The PISCES Project team has been named one of 11 recipients of the 2013 Information Society Innovation Fund Asia (ISIF Asia) grants. The grant, won in the category of Innovation on Access Provision, is for approximately $30,000 AUD, and is considered a small grant, intended to provide seed funding. In fact, this grant will allow us to take the next steps toward expanding beyond the pilot stage!
In our application for the ISIF Asia grant, the PISCES team proposed to build upon the recent success of their single pilot installation of solar-powered information and communications (ICT) technology at Udot School in Chuuk Lagoon in the state of Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). The grant will also allow for the related and recently-established partnerships to be solidified and strengthened. Expanding the project to multiple participant schools will not only prove the concept, it will also allow for the continuation of local training and capacity-building. Our longer-term goal is that this project will scale across Chuuk State and beyond.
This grant proposal is to carry out five additional site surveys and three additional deployments at currently un-connected schools in the Chuuk lagoon. These activities are exactly what the team will begin to do in mid-March!
Below is a map of the schools in the Chuuk lagoon that are candidates for the site surveys that will take place in March.
The schools that will receive the installations will join the Dual Language Arts Program, a technology-enabled educational training program for teachers, being led by the Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL) Organization. We can’t wait to get started and are very excited to receive this grant as a kick-start to the project expansion!!!
Good luck LJ, always fond of you. Hope the best.