Google Awards More than N300billion for ICT Development in Africa

Google has awarded a $1.25 million grant to Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory in Johannesburg, South Africa, to help preserve and give unparalleled digital access to thousands of archival documents, photographs, and audio-visual materials about the life and times of Nelson Mandela.

The company in a statement explained that the grant which will assist in enlarging the online Mandela archive will include his letters and correspondence with family, comrades and friends, prison diaries and notes he made while heading the negotiations that resulted in the end of apartheid in South Africa. All these will be made available to global audiences, scholars and researchers in the future.

Equally, another $1.25 million was granted to Desmond Tutu Peace Centre in Cape Town, for the documentation and digitization of Desmond Tutu’s archives and an interactive digital learning centre.

Google also announced three additional grants given through the Google Inc. Charitable Giving Funds of Tides Foundation to support access to information across the continent.  Among the beneficiaries of the grant is the Nigeria ICT Forum, which was awarded a $500,000 grant to help in improving access to internet infrastructure in tertiary education institutions in Nigeria.

The Nigeria ICT Forum is a scheme of the Nigerian Caucus (a joint meeting of the Vice-Chancellors and ICT Coordinators) of the six Partnership Nigerian Universities. Its mandate is to develop an ICT-based capacity for strengthening Research and Higher Education, HEIs; Facilitate and nurture collaboration between HEIs to cultivate a favorable policy environment; develop, utilize and sustain ICT networks, services and shared resources consistent with institutional roles as focus for development.

Country Manager for Google South Africa, Luke Mckend, in summing up the grants said, “Google wants to help bring the world’s historical heritage online, and the internet offers new ways to preserve and share information. Our grants to the Nelson Mandela Centre and to the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre will facilitate new digital archives for South Africa’s past, giving the global public an unprecedented opportunity to engage with the history of some of the most extraordinary leaders of our time. We are also delighted to be announcing additional grants which will help many more people across South Africa and Africa access the internet and benefit from access to information.”