Tunapanda Institute
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Tunapanda Institute (Tunapanda is a
Swahili Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language official in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa * Swahili culture Swahili culture is the culture of ...
word for "we are growing") is a United States based non-profit organization operating in
East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...
. With the goal of training disadvantaged young people, various free courses in technology, design and entrepreneurship are offered to increase the chance of graduates in the labour market. The majority of its work is based in
Kibera Kibera (Kinubi: ''Forest'' or ''Jungle'') is a division of Nairobi Area, Kenya, and neighbourhood of the city of Nairobi, from the city centre. Kibera is the largest slum in Nairobi, and the largest urban slum in Africa.http://www.dominionpa ...
, a slum in Nairobi, but it has also operated in other parts of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. In 2016, Tunapanda Institute was named as one of 2016 NT100, Nominet Trust's annual celebration of 100 inspiring tech-for-good ventures from around the world.


History and operations

Tunapanda was founded in 2013 by the brothers Jay Larson and Mick Larson, with the aim of providing learning opportunities to unconnected communities through the use of an "education on a hard drive". They downloaded openly-licensed software and educational content for computer programming, design, and business/entrepreneurship, as well as general-knowledge content from Wikipedia and Khan Academy, which they then distributed on
CDs The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Octo ...
, external hard drives, and USB drives at various schools and community organizations. Tunapanda then opened its own training facility and developed a three-month intensive training courses in technology, design and business which has to date been taught to more than 200 students. The majority of Tunapanda’s programs are based in
Kibera Kibera (Kinubi: ''Forest'' or ''Jungle'') is a division of Nairobi Area, Kenya, and neighbourhood of the city of Nairobi, from the city centre. Kibera is the largest slum in Nairobi, and the largest urban slum in Africa.http://www.dominionpa ...
, a slum in Nairobi, but Tunapanda has set up computer labs and training facilities in urban and rural settings within Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. While focused mainly on education and training, Tunapanda also provides graduates with the opportunity to earn an income from working on technology-related projects for clients and partners.


TunapandaNET

In 2015, TunapandaNET was conceived  as a way to provide access to digital learning materials and platforms to young people within Kibera who may not be able to afford regular internet use. The network connects schools and community centers to Tunapanda’s learning facility through wireless communication. Since content is hosted locally, the network operates as an intranet and costs considerably less for users to access content than traditional service providers. The network has grown to incorporate ten nodes within Kibera and plans to expand to more by the end of 2019.


Kibera Aeronautics and Space Academy

At the end of 2018, Tunapanda launched the Kibera Aeronautics and Space Academ
(KASA)
with the goal of training young people interested in science and technology. The aim of the program is to equip disadvantaged people from Kibera and other surrounding regions with practical skills for life beyond the program. In the long term, a training system will be installed, with which the participants can be prepared for technological professions on the model of German dual education system and subsequently be transferred to employers.


Awards

* 2016: Named as one of the 2016 NT100, Nominet Trust's annual celebration of 100 inspiring tech-for-good ventures from around the world.


References

{{reflist Community-building organizations Information technology education Information and communication technologies in Africa Non-profit organizations based in the United States