Highlights of ASEI Team’s Official Visit to Fort Portal S.S.
Andrew, Moses and Davis officially visited Fort-Portal secondary school to explain in great detail the proposed CODE program to the school top administration. After the official meeting, the team was offered an undeniable opportunity to talk to students at the school general assembly about the Program.
In their short presentation, Moses enlightened about the general concepts to be tackled in the CODE Program and clearly emphasized on how the program will be highly flexible depending on the prevailing situations and the interests of the participating students. He further explained on how important the CODE program is to the students of their generation given the technological advancements in the societies they look forward to flourish in. The program among other merits gives students the opportunity to interact actively with computers, learn mysterious logics behind different technological innovations and systems and also equip students with basic computer programing skills which are necessary while introduced at such an early stage of their life to enable them evoke their intuition towards further discoveries and implementations.
Andrew similarly illustrated the operation of “Woody” a locally designed collision detection robot to the students. He explained on how Woody’s design delivers inspiration from the concept of collision detection technology in smart cars which has been implemented necessarily to prevent accidents. The students were clearly amazed with it and according to the few students that the team managed to interact with after the assembly, there was a great expression of interest as these students want to learn and probably exploit these technologies in different aspects of life. In fact one student after inquiring about the program said:
This robot is really nice. I would also dream of making some thing like this and even more. I really like the program and once it starts, I surely will be part of it.
S.3 Student Fort-Portal S.S.
AndrewInnovation Lab Lead Demonstrating a Collision Detection robot to students.
The team and the school administration look further to work together to see how best the program can kickstart at the school when students report back from their short holidays.
African STEM Education Initiative (ASEI) is a newly formed initiative located in Fort Portal City, Uganda. Its mission is to substantially uplift STEM education, youth entrepreneurship, and local technological innovation in Uganda and Africa.
ASEI plans to offer a maker-space and education and skills development opportunities. It will provide local youth and communities with exposure to life changing technologies and innovations that have the potential to transform the communities, with the goal of supporting the holistic transformation of youth and disadvantaged communities.
Figure 1 ASEI Cofounders with Fort portal City MP RUHUNDA Alex (3rd from L) and MOHAMMED AHAMED Shariff the executive director KABAROLE RESEARCH AND RESOURCE CENTRE (EXTREME R)
How was it formed?
The genesis of ASEI began in a conversation between Co-founders Alicwamu Moses and Mayanja Andrew in October 2019, when the pair were still studying at university. They identified a gap – despite the high technological innovativeness of Ugandans and Africans, there was need for a platform and an environment to nurture, support, incubate and scale innovation to create tangible social impact. This idea resonated with other fellow students Sentamu David Davis, Omurunginoha Crevan and Abenaitwe Docus. Since graduating the team have come together, in collaboration with a number of advisors and supporters, to create ASEI as a dedicated non-profit organization.
Why is support for technological innovation needed in Uganda right now?
The youth unemployment rate in Uganda is extremely high – between 64 – 70%. One of the challenges young people face is that even as graduates of higher education institutions, they do not necessarily possess the skills that are required by modern industries. Currently STEM education in Uganda is more theoretical than practical, and enrolment in STEM programs at across all universities sits under 25%. Globally, innovation capacity in Uganda is also viewed as being quite low, with the country ranked 106th in the Global Innovation Index (GII, 2013). These factors have constrained local capacity in manufacturing, health, agro-processing and energy.
Within this context, we have established ASEI to bridge the gap between the government, academia, the private sector, humanitarian organisations and local communities.ASEI will provide a link through skilling potential employers and employees and also implementing collaborative projects with innovative solutions.
The challenge of expanding access to high quality, relevant STEM education today is unprecedented, but if investments are made now, STEM education has transformational potential. We believe now is the time to rethink what skills young people require and to intentionally design an approach with those skills in mind. Recently we have developed the ASEI CODE program to teach basic systems-building computer science skills to students in secondary schools.We are working with schools initially, because they are the start of any career, and it is important to foster interest in STEM at an early age.
