Marouen Bloggin' his Life

Like each year, Diplofoundation is looking for new interesting and interested people to take part in their Capacity Building Program for Internet Governance. You can find more details in this link . Keep in mind that the deadline is : 11 February 2009

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This is the call for participation of the workshop I've been attending first as a trainee in South Africa and after as a trainer in Senegal. This is the session dedicated to North Africa. I hope it will be as interesting and funny as the two previous editions.

Workshop information in English

If you…...

* Are based in a community organization/NGO or work closely with community-focussed projects using networked technologies
* Have a practical need to develop your skills and knowledge in wireless networking and want to learn with others
* Are based in North Africa

...you are invited to apply to participate in the above workshop.

THE WORKSHOP AIMS TO

* Develop technical skills in wireless network planning, design, and management
* Promote understanding of appropriate wireless technology choices for community networking
* Lay the foundation for a community of like-minded practitioners to share knowledge, skills and experiences

BACKGROUND

Wireless technologies offer developing countries an important low-cost, versatile alternative to wired infrastructure. They enable communities to extend the reach of cabled internet connectivity and to be in control of the planning, implementation and design of their own networks, making the network into a tool that really serves the needs of the community. Open wireless standards not only bring new technical opportunities at very low cost, but also bring a decentralized internet model to an area which has been restricted to traditional telecommunication operators.

The Association for Progressive Communications is coordinating an initiative, supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Open Society Institute (OSI), to build capacity to implement wireless technologies for community networking in Africa. This workshop is one of a series taking place in Africa during 2005/2006, and the first in Arabic.

WORKSHOP CONTENT

The final workshop agenda will be fine-tuned in line with participants' needs and experience, but is expected to cover

* Introduction to wireless technologies
* Basic wireless network topology
* Windows/Linux client setup
* Access point setup
* Antennas
* Basic radio physics
* Site survey
* Link calculation
* Network security
* Managing/monitoring the network

LOGISTICAL INFORMATION

* Workshop dates: 12-16 July 2006
* Venue: Al Akhawayn University, Ifrane, Morocco
* Workshop language: the main language of the workshop is Arabic. Selected sessions will be held in French and/or English.
* Costs: the cost of travel, shared accommodation, meals and workshop attendance will be covered by the organizers.
Participants are expected to cover their own visa, travel insurance, health-related costs and single accommodation supplements. No per diem will be given.
* Pre-workshop preparation: Participants will be required to undertake a small amount of pre-workshop preparation.

ELIGIBILITY AND SELECTION CRITERIA

Workshop space is limited and demand for places is high. Evaluation of applications will take into account technical skills, community linkages and motivation for participation. Applications from women are particularly encouraged.

Prerequisite skills

* At least basic hands-on experience in TCP/IP network administration
* General arithmetic skills
* Arabic and French OR English language skills

Organizational/community prerequisites

* Located in a community organization/NGO or demonstrable ties with a community-focussed networking project.

Motivation

* Strong indication of intention to apply the skills and knowledge acquired at the workshop for community development.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

* Apply by completing the online application form NO LATER THAN 19 MAY 2006 (short-listed applicants may be asked to provide additional information after this date).
* Applicants will be notified whether they have been successful by 12 June 2006
* For further information please contact wireless@apc.org
* http://www.apc.org/wireless/northafricanworkshop.shtml

Bridges is a "Connecting Futures" project running in Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia and the UK. In Egypt it is co-ordinated by a partnership between the British Council and the Egyptian Association for Comprehensive Development (EACD)

Aim of the Project

Bridges aims to create a regional network of young people willing to be actively involved in their communities to build a solid relationship with their peers around the world to make a difference. These young people will be exchanging ideas, sharing experiences and building their capacities around the themes of

•Volunteering •Social Inclusion •Community Participation

Activities

In the first phase of the project, 24 participants from Palestine, Syria, Jordan, Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, Lebanon and the UK met in Cambridge last September to work together to create, develop and manage activities to get their peers involved in communities in their own countries and across the region.

The group used their experiences as inspiration and planned activities to take place in the eight countries in the next six months. These include an awareness raising road-show, a cross-region employment month targeted at young people and an international database of volunteers.

