Annual Report 2018

Main activities

  • Technical design of the project “Campus-WLAN + Computer Lab for School of Nursing and Midwifery, UHAS, Ho” by HITA experts; Creation of procurement lists for required infrastructure components and comparison with list of donated goods (January-February 2018)
  • Planning of the logistical handling of the transport of the donated goods by container shipping (January-March 2018)
  • Participation in the information event on the BMBF funding initiative “Research on the Internationalization of Vocational Training”, Bonn (January 30, 2018)
  • Preparatory discussions and measures for a cooperation between HITA and the Carlo Mierendorff School, Frankfurt. Content-related support for activities through which teachers working there inform their school classes about the situation in Ghana and design and implement concrete aid measures (e.g. donation of toys and sports equipment) (April-December 2018)
  • Implementation of the campus WLAN and the computer lab at the School of Nursing and Midwifery (SONAM/UHAS) in Ho: Viewing and analysis of the infrastructure already installed at SONAM (IT components including networking, premises, furniture) and corresponding adjustment of the technical concept; Installation of all required components in cooperation with the IT specialists at UHAS; testing and trial operation; training measures to ensure the systems are properly maintained; Official opening of the HITA computer lab and the WLAN together with the rector of the university; Arrangements to ensure effective cooperation between the SONAM team and HITA in the coming months (May 17-31, 2018)
  • Conception, implementation and evaluation of individual and group interviews for data collection for the evaluation of the effects of the intervention “Implementation of a campus WLAN and computer labs at SONAM” (May 17-31, 2018)
  • Distribution of donated medical supplies to selected health facilities in Ho and Hasu, Volta Region (May 17-31, 2018)
  • Distribution of the toys and sports equipment donated by the Carlo Mierendorff School to selected schools in Ho and Hasu, Adaklu District (May 17-31, 2018)
  • Enthronement of HITA CEO Thomas Erkert as “Development Chief” of the Adaklu District at a festive ceremony in Hasu, as an expression of recognition of HITA’s achievements already made and those planned for the future (May 25, 2018)
  • Participation in the conception and preparation of a project application (“1Step4Life – Co-creative mHealth solution to improve maternal and child health care in Sub-Saharan African rural communities”) as part of the EU research program Horizon 2020 (Call: H2020-SC1-BHC- 2018-2020) in cooperation with a consortium led by Turku University of Applied Sciences (TUAS). Participation in a 1.5-day preparatory meeting in Turku (April-October 2018)
  • Opening of an account on the WeCanHelp platform and on Amazon Smile to acquire donations using innovative crowdfunding methods (September 2018)

Board meetings and general assembly

Board meetings took place on numerous dates during the first half of the year (as part of the project “Campus-WLAN + Computer Lab for School of Nursing and Midwifery, UHAS, Ho” and the shipping of the donated goods) and on October 12th.

Membership development

Total number and change compared to the previous year:






Public relation

Presentations

HITA’s activities were presented at the following public events:

  • Presentation at the Institute Day by Daniel Schleßmann and Thomas Erkert (July 2018)
  • Publication of a scientific paper (“mLearning in Nursing and Midwifery Education: Are Ghana’s Students Ready?”
    ) at the IST-Africa 2018 Conference, Gaborone, Botswana (May). The paper was co-authored by Dr. Robert Kaba/UHAS presented at the conference (May 2018)
  • Several presentations at the Carlo Mierendorff School

Online presence

The HITA website was continuously maintained, further developed and updated with the latest content over the entire reporting period. The reports published included in particular:

Press release “Do something good at Christmas! Support schools through online shopping”, December 2018, see https://www.hita-ev.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Pressemitteilung-Was-macht-HITA.pdf

Mention in the media

The project “Campus-WLAN + Computer Lab for School of Nursing and Midwifery, UHAS, Ho” received a lot of coverage in the Ghanaian media. These are some of the mentions that are also available online:

UHAS online: HITA Donates ICT Facilty to UHAS (6.6.2018)