The Harare Institute of Technology is exhibiting its innovations at the 8th Edition of Africa Public Service Day Commemorations in Victoria Falls at Elephant Hills Hotel from 21-23 June 2021.
Ten African countries are showcasing at this continental event running under the theme “Building the Africa We Want Through Embracing an Ethical Culture That Underpins Purpose Driven Leadership in The Context of a Crisis,” and four sub themes.
The event was officially opened on Monday 21 June 2021 by Vice President Constantino Chiwenga who challenged African Governments to take vaccination against the Covid-19 pandemic seriously.
The Vice President who is also Health and Child Care Minister delivered his keynote speech virtually from Harare, with a handful of delegates gathered at the venue in Victoria Falls.
Other delegates from across the continent are following events virtually as attendance is reduced in adherence to the country and World Health Organisation Covid-19 regulations.
Vice President Chiwenga described the conference as historic as it is the first time it is being convened virtually as a consequence of the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.” The objective of the Public Service Day is to celebrate the contribution of the public service in spearheading national and continental development, in line with the aspirations of our forefathers and fulfillment of Vision 2063,” he said.
The Honourable Minister of Public Service Labour and Social Welfare, Professor Paul Mavhima and other senior Government officials are also attending this event.
HIT is exhibiting under sub-theme (C) “Deploying Technology to Sustain and Enhance Service Delivery in The Face of This Challenging Covid 19 Pandemic Climate.”
In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, HIT’s Technology, Transfer, Licensing and Commercialisation Centre (TTLCC) has developed and deployed a few technological projects to sustain and enhance public service delivery in the face of this challenging climate.
This gives meaning to the intent and purpose that was envisaged in the HIT ACT {Chapter 25:26} to widen Zimbabwe’s revenue base through technology development, incubation, transfer, and commercialization with the sole purpose of empowering our citizenry.
COVID-19 Ventilator Project
The Covid-19 Ventilator prototype passed the initial clinical tests and made it to the UNDP’s 50 Homegrown Innovations Report that tackled the Covid-19 pandemic on page 28. This demonstrates that the international community is alive to and recognises the inherent innovation capacity within HIT.
Mass Urban Bus Transport System (Tap card)
Tap card Payment System is at 34% implementation nationwide. Already, about ZWL$ 2.4 billion has passed through the system, demonstrating the feasibility of a cashless transport system, a critical component of the financial sector’s digitization.
It is also creating downstream employment through agencies that are being deployed across towns and cities. We envisage over 450 jobs being created in the short-term and over 6 000 jobs in the long term. By the end of 2021, we would have eliminated physical cash handling in the urban transport system.
Local Authorities Digital Systems
HIT is working with the Ministry of Local Government, Urban and Rural Council on rolling out a software that uses artificial intelligence in managing the affairs of local authorities. This will bring transparency to billing, amenities management, stands, and housing allocation, financial management, revenue collection, and tax obligations payments in local authorities.
COVID-19 Alert System
The COVID-19 Alert System project began at the end of March 2020 to address the need for a COVID-19 pandemic tracking system countrywide. The system consists of an android-based mobile application and a web-based application (www.covid19zw.com), which keep statistics of COVID-19 cases established countrywide in real-time. The applications were presented to the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, and recommendations were incorporated into the Framework.
Sanitisers and Disinfectant Production Line
The Sanitiser Project was conceived as a mitigatory strategy for the Covid-19 pandemic and is running with the capacity to produce 40 0000 litres of either of the two solutions litres a day.
Some of the major milestones achieved include exceeding 127 000 litres of production, installation of a new Reverse Osmosis Plant with a capacity of 1000 litres per hour of De-ionised Water which is supplied and distributed to other sanitiser production plants in Harare and around the country.
An alcohol and Nano-based disinfectant that can be used both as a fumigant and a hand sanitiser was also developed for fumigating public places and transport.
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