[Telecentres] Introduction and Basic Telecentres

['Gbenga Sesan]

Congratulations Pam,

Its great to know that we won't have to use snail mail to send materials
anymore.

I guess this could mean another trip - to train on the use of internet
resources, et al - if you think it would be a great idea.

The Ago Are centre is a striking example of how technology can change the face
of communities, and networks of volunteers working from different time zones to
get development "on the ground".

Best regards,

-- 
'Gbenga Sesan
Program Manager | Lagos Digital Village | www.lagosdigitalvillage.org.ng
Team Leader | Paradigm Initiative Nigeria | www.pin.itgo.com
"Why? Why not?" | www.gbengasesan.org.ng | www.gbengasesan.com


Quoting Pamela McLean <pam.mclean at ntlworld.com>:

> 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.
> For an introduction to CawdNet http://www.cawdnet-intro.blogspot.com
> To subscribe to the newsletter 
> http://lists.kabissa.org/mailman/listinfo/oocd2000plus
> To contribute www.bmycharity.com/cawd1 <http://www.bmycharity.com/cawd1>
> For how it all started www.cawd.info <http://www.cawd.info/>
> 
> 
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