November 24, 2003 will forever be a memorable day for the first 46 graduands of the Cisco Academy CCNA Part 1 to Part 4 examinations following a grueling six (6) months training. It was also a great day for AFRALTI as this was the Institute’s first batch of graduands since they were granted the Regional Academy status in June 2002. The status was conferred on AFRALTI by virtue of its role as a Regional Centre of Excellence in ICT’s, its partnership with the ITU, and its hosting of the ITU Centre of Excellence project.
The graduation ceremony was witnessed by two key members of staff from Cisco, Erin Walsh who is the Senior Manager International Strategies and Partnerships, and Elli Takagaki – Program Manager, International Partnerships. The Guest of Honour for the occasion was the Director General of the Kenya Communications Regulator, the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), who was represented by the Director Competition Tariffs, Markets &Analysis (CTMA) Mr. Aloys Ochieng. The ITU was represented by the Program Coordinator of the Centre of Excellence, Mr. Mike Nxele.
The Director of AFRALTI, Mr. Edward Mallango,shown here, delivering his speech to the graduands of the Cisco CCNA Part 1 - 4.
Address by AFRALTI Director
In his address to the gathering, the AFRALTI Director Mr. Edward Mallango, paid tribute to ITU for the financial and institutional support it had given to AFRALTI which enabled it to achieve Centre of Excellence status. He also thanked Cisco Systems for placing its faith in the Institute by establishing it into a Regional Academy and for providing start-up equipment such as routers for use in setting up this program.
The AFRALTI Cisco program took its first intake in April 2003, and from that day the Institute has been a hive of activity. It is an achievement the Institute is really proud of that of the 46 graduands, 22 were women, thus beating the Cisco target of 30% female enrolment.
A reflection on the quality of training at AFRALTI is that all the 46 graduants passed with a minimum grade of a Credit, and 8 Distinctions were recorded.
Women Power
 Women have shown that they can challenge men in the ICT field and the results of this enrolment indicated the Cisco faith in the policy of a female quota in enrolment. Of all the women who enrolled in this program, only one was unable to complete the course; of the 8 distinctions recorded, 5 were taken up by women, and one of these 5 had never used a computer prior to this course. The paradigm of male dominance and male superiority was stood down; the hypothesis totally nullified.
AFRALTI announced it will do its part to promote women in the ICT sector. Not only is it granting lower fees for women to enroll in the Cisco program, it is also offering sponsorship to some women to attend the program for free.
Shown here from Left to Right: Erin Walsh (Cisco), Mike Nxele (ITU), Aloys Ochieng (CCK) and Edward Mallango (AFRALTI), Obscured by a graduand is Elli Takagaki (Cisco)
Accolades for AFRALTI from Cisco
In their message at the ceremony, Cisco heaped praise on AFRALTI for having one of the 20 best performing academies globally despite having started only this year. AFRALTI is one of the few that have maintained a clean sheet in meeting Cisco criteria on percentage of female enrolments, sticking to original training schedule, minimal drop out rates and high pass marks. And for this, AFRALTI is going to be the first country in the region to be offered the training and opportunity to run an “IT Essentials 1 and 2” course developed by Cisco. This is a 6 weeks program covering PC Hardware and software at basic level, and is designed for people with no background in IT. AFRALTI Trainers will undergo a 5-day Train the Trainer programme early next year.
It was a great moment for AFRALTI to get this kind of feedback from Cisco. In the very words of Erin Walsh to AFRALTI, “You wanna know how you are doing? “A” plus.”
Message from Guest of Honour
The Guest of Honour at the ceremony, the Director General of CCK, highlighted the importance of a well-trained cadre of professionals in ICT’s, and commended Cisco, the ITU and AFRALTI for such positive collaboration as the Cisco Academy. In a speech read on his behalf, the Director General disclosed that CCK was working to develop and run a graduate course in telecommunications law, in collaboration with the University of Nairobi, and another in Applied Technology with the Jomo Kenyatta University. ICT’s he said, hold the key to spur faster development in all sectors of the economy.
He pledged his support to AFRALTI in all its efforts to build capacity in the ICT sector.
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