ALIN started operations in Uganda in 2009 with ICT Centre’s targeting the rural population in Northern Uganda. The project focused on enabling access to information, creating and sharing knowledge and rural community empowerment. The pilot project in Northern Uganda saw the establishment of three Maarifa centers in Gulu (Koro and Awach) and Moyo (1), thus, laying a foundation for a larger program (Internet Now!) in the region. The project aimed at providing ICT to foster social and economic development in a region that is recovering from conflict.
In 2012, ALIN partners with Oxfam Novib, Samasource and Inveneo to implement Internet Now!, project to avail online work opportunities for communities in northern Uganda. Internet Now! project aimed at connecting villages with the internet and training youths on ICTs from offices modelled on shipping containers accommodating 5-6 computer workstations.
These Centre’s are meant to provide Micro-work and provide hubs for exchange of agriculture and market information. Microwork is a type of business process outsourcing breaking large cloud-based tasks down into several parts.
ALIN’s role was community mobilization, development of infrastructure such as modular container offices, Internet masts and equipping of the Centre’s to enable connectivity and learning. The infrastructure was later handed over to a social enterprise for sustainability as per Internet Now! project objectives.