McNulty Consulting has developed an exciting new theory of change that focuses on local content in local languages. It is aligned to the South African government’s National Development Plan, the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the United Nations’ developments goals, defined in its 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The theory of change advances the idea that the creation of a mobile digital platform of local knowledge in local languages has the potential to support certain of the South African, African Union and UN development goals. The objectives of such a platform are to empower everyday Africans by providing opportunities to:
- Create and access relevant information (about places, history, people, customs etc.) in their own languages, through iAfrika.
- Access mobile training modules in their own languages, through Diji.
This type of platform has the potential to bring about long-term societal impacts in Africa such as developing digital skills and improving digital, information and reading literacy, promoting local languages and knowledge, supporting social inclusion and cohesion, as well as contributing to the development of a knowledge society and economy in Africa.
Click on the images below for an overview of the Theory of Change.
Social inclusion yes. I also believe that as local content is mined and put online Africans can understand themselves more and build a cultural identity based upon facts not myths and tales, Africans will learn that their forefathers were scientists who used their knowledge to survive in the environment they found themselves. A platform such as yours will then energise young and not so young Africans not to see science as a foreign subject but as ideas that belong to them!
Yes, Nkem! It is linked to local identities but also different groups of people within society understanding each other better. And, I agree, and hope that it could work across generations.
You make it very easy to understand. It is also very important that local knowledge is infused into the development agenda. As Nkem says, all this is already within us and is not foreign at all. We just need to make full use of it.
Thanks for your comments, Gertrude! We are in the process of developing the first version of the platform. Hopefully that can provide opportunities to make full use of this knowledge, as you say.
We are waiting Grant, we are waiting! Achieving the AU2063 Agenda will move faster when the African sees and understands himself as one who has a rich heritage of Innovations, scientific knowledgle all intertwined with the ability to cope with change from generation to generation. I don’t know if I am over-reaching but I believe that we have local content as exemplified in our different languages and beliefs which proves that Africans have it in themselves to succeed. I believe that libraries across the continent will play some roles in curating this local content and working with you to make such available digitally which will encourage the integration of the local knowledge into the global body of knowledge and help build strong cultural identity for the African! I could talk about this for hours on end!
Very relevant. We volunteers in Wikimedia-ZA are trying to contribute to the same process from a different angle – by promoting Wikipedias in all local languages (even if not “official”). Perhaps we can collaborate.
Thanks, Michael. We are in the process of setting something up with the libraries in KZN. I will keep you posted as I am a member of the WikimediaZA group.
Grant