The Basic Internet Foundation engages in projects around
Main Focus of Our Projects
Connected Villages
The pre-requisite for development is the access to information on the Internet. We have developed an infrastructure for free access to information, and have deployed village information spots in Germany, Norway, Tanzania and Ethiopia.
Educational Projects
In connecting schools with free access to information, we build information spots inside the schools. Our vision is that every school provides free access to Digital Public Goods as educational packages.
Women Entrepreneurship
We envision a world where every women has free access to information for running her business in the digital world. Though women are often drivers for the income of their families, they are double punished by the digital divide. First, “boys with toys” own a smartphone. And, even in some areas where there is 3G, about 30% of male have a mobile broadband subscription, but only 2% of women.
Thus, we need a new regulatory framework with free access to entrepreneurial information tailored towards women.
Ongoing Projects
Feasibility of affordable School Connectivity in Tanzania
The main focus of the School Connectivity project was to demonstrate the feasibility for an OPEX of less than 20 USD/month for the connectivity. The solution for connectivity provides the Internet through the mobile network, with a reliable school server providing students a digital education platform, as well as connection to “Internet Lite”. The success of this program, together with the experiences from school connectivity through other programs, created the proof of concept that connectivity of schools is affordable, and at the same time demonstrate the importance of the Internet in advancing the education system in Tanzania and urge the incorporation of digital education as part of the learning curriculum to improve the quality of education in secondary schools across Tanzania.
DigI Project
The main objective of providing non-discriminating access is supported through deployments and validation in Tanzania and Mali, focussing on the following sub-objectives: Bridging the digital divide by providing the InfoInternet infrastructure and digital access.
Provision of customised content for education and health purposes, thus creating the basis for jobs, as well as financial and social inclusion
A cost-effective, open and scalable Wifi extension of the mobile network for the low-income group, enabling (mobile) operators to provide digital services, Education, health and entrepreneurship for women and youth empowerment as representatives of the vulnerable society groups.
DigI Villages
We would like to thank our collaboration partners in Tanzania. Through the combined effort of the government (Ministry of Health, Universal Communication Service Access Funds (UCSAF), National Institute for Medical Research), Academia (Sokoine University of Agriculture, Muhumbili University), Mobile Operators (especially Tigo and Vodacom), and the communities we achieved our goals of bringing “free access to information for everyone”.
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AFRICA HIGHER EDUCATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE AND BASIC INTERNET FOUNDATION COMMUNITY CONNECTIVITY PROJECT
Africa Higher Education Research Institute (AHERI) and Basic Internet Foundation signed a Memorandum of Understanding to cooperate and collaborate in providing Infrastructure that guarantees affordable access to the Internet and information in unserved and underserved communities. AHERI is a project under Community Initiative Support Services (CISS) a non governmental organization based in Kisumu City in the Republic of Kenya with operations in three counties of the former Nyanza province that is Kisumu, Siaya and Homabay. Community Initiative Support Services focuses on food security , poverty reduction and youth engagement, preventive health and transformative masculinity, environmental management and conservation. AHERI on the other hand facilitates collaboration and knowledge exchange among Africa Universities in the areas of e-learning and public Health.