The following is culled from Balancing Act's News Update 109
-------------------------------
Senegal's Joko Club was launched in August last year with high-profile
celebrity support and corporate backing. Almost one year on, it's time for a
progress report. Lisa Carney, who was involved in helping set up the project,
reports on who is using it and why.

When Youssou Ndour announced the Joko initiative in Senegal, one of his
main messages to the Senegalese population was that the Internet is not
just for elite users.  In fact, the Joko slogan in Wolof is Joko, nok o bok ­
literally translating as "link up ­ the Internet is for everyone." There was an
immediate response from the communities to sign up for Internet training
offered at the pilot Joko Clubs. Since two-thirds of the Senegalese population
is illiterate, the requests from communities for Joko to offer Internet initiation
and access for these "analphabetes" was evident from the outset. In
Senegal, the term "analphabete" can encompass a range of literacy levels ­
some can read or write a tribal language, many are trained in Koranic
schools and can read some amount of Arabic,  and others have numeric
capabilities.  While the Joko network offers Internet access at minimal cost
to local community members as well as a platform for local content
development, training became a central Joko activity based on community
requirements.

The Joko training courses have been developed and certified by El Hadji Diop,
Joko¹s Education and Pedagogy Director. Prior to Joko, El Hadji Diop was in
charge of the computer training at Lycée St-Michel, where he developed and
trained students on a wide range of computer related subjects. A broad
syllabus of courses are available to meet the wide range of demands ­ from
the most basic introductory training to more advanced office skills and on up
to web content development and computer maintenance.   (A syllabus is
available online at http://www.joko.sn/formation).

Most of the adults participating in Joko literacy training are "commercants",
or tradespeople, seeking computer training that can help them manage their
businesses. Merchants and small business owners are usually illiterate, and
very often women. Women's collectives are active in producing a wide range
of agricultural products ­ such as dried fish, mangos, peanuts, and
other crops varying on a geographic basis. Other women¹s collectives create
and sell traditional crafts. These collectives are typically a central economic
force in their communities ­ their income is often the means by which their
families are fed. Male and female, illiterate tradespeople must hire certified
accountants to oversee and verify their businesses. To write any letters or
summary reports concerning their activities, they must ask for and usually
pay for assistance.   Most of the adults who have participated in the initial
Joko training courses are responsible for managing, accounting or reporting
for collective or individual business activities.

The Joko training team developed a training approach specifically adapted to
the needs of the adult illiterate population, to permit them not only to acquire
insight into what the new information technologies can offer, but also give
them the ability to select the most useful and immediate skills for their own
development. Their usual incentives are to save money and more easily keep
track their merchandise. For example, a vendor who buys products in
Mauritania and sells them in southern Senegal can use a spreadsheet to
automatically calculate stock availability, purchase and sales prices, and
overall profits for each product line. But in learning to do these tasks, adult
participants are finding themselves unexpectedly on the path to literacy.

The training courses designed for analphabetes are presented in French and
translated into Wolof, the local language used by the majority of Africans in
Senegal. Since the Wolof are the most numerous tribe in Senegal, people
belonging to one of the other tribes in the region generally also use Wolof as
lingua franca.  French is used primarily to communicate with foreigners.

A very simple introductory course is presented first in Wolof, explaining what
the computer is and how it functions. Function keys are then introduced, to
associate a symbol with an active effect on the computer's operation.
Training participants learn, in a hands-on fashion (generally two or three to a
computer), that pressing a certain key results in a certain effect on the
computer.

Once these basics have been understood, the second level of training begins:
learning the French alphabet. A large keyboard is painted on the wall of the
JokoClub as a teaching tool, and a CD-ROM is used to teach the French
alphabet, so that the sound and look of a letter can be learned
simultaneously. This enables the participants to master the alphabet quickly.
Another locally developed software program helps trainees learn keyboard
skills. A sentence appears on their screen, and they copy it underneath.
Voice-over explanations of the meaning of the sentences are provided in
Wolof (and are being added in other local languages) to improve
comprehension. Active assistance from the teachers helps each particular
group or individual to learn the basic skills required to manage their own
goals.

