how to use icts and telecenters effectively for development samir farjallah 2007-september-04 escwa...

How to Use ICTsand Telecenters

Effectively for Development

Samir Farjallah

2007-September-04

ESCWA

Regional Stakeholders' Meeting

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Foreword

This presentation is based on two distinct studies:

ICTs, Telecenters and Community Development by Royal D. Colle.

Assessment of the Status of the Implementation and Use of ICT Access Points in Asia and the Pacific

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Foreword

The first one explains how to build demand-driven local communication institutions such as telecenters.

The second one travels statistically through the status of telecenters in countries of the ESCAP region.

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Part 1

ICTs, Telecenters and Community Development

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Emergence of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

In this 21st century, it is not surprising that – from Mexico to Brazil, to the governorates in Egypt and the villages of India and Nepal – a wide range of organizations are promoting and supporting the creation of local entities that would make ICTs available on an affordable basis to everyone.

Much of the attention is on computers and telecom. networks.

It all started in 1980s especially with the introduction of the telecottage in Scandinavia.


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Emergence of Telecenters

Telecenters tend to be in the public sector, operated by governmental bodies or NGOs, serve a low income clientele, and have a community development mission. The services can be the following:


Computer and internet access, desktop publishing, community newspapers, sales or rental of audio and video recordings, book lending, training, photocopying, faxing, and telephone services. Some – like the Hungarian telecottages and Western Australia Telecenter Network telecenters – provide postal, banking and employment services.

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Emergence of Cybercafés

The commercially-oriented cybercafés have been an equally energetic movement. They are usually in the private sector and focus primarily on providing customers with the use of computers and connections to the Internet and the Worldwide Web.

Their clients tend to be more urban, more educated, and more economically well off than the clients of telecenters. The principal attractions are computer games, Internet services, and e-mail


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Emergence of IAPs

The Information Access Points fall between the cybercafé and telecenter approaches. They focus on the Internet and emphasize mainly on information seeking. IAP kiosks are being implemented throughout the world.

IAPs sometimes are reinforced by sectoral org. such as those in health and agriculture that build special information systems. The World Health Organization has set out a seven-year plan to establish the Health InterNetwork Project, an initiative to facilitate the flow of health information worldwide using Internet tech.


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10 of the principal

Challenges

that development-oriented telecenters

face in this decade

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10 major challenges for community telecenters

1. Concerted efforts to make telecenter content relevant to local needs;

2. A commitment by policy-makers for multi-year programs;

3. Partnerships for translating national policy into action;

4. Local champions who can mobilize others;

5. Community participation in operating telecenters;

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6. Networking telecenters to develop and share resources;

7. Increasing community awareness about ICT as a valuable resource;

8. Research as a telecenter management tool;

9. Long term sustainability and business plans that fit the culture of the community;

10. Linking telecenters to development.

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1. Concerted efforts to make telecenter content relevant to local needs


One of the biggest challenges telecenters face is providing appropriate information and services for community members.

Although ICTs and web sites provide an enormous volume and variety of information, it is the quality of information that matters most in a community “trying to get information from the internet is like drinking from a fire hose – you don’t even know what the source of the water is” (McLellan, 1998:352 Supl. II).

The need for local targeted information continues.

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The International Institute for Communication and Development in The Hague reported that “Developing countries are being invaded by foreign ideas and values that may undermine or overwhelm local culture heritage and economic livelihoods (Batchelor, 2002).

For security purposes on weather and tide information, a “Village knowledge center” in India translates weather reports from the internet and converts it to audio that is played on loudspeakers in the village. Similarly, information is localized for agriculture, health and government programs.

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In China, a village telecenter converts important content found on the web into meaningful localized information and presents it in more understandable local terms on a bulletin board in the telecenter or on a community blackboard in the village center.

The clustering of telecenters can help support a localized information service.

In Canada, community internet access sites have joined together to make available French language material for local Francophone populations.

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Policy-makers can be an important force in the life or death of telecenters.

Sustainability and government policy are often closely related. Governments are often pushed to make policies that will enable communities to take greater advantage of ICT.

