Title: Community Multimedia Centres in Mozambique: a Map
Editors: Isabella Rega, Lorenzo Cantoni
Pages: 13 pp.
Publisher: NewMinE Lab: New Media in Education Laboratory of the Università della Svizzera Italiana, University of Lugano
Date (published): 09/12/2011
Date (accessed): 12/12/2011
Type of information: white paper
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf, needs registration)
Abstract:
"Community Multimedia Centres (CMCs) in Mozambique have been setup for a decade and represent the most common model of public access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) venues in the country.

This report briefly presents the history and typologies of CMCs in Mozambique, as well as an updated map of their current number and location. Finally, it casts a closer look to a sample of 10 CMCs, one per each province of the country, describing their context, cluster of services, technical instruments, group of people who manages CMCs and people who access them.
The information provided on the paper has been collected mostly in March – April 2011 within the field work of the project RE-ACT: social REpresentations of community multimedia centres and ACTions for improvement, a research and development project run by the NewMinE Lab: New Media in Education Laboratory of the Università della Svizzera italiana, University of Lugano, Switzerland, in collaboration with the Centre for African Studies and the Department of Mathemathics and Informatics of the University Eduardo
Mondlane, Maputo, Mozambique.

This report is addressed to researchers and practitioners in the ICT for Development (ICT4D) field, as well as to policy makers working in the area."

Title: Sri Lanka builds telecentres for farm people
Author: Pia Rufino
Source: FutureGov
Date (published): 05/08/2011
Date (accessed): 09/08/2011
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"The Sri Lankan government will be establishing 35 new e-Kiosk Centres with internet and satellite communication facilities this year to boost IT proficiency of the estate people in the country...The move is part of a bigger digital inclusion programme by the Saumyamoorth Thondaman Memorial Foundation under an Act of Parliament aimed at establishing 450 Prajashakthi (Community strengthening) centres...A similar project is being rolled out in the country called Rural Telecentre Network, known as Nenasala, and a network of PC labs in schools, aimed at narrowing the digital divide in rural areas.

To date, 615 nenasala are already established in the country."

Title: Rural Mozambique gets Internet, mobile services
Author: Dammiao Dimingos
Source: IT News Africa
Date (published): 28/07/2011
Date (accessed): 28/07/2011
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"Mozambique’s Science and Technology ministry has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Mozambique’s Mobile Cellular (MCEL), to roll out community multimedia centers in the rural areas.

MCEL will provide Internet access, worth MZN 7.2 billion meticals (about US$255 million) to Mozambique’s six districts.
Teodato Hunguana, Mcel Mobile Board President, says the partnership between MCEL and the Mozambique government will provide Internet services, video courses, manuals, technical and professional skills development, and equipment for the training of local trainers."

Title: Sustainability First: In search of telecentre sustainability
Author: Harsha Liyanage
Pages: 171 pp.
ISBN: 978-955-599-507-8
Source: BookRix
Date (published): 05/04/2011
Date (accessed): 26/07/2011
Type of information: research report
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
"Sustainability First is a research project carried out to capture the key sustainability lessons emerging from this mix of dynamic and evolving efforts, which is unique due to the involvement of such varied participants, which include grassroots leaders, corporate executives, bureaucrats, and politicians. Although the word “sustainability” implies broader social, cultural, political, and environmental aspects, the attention of the current research was focused mainly on economic sustainability. The research was carried out over nearly two years, beginning in January 2007, and involved a deeper cross-section of the telecentre ecosystem, which started with telecentre operators from individual telecentres in South Asia, Africa, and South America and extended through the senior managers of selected corporate, civil society, and government institutions in Brazil, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Although this book derives its main lessons from five key case studies, which feature ATN (Brazil), Grameenphone CIC (Bangladesh), D.Net (Bangladesh), Drishtee (India) and Sarvodaya-Fusion (Sri Lanka), the overall content of the book was not limited to those lessons, but was derived from the broader spectrum of telecentre experiences studied in Africa, Asia, and South America. This book attempts to capture the rich lessons of that relatively complex larger research study in order to uncover the key constraining factors that work against telecentre sustainability, and then to derive key strategies for success from selected telecentre networks.
...
Table of Contents
...
Preface – Sustaining Telecentres in Development Landscape
Introduction
Research Methodology
Chapter 1 Sustainability Dream – Why is it Unsustainable?
Chapter 2 Sustainability – What Makes it Possible?
Chapter 3 The Silver Lining of the Sustainability Cloud; Building partnerships for telecentre sustainability, case study – ATN, Brazil; Tapping the bottom of the pyramid, case study – Drishtee, India Exploring the knowledge market at grassroots, case study – D.Net, Bangladesh • Telecentres as a corporate social responsibility, case study – Grameenphone CIC,
Bangladesh; Evolution of a social enterprise, case study – Sarvodaya-Fusion, Sri Lanka
Chapter 4 Social Enterprise Approach to Telecentre Sustainability
Conclusion and Recommendations
Bibliography "

Title: Closing the digital divide for Zambia's farmers
Author: Georgina Smith
Source: New Agriculturist
Date (published): June 2011
Date (accessed): 24/07/2011
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"Rows of mobile telephones sit recharging in the Chinyunya community telecentre, an hour's drive east of Zambia's capital Lusaka. Powered by 67 1 x 0.5m solar panels and offering a photocopier, projector and three internet-connected computers as well as phone services, the centre is changing the way that farmers in the area receive agricultural information.
Whether it's investigating drought-resistant plants, choosing the best crop rotation, or learning how to retain water in the soil, the internet offers ideas and solutions which can be refined or adapted in discussion with extension officers. The telecentre acts as a point for sharing and accessing previously unavailable information on market prices, machinery and fertiliser availability, and is a networking hub for local agricultural training centres offering advice on organic farming and other practices."

