Churches, homes and even crèches found in some of the Eastern Cape’s deepest rural communities have also become venues where the rollout of critical digital skills training is unfolding owing to the NEMISA Eastern Cape e-Skills CoLab. 

The NEMISA eSkills CoLab exists as a project at WSU through an agreement signed with NEMISA (www.nemisa.co.za), a state-owned entity under the Department of Communication and Digital Technologies (DCDT). The current strategy of the NEMISA requires all eight provincial CoLabs to operationalize the mandate to be the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) skills institute for the public and private sector in a multi stakeholder environment.

The Walter Sisulu University-housed entity, nestled in the institution’s Chiselhurst Site at the Buffalo City Campus, is a government-funded initiative charged with aiding government in its duty to improve the lives of ordinary citizens by using ICT to train, upskill and furnish rural communities in the province with the necessary tools to connect to the information age.

“The specific focus of the EC CoLab is on how ICT can be utilised to impact positively on the development of information-poor peri-urban, rural, and remote areas; to expand the power of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to connect these areas with the information society and knowledge economy and to break down barriers to knowledge and information exchange,” said EC CoLab director Sibukele Gumbo.

With a measly budget of R1,6million from in the previous financial year, the CoLab, within the confines of the Convid-19 restrictions, was able to traverse the rugged terrains of rural areas such as Ntabankulu, Mount Flecther, Sterkspruit, Bizana, Bathurst, Matatiele in a bid to conduct about 100 face-to-face training sessions on basic mobile literacy.

One of the cornerstones to the successful implementation of the initiative was the strategic partnerships the CoLab was able to forge and foster with critical entities such as the EC Parks and Tourism Agency (ECPTA); EC Development Corporation (ECDC), Rhodes University, KSD Local Municipality, Keiskamma Trust, Lovedale TVET college, Mthatha Correctional Services as well as the Office of the Premier’s Youth Development Unit.

Despite Covid-19 lockdown restrictions still permeating across society, the CoLab has been able to train at least 538 people during the first quarter of the current financial year, and has increased its footprint from the previous financial year to include areas such as, but not limited to, Cradock, Ngcobo, Lady Frere, Cofimvaba, Middelburg, Ongeluksnek Nature Reserve and Waters Meeting Nature Reserve.

“In collaboration with the ECPTA and ECDC, we conducted 4IR specialist training to a total of 45 participants in the first quarter of the current financial year. The courses delivered include an online Cloud Computing course for EC Department of Correctional Services technical staff, and Data Analyst and Software Developer courses for unemployed youth in Komani and Alice,” said Gumbo.

Thanks to a significant budget increase from the previous financial year, the CoLab will this year be conducting research into its effectiveness in impacting people living with disabilities under the theme “Emerging Digital Technologies for use by people with disabilities: Paving a path for digital inclusion”.

The origins for the need for this aforementioned research can be traced back to 2019 during a workshop hosted by the CoLab on assistive ICT technologies for persons with disabilities which revealed, according to interaction with participants, that there was quite an underservicing of people living with disabilities when it comes to digital and e-skills training.

- Thando Cezula