KICTANet is running a Community Network dubbed “Angaza”, a Swahili word meaning light up. The network covers three wards in Mathare Valley which is densely populated with a population of 350,000 people crammed in a 5km radius. The network currently has several components in place, including four points of presence (POP), and 271 WIFI antennas. The WIFI access points operate in the 2.4GHz frequency band
Awards.
Winner, 2023 IEEE Future Networks’ (FN) Connecting the Unconnected (CTU). Project name: Empowering Women in Mathare Valley: Bridging the Gender Digital Divide through Community Enablement in Kenya
In light of the tremendous need for connecting the 2.9 billion unconnected people across the globe, the IEEE’s FN has endeavored to support a competition to identify and award innovative ideas and early-stage concepts which have the potential to meet the challenge.The support includes mentorship, to achieve successful real-world deployment that provides life-changing benefits to unconnected/under-connected communities! The mentorship include guidance on technical feasibility, financial sustainability, business model innovation, deployment logistics, regional/local relevance and/or other areas. The program ran for 3 months during 2024.
This award also included USD10,000 seed funding.
Check out KICTANet’s work at our Community Network’s page.
