will be:
· Distance Learning ICT Centre established in a rural area. This will be a model application for the national PFnet programme.
· USP Distance Learning Programme adapted and optimised for PFnet. The programme will have been field tested using an established PFnet community email facility and can be successfully expanded to other rural areas with the growth of PFnet.
· Impact of ICTs on rural populations better understood. The PFnet prgramme will use this understanding to better reach vulnerable groups who are not accessing the services.
· Baseline data provided for expansion of network.
· Rural local capacity built. Teachers of Sasamungga Community School will have basic office computing skills. Students of the school will be exposed to computing as an educational aid, email and Internet.
Monitoring
Monitoring will be through the following:
1. Reporting
The RDVs will return to the headquarters in mid-project for consultations and reporting. A regular system of email progress reports will be set up so that the project can be monitored and guidance given from the technical and research coordinators.
2. Site Visits
The management team will visit the site at the outset and on the completion of the project to hold community consultations and discussions/interviews with participants including the school staff participants and distance learning students.
3. Formal Evaluation of Research Findings
The research data, consisting of survey and interview results and other quantitative and qualitative data, will be evaluated by Professor Berno of USP Suva.
4. Web Site
Project progress and findings will be disseminated on the People First Network web site http://www.peoplefirst.net.sb
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Last modified 2005-06-21 02:11 PM
