Akwapim (Ghana) Community Wireless Network

Brief background GHANA

• Located on the west coast of Africa bordering Cote d’Ivoire and Togo • Area - 239,460 square kilometers

• Unreliable fixed-line infrastructure - primarily concentrated in Accra • Internet penetration rate estimated at 3% (2007)

• Ghana consists of ten districts including the Eastern Region where Akuapim (or Akwapim) north and south districts are located

Akuapim • Aquapim North and Akuapim South are two of the districts of the Eastern region of Ghana •Akuapim North: area approximately 500km2; Akuapim South: area approximately 350km2

• Both within 60km radius from capital

• Community wireless project started in the north district in the community of Apirede

•Project was initiated by the Wireless Ghana programme

Photos courtesy of Google Earth

Apirede Community Technology Centre

• Created in 2005; Provides connectivity and access to technology•The project is developed and managed by the Centre’s staff• Farthest town is only 5 miles away

• “Two Ghanaian gentlemen manage the project, Mr. Gideon Kofi Amoah as the Project Co-ordinator, and Mr. Ebenezer Boateng as the Chief Officer of Technology. They are able to do this because of the capacity they have gained by managing the center.” (WirelessGhana.com)

Akwapim (Ghana)

Apirede Community Technology CentreChildren’s Section

IT & Media Centre

Consists of ten nodes

The network spreads out over a 20km range

There is a VSAT at the Apirede Community Resource Center providing a 128/32 (downlink/uplink) kbps link.

Offers connectivity to schools, businesses, and community activity centers throughout six towns

Primarily in the mountainous Akwapim North district

Some project partners

• Community Centre established by a non-profit organisation called Rural Communities Empowerment Centre; the Centres are created in collaboration with schools in the community - http://www.cblit.org

• The mesh network is implemented by the CUWiNWare software which is the flagship software of CUWiN (the Champaign-Urbana Community Wireless Network). CUWiN develops free open source, open architecture software for mesh wireless networking - http://www.cuwin.net/

ALL PHOTOS OF THE CENTRE ARE COPYRIGHT OF THE WIRELESS GHANA PROJECT. The Wireless Ghana project was initiated, developed, and managed by ICT staff from the Community Centre. MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROJECT CAN BE FOUND AT http://www.wirelessghana.com.