Each country team will deliver an activity with an approach appropriate to their local context.

In Tunisia, at Tunis Science City, on Saturday 6 May 2006, we are planning a Voluntary Day by a partnership with Tunisian Scouts. The aim of this activity is to raise awareness of voluntary work, give the opportunity to local and regional NGOs (Syrian, Egyptian and from the UK) to promote their work and create a Regional database of active volunteers and organisations working through volunteering.

I'm publishing here the call for participation about the 3rd online capacity building program on internet governance provided by Diplofoundation for interested people from developing countries. I had the opportunity to participate on the 2nd « round » and I spoke about my experience on this previous post

Do not miss it, it's very interesting and important

DiploFoundation, in cooperation with various partners, is currently accepting applications for the Internet Governance Capacity Building Training Programme. This programme aims at improving Internet Governance (IG) related knowledge and skills for participants from developing countries.

The Programme will comprise of a first online training phase, which will last from 1 April to 10 July 2006, and a second research phase (optional) which will run from 15 July to 1 November 2006, as well as capacity building fellowships. Fellowships, which will be awarded to the most successful participants in the programme, will include placements with partner organizations and attendance at Internet Governance related meetings including the proposed meeting in Athens later in the year. The programme will facilitate community building among participants from different national, cultural and professional backgrounds.

The application deadline for this programme is March 25th, 2006.

Information and application: http://www.diplomacy.edu/ig

I’m pleased to publish here some news about one of the ICT4D projects I’m involved in and which is a new vision to resolve a lot of connectivity problems in Africa. Even if this project isn’t targeting the WSIS (I think), an entire schedule was established to use this important event to let more people know about the power of Wireless technology in bridging the digital divide. If you’re adding the WSIS, try to know miss these dates to get back to your country with a new and “easy” knowledge. I’m also proud of being one of the orators in the first short panel and I’ll try to be present in the other panels in case we have some technical questions in French or in Arabic.

CAPACITY BUILDING FOR COMMUNITY WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY IN AFRICA
http://www.apc.org/wireless/

This partnership project, coordinated by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and funded by IDRC and OSI, focuses on capacity building through training, materials development, knowledge networking, information dissemination, and general awareness raising, drawing on the considerable expertise of the implementing partners in community wireless projects on the one hand, and training and support materials development on the other.

COMMUNITY WIRELESS @ WSIS SCHEDULE

15 NOVEMBER

Session: Cantenna building demonstration.
Time: 9:00 - 10:00
Languages: French and Arabic
Presenters: Bruno Roger and Marouen Mraihi
Venue: IDRC booth

16 NOVEMBER

Session: ''Introduction to wireless technologies: vision and basic concepts''.
Time: 9:00 - 11:00
Language: English
Presenters: Sebastian Buettrich and Tomas Krag
Venue: Kasserine
Session overview: General introduction, cases and vision of what can be done with community wireless networking, basic technical concepts for non-techies.

17 NOVEMBER

Session: Cantenna building demonstration.
Time: 9:00 - 10:00
Language: English
Presenter: Dwayne Bailey
Venue: IDRC booth

Session: ''Introduction to wireless technologies: vision and basic concepts''.
Time: 9:00 - 11:00:
Language: French
Presenter: Bruno
Venue: Kasserine
Session overview: General introduction, cases and vision of what can be done with community wireless networking, basic technical concepts for non-techies.

18 NOVEMBER

Session: Free Networks, Free Software: Linux-based wireless infrastructure
Time: 9:00 - 11:00
Language: French
Presenter: Bruno Roger
Venue: Kasserine
Session overview: Using Free Software such as Gnu/Linux to solve real community connectivity issues. How low-cost embedded hardware, and low-power servers can improve the both the user experience and the total costs of expensive capped internet connections such as VSAT links.

Session: Mesh Networks
Time: 12:00 - 13:30
Language: English
Presenters: Tomas Krag and Sebastian Buettrich
Venue: Expo Room 9
Session overview: This presentation will explain the basics of mesh networking and look at examples of how mesh networking can empower communities in urban contexts as well as in rural and development scenarios. Some hands-on demos of low-budget quick start approaches will be given, as well as some case studies.

