After
several travel destinations in Germany, the United States
and Saudi Arabia, I am now in Kenya, where I
participate in the IBM program called CSC (Corporate Service Corps). This
program sends, after an application phase, about 10-15 IBM colleagues from
around the world into an emerging or developing country to spend 4
weeks to carry out a pro-bono development project with some reference to
information technology, usually with government agencies or NGOs in the country.
See more at http://www.ibm.com/ibm/responsibility/corporateservicecorps/
We receive supports and assistance in the country through DOT-Trust, a Canada-based non-profit partner company that has all sorts of local contacts: they also have introduced us to the wonderful country and its people. We were also at the local IBM branch "East Africa" , who also supported us a lot.
After 20 hours of flying we were first accomodated in Nairobi on 10/20 and later travelled on to Machakos, a medium sized district capital 60mi from Nairobi. We split into three subteam at the Association of Maufacturers, the e-Government board and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education Ministry. I've signed up for the latter, since my previous work background covered Higher Education as well.
Guideline for all three IBM projects is the so-called "Vision2030", a broad national program for the future of Kenya's government, which will hopefully lead Kenya into the league of industrial and knowledge-based economies. This is certainly in many respects quite ambitious, but as a goal absolutely right: the country has excellent young talents, and the economy is all set to grow, provided consent for a consistent policy framework and regulation. The various internal conflicts between tribes (speaking of more than 40), different regions and wealth distribution, have been settled in recent years, facilitated by a new, strictly federalist constitution, and the neighbors Sudan and Uganda also calm down gradually, and maybe after Somalia is finally at peace (you might have heard of recent events...don't worry, we are completely safe here).
The potential for success certainly lies in the good education level of the people (English and another language are mostly standard), and in an already existing and developable industrial and commercial base, with various agricultural and tourism resources. The IBM branch has massively grown since 2009 from 5 to 60 employees, a clear sign of the take-off in the country.
Our entire team consists of 14 IBM'ers from the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Japan, India, Turkey, Denmark and Portugal. There are four of each team: in my team are two ladies from Denmark and Canada, and a colleague from India. We will design a strategy to the Ministry on how the innovation culture in the universities and research institutions can be promoted better and success being measured, at any rate a very interesting job. We already had initial customer contact in the Ministry office and are now constantly visiting and interviewing local universities and other research stakeholders.
As a nice funpart, we of course did a game safari to masai Mara national reserve, watching lions, elephants, hippos, crocodiles, leopards, giraffes, antilopes and many other wonders of nature. Previously, we have already explored in Nairobi , a very nice and modern metropolis (relevant pictures attached), with numerous restaurants, museums, parks, and attractions.
See more at http://www.ibm.com/ibm/responsibility/corporateservicecorps/
We receive supports and assistance in the country through DOT-Trust, a Canada-based non-profit partner company that has all sorts of local contacts: they also have introduced us to the wonderful country and its people. We were also at the local IBM branch "East Africa" , who also supported us a lot.
After 20 hours of flying we were first accomodated in Nairobi on 10/20 and later travelled on to Machakos, a medium sized district capital 60mi from Nairobi. We split into three subteam at the Association of Maufacturers, the e-Government board and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education Ministry. I've signed up for the latter, since my previous work background covered Higher Education as well.
Guideline for all three IBM projects is the so-called "Vision2030", a broad national program for the future of Kenya's government, which will hopefully lead Kenya into the league of industrial and knowledge-based economies. This is certainly in many respects quite ambitious, but as a goal absolutely right: the country has excellent young talents, and the economy is all set to grow, provided consent for a consistent policy framework and regulation. The various internal conflicts between tribes (speaking of more than 40), different regions and wealth distribution, have been settled in recent years, facilitated by a new, strictly federalist constitution, and the neighbors Sudan and Uganda also calm down gradually, and maybe after Somalia is finally at peace (you might have heard of recent events...don't worry, we are completely safe here).
The potential for success certainly lies in the good education level of the people (English and another language are mostly standard), and in an already existing and developable industrial and commercial base, with various agricultural and tourism resources. The IBM branch has massively grown since 2009 from 5 to 60 employees, a clear sign of the take-off in the country.
Our entire team consists of 14 IBM'ers from the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Japan, India, Turkey, Denmark and Portugal. There are four of each team: in my team are two ladies from Denmark and Canada, and a colleague from India. We will design a strategy to the Ministry on how the innovation culture in the universities and research institutions can be promoted better and success being measured, at any rate a very interesting job. We already had initial customer contact in the Ministry office and are now constantly visiting and interviewing local universities and other research stakeholders.
As a nice funpart, we of course did a game safari to masai Mara national reserve, watching lions, elephants, hippos, crocodiles, leopards, giraffes, antilopes and many other wonders of nature. Previously, we have already explored in Nairobi , a very nice and modern metropolis (relevant pictures attached), with numerous restaurants, museums, parks, and attractions.
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