telecentre.org - scaling up for global success Minimizar

Opportunity: scaling and evolving the telecentre concept
Telecentres and other community technology efforts are helping people around the world join the knowledge society, on their own terms. They provide the essential foundational infrastructure upon which concrete ICT applications in health care, local economic development, livelihood, rural e-commerce, education and e-governance can reach the people who need them most. Yet, telecentres need better access to support, training and services if they are to play this critical frontline role in the integration of ICTs with social and economic development. Building on the existing telecentre.org program, this UN GAID flagship initiative will promote a more inclusive digital world by helping telecentres become stronger, more sustainable and more numerous. Bringing the initiative under the UN GAID umbrella is expected to result in additional visibility and resource mobilization leading to faster and broader scaling up.

Objectives

networks, content and services to strengthen telecentres

Working with an ever-expanding list of partners committed to new thinking about community "telecentres", the telecentre.org initiative aims to significantly scale up the successes of the telecentre movement to date, to increase local capacity and promote long term sustainability. As this happens, telecentres will (and are already) move beyond simply providing access to also include e-learning, training and skills development, local content generation, financial services, e-government and others services relevant to the local community. The creation of telecentre support networks, engagement with community champions, documentation of good practices and creation of services that can be offered through telecentres will be the primary means through which this transformation will be pursued. This will greatly assist in addressing the knowledge deficit witnessed in many nations, especially in rural areas.

Deliverables

investments and institutions to encourage telecentre growth

Partners rallying under the telecentre.org banner will work in four areas: building telecentre networks; developing content and services; documenting knowledge and learning; and convening events for telecentre leaders. Specific activities will include:

  • Based on learning and success to date, invest in and encourage the creation of telecentre networks in at least 20 countries to provide training, support, and other services to local telecentres. (ongoing to 2010)
  • Create a Telecentre Academy, an international network of national institutions developing shared curriculum, offering training and certification and mentoring for people working in telecentres. Collectively these partners will train one million people. These people will be trained in entrepreneurship, community development, grassroots marketing and technology. (start up in 2007)
  • Help create a Telecentre and Community Computing Centre of Excellence that will both document good practices and offer support to governments and others setting up new telecentre programs. The Centre may house the Global Telecentre Academy, most preferably in India. (start up in 2007)
  • Create a collaborative research and development fund supporting social enterprises that produce rich local content products and high value services for the rural poor and offered through telecentres. (operates 2007 to 2010)
  • Design, test and roll out new technologies that will help telecentres and other community computing initiatives become more sustainable. This includes better rural connectivity, affordable computing, applications for the rural poor, computing for the disabled and alternative power technology. (2007 to 2008)
  • Establish high profile Telecentre Leaders' Forum events, with global and regional events happening during alternate years. These events will happen both independently and alongside Global Knowledge Partnership and UN GAID events. (ongoing with next global event planned for December 2007 in Kuala Lumpur)

Many of these deliverables are already included within the existing telecentre.org business plan and budget. Other activities, such as the Centre of Excellence, Telecentre Academy, content program and tech trials, will require additional resources and partners. The current budget of the telecentre.org program is $CDN 21 million over five years.

Targets: stronger telecentres, more services, broader reach

If this initiative is successful, there will be more and stronger telecentres around the world. Specific outcomes will hopefully include:

  • Telecentre networks have been created or expanded in at least 20 countries. People working in telecentres consistently to turn these networks to solve problems.
  • Large numbers of telecentres have adopted new service offerings that help them increase community impact and generate revenue.
  • A million telecentre entrepreneurs, staff and volunteers have been trained through courses offered through the Telecentre Academy and associated institutions.
  • A strong partnership has been formed between GAID partners and telecentre networks for achieving national and international developmental goals.
  • Participation of private sector has increased, especially those engaged in retailing, agribusiness, telecom and financial services for the poor.
  • Hundreds of thousands of new or updated telecentres exist as a result of government programs and other initiatives supported by the Centre of Excellence.
  • New sources of financing are available to support the development and scaling of telecentres, networks and services.

A more detailed list of expected outcomes is included in the telecentre.org business plan. Additional outcomes will be added as new partners and initiatives come online.

Lead organization

IDRC

Partners

building on the power of collaboration

The telecentre.org program was started as a collaborative initiative of IDRC, Microsoft and SDC, each of whom contributed to a pooled $CDN 21 million budget. The Global Knowledge Partnership has also played a key role in shaping up the program. These four organizations represent the core partners of this initiative.

The initiative also works actively with dozens of network and knowledge-sharing partners at the national level. These include organizations like: Ugabytes network (Uganda); Mission Swaabhimaan (Nepal); Sarvodaya and the ICTA Agency of Sri Lanka (Sri Lanka); Mission 2007 (India); PhilCeCNet (Philippines); NESST (Chile); Colnodo and COMPARTEL (Colombia); ACT! (Caribbean); CEPES (Peru); CIEUM (Mozambique); Afrilinks (Mali); and ESPLAI (Spain). International knowledge-sharing partners include: UNESCO; Intel; the Shuttleworth Foundation; and Taking IT Global. A full list of partners is available online.

It expected that the list of both core and implementing partners will expand as a result of including this initiative under the UN GAID umbrella. IDRC is actively seeking new partners to join the core group.