I want just to let you know about one of the projects I'm linked to on the framework of the WSIS. This is the descriptive text Summarizing its aims.

Do you have something to say about cultural diversity, access to information, or creating gender equality through information and communications technology (ICT)?

Would you like to reach an international audience? If you think you've got something worth saying, then 'reach out'!

reach out aims to bring young Arabic and English speaking people together online, and then face-to-face in Tunisia to discuss important issues on a global scale as part of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).

How do you get involved?

Register online and join the discussion forums to share your views on topics such as cultural diversity, access to information and creating gender equality through ICTs.

Go to Tunis. If you are among the best online contributors you will be selected to continue your discussions face-to-face in Tunis and video conference with a group from the UK at Café Informatique International. You'll also have the opportunity to meet government representatives from around the world and share your views with them.

Run your own project. You'll no doubt be inspired to act on what you've learned at WSIS. So you'll then have the opportunity with your new colleagues to identify a project and work together to make it happen.

Interested? Then register at: http://www.britishcouncil.org/reachout/

reach out is a British Council initiative linked to the United Nation's World Summit on the Information Society. Its aim is to connect young people and encourage debate on culturally important issues.

- Original Message -
From: "Roster" <roster_unvolunteers.org>
To: "Marouen MRAIHI" <marouen_mraihi.com>
Sent: Monday, August 22, 2005 9:16 AM
Subject: Re: UN Volunteers age/G/TUN/Marouen, MRAIHI

Dear Applicant,

We acknowledge receipt of your message requesting clarifications on the status of your application.

As you will understand, we receive a large number of applications for UNV assignments and, unfortunately, are unable to accommodate everyone who applies. In our review, not only age, training and relevant work experience are taken into consideration, but also other criteria such as the number of candidates currently on the UNV roster with a similar professional background, knowledge of UN working language(s), experience in the field of specialisation after completion of studies, etc. Based on these various elements, we have concluded that it is unlikely that we will be able to offer you an assignment as UN Volunteer in the near future.

Regarding the issue of persons who have served as UN Volunteers even without meeting our minimum criteria, please note that some countries sponsor their nationals. In such cases, a country might select a person who does not meet all miminum requirements. On the other hand, the UNV programme sometimes has to meet demands in a specific professional category that is not well represented in our roster of candidates. This may also require us to propose a candidate with less than our minimum requirements. We appreciate your understanding regarding these rare exceptions.

We hope our limitations in offering you an assignment will not discourage you to look for volunteering opportunities. In this context, may we suggest that you visit the WorldVolunteerWeb at http://www.WorldVolunteerWeb.org to obtain a wealth of information on volunteerism worldwide.

Once again, thank you for your understanding and please accept our best wishes for success in your endeavours.

United Nations Volunteers Volunteer Resources Unit Email: enquiry_unvolunteers.org Internet: http://www.unvolunteers.org

- Original Message -
From: Marouen MRAIHI
Sent: 21-Aug-2005 00:21:39 To: Roster
Subject: Re: UN Volunteers age/G/TUN/Marouen, MRAIHI

hello

You sent me that email a year ago, now I have more than 25 years old.
What should I do to join UNV database ?
Regards

Marouen MRAIHI
Engineer in computer networks and telecommunication
http://www.mraihi.com

- Original Message -
From: <roster_unvolunteers.org>
To: <marouen_mraihi.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 05, 2004 5:42 AM
Subject: UN Volunteers age/G/TUN/Marouen, MRAIHI

Dear Mr.Marouen,

Thank you for completing our online questionnaire. Given that the minimum age to serve abroad as a UN Volunteer is 25, we are unable to offer you an assignment. We encourage you to reapply at a later stage and in the meantime to check our links to other organizations that send volunteers abroad at http://www.unvolunteers.org/volunteers/options/abroad/otherops.htm

You may also wish to visit the WorldVolunteerWeb at http://www.WorldVolunteerWeb.org to obtain a wealth of information on volunteerism worldwide. Country specific information is available at http://www.worldvolunteerweb.org/dynamic/cfapps/national_profiles/index.htm. To be informed about volunteer news, events and organizations, subscribe to the WorldVolunteerWeb.org newsletter at http://www.worldvolunteerweb.org/dynamic/cfapps/interact/subscribe/

