(article extracted from the IKamva National eSkills Institute newsletter, Edition 32, November 2014)

Creating much-needed higher level e-skills for global competitiveness and wealth equity

The Makana Apps Factory (MAF) Eastern Cape Developer Group took part in a series of workshops run by the ICT4G group which is a part of the Italian NGO, Fondazione Bruno Kessler, in collaboration with Rhodes University and Fort Hare University. The ICT4G group uses technology to foster economic and social development. These workshops were hosted by a Marie Curie International Research Staff Exchange Scheme Fellowship within the 7th European Community Framework Programme.

The four Ruby on Rails Developers Workshops were held in East London, Port Elizabeth and Alice during November 2014. The course focus was on the programming language, Ruby. Ruby helps build web applications very quickly and is used frequently internationally but not within South Africa.

Part of the staff exchange fellowship involved members of Fondazione Bruno Kessler coming to South Africa and Sibukele Gumbo from MAF and Siyakhula Living Lab going to Italy. The MAF is the associated app factory for the Eastern Cape e-Skills CoLab: ICT for Rural Development. It is a collaboration between the Eastern Cape e-Skills CoLab and Rhodes University.