The Canadian Government made a six-year commitment, providing start-up money, guidance, and an infrastructure to help local organizations establish Internet access sites.


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In Australia, the Federal Government’s decision to create the “Networking the Nation” fund has been instrumental in Tasmania’s development of 59 Open Access Centers, and in New South Wales of 55 multi-purpose “Technology Centers”.

In South Africa, the 1996 Telecommunication Act created the Universal Service Agency and it has been the key actor in establishing and funding telecenters in under-served and rural areas of the country.


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In China, the Tenth Five-Year Plan calls for national and local government efforts to popularize the use of ICTs and to build the human resources to make it happen. Since, the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) is giving ICT an official push by incorporating in its Five-Year Plan provision for a rural market information service network that integrates television, radio, 18 MOA web sites, market databases, “Township economic information service stations” and other agricultural information components.


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National policy and national government funding do not necessarily translate into centralized planning and operations.

In 2003, the Nepalese Government established pilot rural telecenters as the preliminary step towards deployment of up to a thousand such centers nationwide. The national telecenter project was built on the assumption that private sector partnerships would be instrumental in achieving both sustainability and rapid deployment of services.


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Hungary has demonstrated that it could develop a telecottage system built on local NGO partnerships coupled with community ownership and management. To obtain a grant to start a telecenter, an NGO must demonstrate that it has the support of - and is partners with - local governments and private organizations.

Partnerships can provide telecenters with a variety of benefits. In Canada, the local communities joined libraries, schools, and community centers with Internet access facilities to provide a home, constituencies, and sometimes an identity for Internet Access Points.


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ICTs can deliver potentially valuable information to end-users like market prices to poor rural farmers and medical advice to rural healthcare workers. However, market information is useless if there are no roads to transport goods, and medical advice is meaningless if there is no money to purchase medicines.

Information is important, but it is only one part in a chain of resources required for the end-user to have the capacity to act.


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A telecenter manager should not only fight for the survival of the center, but he has to entertain new ideas to better serve his community through the use of new communication technologies. In such a case, he personifies what we call a “champion”.

Western Australia’s telecenters, and the telecottages of Hungary are people whose vision and commitment has meant the difference between ICT innovations and an information-poor community.


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If innovators are from the community itself, it increases the credibility and potential diffusion of the telecenter initiative (Rogers, 1995).


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Community participation has very practical value for telecenters. It comes in various forms including participants as telecenter users, staff volunteers or advisory groups.

The variety of volunteers in a system provides telecenter clientele with personal models with whom they can identify and feel comfortable.

In many parts of the world, women feel intimidated because of the “maleness” of the environment. The presence of self-confident women volunteers helps overcome some of the obstacles.


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Volunteers can also contribute to enlightened decision-making in the telecenter because they reflect a variety of community constituencies.

In rural India, there are thousands of women’s Self Help Groups (SHG) involved in a wide array of micro-economic enterprises. Many have been mobilized by NGOs that have a commitment or mandate to improve the welfare of their constituents. Many of the women in these groups are not benefiting from ICT because of the cultural barriers


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As an innovative initiative aimed at broadening their access to ICTs, the project selected representatives of (and in) SHGs and trained them in ICT use, such as: information seeking on the web, using e-mail, and working with self/distance-learning on multi-media packages or training material built around micro-enterprise management.

The SHG representative would then perform the following: serve as an information source on micro-enterprises, be the group’s liaison with the telecenter, facilitate distance and self-learning programs, and carry out informal ICT peer training within her group.


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No telecenter is an island. If telecenters are to make their mission more effective, they need to organize themselves in overlapping national, regional and international networks (somos@telecentros, 2003).

A network allows its member telecenters to share insight and experience, increasing their effectiveness and chances of success. It allows them also to share resources, and to get access to resources more easily. Finally, those in telecenter activities need to engage actively in public policy debates, and organization is a key step towards this.


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Telecenters are subject to various pressures, and are especially vulnerable to isolation, intense demand for digital services, competition from cybercafés, and lack of supportive policy environments. Being part of a network provides them with the right help.

