My Depressing Visit with the University of Liberia

I frankly think capacity building needs to rise higher on the agenda of the development community as a whole.  The old proverb says it all “Give a man a fish he’ll eat for a day, teach a man to fish he’ll eat forever.”  All too often we’re so busy feeding people we don’t teach them how to feed themselves once we’re gone.

So it should come as no surprise that a key component of my recommendations for supporting technology in Liberia is capacity building. Not as sexy as blanketing the country with wireless broadband, but critical for creating an ecosystem around technology for the applications needed in Liberia to arise from within.

I visited the University of Liberia yesterday and met with Professor Robert Damalo, Director of Computer Information Systems to learn more about the existing programs and discuss what foundations could do.  That visit more of less ruined my day.

I’ve visited a few computer science programs in emerging markets, which are obviously not the same as developing countries, especially one like Liberia.   But somehow I expected to find more than nothing there.  There was nothing there.

I take that back.  There are about 30 computers that the student body of 20,000 uses.  They aren’t connected to the Internet, they’re almost exclusively used for Microsoft Office applications for homework assignments.  But really, if you had to share one computer with 667 others, would you ever bother trying to use it?

There is also a VSAT, a video conferencing unit, and a handful of thin client computers.  It’s all collecting dust.  An ICT department was opened in 2007 with the support of Socketworks and the goal of introducing IT and providing Internet access to the university (hence the VSAT).  The intention was so have the IFC pick up the bill for the Internet connection (a hefty $5000 per month thanks to satellite’s egregious rates).  The IFC came in, saw the Internet Cafes in town filled with students and interpreted it not as evidence of the demand for Internet, but rather the ability to pay for it.  No free Internet was needed at the school, they concluded, and refused to pay.  Not surprisingly the university can’t foot that bill.  Now Socketworks is trying to unload the assets to the University for $200,000. 

To my surprise and glee, one of the very forward looking and tech savvy ministers had long ago set up Google Apps accounts for the school.  He showed me the usage stats last week when we met: about 20 accounts, most of them never used.  No wonder, there’s no account creation process and no Internet access.  Now I get it.

They’d tried to get the faculty to start using the local network to get class information and materials online.  The problem is, the faculty has no idea how to use even the most basic technology to facilitate their teaching.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.  I wasn’t there to understand if the University as a whole had access to technology and the Internet.  I wanted to understand the computer-related programs and courses available.  I wanted to understand how far Liberia is from graduating students capable of building technology for their country.

About as far as it possibly could be is the answer, sadly.  There’s one intro to computer programming class, and it’s available only to math majors. Business students learn some IT via Microsoft Office programs.  That’s it. That’s all there is.

Professor Damalo has largely given up on establishing proper technology degree programs.  Instead he’s been pushing for a simple 3-month certificate program.  Since 2004.

I asked Professor Damalo what he thought foundations could do to help. Train people to fix computers, he said.  Train our staff to use computers. Train IT teachers.  He hadn’t even mentioned a computer science program, so I pressed him on it.

“Let’s just start with a certificate program,” he said.

He then got a call and I followed him to another office.  He’d been called in to fix a computer that had a virus.  This is what Professor Damalo does with most his time.

Did I mention that as I walked through campus past inexplicable piles of chairs and desks, classes were held under a pavilion outside because there weren’t enough functioning classrooms?

It’s clear that Liberia is not investing enough in higher education.  I think it’s a mistake.  I’ve met enough smart, ambitious, and enthusiastic young people to know that the ability to take advantage of it is there.   Who, if not them, will lift Liberia?  It’s such a cliché thing to say but here you really mean it when you say to a smart educated young person: “You are the future of this country.”

I returned to my desk thinking I should keep three words permanently above my computer screen: “don’t give up.”