User:Gvanstam/Macha Works

Macha Works is an organization aiming to inspire people in rural communities to reach their collective and individual potential. Macha Works works through a three step approach within the context of community ownership: 1) implementation of Internet connectivity; 2) training of local talents; 3) community driven solutions. As to assure long term progress and contextual embedding, values, among which ethics, of activities are prioritized.

Macha Works is operational in the Netherlands, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and affiliated with organisations in UK, Germany, South Africa and USA.

Zambia
Macha Works Zambia a not-for profit cooperative institute, located in rural Macha, Southern Province, Zambia. The organisation works in line with the Macha Works Model. Activities started in 2003, and are being scaled up to many more villages in Zambia. Macha area itself is in a next stage of development. It is evolving into a center of expertise with training, talent development, innovation and experimentation in the fields of agriculture, alternative energy, appropriate types of entrepreneurship, and novel approaches in ICT fitting the African context. A cooperation with the University of Zambia in Lusaka is evolving with education, applied research, and practical work taking place in rural Macha. Hundreds of new employment positions have been created since Macha Works started its activities. Implementation of Internet connectivity appeared to be instrumental for sensitization, exposure, planning and execution of innovations and entrepreneurial activities in local communities. The resulting Macha Works Model proves to greatly enhance the chance of local and sustainable progress, resulting in a vibrant and enterprising society, while preserving the unique African culture.

LinkNet
LinkNet is the ICT organisation within Macha Works. The challenges for implementation of ICT in rural Africa are immense. Macro economic, social, engineering challenges, and most importantly cultural issues, are extensive and not well researched. Slowly some papers appear. Macha Works involves all stakeholders from the start of interactions, to assure all obstacles are identified and addressed.

In ICT engineering, Macha IP based network consists of a 3 tiered Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) connecting approximately 90 wireless routers, which aggregates traffic from a single Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) C-band satellite connection to the Internet. The VSAT connection has a committed download speed of 128 kbps bursting to 1 Mbps and a committed upload speed of 64 kbps bursting to 256 kbps. The total monthly cost of the C-band VSAT connection is an excruciating USD 1,200. During March 2010 the community did upgrade the connection threefold, paying USD 4,000 per month, while generating a daily traffic volume of over 20 Gb. At the first tier, the wireless backbone makes use of point to point links between high sites which form a layer 2 network with wireless bridging. At the 2nd tier, these high sites then connect to outlying sites in Macha using directional antennas mounted on buildings. Some of these outlying sites make use of a mesh network between buildings to spread this connectivity to other buildings in the area.

Internet usage in rural Macha shows that 63% of the traffic is Web based. This is in stark contrast to urban studies which show that only 30% of traffic is Web based and the majority of traffic is peer-to-peer traffic.