Zanzicode provides free education in the field of Web Development to a small number of talented and motivated students of poor background in Zanzibar, Tanzania. Zanzicode is a project of the Austria based NGO ICT4D.at.

Our goal is to help build the personal careers of our graduates as well as to kickstart a local web development community. Our work so far has proven that there is both talent and demand for professional web work in Zanzibar. This is true especially now, as the digital gap between Africa and the rest of the world is closed a bit further by East-Africa's recent connection to the Seacom broadband internet cable. Graduates of the Zanzicode class are meant to act as multiplicators in this emerging market, and will help to strengthen the flow of information and enable the interaction between Zanzibar and the rest of the world through the web.

The 6 month Basic Course is meant to pick up students which already gained basic knowledge of web technologies (HTML and CSS). With these prerequisites, we teach them basic mechanisms and programming concepts of the World Wide Web. We stick to open standards and Open Source Software: Linux, Apache, PHP, MySQL. After the course, students are able to realize web applications on their own and are well prepared to get a job in the small but growing local software industry or work freelance. The course hosts 8 students.

At this point of time, the Basic Course is primarily sponsored by the Austrian Development Cooperation. If you are interested in supporting this course, find out what exactly we are using donated money for and consider placing a donation yourself.

Budget for the Basic Course per 6 month round

Laptops (2.5 years write-off)	750 EUR
Teacher, assistant and management salaries	2.900 EUR
Classroom rent, electricity, security	300 EUR
Internet connection	250 EUR
Sum 4.200 EUR

The right now running course is fully financed. This table represents the budget we need for each further round of this course. Hey! It's only about 3 EUR per student per day!

The 12 month Incubator Course measures up to the entrepreneurial spirit of graduates of the Basic Course. Strong programming skills and the goal to set up an own real world online business are prerequisites for this course. Students are guided through the process of realizing a business, from the idea to the running software and the functioning micro enterprise. We also stick to Open Source Software, but we optionally switch to Java and Google technologies as industry standards. After the course the students will be owners of their own businesses. The course hosts 4 students.

At this point of time, the Incubator Course is primarily sponsored by the Chembe Ventures. If you are interested in supporting this course, find out what exactly we are using donated money for and consider placing a donation yourself.

The 2011 course is fully financed. The proposal of future budgets is difficult, since it is highly dependent on many variables such as the agreement with a primary lecturer, who might come in from overseas on a "western" salary. For fixed costs regarding infrastructure, internet connection and classroom rent, see the budget for the Basic Course. However, please bear in mind that there may be other significant legal, administrative and operational costs depending on the nature of the incubated ventures.

When Martin Konzett (AT) of ICT4D.at has been introduced to the Zanzibits School for Film and Multimedia during a visit to Zanzibar in 2008, he decided to support the project by organising an advanced class in the field of Web Development for a handful of Zanzibits graduates and otherwise fitting students.

After a bit of preparatory work, project Zanzibits Support was good to go in July 2009 and we consecutively sent Dan Hamm (UK) and Fritz Grabo (AT) to Zanzibar for almost 6 months of teaching. With some lessons learned and a better understanding of what is both possible and needed, we started the project Zanzicode with the Basic Course in 2010 with a few adoptions and improvements. The Incubator course will start 2011. If you're interested in our experiences and day to day business, read our our blog.

If you want to stay up to date about Zanzicode, please visit our blog and subscribe to it. Also, check out our photostream on flickr, where we upload a few photos and videos every now and then. In case you need any photos in high resolution for printing, please contact us.

Zanzicode is partnering with these organisations:

• ICT4D.at
  Austrian Network for Information and
  Communication Technologies for Development
  
• Zanzibits
  The Zanzibits School
  for Film and Multimedia
  
• Aidnet Zanzibar
  A non-governmental, not for profit-making organisation
  registered in Zanzibar
  
• MeWe OpenSource
  A Linux training provider and
  Free & Open Source Software consulting firm
  

If you want to become a partner, please contact us - we'd love to hear from you!

The Zanzicode project is sponsored or has received donations by these organisations:

This is how you reach us online:

• Martin Konzett (AT)
  martin.konzett@ict4d.at
  Initiator, Operations
  
• Fritz Grabo (AT)
  fritz.grabo@ict4d.at
  Lecturer, Operations, Website, Blog
  
• Florian Sturm (AT)
  florian.sturm@ict4d.at
  Cooperations and Finances
  
• Salum Rashid (TZ)
  salum.rashid@zanzicode.com
  Lecturer
  
• Fereji Nasir (TZ)
  fereji.nasir@zanzicode.com
  Assistant, Blog
  

... and in case you want to send us a post card or donate your used laptop via snail-mail, here's our postal address:

ICT4D.at
zH Hr. Florian Sturm
Lerchenfelder Gürtel 48/12
1080 Wien
Austria