Kakinda Mutumwe, Biology Teacher, Zimbabwe

Some critics of the educational system in Zimbabwe suggest that for too long the government has favored investing in education over investing in the performance of the economy, and that the country may not reap the full benefits of that investment.  Indeed, for Kakinda, a high school biology teacher, the country’s ongoing economic crisis translates into less and less money in his pockets at the end of the month but more and more bills to pay.  But since Kakinda assumed his new role of customer service assistant in his school’s World Links computer Center, he has been able to earn extra cash for staffing the center’s early evening shift.

World Links was one of the first international organizations to pilot the wide-scale establishment of dual-use school-based telecenters.  A number of such centers are open after school-hours for community access on a fee basis. The concept is proving to be an important source of revenue-generation to underwrite costs associated with the technology, and is improving community-school relations.  This model not only extends the benefits of technology, the Internet and life-long learning to the entire community for a wide range of development applications, but it also helps economically trapped citizens like Kakinda in present day Zimbabwe.