Internet Access in local (Swahili) language

This project was developed as a result of the articulated priorities of the ITU-Telecom Youth Forum Africa, held in Cairo on May 2004. The representatives of participating African countries, in their Declaration and Action Plan, highlighted illiteracy and ICTs inaccessibility as a challenge to be overcome and proposed the use of local languages in e-learning and Internet access as a solution.

In collaboration with the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology, the Youth Programme supported the development of a software enabling translation from English into Swahili. This project aimed to establish a web surfing environment in which young people who speak and understand Swahili will be better able to use the Internet.
This Project targeted to promote use of the Internet in those countries where Swahili is spoken (Burundi, Congo, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and other Swahili speaking communities).

This software was installed in all ITU tele-centers in East Africa and made freely available for the entire region.