With our best wishes for success in your endeavours,

UN Volunteers At the Service of Peace and Development http://www.unvolunteers.org

One of my tasks on the World Summit on the Information Society which will be held in Tunis on the forthcoming November is to promote the World Summit Youth Award. I’m doing this as the WSYA board member like all other WSIS Youth Caucus “very” active members since the Youth Caucus is the main partner. This new competition is the youth version of the World Summit Award which is more famous because it took place during the first phase and its Gala event during Geneva summit days was one of the main events (also b/c the WSA booth was just close to where all the receptions took place so no one can miss it). The WSYA is less famous because it has no national then international levels and has not to have an important team in every country. At my level, I was able to contact some newspaper and Tunisian online information portals to spread the information because the deadline is September 18th, 2005. These links are: Tunishebdo, TunisiaIT, BabNet. I’ll be missing all universities here in Tunisia because the opening date is September 15th or October 1st.

So do you have a cool emerging project on the web? Are you a young designer, web developer, music producer or artist looking for international exposure? Are you passionate about using technology for social change? Enter now and showcase your project to the world!

Few days ago I had the occasion to meet the people working in the reservation centre for WSIS participants and they explained me how it works. It’s a private entity working with the official hosting commission. All the hotels gave them their hosting capacities for the summit period with the prices and with the online reservation platform and the phone contacts the centre is managing all the requests and they are even advising participants according with their budgets and their requests. Participants are able to contact directly the hotels to book rooms but the hotels have to inform the centre to update their database of available rooms. Before meeting the polite girls working in the centre, I was thinking that the platform was just an interface with hotels but I discovered that it’s not right. The centre is even accepting bank transfers for booking. They also explained me that transportation is guaranteed from and for all the hotels working with the centre by the WSIS organizing committee. Personally I think it’s a very good idea to avoid for participants the task of visiting all the websites of all the hotels and calling them to discuss the details of the booking in case they still have any empty rooms. I don’t think that, in the first phase of the summit in December 2003 in Geneva, my friends an me, all members of the Youth Caucus, we were able to book rooms in hostels without the help of our friend Alex who was based there.

Relevant article : L’hôtellerie tunisienne et le SMSI

This is the english translation of the interview I already presented here :

Marouen Mraihi, cyber-volunteer at the Association des Municipalités in Mali
Corine Schouten, English translation Paul Seed, April 2005

With a qualification in computer engineering under his belt and looking for some real-world experience, young Tunisian Marouen Mraihi seized the opportunity to become a cyber-volunteer in Mali. He summarizes his first impressions as follows: Marouen Mraihi

"Everything is fine at the moment. I admit that it took me some time to get used to life in Mali which is different from my home in North Africa. Above all, the contact with people here has given me a better understanding of local life and made my stay more pleasant.

I work for the Mali Towns’ Association (Association des Municipalités du Mali or AMM) which is participating in the execution phase of a process of decentralization in the country. My main project is to help the Association in its mission to promote the principles and benefits of decentralization at the level of Mali’s regions, towns and local associations. The most effective way identified to do this is to create a web portal grouping together all of the documents and information necessary to encourage communities to look for innovative ways of using local resources and to establish inter-communal and international partnerships. I am also available to the Association for any technical assistance related to their network and computer systems, and have been given the task of studying the migration to a broadband internet connection.

Following the first project meeting to introduce the Association’s portal project and the decentralization of Mali, I was given three weeks to translate the vision of the various partners in the project into technical components and to prepare a plan of work for the following months.

For a computer scientist like myself, the most striking technical aspect in Mali is the extensive use of the radio frequency spectrum as the main support for communication. This is visible in the number of local and regional radio stations and the size of their audiences, the fierce competition between the historical mobile telephone operator and the new private operator, and the number of Internet Service Providers sharing their satellite connections to broadband subscribers via radio local loops and microwave links. "

To explain what I am doing right now in Mali, I thought that the interview I did for ICV will be great. For the moment it’s only in French but I think it will be translated soon. I’m copying here all the content but you have to check this link in case there are some updates.

