TRIP REPORT
Zambia Program Site Visits
February 8-9, 1999
Jeffrey A. Cochrane
1 March 1999
Lusaka, 8 February 1999, 8:45am: Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources, Environmental Support Program
Ms. Nalwamba, ESP program manager
A meeting had been scheduled by email with Kenneth Mwansa and Christopher Lungu. Both were called out of town on the Friday before this Monday meeting. A brief meeting was held with Mr. Lungu on Sunday, who suggested that a meeting be held with Ms. Nalwamba in their place. Note that Mr. Lungu was formerly the AfricaLink Coordinator based at SACCAR.
Ms. Nalwamba provided background on the ESP program in Zambia, and then explained how electronic mail is accessed within the Ministry. There are several individual accounts, but most staff rely upon a single Ministry-wide account accessed at a single terminal. Staff prepare emails at their desks on diskette, carry the diskette to the email terminal, import the text into Eudora Light, and queue the message. One of Mr. Lungu’s task will be to establish a local area network, allowing all staff to use their desktop computers to send and receive messages.
The Ministry is a member of IUCN-ROSA. Ms. Nalwamba did not have information about the participation of the Ministry in IUCN-ROSA networking.
Lusaka, 8 February 1999, 11:00am: Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Zambia
Alfred Mwila, lecturer
Mr. Mwila represented the Dean of Agriculture, a member of the regional network of deans. Zambia was one of the pioneer Internet access countries, with access originating from the University. All staff reportedly an account, with access either directly through a desktop computer or through a laboratory computer. Students generally do not have access. The Agricultural Economics Department is on a Windows3.11 network, with the server presumably located in the Campus Computer Center. Tools are EWAN for telnet, Pegasus2.3 for email, and Netscape2.01 for Web browsing. A departmental lab houses the network hub as well as 10 standalone Intel286 computers.
Mr. Mwila was not able to talk about the specific functioning of the regional agricultural deans network. Instead, discussion turned to academic networking opportunities. Mr. Mwila noted that there was little Internet traffic devoted to research, information sharing, or curricula. The Department might seek to establish relationships with overseas or regional universities for these purposes, offering opportunities for collaboration via the Internet and hosting of on-site visiting scholars in return for technical assistance, joint teaching via the Internet, and collaboration in curriculum design.
Lusaka, 8 February 1999, 1:30pm: US Agency for International Development
Miles Toder, Democracy/Governance Team Leader and Interim Leland Coordinator
The Mission in Lusaka is seeking a Leland Coordinator. Mr. Toder is acting in an interim capacity, and works with a national Leland Task Force involving Internet service providers, the national telecommunications company, and others.
Discussion turned to the local Internet situation in Zambia. A local shortage of skilled staff seems to be behind an apparent recent deterioration in the quality of service in some areas. Four new ISP licenses have been issued to enhance competition.
Mr. Toder’s primary responsibilities lie with the democracy/governance team of USAID. Discussion focused on the problem of securing quality technical assistance for special projects, such as the installation of a LAN at the Supreme Court. A number of highly qualified technicians in the region were identified, and administrative procedures for securing skilled technical assistance from USAID/Washington was discussed.
Lusaka, 9 February 1999, 9:00am: Golden Valley Agricultural Research Station
Medson Chisi, SMIP program coordinator
Kalipochi Kawonga, forage and pasture agronomist
The station is located just after the turn-off to Chisamba on the Great North Road, 56 kilometers from Lusaka. Dr. Chisi received his MS degree at Texas A&M, and his Ph.D. at Kansas State. Mr. Kawonga visited states from Montana to Utah from Canada on a recent study tour.
Dr. Chisi perceives a general shift in emphasis in USAID funding, away from agricultural research toward natural resource management programs that may have an agricultural component, e.g. germplasm conservation. He sees an implicit criticism to be a lack of perceivable results. New programs run from farm to market, and tend to emphasize larger scale commercial farming. Staff expressed concern for the manner in which changes in staff at USAID have been disruptive of regional programs.
AfricaLink was the source of the Station’s Internet connectivity. In 1995, a WLL (wireless local loop) telephone system was installed, linking to the Zambian national grid in nearby Chisamba, at a cost of roughly $400. AfricaLink resources from the RCSA provided through SACCAR in 1997 enabled the purchase of a modem, a Zamnet account, and a half day of basic training for four members of staff.
Connections via the WLL line at 9600 using tone dialing were demonstrated, using Win95 dial-up networking and Eudora 1.4.4. Staff exhibited basic knowledge of search engines, but were not aware of key addresses of regional partners, how to use basic Web browser features such as bookmarks, or other techniques for making good use of their Internet access.
Staff requested assistance with further training. This might be coordinated by their network. The network coordinator is in Bulawayo. A key contact is Jeff Heinrich, g.heinrich@cgiar.org, of ICRISAT.
Lusaka, 9 February 1999, 2:00pm: Environmental Council of Zambia
Necs@zamnet.zm
Ms. Felistas Ngulube, GIS Technician
Ms. Teresa M. Bowa, Programmer
An appointment had been scheduled with Mr. Msiska, the network manager for the Council, but Mr. Msiska did not report for work due to illness.
The Environmental Support Program under the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources is providing assistance for desktop connectivity via the Council’s local area network. Until that is in place, a single email account provides service. The Council also has plans for online services via the Web, for the publication of rules and regulations, and for online license applications.
The persons interviewed were not aware of any technical assistance offered by the help desk of IUCN-ROSA, but suggested that Mr. Msiska might be better informed. They did note that they have contact with Mr. Likando Mukumbuta, formerly their own GIS specialist, now employed by USAID/Lusaka. Also discussed was the impending solicitation for an AfricaLink GIS intern in Washington, and the possibility that Ms. Ngulube might tender an application.
Lusaka, 9 February 1999, 3:30pm: National Heritage Commission
Mr. Mundumuko Sinvula
Mr. Martin Mukanzu
Mr. Manday Mungaila
Ms. Gladys Chakota
AfricaLink assistance funded by the RCSA through IUCN-ROSA was the source of the Commission’s Internet connectivity. A grant of funds was made in October of 1997.
Staff noted that training was quite inadequate, though in discussions it was pointed out that the initial half-day training was intended only to help them get started. Additional and more extensive followup training had been recommended on such issues as file attachments and Web searching techniques.
There seemed to be some confusion among staff, with some indicating that they did not have Web access, and others indicating that they did. The source of the confusion may be that Zamnet had told them they would have to pay an additional fee to post their own information on the Web, and this was misinterpreted to mean that they should pay an extra fee to browse for information on the Web.
An extensive discussion was held on how the Commission might pursue its mandate through a Web site. The Commission would like to post photos and descriptions of natural and cultural heritage sites. Such a site might cost initially $1000 to develop professionally, with additional small fees for altering pages in the future. Alternatively, staff might be trained in-house, though this did not seem appropriate for an operation of this size.
The local telephone exchange seems problematic. Staff dialed several dozen times before securing a line to ZamNet. The connection was quite slow, with Web pages overseas taking several minutes to load. ZamNet pages also loaded quite slowly, suggesting the problem lies with the telephone lines, not with ZamNet. Interestingly, staff perceived the fault to lie with ZamNet.
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