An international team of consultants from IBM's Corporate Service Corps programme have arrived in Nairobi to volunteer their expertise in support of the development of an electronic voter master plan for Kenya. As part of the four week project, the team will work alongside the Kenya ICT Board and other organisations to review the transition from current voting procedures, set out standards and governance for an e-voting system, and help streamline e-voting security and protocols.“IBM is partnering with the Government of Kenya to propose a framework that addresses Kenyan voting challenges,” said Anthony Mwai, Country General Manager for IBM East Africa. “Our consultants will review the experience of the recent electronic voter registration pilot and compare this with global e-voter frameworks and evolving standards.”

The team of 12 IBM employees from 11 countries will work on the ground in Nakuru for one month, beginning this week. They will work with a number of local organisations including:
The Kenya ICT Board
The IBM team will assist the Kenya ICT Board, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and the Ministry of Information and Communication in creating a master plan to enable an e-voting system in line with the new Kenyan Constitution.
Directorate of e-government
The IBM team will work to increase productivity, scalability,security and ease of usage of existing e-Government services, helping to encourage participation in government processes even in the country's most remote communities.
Kenya Education Network Trust (KENET)
The IBM team will work with KENET to promote the use of the KENET platform as the national research and education network of choice in Kenya through open educational content development.
The engagement in Kenya exemplifies the volunteerism that has characterised IBM during its first 100 years in business.  The company's centennial is being celebrated this year, most notably with an emphasis on public service. The engagements builds on a number of previous IBM Corporate Service Corps projects in Africa - a focus continent for the program. Since July 2008, IBM's Corporate Service Corps has deployed more than 300 IBM employees to South Africa, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, and Egypt.  Through these projects, IBM has worked with local organisations and businesses across Africa to support community-driven economic development.
The Corporate Service Corps (CSC) is a global IBM initiative designed to provide small businesses, educational institutions and non-profit organizations in growth markets with sophisticated business consulting and skills development to help improve local conditions and foster job creation. IBM deploys teams of top employees from around the world representing IT, research, marketing, finance and business development to growth markets for a period of one month. The employees work pro-bono with local organizations and businesses on projects that intersect business, technology and society.
As a global programme, over the past three years the IBM Corporate Service Corps has deployed more than 1200 IBM employees in over 100 teams to 23 countries around the world. Projects vary from assisting networks of entrepreneurs and small businesses trying to grow and reach export markets to the adoption of new and smart technological ideas by private and public sectors.