7.+Intersecting+Ecosystems

=Intersecting Ecosystems= =media type="file" key="intersecting.mp3" width="240" height="20" = (image from [] ) //Managing a public-private partnership of the magnitude of NEPAD e-Schools is a very complex task. The Demo involves 16 national governments; five of the world’s largest ICT corporations, partnered with numerous regional and national supporting companies; and a lead agency accountable to the heads of all national governments on the continent. All parties at the beginning of the Demo underestimated this complexity.// (Farrell et al., 2007, p.6)
 * ===In such a multi-stakeholder, public-private continental project as the e-School Initiative, Davis' (2008) axes converge by design, with the common goal being the development of education at every level using ICTs.===


 * ===A perception that other civil society organisations (CSOs) with experience in introducing ICTs would be in competition with the NEPAD vision was found to be misplaced. There is a great deal that could have been learned from this experience to prevent having to 're-invent the wheel'===


 * ===Davis (2008) discusses 'global ecozones' of education, that may follow regional, national or continental borders. In the case of NEPAD, the continent of Africa may be seen as one ecozone, although his does not preclude there being 'nested ecozones' within that, at national and regional level.===

//“We also expect the NEPAD e-Schools to enhance collaboration among African countries by enabling teachers, for example, to collaborate in the development of educational content, by enabling governments to pull together their buying power in order to negotiate better prices for equipment and satellite access, and by collaboration in the manning of the satellite systems control centres, etc”.// (Dr Henry Chasia, Executive Deputy Chairperson of the NEPAD e-Africa Commission, e-Africa Commission, 2008)
 * ===Within Africa, the e-School Initiative allows the potential for much great collaboration and influence between national ecozones, as envisioned by the e-Africa Commission:===


 * ===The evaluation report (Farrell et al., 2007) states that the differences between countries, and in particular the different levels of preparedness prior to the beginning of the project, was a major cause of compromise of the Demonstration Project's objectives.===


 * ===An ambitious continental approach like this is unlikely to be successful unless there is the flexibility to adapt the implementation to a local analysis of the context. Such an analysis would take into account such things as infrastructure planning, national goals and policies, leadership commitment, human and fiscal resources and also student, teacher, administrator and community attitudes towards digital technology in the classroom.===