IICD supported project: Global Teenager Project - Zambia

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Countries: Zambia [ZM]
Sectors: education
image: project in state 4

Summary

The Global Teenager Project (GTP) enables classroom discussions to Go Global, connecting Zambian secondary schools in Learning Circles with other students around the world, giving students a safe, structured environment in which to discuss global issues. It also provides them a strong basis in communication skills while offering valuable insights into other cultures. At the same time, GTP gives secondary schools a kick-start in the use of ICT and enlivens the educational process as teachers incorporate new ideas and methods into their classes.

Zambia’s GTP currently involves fifteen secondary schools from Lusaka, but plans to include twenty-five schools by the end of 2008, with most of the new schools coming from outside Lusaka. Objectives specific to GTP Zambia involve developing ICT skills for students and teachers across Zambia; enhancing the public profile of GTP Zambia; creating a website as well as soliciting press coverage in order to create further opportunities to expand GTP to more schools, especially outside of Lusaka.

Update

Updated: 2008-02-19

GTPZstudents The Global Teenager Project in Zambia has changed hands several times over the past few years. At the time of its inception, GTP activities were being coordinated by Microlink Technologies, and the individuals responsible were Jane Shoko, Chilufya Musosha and Lee Muzala, in a successive manner. Coordination was then handed over to One World Africa (OWA) in June 2004. In 2006 Trio Consult took over coordination of the project.

For the latest news, check the globalteenager-zm.org website.

Introduction

The GTP project connects students and teachers locally, nationally and internationally, developing educational content, promoting cross-cultural understanding and raising ICT literacy levels. However, connectivity is a challenge for schools across Zambia, and especially those outside of Lusaka. Zambia’s GTP currently involves fifteen secondary schools from Lusaka, but plans to include twenty-five schools by the end of 2008, with most of the new schools coming from beyond Lusaka. To this end, Trio Consult is working to create a comprehensive infrastructure to organise and provide technical support, ensure proper financial commitments, and generate positive publicity that will encourage the growth of the GTP in secondary schools across Zambia.

Objectives

The Global Teenager Project has two principal objectives:

To catalyze structured exchanges among schools and teachers, to foster inter-cultural awareness and understanding, by using the Internet, especially email.

To meet this first objective, the GTP uses ICTs to connect local, national and international students and teachers, developing educational content, promoting cross culture understanding and raising ICT literacy and awareness in schools. The primary instrument is the Learning Circle – interactive Internet and email platforms where students and teachers meet to jointly research, discuss, and develop answers to relevant questions. The International learning circles are hosted on a central platform that provides interfaces in English, French, and Spanish.

To enhance the opportunities available to young people by promoting new ways of learning and teaching

To meet this objective, teachers involved in the GTP use ICTs to improve learning materials and develop new teaching methods; this process also involves the improvement of local capacity development in networking and ICT use.

Overall, the practical emphasis of the GTP remains on enabling individual teenagers to use ICTs to make their educational experience more stimulating, more challenging and, ultimately, more relevant in contemporary information-based societies.

The objectives specific to GTP Zambia involve:

Developing ICT skills for students and teachers across Zambia
Enhancing the public profile of GTP Zambia, creating a website as well as soliciting press coverage, in order to create further opportunities to expand the GTP to more schools, especially outside of Lusaka.

Overcoming connectivity and technical challenges by developing facilities to provide greater technical support to schools, such as through a GTP Coordination Centre, equipped with five or more personal computers, which would enable schools with connectivity problems to participate in learning circles. The GTP Coordination Centre could also be involved in training teachers and students in basic skills for refurbishing, installing and maintaining computers.

Development Impacts

Global Teenager Networks offer schools a means to harness ICTs for a range of educational activities, including research, intercultural exchange, or collaborative and international learning. Students are given a solid grounding in critical thinking, teamwork and independent learning, using ICT skills critical for life-long learning; in addition, stereotypical images and preconceived ideas give way to a deeper intercultural understanding and sensitivity to other belief systems. Teachers benefit by learning about different teaching styles and strategies they can adopt to tackle global educational issues.

Lessons learned

With this two year strategy, the project will experience continuity at the end of the concession period and attain a level of sustainability. By setting up sustainable initiatives in schools - in the form of School Based Telecentres and training services - the ICT facilities will be properly looked after by the schools, due to the core group of trained staff available to maintain the equipment.