Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 30 | Page 9

NEWS Nokia and UNICEF launch partnership to boost digital literacy in Kenya The textbook, which is the first of its kind, was produced by KICD with the active involvement of disability stakeholders who infused different media-overlays with audio for children with visual impairment, simplified text for children with intellectual disabilities, and Kenya Sign Language video inserts for children with hearing impairment. N okia, Finnish National Committee for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and UNICEF Kenya have launched a shared-value partnership to increase equitable access to digital literacy for some of the most disadvantaged children in Kenya. The partnership builds on the Government of Kenya’s investment in the Digital Literacy Project which provided one million tablets to primary schools with a focus on improving the availability and use of quality digital content. Going forward, the partnership will provide support to the Government of Kenya to avail more digital learning materials to schools in urban informal settlements of Nairobi and the frontier counties of Garissa and Turkana. This will be achieved by connecting them to the internet using the latest Nokia connectivity technology. As an initial step, the Accessible Digital Textbook with special features for children, with hearing, visual and intellectual disabilities, has successfully been piloted in schools. Scaling-up of Internet connectivity in schools is planned to allow students to access quality digital learning materials that are aligned to the new competency-based curriculum and approved by the Government of Kenya. ///////////////// African region prepares for World Radiocommunication Conference T he ITU Regional Radiocommunication Seminar 2019 for the African region (RRS-19-Africa) was held in Johannesburg where participants discussed future radio- frequency spectrum requirements for radiocommunication systems in the context of preparations for the upcoming ITU World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 that will take place in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. The seminar covered the current regulatory framework for international frequency management and ITU Recommendations, as well as best practices regarding the use of spectrum for both terrestrial and space services. It also included basic training on tools developed by ITU for frequency notifications for those services and for the technical examinations. Various workshops also enabled participants to get hands- on experience with ITU notification procedures, as well as with the software and electronic publications made available www.intelligentcio.com The ITU Regional Radiocommunication Seminar 2019 for Africa was held in Johannesburg by the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau to the Administrations of Member States and to the ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) members. “ITU’s 2019 Regional Radiocommunication Seminar for the African region has significantly contributed to the sharing of information and capacity-building in the region and the regional preparation for the upcoming WRC-19,” said Mario Maniewicz, Director of the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau. The seminar drew more than 135 participants from 36 countries, including industry experts and stakeholders, ITU Member States and Sector Members, regulators, and representatives of the telecommunication industry, operators, international organisations, associations and academia from the African region. INTELLIGENTCIO 9