This Mayor's Use of Social Media and More Has Reformed Local Government Service Delivery in Blantyre

He is the new face of local Government.  Although Mayor, Noel Chalamanda has only been in office for a year, he has  revolutionized the way people interface with Local Councils and the delivery of public services  in Malawi’s Metropolitan  City of Blantyre.  The City’s Council has  been given a shot of efficiency served with a people-focus approach. The man behind it  recently shared his secret with  me Patricia Mtungila as I   wore the cap of freelancer.

 “I am just a person who was born and raised in Blantyre and who understands what Blantyre was  is and could be if we all played our part…”

 Chalamanda says  that the secret behind Blantyre’s apt transformation  is

"Nothing magical. I respond to people’s queries through different media especially social media, listen to suggestions, take time to meet a lot of people in my office regardless of their age or status in society, listen and discuss issues.”

Despite, this mammoth shift in  style of public service delivery, there are no grunts. The people of Blantyre completely adore Mayor Chalamanda for his ability to innovatively deliver on his promise to  serve  Blantyre residents  by bringing about tangible change to the streets of Blantyre in so little time.  More here https://www.google.com/#q=my+everyday+malawi

One on one with Rachel Sibande

Rachel Sibande after receiving her award:Pic Courtesy Vibe.net

One of the most exciting things about being a writer is talking to people who inspire you. I recently spoke to Rachel Sibande, the founder of Malawi's innovation Hub, mHub, and  this is how our chat went.

Q.1 ICT has traditionally not  been a girl’s typical industry, but you have changed the status quo, how did Rachel Sibande make it?

Growing up I was tasked to do pretty much same chores like my brothers. My parents repeatedly emphasized that I could do “ANYTHING”, only if I put my heart to it, worked hard and had faith in God.  I still hear my Father’s words echo in my head until today; well, you can imagine that he still gets to say that to me even now that I am his big girl! As a result; it has never occurred to me that a profession had a gender. It is people that set such social constructions of certain professions being for females and some for males. I decided to make my own social construction and decided technology, science, engineering and mathematics were for both males and females.  And then; the rest became pretty easy because I just got to love and explore the fields such that, even when it gets tough, it only gets as tough as  a challenge and not enough to quit!

Q2.  You have revolutionized the nation’s landscape technologically and have inspired hope of harnessing Malawi’s innovative potential through mHub, tell us about that.

Malawi has a wealth of talent in their young person that is often untapped.  Youth and children make up 60% of the country’s population yet the rate of unemployment amongst the youth is very high. Mhub identifies nurtures and mentors young technology enthusiasts with skills to build sustainable technology solutions that solve local problems.  Through the hub young people have built local technology solutions that address key bottlenecks in Agriculture, Health, Education, Trade and Culture among other thematic areas. These are such as; a platform for smallholder farmers to access agricultural extension messages and market prices; a local e-learning platform for students to access resources from their tutors remotely and social messaging platform that works on basic phones other than just smart phones.

Q2. Google recently awarded you, tell us about that award?

Every year Google recognizes female computer science students from Universities across the world. This year;  I was privileged to be the only recipient from Southern Africa, of the Google Anita Borg Award. The award was given in recognition of the research work in developing a technology platform for itizen engagement as part of my Doctoral studies at Rhodes University in South Africa. 

Q.4   What kind of help will a young innovator with nothing but ideas get when they walk into mHub?

They will be welcomed into a vibrant open working space by a strong and enthusiastic tech community. We provide technical support and a wealth of developer resources as they work on their technology projects.  The hub is a platform that exposes talent and grooms ideas into viable technology solutions. We facilitate mentorship and linkages with the corporate world. mHub is an incubator space for innovators and technology entrepreneurs.

Q5. Any thoughts about the future of Malawi as a nation that is embracing ICT4D?

Countries like Rwanda and Kenya have made significant strides in ICT to the extent that it has become a significant revenue stream for their country’s GDP. Much of these formidable strides, have been attained through youth engagement in technology.  Malawi has a tonne of resources in its youth that can be sculpted into technology expertise that would stir the country’s development across sectors. Technology cuts across Agriculture, Education, Health and other sectors of development. By harnessing the skills that our youths have in technology; we could develop more efficient and relevant homegrown technology solutions and export technology expertise like India does.

Raising up Innovation: the story of Rachel Sibande, Malawi's ICT girl

A career in ICT is not one that the typical Malawian girl rushes to pursue. For many years,  science, engineering and mathematics  have been branded “hard” by many  of our girls. Well, not Rachel Sibande. She is the girl that is demystifying innovation in ICT  for many of Malawi’s young ; boys and girls, techies and non techies alike.

Notably, Malawi’s centre of new ideas in ICTs for commercial and non-profit purposes, MHub is her brain child. “The hub is a platform that exposes talent and grooms ideas into viable technology solutions. We facilitate mentorship and linkages with the corporate world,” says Rachel in our interview.

No wonder Google, the search engine,   could not help but notice  this innovator. Rachel scooped the highly-prized  Google Anita Borg Award for 2015.

“I was privileged to be the only recipient from Southern Africa, of the Google Anita Borg Award. The award was given in recognition of the research work in developing a technology platform for citizen engagement as part of my Doctoral studies at Rhodes University in South Africa.”

She gives credit to God and her father for raising the  innovator in her early in life. 

“Growing up I was tasked to do pretty much same chores like my brothers. My parents repeatedly emphasized that I could do “ANYTHING”, only if I put my heart to it, worked hard and had faith in God.  I still hear my Father’s words echo in my head until today; well, you can imagine that he still gets to say that to me even now that I am his big girl! As a result; it has never occurred to me that a profession had a gender. 

Rachel's dreams are really big. She believes that Malawi has a lot of untapped innovation in its young people which if nurtured could contribute to the advancements in the health, education and agricultural sectors as well as provide foreign exchange for Malawi through exporting of technological expertise