Subscribe
  • Home
  • /
  • Business
  • /
  • WK Kellogg Foundation supports revolutionary agricultural 3D-interactive training project

WK Kellogg Foundation supports revolutionary agricultural 3D-interactive training project

By The Innovation Hub
Johannesburg, 06 Oct 2006

With the support of the WK Kellogg Foundation, World Links (Zimbabwe) and the Naledi3d Factory (South Africa) have jointly embarked on a unique two-year agricultural and life skills training initiative.

Based on interactive 3D simulations and virtual reality, this project is set to revolutionise training in Africa and will also set a new benchmark for computer-based learning in the developing world.

The two-year project is aimed at creating an extensive number of cutting-edge agricultural 3D training simulations as the first phase of a rural life skills programme with a focus on the upliftment of rural communities. An important aim is to empower rural communities to address issues that impact on their own development.

This phase, which started in September this year, will focus on aspects of agriculture such as water and soil conservation, specifically during drought, conservation farming, root crops and vegetable production. Importantly, the learning material will be developed in such a way that will facilitate translation into local languages.

World Links Southern Africa, co-ordinated from Harare, has two service centres in Harare and is active in 45 Zimbabwean school and community-based centres to improve education outcomes and create employment opportunities for rural youth and adults through the use of ICT and the Internet.

The Naledi3d Factory has, over seven years, evolved a new, innovative approach to learning in Africa, one that is unique globally, and is based on the use of interactive 3D visual (VR) learning content; content that is not only relevant, but also appropriate to the needs of African learners at all levels, where literacy and language often form major barriers to effective learning and understanding.

Together, World Links, the Naledi3d Factory and the WK Kellogg Foundation share a common understanding of how VR, and visually interactive learning material can help to effectively address the learning needs of African learners and are jointly embarking on this unique training initiative.

The three organisations have worked together previously on the application of visual learning media through the creation of a simulation that teaches basic beekeeping skills to community-land (small-holding) farmers, an intervention that achieved a first prize at the 2005 Harare Agricultural Show.

For more information, contact Dave Lockwood at the Naledi3d Factory on (012) 844 1010.

Share

The WK Kellogg Foundation

The WK Kellogg Foundation was established in 1930 "to help people help themselves through the practical application of knowledge and resources to improve their quality of life and that of future generations". To achieve the greatest impact, the foundation targets its grants toward specific areas. These include: health; food systems and rural development; youth and education; and philanthropy and volunteerism. Within these areas, attention is given to exploring learning opportunities in leadership; information and communication technology; capitalising on diversity; and social and economic community development. Grants are concentrated in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the southern African countries of Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.