The telecenter community also needs to build up and create links and partnerships between the social, private and governmental sectors. All have a strong interest and involvement in overcoming the digital divide, be it political, economical or social reasons, but in order to be effective, none can operate on its own.


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The establishment of a telecenter needs to be properly and timely advertised. Applying a ‘field of dream approach’ (“build it and they will come”, or “provide the content and they will use it”) is naïve. It can also be dangerous: in India, village elders and leaders act as a main source of information and communication, and if a telecenter ignores this tradition, it may bring power clashes and conflicts that hamper any ICT-enabled development initiative.

It is important to raise awareness about the role of the telecenter and explore every opportunity to sensibly integrate it in the existing local comm. and social struct.


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Clark (2001) describes how her organization used various techniques to change the mindset of people who thought that “the telecenter is only about computers.” In the province of Western Australia, the telecenter uses a variety of community activities to attract people. These include cultural events, workshops ranging from Belly Dancing to tractor driving for women, and other activities that put the telecenter into the mainstream of community life, rather than an oddity on the fringe. In the process, the telecenter and its ICT are perceived as supporting the needs of the community.


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According to Helmore and McKie - 2000, Bill gates declared in an interview in the Guardian newspaper that “the world’s poorest two billion people desperately need healthcare, not laptops.”

The BusyInternet (BI) telecenter in Accra takes seriously the issue of awareness: movies are shown on weekends. The BI Cybercafé creates a social scene around technology to spark an innovative technology culture. To raise awareness about national ICT policy, the telecenter hosts monthly debates and organizes experts’ lectures. Low or no-cost internet access is offered to HIV/AIDS workshops attendees.


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Research for needs assessment and project evaluation is an important component of telecenter operations because a research program provides the tools for assessing community needs.

Services are usually dictated by officials and experts and respond to what is called a community’s normative needs. However, another perspective is what the community judges its needs to be. These are the felt needs. A telecenter should be “people-oriented” and “demand-driven”.


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Management research is important in monitoring on-going telecenter activities and documenting the consequences of telecenter programs. The results of the evaluations can be assessed and fed into management planning and decision-making.

Telecenter personnel should have simple research tools that help telecenters discover and continuously monitor the needs of the community, provide management with a reliable picture of the demographics of the area, monitor on-going telecenter operations, and document outcomes and consequences of telecenter programs.


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Telecenter managers should train on business planning to make their telecenter self-sufficient and sustainable (Roman, 2000).

Other than urban cybercafés, most telecenters operate in a not-for-profit mode, but that should not mean not-for-income. Typically, donor agencies reduce or discontinue financial support for telecenters after an initial incubation period.

They need to have a financial plan for whatever the sources of support will be.


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In Hungary, major sources of support for the country’s telecottages are the contracts that they obtain from government agencies, thus becoming (for a fee) extensions of government services (Bihari and Jokay, 1999).

Telecenters face the question of how they can generate income yet serve those in the community who cannot afford to pay for “public goods” kinds of services (like access to health information). Some centers use the income from the user fees and other services to make public goods more affordable or free.


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During a World Summit in 2003 and 2005, the international community has identified seven Millennium Develop. Goals that are at the heart of the fight against poverty and the struggle to create opportunity, prosperity, health, safety and empowerment for all the world’s people, especially the poorest and traditionally marginalized groups. The seven goals are:


1. Reduce extreme poverty by half between 1990 and 2015;

2. Enroll all children in primary school by 2015;

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3. Make progress toward gender equality and empowering women by eliminating gender disparities in prim. and second. educ. by 2005;

4. Reduce infant and child mortality ratios by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015;

5. Reduce maternal mortality ratios by three-quarters between 1990 and 2015;

6. Provide access for all who need reproductive health services by 2015;

7. Implement national strategies for sustainable development by 2005 so as to reverse the loss of environmental resources by 2015.

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Each of these goals has a significant information and communication component. How to employ effectively the potential of ICTs toward those goals is the challenge of the World Summit.

In Rovieng, Cambodia, an isolated farming village is using two PCs, solar panels, and a satellite dish to connect to the Internet. This has given the opportunity to several women in the village to revive the traditional silk-weaving industry in the 1970s. The village is selling silk scarves through the village’s web site to customers around the world. Profits are put in an old-fashioned pig farm, which has generated new employment.