Title: Soon, internet connectivity for every panchayat
Author: Abantika Ghosh
Source: The Times of India
Date (published): 30/05/2011
Date (accessed): 19/07/2011
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"Very soon, every panchayat in the country will have an internet equipped service centre to ensure rural access to various online services like railway reservation and weather information for farmers.

The information technology department is working on a plan to have 2.5 lakh such centres across the country - one in every panchayat - by 2012. While this is an extension of the original plan to have one lakh telecentres - one each at the block level - the department is banking on the recently unveiled National Broadband Policy to provide access to high speed connectivity.

Additional secretary, IT, Shankar Agarwal said, "The existing centres have internet facility but the speed is not very high, just about 256 kbps. We are hoping that when the national broadband policy comes into force, this will increase to 2 mbps so that the service is more efficient and even video content can be sent. We have about 6 lakh villages in the country, so the new target will mean that there will be one telecentre for every 2.5 villages."

At present, there are about 94,000 telecentres in the country, mostly at the block level. Each centre has a computer, a scanner, a printer and technical staff to help villagers with their work. The idea, Agarwal said, is to have a cyber cafe like infrastructure in place for access of people in the rural areas. Private initiatives did not quite take off because of the uncertain nature of the business model which is when government decided to pitch in, he added. "

Title: A network for a new economy : Rwanda develops a network of telecentres to serve rural communities
Author: Paul Barera
Source: ICT Update, a current awareness bulletin for ACP agriculture
Publisher: CTA. Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (ACP-EU)
Date (published): 23/05/2011
Date (accessed): 17/07/2011
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"Rwanda’s investment in technology is not restricted to the country’s urban areas. Rural communities benefit too through the development of a telecentre network.

The Government of Rwanda’s document, ‘Vision 2020’, sets out plans that will transform the country’s economy from being largely dependent on agriculture to concentrating on providing knowledge and information services. The processes involved in this transformation are outlined in four national information and communication infrastructure (NICI) plans. Each plan covers a specific five-year period between 2000 and 2020, during which time the government hopes that Rwanda will have reached middle-income status.

The first NICI strategy from 2001–2005 set out to create conditions within the country that would favour a technology-based economy. The second plan enabled the development of the necessary infrastructure. This plan, NICI II, concluded at the end of 2010, and the country is currently in the process of implementing NICI III. This will shift the focus to the provision of technology-related service industries. A central goal for the 2011–2015 plan is to engage Rwanda’s population in the process, prepare them for the shift in the economic environment, and involve them in the creation of new jobs and businesses.

A significant component of the national strategy is its focus on developing skills and building opportunities in rural areas through the establishment of local ICT centres, also known as telecentres. Here, people can use computers, access the internet and other digital technologies to gather information, create, learn, and communicate. So far, twelve centres and two mobile ICT buses are in operation and another eighteen centres will soon be open. But because the goal is to have a telecentre in every Rwandan village, the current speed of deployment is too slow.

In an effort to increase the rate of telecentre development, the Rwandan Telecentre Network (RTN) is supporting government efforts and has set out to create a countrywide network of 1000 ICT centres by the end of 2015."

Title: Re-thinking Telecentres: A Community Informatics Approach
Author: Michael Gurstein
Source: Gurstein's Community Informatics
Date (published): 15/05/2011
Date (accessed): 06/07/2011
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"The interest in Telecentres has ebbed and flowed within the broad technology stream. In Developed countries the various programs which supported the development of telecentres (called by various names in different jurisdictions) have been in considerable retreat in recent years as the initial need for access to low cost Internet access and computers has been to a very considerable extent overtaken by commercial Internet service providers and the continuing reduction in the cost of computer hardware and the availability of low cost or free software.
In Less Developed Countries (LDC’s) the situation is rather more mixed. An initial spate of high level programs in countries such as South Africa and Brazil have foundered for various reasons but often because the sponsors of the centres have adopted a rather naïve approach to engaging the local community as “partners” if not actual “owners” of the centres. Even where Telecentres and Telecentre programs do survive they are often plagued by low utilization and an indifferent response from the communities into which they have been inserted."

Title: The Philippines government has devised a new roadmap for its Community eCentres
Author:Pia Rufino
Source:FutureGov
Date (published):18/11/2010
Date (accessed):03/12/2010
Type of information:article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
„The Philippines government has devised a new roadmap for its Community eCentres programme to help bridge the digital divide, focusing on infrastructure and capacity building.
...
A draft of the CeC Roadmap for 2011-2016 has been completed, focusing on CeC development and management, content development, capability building, technology solutions and advocacy and promotion.”

Title: Let’s Talk About a Digital Transition Rather than a Digital Divide
Author: Michael Gurstein
Source: Gurstein's Community Informatics
Date (published): 02/04/2010
Date (accessed): 14/04/2010
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
What I mean by a “Digital Transition” in this context is when a country (and this seems to be more or less a national rather than a local matter) shifts over from a pre-digital—largely manual framework of communications, information and logistics management and transaction management—to one that is digitally (generally but not exclusively Internet) based.