The third level of the course covers arithmetic and calculation using
spreadsheets.

The training allows participants to:
- Navigate and operate computers
- Begin to read and write French
- Learn to use spreadsheets to calculate and track business proceeds
- Use the Internet to send and receive e-mail communications and for
research of information.

The Joko courses in training illiterates are still in their infancy ­ it's been just
one year since the first pilot course began. Last summer, Joko partnered with
the Institute Supérieur d'Entrepreneurship et de Gestion (ISEG), a private
educational institute based in Dakar, to provide Joko's "introduction to
computers" course while the Joko facilities were being developed.  This
"training pilot" was offered free of charge, based on a grant from the Acacia
Foundation and computer systems donated by HP.  Over 500 youth from the
Medina neighborhood of Dakar were taught at ISEG in May, to pave the way
for the lauching of the Medina JokoClub. The courses were taught in 18
different classes, with 18-24 students in each class. A group of 336 students
met Monday-Thursday, and 246 children, ages 7-13, met Friday-Sunday.
The breakdown of these initial courses was as follows: - One class of
illiterates, taught in Wolof - One class of beginners, with limited mastery in
French, taught in French/Wolof - 15 classes of intermediate-level students
who were comfortable with French but beginners at computing - One class
advanced students, with good command of French and working knowledge of
computer use

-   HIGH LEVEL RESPONSE WITH OVER 1500 ON WAITING LIST

The response was overwhelming, and over 1,500 people were on the waiting
list by the time this first session ended.  At the two pilot JokoClubs, prices
for the initiation courses were set at 3000 FCFA initiation fee plus 3000
FCFA for a month of training. The Medina JokoClub reports teaching more
than 1,000 new students, including 80 illiterates. Ngoundiane taught more
than 1,200  students, 70 analphabetes amongst them. Ngoundiane reports
that so many other rural communities have sent delegations to spend a week
getting initial computer training that they are considering opening a "bed and
breakfast" to accommodate them. These villagers say they feel at ease in a
familiar, rural setting so unlike the urban environment in Dakar.

At the new training center in Thiaroye, an initial 212 students began courses
in February 2002. Of these, there are 50 analphabètes who have just received
their diplomas. In Kolda, a small town in the southern region of Senegal, 110
students have been in training since February, of which 30 are illiterate. For
the younger training participants, more advanced courses are in high demand
after the initial training. The number one request is for computer maintenance
courses, with webmaster classes right behind.  More advanced courses are
more expensive, and vary in cost. The Joko training centers are analysing the
optimum pricing to be both self-sustaining and broadly accessible.

As Joko expands its training facilities, new classes have an even higher
proportion of illiterates. Overall, about 15% of new Joko training participants
are illiterate. The Joko training staff is keeping watch on their progress to see
how many of them remain involved with computers, and to report results in a
more formal manner.  But even now, it is clear that these disenfranchised
men and women, young and old, are finding they can better manage their
personal and business affairs using basic computer applications. Many of
these same people would have previously said that literacy and educational
achievement were beyond their reach, but while learning to use the
computers they are gaining basic literacy and math skills without even
realizing it.  By the time they recognize what they are learning they are well
on their way developing new skills, and have been reinforced about their own
capabilities for learning and changing their lives.


There is a legitimate debate about whether computers should be pushed' on
the world's poorest people.  Technology is not food or water, and cannot in
itself address the basic health concerns that threaten so many lives. Yet
Joko's experience has been one of pull.'  Somehow even the most remote
populations are finding out about the Internet, through their expatriate family
members and through other media.

Justine Whitbread, Oxfam's Regional Director in West Africa, related a telling
experience last year. Oxfam had helped a very remote village dig a clean well
for drinking water.  At the ceremony to celebrate its completion, they asked
the village chief what the next priority for the village would be.
"Internet," he responded enthusiastically, showing that even in the most
remote districts, there is a pronounced social interest in getting Internet
training and access. When pressed, he explained that he believes the
Internet is necessary for the future prosperity of his people.

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