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New profits go into a fund to pay for villagers’ medical care.

One employee says that his steady job on the pig farm means that his children will be able to continue in school rather than work in the rice fields.

The success of an ICT project is strongly related to the technical quality and the degree of acceptance of the environment (Rosenthal, 2003).


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Many who have been in the field and seen the potential of ICTs urge that e-Development should join e-Commerce, e-Government, e-Readiness and other e-Somethings as a priority in this decade.

A theme that ripples through much of the discussion in this chapter suggests that while computers, networks, transistors and other hardware are significant assets in dealing with social, economic and political development, their successful use depends heavily on the human resources, and the ingenuity, the training, and the creativity that go into applying these technologies to community affairs.

Final Words Concerning this Chapter

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Evidence tells us that ICTs and telecenters can make a difference in the lives and welfare of communities; whether this can be a universal phenomenon depends on intelligent decision-making, planning and commitment from the international centers of power and influence to the village chief in Rovieng.

Final Words Concerning this Chapter

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Part 2

Community telecenters in countries of the ESCAP region

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No. of Telecenters per Country

Country Number of

projects Number of telecentres

Bangladesh 6 58 Bhutan 7 125 Cambodia 1 22 China 3 195 India 19 10 461 Indonesia 1 10 Lao People's Democratic Republic 2 10 Malaysia 3 99 Mongolia 1 3 Nepal 8 31 Pakistan 2 5 Philippines 4 30 Solomon Islands 1 10 Sri Lanka 9 29 Thailand 6 25 Viet Nam 1 47 Total 74 11 160

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No. of Telecenters established by year

Country NA 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Bangladesh 47 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 4 0

Bhutan 63 1 0 0 0 0 0 23 6 3 1 28

Cambodia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 22 0 0 0

China 0 0 0 0 0 20 0 0 139 36 0 0

India 303 0 0 77 2 60 246 1612 3065 1163 2415 1518

Indonesia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 0

Lao 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 1 0 0 0 0

Malaysia 0 0 0 0 84 9 0 0 3 0 3 0

Mongolia 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Nepal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 12 12 4

Pakistan 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0

Philippines 0 0 0 4 0 0 15 0 3 0 0 8

Solomon Is 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 0 0

Sri Lanka 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 6 5 4 8

Thailand 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 12 2 2 6

Viet Nam 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 47

TOTAL 416 1 5 85 86 93 281 1647 3260 1222 2445 1619

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No. of Telecenters in India/Other Countries Per Year

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

India

Others

Total

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Total No. of Telecenters in India/Other Countries

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

India

Others

Total

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Gap Between India and Other Countries

Country

Mid-2006 Population

(Thousands) Percentage

urban

Estimated Current

Rural population

(Thousands)

Number of rural

telecentres 2006

Mid-2006 Rural

population/ rural

telecentres

Current Gap

between India and

the country

Bangladesh 144 437 25 108 328 10 10 832 775 1 199 Bhutan 2 211 9 2 012 3 670 670 19 Cambodia 14 081 20 11 265 0 NA 126 China 1 323 636 41 780 945 159 4 911 605 8 560 India 1 119 538 29 794 872 8 874 89 573 0 Indonesia 225 465 49 114 987 0 NA 1 284 Lao 6 058 22 4 725 0 NA 53 Malaysia 26 605 66 9 046 4 2 261 425 97 Mongolia 2 679 57 1 152 3 383 990 10 Nepal 25 887 17 21 486 30 716 207 210 Pakistan 156 580 35 101 777 4 25 444 250 1 132 Philippines 86 954 63 32 173 4 8 043 245 355 Solomon Is 490 17 407 0 NA 5 Sri Lanka 19 682 21 15 549 24 647 866 150 Thailand 62 520 30 43 764 10 4 376 400 479 Viet Nam 85 344 27 62 301 0 NA 696 Total 9 125 14 373

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Gap in the No. of Telecenters Per Country

Country

Mid-2006 Population

(Thousands) Percentage

urban

Estimated Current

Rural population

(Thousands)