BTW: We are looking for a web designer to join me (yes here in Mali) as a volunteer for 2 months. All the details are here : http://www.softwares.ch/~cyber/fr/positions/index.php?id=02_mali

Marouen Mraihi, cyber-volontaire à l'Association des Municipalités du Mali

Une interview avec Corine Schouten, mars 2005

Marouen Mraihi, jeune Tunisien, a saisi l'opportunité de devenir cyber-volontaire au Mali. Après ses études d'ingénieur en technologies de l'information, Marouen voulait gagner de l'expérience de terrain. Voilà comment il a résumé ses premières impressions. Marouen Mraihi

"Tout va bien pour l'instant. J'avoue qu'il m'a fallu un petit moment pour m'habituer à la vie au Mali qui est différente de chez moi, en Afrique du Nord. Surtout avec le contact des gens ici ça m'a permis de comprendre beaucoup de points de la vie locale et c'est ce qui rend mon séjour plus agréable.

Je travaille au sein de l'Association des Municipalités du Mali (AMM) qui participe à la phase d'exécution du processus de décentralisation du pays. Mon projet principal est d'assister cette association en sa mission de promotion des principes et atouts de la décentralisation au niveau des régions, des cercles et des communes du Mali. Et le meilleur moyen identifié pour cela est la mise en place d'un portail web qui va regrouper toutes les informations et la documentation nécessaires pour inciter les communes à chercher des idées innovantes pour l'exploitation des ressources locales et à établir des partenariats du niveau intercommunal à celui international. En outre, je suis aussi à la disposition de l'association pour toute assistance technique en rapport avec leur parc informatique et la gestion du réseau local et on m'a confié la tâche d'étude de la migration de la connexion Internet vers le haut débit.

Après une première réunion d'introduction au projet de portail pour l'AMM et pour la décentralisation au Mali, on m'a accordé trois semaines pour traduire la vision des différents partenaires de ce projet en des composants techniques et préparer un planning de travail pour les mois suivant.

Pour un informaticien comme moi, le premier aspect technique qui attire l'attention au Mali est l'importante utilisation de l'espace des fréquences radio comme principal support des moyens de communication. Ceci est visible par le nombre de radios locales et régionales, le nombre de personnes qui suivent ces radios, la concurrence acharnée entre l'opérateur de téléphone mobile historique et le nouvel opérateur privé, le nombre de fournisseurs d'accès Internet qui partagent leurs connexions via satellite à travers des abonnements haut débit utilisant les boucles locales radios et faisceaux hertziens."

I'm pleased to quote here the annoucement of the launch by ICV (International Conference Volunteers) of the official website of the Cybervolunteers Program in which I'm participating as the first international cybervolunteer (In Mali right now).

News Update, 14 March 2005

Dear Colleagues, Friends and Volunteers,

We are happy to announce that the CyberVolunteers Program is launching its new web site.

The CyberVolunteers Program recruits, trains and coordinates volunteers with information and communication technology skills for development. Volunteers participate in local, regional and international projects for a period of several weeks or months, offering their skills in areas such as web or software development, system administration and content generation.

The Program values in particular South-South exchanges, but also includes South-North and North-South cooperation, with projects in Mali, Senegal, Congo (Brazzaville), Uganda, South Africa, Tanzania, Cameroon, Mozambique, India, Switzerland. It is implemented by ICVolunteers (www.icvolunteers.org), an international volunteer organization working with volunteers from many countries around the world. The CyberVolunteers Program benefits from the patronage of UNESCO-Switzerland.

To learn more, visit http://cyber.icvolunteers.org

Do not forget to have a look on available positions section, who knows, maybe you'll have the chance to be the next cybervolunteer.

Before my trip to Geneva, I was supposed to make a presentation about the 1st Linux Install Fest in Tunisia during the "Compting Applied Days" (Journées de l'informatiques appliquées) organized by ISET Sfax on February 7,8 and 9. The theme of this year was related to the practical use of FOSS (Free and Open Souce Softwares). Anyway, the actual president of the club I founded (INSATech) repalced me for this presentation and I hope that everything was fine.

The presentation I prepared is available here (sorry only ni french)

In my last message I said that after my end of studies presentation I had a crazy program far from the usual programs like searching a job or attending a third level studies. I was thinking of the volunteer mission I was going to make in Mali.

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