So who or what exactly is the Geekcorps?

Geekcorps is a US-based, non-profit organization that places international technical volunteers in developing nations to contribute to ICT projects while transferring the technical skills required to achieve long-term stability. Ultimately they strive to pollinate developing nations with the skills needed to maximize the benefits of modern telecommunications. The average Geekcorps volunteer assignment is three to four months and strives to balance the needs of the partner organization with cross-cultural exposure for the volunteers.

The Geekcorps Division of IESC has a capacity to deliver both long-term cross-cutting, multi-dimensional Information & Communications Technology (ICT) development programs and short-term, one-on-one consulting interventions with a database boasting more than 5,700 high-technology experts drawn from all over the world. These experts are experienced in all aspects of the ICT sector including but not limited to sector and firm-level needs assessments, practical training, strategic marketing, web design and development, programming, systems development administration, database development and administration. IESC/Geekcorps ICT interventions are having lasting impacts in Africa, Europe and Eurasia, Asia and the Middle East with an overarching goal of promoting "digitally independent" nations, capable of designing technology solutions that address their development challenges.

The International Executive Service Corps, IESC is one of the largest development organizations of its kind in the world and is currently active in 55 countries.

What are the Geeks doing in East Africa?
The ECA Hub is working with an IESC/Geekcorps team to create a common interface between systems to share and store information to meet international standards as per World Customs Organization rules in the Revised Kyoto Convention. A team of four Geeks will do field research on existing systems, and design a platform which will achieve the project objectives. They will visit relevant agencies in Mombasa, Nairobi, Malaba Border Post and Kampala.

A workshop held at the ECA HUB Offices in Nairobi recently brought together representatives of Kenya Ports Authority, Revenue Authorities of Kenya & Uganda, TTCA, USAID, the Hub and the World Bank, to discuss the ICT Component of the One Stop Border Control Project. These key players met to share information about systems in place and plan follow-up site visits to observe physical layout, information passing between border posts and survey ICT & Telecom networking.

The "One Stop Joint Border Control" Project is an East and Central Africa Global Competitiveness Hub initiative at Malaba Border post to harmonise customs, immigration and cargo tracking communications. The Malaba Border Post, between Kenya and Uganda, will serve as a model for other Northern Corridor border crossings as it is a central link in the East & Central Africa Northern Corridor.

As part of this project we intend to design and implement a solution for an "IT corridor" spanning the trade route of the Northern Corridor from Mombasa, Kenya to Kampala, Uganda. This will effectively establish electronic information exchange across the border of Kenya and Uganda and greatly reduce the delays in cargo clearance. In addition to this, design a Community Based System that grants varying levels of access to transit information to the different branches of government.

Synchronised collaboration and cooperation at the border post requires communication among the participating agencies of both governments i.e. customs, immigration, and cargo tracking. Currently each agency does have some form of information technology, at varying levels of sophistication and implementation. However, there is no common automated interface among the systems, and no way to share information even within departments of a single government.

The primary objectives of the project will be:

1. Design a software interface which would allow customs, immigration and other Government Agencies to transmit information automatically between each other and each country.

2. Design a database interface and communications platform that would allow limited public access to the central database and secure data transmittal to participating public and private stakeholders.

In country Geeks

Mary Overby - MS Computer Science from Rochester Institute of Technology University. This Computer Consultant based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina has been publishing and developing database applications since February 1994.

Well traveled in South America, this is Mary's first time in Africa and this serious lover of African, Cuban & Brazilian percussion is, "…Very excited about this Geekcorps assignment as it allows me to use my computer skills to improve trade efficiency in Eastern African".

Mike Smith - Graduated in Computer Science from the University of North Carolina. Area of focus is web applications and database design. Mike grew up in Europe and the Middle East and has been back in the US for the past 10 years

"I jumped at the opportunity to travel to Kenya and work on such a fundamentally important issue for the country. Not only to offer my insight into a solution but also to work with the local IT personnel and learn the methods and business proceedings in this fast developing country. I have no doubt that it will be a wonderfully enlightening experience".

This is Mike's first project with geekcorps and his first time in Kenya.

They will be joined by two more Geeks. Watch this space for more details on them.