Our Eastern Cape holistic pilot

In 2011 the Departments of Science & Technology (DST) and Basic Education jointly identified a need for a “technology-intensive, holistic, systemic and multi-layered intervention that could be tested in a limited rural educational space.” The Nciba School Circuit at Cofimvaba, in the Chris Hani District, was selected for a range of interventions to inform rural education-development policy (large-scale “crowding-in” of technology); to demonstrate and validate a rural-innovation and socio-economic development systems approach; and to provide an initial prototype for scaling up integrated rural-development programmes.

The Arthur Mfebe Senior Secondary School, its feeder schools and governing bodies showed strong ownership. As innovation became a key element across all activities, the focus shifted to Technology for Rural Innovation and Education Development (Tech4RIED). A Living-Lab methodology ensured a participatory response to complex stakeholder needs, strengthened by Outcome-Mapping monitoring and evaluation.

We learned important lessons: the already-burdened school system could not be the sole catalyst for rural innovation, prompting a dedicated local grouping of young people; smaller, quicker project adjustments create a more conducive environment for innovation; and tangible benefits must recur regularly to sustain participation. Above all, technology stands in service of humans, not the other way around — requiring a major mind-shift towards human-centred, participatory, ‘bottom-up’ design.

Read the Tech4RIED case study (PDF)