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Questions featured include:
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Are community Telecetres sustainable?
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Is there a universally applicable model of sustainability?
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What are the key success stories in terms of impact and sustainbility?
Other
questions have been thrown up by the discussants too:
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Why do so many Telecenters fail?
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What is wrong with the model and how can we improve it to make it more
universally applicable and sustainable?
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What are the key success stories in terms of impact and sustainability?
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What are the key failures?
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Can they play a key role in achieving Multilateral Development Goals?
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Does universal Internet access via Community Telecenters make sense?
This
list could go on and on.
That
the list of questions is so long is itself illuminating.
We
can draw the conclusion that currently available information on Telecentres
is not expansive.
It is for this reason that the book entitled “The
Experience with Community Telecentres” is so valuable. It presents for the
first time extensive primary data on the nature of use, equipment, services,
relevance, ownership, management and sustainability of a whole range of
telecentres including private cyber cafés in five African countries. The
book by no means answers all the questions raised but provides useful
practical project level insight into the establishment and implementation of
community telecentres.
The
Telecentre movement on the continent is young. The earliest community
telecentres are reputed to have opened their doors in 1998. The nature and
functions of African telecentres vary slightly from country to country, so
too do the names and labels by which they are known. The primary goal of a
telecentre, is the public provision of tools to enhance communication and
the sharing of information. A number of administrative and operational
arrangements are possible, and community telecentres can be differentiated
from organisational franchises, and private cybercafes. Whatever the
management model, there is general consensus that the telecentre concept is
a valid development tool.
The
telecentre is one answer to the prevailing condition of uneven and unequal
access to information and communication technologies in rural and or remote
areas. The telecentre has economic and social (moral if you like)
justification. Owing to the levels of poverty of both governments and
individuals, prospects for private purchase or supply of information and
communication tools are particularly bleak. It therefore makes economic
sense to provide equipment on a multi-user base as a means to spreading
costs, expanding access as well as benefits. Governments have the duty to
provide for and support the development of all citizens, and although rural
areas have long suffered neglect with respect to telecommunications
networks, in a global climate of equality, this disadvantage and bias are
creating growing irritation, which requires attention.
Beginning in the mid 1990s, the International and Development Research
Centre among others such As the International Telecommunications Union,
UNESCO to mention a few, invested time, effort and money to study this
phenomenon of growing importance. In the earlier part of this engagement
because of the paucity of projects, much of the effort was spent in
intervention type projects, establishing telecentre-type facilities and
structures in schools, in rural settings, hospitals etc. in a handful of
African countries to spread knowledge of the new information and
communication tools.
The telecentre is
a relatively new institution in Africa, and indeed the world. Although still
surrounded by many unknowns, it is believed that as a delivery model for
ICTs, telecentres have the potential to transform the lives and livelihoods
of many in the developing world and even those in remote locations in
developing countries.
Between 1997 and
2000, Acacia an IDRC Programme Initiative launched in 1997 as Canada’s
response to the call and support for an African Information Society
Initiative (AISI), concentrated its work in four countries in sub-Saharan
Africa: Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa, and Uganda. A few projects were
implemented in other countries, e.g., Mali, Benin, and Tanzania. Since this
beginning Acacia has supported a total of 35 telecentres in seven countries
in sub-Saharan Africa five of which have been jointly funded with other
international partners such as UNESCO, ITU and others.
The book
presents the results of a series of studies that examined the
setting, operations and effects of community telecentres.
The studies
reported in this book were planned and conducted as evaluative research to
make a contribution towards illuminating the situation of ICT and
development in the continent. The terrain and general opinion concerning
investments in ICTs especially in Africa were very hostile and very
different from the contemporary picture where the re is a global consensus
and endorsement that ICTs are critical for fast and future development. The
rationale for the studies was the consolidation of learning from telecentre
and telecentre-type projects in Africa, in order to share this learning
widely and contribute to an understanding of the issues and prospects for
telecentres on the continent.
This
brief describes some of the key findings from investigations conducted in
thirty-six telecentres and cybercafes sampled in Uganda, Mali, Mozambique,
South Africa, and Senegal. The survey
conducted between
2000 and 2001 sampled
3,586 respondents (users and potential users).
Key findings
Undoubtedly, the telecentres have
brought a large number of people in disadvantaged and under-served
communities into direct contact with modern ICTs. This familiarization would
not have been possible had the telecentre projects not been embarked upon in
the first place. However still a small percentage of the total population
was using the telecentre facilities numbers ranged from about 8 to 20 daily
visitors some of whom were regulars.
Users are shown to
have been disadvantaged on the basis of age, gender, education, literacy
levels, and socioeconomic status. A striking observation is the absence of
old people at the telecentres.
In Mali, youth and
adults younger than 40 years of age, constituted more than 80% of users. The
most active telecentre users were between 17 and 40 years of age. In
Uganda, about 71% of the users were between the ages of 18 and 50 years, and
close to one-third (27.1%) were younger than 16 years old.
 
Fewer women than
men used telecentre services in practically all of the countries and
facilities. This finding confirms the poor standing of African women in
science and technology, a consistent and now familiar reality. In Mali, 77%
of the users were men, and at Manhica in Mozambique, 63% of the users were
men. The trend in Senegal and Uganda was similar: in Uganda, 48.1% of users
were male and in Senegal 70%.
Registered men and women Telecentre Users, Uganda
Education appeared
to be a key determinant of telecentre use. A popular belief expressed by
respondents was that telecentre services were for the elite or educated. In
Mozambique, at least 50% of the users had secondary level education, and 63%
of all users were students. In Uganda, university undergraduates, teachers
and students made up the largest percentage of users. In Mali, speakers of
Arabic were disadvantaged.