Number of rural

telecentres 2006

Estimated Number of telecentres

needed (2006)*

Current gap per country

Bangladesh 144 437 25 108 328 10 21 666 21 656 Bhutan 2 211 9 2 012 3 402 399 Cambodia 14 081 20 11 265 0 2 253 2 253 China 1 323 636 41 780 945 159 156 189 156 030 India 1 119 538 29 794 872 8 874 158 974 150 100 Indonesia 225 465 49 114 987 0 22 997 22 997 Lao 6 058 22 4 725 0 945 945 Malaysia 26 605 66 9 046 4 1 809 1 805 Mongolia 2 679 57 1 152 3 230 227 Nepal 25 887 17 21 486 30 4 297 4 267 Pakistan 156 580 35 101 777 4 20 355 20 351 Philippines 86 954 63 32 173 4 6 435 6 431 Solomon Is 490 17 407 0 81 81 Sri Lanka 19 682 21 15 549 24 3 110 3 086 Thailand 62 520 30 43 764 10 8 753 8 743 Viet Nam 85 344 27 62 301 0 12 460 12 460 Total 9 125 420 958 411 833

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Distribution of Telecenters by Type

71.28%

17.25%

11.47%

private commercial

private social

governmental

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Distribution of Telecenters by Type and by Country

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%B

an

gla

de

sh

Bh

uta

n

Ne

pa

l

Sri

La

nka

Pa

kist

an

Ind

ia

Ch

ina

Mo

ng

olia

Ma

lays

ia

Ph

ilip

pin

es

So

lom

on

Ind

on

esi

a

Th

aila

nd

Vie

t Na

m

La

o

Ca

mb

od

ia

governmental

private social

private commercial

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No. of Governmental Telecenters / year

Country NA 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Total

Bhutan 63 1 0 0 0 0 0 23 6 3 1 28 125

China 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 139 36 0 0 195

India 38 0 0 76 0 30 0 458 0 60 15 187 10 461

Malaysia 0 0 0 0 80 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 99

Nepal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 9 11 4 31

Total 101 1 0 76 80 39 0 481 148 108 27 219 10 911

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No. of Private Social Telecenters / YearCountry NA 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

Bangladesh 47 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 4 0

Cambodia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 22 0 0 0

China 0 0 0 0 0 20 0 0 0 0 0 0

India 244 0 0 1 2 24 33 134 670 303 200 31

Indonesia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 0

Lao 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 1 0 0 0 0

Malaysia 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 3 0 3 0

Mongolia 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Nepal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 0

Pakistan 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0

Philippines 0 0 0 4 0 0 15 0 3 0 0 8

Solomon Is 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 0 0

Sri Lanka 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 6 5 4 8

Thailand 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 12 2 2 6

Viet Nam 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 47

Total 294 0 5 9 6 48 68 146 717 314 218 100

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Distribution of Telecenters by Location

81.77%

0.14%

18.09%

only rural

only urban

semi-urban

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Distrib. of Telecenters by Location and By Country

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

Ba

ng

lad

esh

Bh

uta

n

Ca

mb

od

ia

Ch

ina

Ind

ia

Ind

on

esi

a

La

o

Ma

lays

ia

Mo

ng

olia

Ne

pa

l

Pa

kist

an

Ph

ilip

pin

es

So

lom

on

Sri

La

nka

Th

aila

nd

Vie

t Na

m

rural

semi-urban

urban

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No. of Telecenters by Type and by Location

ruralurban

semi-urban

governmental

private commercial

private social

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

governmental 293 0 987

private commercial 7934 0 21

private social 898 16 1011

rural urban semi-urban

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Stakeholders Participation in Telecenter Projects

43%

39% 39%

22%

12%

8% 8% 7%4%

3%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

NGO

government

International organization

private company

foundation

foreign assistance agency

academia

public company

cooperative

development bank

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Stakeholders Participation in Estab. Telecenters

74.24%

21.43%

17.12%

2.26%

1.08%0.77%

0.71% 0.52% 0.23% 0.22%

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

private company

NGO

government

International organization

public company

foundation

cooperative

foreign assistance agency

development bank

academia

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No. of Projects and Telecenters by Equip. Available