What are ASEI’s goals for the future?
We know that digitization, automation and technological advances are changing the nature of work globally, including Africa. Equipping youth with those skills will help drive productivity gains in both the formal and informal sectors, improving livelihoods and potentially spurring productivity and economic transformation. Provision of relevant skills through secondary education is crucial in order to ensure young Africans are well equipped to take advantage of new opportunities in an increasingly digital, automated and connected world. Furthermore, this approach is central to achieving the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (the Sustainable Development Goals).
Eventually, ASEI hopes to refine and uplift STEM education in Uganda, and across Africa. In the nearer term, some of ASEI’s specific objectives include:
To enhance the innovation capacity through provision of equipment and space to experiment.
To acquaint the youth with current employable skills through practical exposure to using lab equipment.
To improve and widen the scope of STEM education in Uganda through more engaging, project-based learning.
To promote and fine-tune locally developed technologies so as to penetrate local and international markets.
What has been achieved and what are the next steps?
ASEI was officially registered and incorporated by the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) in late 2020. The organisation has also been officially introduced to key local stakeholders – for example the local administrative district leaders; a Member of Parliament and District Education Officer, as well as the Director of King Solomon’s College, one of the local schools from which we intend to deliver ASEI’s CODE program.
We have already had some early successes – the Member of Parliament for Fort Portal City has pledged to support ASEI on future projects that can be funded through government. He has since connected ASEI to a local NGO Kabarole Research and Resource Centre (KRC) of which he is a founder. Several engagements between ASEI and KRC are ongoing. Additionally, King Solomon’s College – Kyatega pledged to partner with ASEI for the CODE program to be implemented in the school.
Next steps include piloting the CODE program in April 2021 in three schools in Fort Portal. We are also currently negotiating local partnerships and collaborations, conducting internal staff and instructor training, and developing ASEI systems and policies.
Of course, there have also been challenges, including financial constraints and limited access to resources and equipment. Covid-19 has meant higher costs of living and has delayed school openings, all affecting the CODE program commencement.
What is ASEI’s connection to UNSW?
Our first connection with UNSW was in 2018, when some of the ASEI Co-founders visited UNSW on a study tour. We have since met with several UNSW students and staff to discuss ASEI, including the President and Vice Chancellor, Professor Ian Jacobs, Emeritus Associate Professor Julian Cox (who led the study tour in 2018), Selena Griffith, former Senior Lecturer and current member of the ASEI Board, as well as others in the Institute for Global Development and the Faculty of Engineering.
We are in contact with the UNSW ENACTUS chapter through their current President and Vice President, Samantha Yun and Helen Park. We are delighted that ENACTUS are currently running a crowd funding campaign to support ASEI’s CODE program.
How can students, industry partners and the UNSW community engage with and support ASEI?
There are many different ways people and organisations can support ASEI! Some of these include:
Crowd funding: Supporters can contribute to the ENACTUS-led crowd funding campaign to support ASEI’s CODE program. You find the campaign link here: [WU2]
Training & Mentorship: Offering training opportunities for internal capacity development, training and mentorship of ASEI staff.
Donations & Networks: Establishment and facilitation in the setup of the Innovation lab/makerspace through donation of equipment (machines, tools, laptops).
Grant Information: Sharing upcoming grant submission opportunities and/or partnering with us on grant submissions.
Technology & research collaborations: Availing already developed technologies/prototypes for implementation and pilot studies by ASEI in Uganda, offering expertise and help on possible innovations to be implemented in the context of Uganda and the developing world, providing support or partnering on key innovative, industry-aligned projects (such as green communities, agriculture and the CODE program),
Student collaborations: Students might be interested to engage in collaborative research with ASEI during their course or final year projects, and possibly at some point to visit ASEI to get hands on experience.
We would love to hear from people interested in any of these areas. We can best be contacted via aseiuganda@gmail.com
