Project Overview

Summary

The Lubisi Dam project is a community driven, high impact, integrative project employing a wide range of technologies to provide infrastructure and job creation opportunities to the people of 23 villages in the Lubisi area of the Eastern Cape Province in the Republic of South Africa.

The CSIR's division of Information Communications Technology, icomtek, has formed a number of successful partnerships with rural communities in "narrowing" the digital divide. One such community, Lubisi, lies in the deep rural area, in the Cofimvaba district and is typical of many Eastern Cape communities that exist below subsistence levels and remain impoverished because they have no access to basic infrastructure essential for economic growth and development.

As a consequence, the youth are leaving their rural homes in pursuit of employment and opportunity in the cities.

With funding from the IDRC and CSIR, the CSIR has piloted an innovative communications infrastructure project in support of local economic development in the Lubisi area.