Technology Number

of projects

Number of

telecentres Percentage of projects

Percentage of

telecentres computer+Internet 62 10808 83.78 96.85 phone 9 9349 12.16 83.77 fax 16 8935 21.62 80.06 photocopy 11 1723 14.86 15.44 digital photography 5 1389 6.76 12.45 printer 29 1368 39.19 12.26 scanner 18 701 24.32 6.28 computer+intranet 5 319 6.76 2.86 computer only (no connectivity) 9 74 12.16 0.66

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Connectivity Technologies by Telecenter Projects

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

All Governmental Private social

broadband

dial up

leased line

mobile phone

radio

satelite

wireless

N/A

None

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Technologies Used by Projects in Select. Countries

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Bangladesh Bhutan India Nepal Sri Lanka

radio

mobile phone

dial up

broadband

satellite

wireless

None

N/A

leased line

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Services Provided by Telecenters

4.2%

6.5%

6.5%

6.6%

6.7%

9.4%

14.9%

15.0%

15.8%

19.3%

19.9%

21.4%

25.6%

58.2%

86.4%

88.0%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

others

classified advertising

selling insurance policies

business services

matrimonial match

specific web content

fax

photocopy

access to government services

forward complaints to gov. agencies

health system information

ICT training

Computer Aided Learning Programmes

procurement of goods

agriculture information

internet access

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No. of Proj. and Telecenters by Type of Training

Type of training

Number of

projects

Number of

telecentres Percentage of projects

Percentage of

telecentres basic ICT 51 3911 68.92 35.04 school programme 11 817 14.86 7.32 agricultural programme 3 33 4.05 0.30 Nutrition and Health Education 3 31 4.05 0.28 English learning 3 22 4.05 0.20 health awareness programmes 2 30 2.70 0.27 entrepreneurship programme 2 14 2.70 0.13 business education 1 22 1.35 0.20 fishing programme 1 10 1.35 0.09 Environment Education 1 10 1.35 0.09 telecentre management 1 5 1.35 0.04 Computer Network 1 5 1.35 0.04 videographer 1 1 1.35 0.01 graduate programme 1 1 1.35 0.01 Child education 1 1 1.35 0.01

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Physical location for the provision of ICT Training

71.5%

19.9%

7.1%

3.5%

0.0%

0.3%

0.5%

0.6%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

private

government office

education centre

community centre

temple

village radio

health centre

library

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Telecenters and Projects by No. of Years in Op.

4%

15%

33%

26%

44%

39%

5%7%4%

24%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

Projects Telecentres

0-1 Year

1-3 Years

3-5 Years

5-10 Years

NA

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Sustainability of Telecenter Projects

63%

55% 52%

22%

42%

52%49%

61%

52%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Donor funds No donor funds Governmental

Pro

jec

ts

consider themselves selfsustainable

have sustainability plan

charge service fees

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Sustainability of Telecenters

53%

91%

72%

29%

91%

70%

34% 34%

69%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Donor funds No donor funds Governmental

Te

lec

en

tre

s

consider themselves selfsustainable

have sustainability plan

charge service fees

6666/68 /68 6666/68 /68


Telecenter Projects by ICT Operations

68%

42%

21%

11%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

ICT aplications

e-learning

ICT for ruraldevelopment

e-government

tele-medicine

6767/68 /68 6767/68 /68


Distrib. of Telecenter Projects by Area of Intervention

5%

5%

5%

5%

5%

11%

11%

11%

21%

21%

32%

32%

42%

47%

47%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

develop small businesses

promote e-governance

promote self employment

promote telecentre operations

provide fishery information

create employment for youth

empower women entrepreneurs

facilitate access to government services

implement e-health programmes

promote rural marketing

provide access to online learning material

provide training for teachers/students

promote e-literacy

ensure universal access to ICT

provide agricultural information

6868/68 /68 6868/68 /68

Community telecenters in some countries of the ESCWA region

Thank you for your attention

how to use icts and telecenters effectively for development samir farjallah 2007-september-04 escwa...

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