Services
The telecentres in
all five countries offered similar services: photocopying, telephony,
training in computer hardware, software, Internet access, and word
processing. Facsimile transmission; document design, processing, and
printing; and email services were also widely available. The huge popularity
of the telephone is undisputed. The range of services offered in the
multipurpose community telecentres (MCTs) was wider than in the private
telecentres or cybercafes. However, the level of use made of this wider
array of services was lower. Low or non-use for some services was reported,
for the Internet and email in the more rural MCTs in Uganda, Mozambique, and
Mali.
Service Use patterns in Mozambique Telecentres
Relevance
The
main reason for using the telecentres was to obtain or send information and
the purpose of this information was for social interactions, for contacting
friends and family, for preparing documents for social events (e.g.,
weddings and funerals), and for personal entertainment, such as watching
television and videos, listening to radio, or reading newspapers.
Professional and economic motives, such as seeking economic and agricultural
information, came a distant second on the list of reasons for telecentre
use. The telecentres facilitated business or commercial transactions for a
small percentage of users in Uganda (10–20%).
In some instances
TCs were used as meeting places, as places of shelter/safety as well as for
training groups of women etc. |Users expressed satisfaction with the
services offered pointing out that the telecentres had opened them and their
communities to wider audiences, facilitated external communication, and
promoted knowledge of computer technology among local community members.
Ownership, management and sustainability
Three ownership
models were evident; private (individual) owned, private NGO or CBO owned
and trusteeship. The franchise model seen in South Africa with the Universal
Service Agency (USA) is regarded as a variant of private ownership. Most of
the community TCs were in the category of trusteeship. This is an
arrangement where the project is being held in trust by the executing agency
for a specified period of time until the final owner i.e. the community is
ready to take it over.
Management was
usually the responsibility of project staff, local management committees and
the project implementation agency. The extent of involvement of the local
committees usually represented on the management committees was not always
clear and their level of responsibility often did not extend beyond
supporting fund raising and mobilization for the TCs. Most of the control
was vested in the project-executing agencies, whether these were
universities, ministries or governmental agencies,
Sustainability
Financial
sustainability for community telecentres remains elusive. Very few examples
of sustainable community TCs were found in Phalala (South Africa) and
Guédiawaye (Senegal). TC financial sustainability was under constant
threat not only from weak management but also from recurrent technical and
infrastructure problems in all countries. These problems included: power
failures or interruptions; poor connectivity; computer failures; printer
breakdowns; non-functioning software; obsolete or unusable equipment;
complex management arrangements, security failure and policy failures e.g.
import duties or taxes on equipment. Some telecentres in Uganda and Senegal,
for example, had to go through considerable bureaucratic hurdles simply to
have imported equipment released to projects or simply repaired.
On the other hand,
telecentres have the potential for sustainability on account of their
social, political and economic utility and their capacity to respond to the
ICT needs of the marginalised populations. Services provided by the
telecentres were greatly appreciated by community members. Some of the
telecentres especially those located in disadvantaged neighbourhoods had
become popular meeting places for community members and organizations. The
telecentres had become vital and integral part of community social
infrastructure.
The arguement is
made that telecentre sustainability depends on their successful integration
into the community, their acceptance by the people, and the enthusiasm of
the community to get involved in their management. It is therefore possible
on the basis of this argument to distinguish institutional sustainability
from conceptual validity on one hand and financial sustainability on the
other. It does seem that conceptual validity and institutional validity are
logically linked to the extent that an idea has found acceptance and value
among the populations the physical expression of the idea.
The concept of
universal service is played out for example in the institution of the
telecentre. The existence and validity of the idea is therefore guaranteed
but the nature and form of future mutations of the institutions and indeed
the idea may not necessarily follow those of the initial conception i.e. the
community telecntre. The point was repeatedly made in the Senegal that
conceptual validity gives the telecentre institutional sustainability.
Arguments that seek to support the idea of the telecentre as a public good
are seen as following this line of argument.
But the eternal
weakness of this position especially from the point of view of market logic
is the fact that institutional validity does not necessarily guarantee
financial sustainability. Herein lies the PROBLEM.
Technological Environment
The greatest
threat to TC sustainability was technical and technological. In addition to
the generally poor telecommunications infrastructure, the overall state of
infrastructure continues to be a source of great particularly with regard to
unreliable or non-existent telephone line connections and unreliable
electricity supply.
Although privatisation
has proceeded apace, state-owned or state-controlled telecommunications
service providers still enjoy relative monopolies and exclusivity
privileges. Little real competition exists for the provision of fixed-line
services on account of which tariffs remain high and infrastructure
development in rural areas stultified. Competition exits in cellular and
wireless telephony and this creates other types of problems, e.g. higher
costs and security.
The social,
political and economic environment is characteristic. Existing social and
political institutions and policies are weak to support the development,
spread and widespread adoption of ICTs and the economic realities are well
documented.
By way of a conclusion!
On
account of the huge unmet demand (need) for information and communication,
levels and extent of poverty, the slow and uneven pace of development of
delivery mechanisms, in particular to rural areas where the majority still
reside, the telecentre has a certain and definitive role and place in
contemporary development More support should therefore be given to start,
maintain and run telecentres because they perform a primary development
function in information and education which is considered a basic and
important human right. The telecentre is to information what the school is
to Education and the health centre to Health.
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