[Telecentres] Introduction and Basic Telecentres

[Pamela McLean]

Ref reaching out into the community and information flows. The current 
situation at the little InfoCentre in Ago-Are may be of interest. (Any 
researchers wanting to follow up on this would be welcome).

I have not introduced myself previously on this list and have only been 
able to dip into this discussion from time to time. This email ties into 
various discussions about the variety of telecentres, especially small 
ones, and their connections with their communities (most recently 
contributions from David Leeming and Elizabeth Carll)

Yesterday the InfoCentre was connected to the Internet for the first 
time. Until now its information flow has been limited by lack of 
connectivity - now information will be able to flow more freely.

We do not have the human resources to monitor and evaluate what will be 
happening as Ago-Are comes to terms with connectivity. This could be an 
excellent research opportunity. Please circulate this information to 
anyone who might be interested. I will be keeping some kind of records 
and already have a considerable archive to share if anyone is interested 
in using it..

This is a brief history . The InfoCentre opened in June 2003. It is a 
bottom up initiative - largely self funded. It is in rural Nigeria, set 
up by OCDN (Oke-Ogun Community Development Network) - originally a 
committee set up by three chiefs to support the vision of a local man, 
the late Peter Adetunji Oyawale. Through "historic reasons of 
friendship" it is supported from the UK by Lorraine Duff and me (under 
the name "CAWD volunteers"). We use our home computers to access the 
Internet on behalf of our friends in rural Nigeria.

In August 2003 a needs analysis was done in Ago-Are at the request of 
COL (Commonwealth of Learning). As a result, COL introduced OCDN to IITA 
(the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture) and a 
collaboration ensued - hence the VSAT installation yesterday..

This history means that the community around the little Ago-Are 
InfoCentre already has friends in the connected community. OCDN and CAWD 
volunteers have linked across the digital divide from way back in 2001, 
working together to get the InfoCentre open and to achieve connectivity. 
The InfoCentre links with a women's group which meets once a week and 
with a farmers' group which also meets once a week. There are links with 
teachers, health workers, the youth groups, the traditional ruler and 
his chiefs, the local government, and the local religious leaders.

There is a skills base. There is a local manager and an experienced 
local trainer. There is a core groups of people who have attended ICT 
training courses who work at the InfoCentre as volunteers in order to 
practice their skills.

There are good links. There are close personal links across the digital 
divide. There are relays of communication links - from the local 
community, linked to the InfoCentre, linked to the CAWD volunteers, 
linked to the connected community, Now the local community can begin to 
communicate with the connected community directly - and we will discover 
what information does in fact begin to flow.

Pamela McLean

CAWD volunteer and CawdNet convenor
CawdNet – Networking in rural Nigeria and the virtual communities of the 
Internet.
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