[SPAM] - Re: [Telecentres] working group background, organizing principles - Email found in subject

Hannah Beardon HannahB at actionaid.org
Wed Oct 13 15:10:52 BST 2004


Karin, (again still out of synch - sorry!)
 
I love the idea of a manual for lobbying and policy advocacy re
communication needs.  I think that for those of us working closely with
groups and organisations struggling to get needs heard and met on the
ground, there is a real need for capacity building and supprot/
networking.
 
Telecentres are primarily about people - people's needs, people's skills
and people's dedication.  Of course they are also about money and
political will and infrastructure.  Hmmm.  Anyway, I think that there
are so many different types of people needed to feed into a good
environment for telecentres, that is from the technical side, policy,
organisation and management, resource mobilisation and training etc.
Sometimes I read things about telecentres which make no sense to me,
because they are about technical side, but still doesn't mean that it is
not relevant.  So, how can we work out a way where the different pieces
of the jigsaw are recognised and valued so that: a) good collaborative
partnerships are the centre of effective telecentres/ programmes - that
both meet the needs of the people in the communities where they are
based and are the best possible quality service; and b) the different
areas of capacity and training needs are recognised and catered for.  
 
I think that this is happening to some extent anyway, but perhaps there
is a need for a group like this one to be really pinning down where
those areas are and how they link together so that the resources and
experiences already available can be shared more effecitvely?  (Probably
just like somos telecentros is able to do at a regional level?)
 
Hannah
 

________________________________

From: telecentres-bounces at wsis-cs.org
[mailto:telecentres-bounces at wsis-cs.org] On Behalf Of Karin Delgadillo
Poepsel
Sent: 06 October 2004 23:52
To: telecentres at wsis-cs.org
Subject: [SPAM] - Re: [Telecentres] working group background, organizing
principles - Email found in subject


Hi to everybody,

While I know that we are discussing what is a telecentre.  I want to
share my insights of somos at telecentros and the Wsis process that can
contribute to clarify the role of the working group that has been
created the same to give insights to Elisabeth. Sorry for my spanglish.
Do not hesitate to make questions if you do not understand my spanglish.

Somos at telecentros www.tele-centros.org has been working on the sidelines
of the WSIS process. By sidelines I mean that we used the spaces that
has been formed specially by civil society. In fact we participated in
the declaration of Ministries in Bavaro and in the prepcoms in Geneva.
Carlos Afonso from RITS  in Brazil has been working with the civil
society closely in all the prepecoms. As a product of our second
regional encounter celebrated in Quito, april 2003, we did the
declaration for  the prepcoms of WSIS in a consultation process with our
members. The url is
http://www.tele-centros.org/comunidad/encuentros/regionalII/declaracion.
htm, you also can fin in the WSIS web page. This declaration it is still
lying in a beautiful paper, websites and in some books that people and
organizations who are involved  WSIS promoted and printed.  So we are
still succeeding with failure in order that WSIS take in consideration
some of the needs of somos at telecentros network and I am still looking
that the energy that we invested in this process will attend the needs
of our constituencies.

However we used this process to develop a strategy inside of
somos at telecentros on how the practitioners of somos at telecentros could
influence in policies and regulations and do lobby. It has been a
extremely hard experience for the practitioners of somos at telecentros
network, becauser se realize that we need training. That is why we
worked hardly in developing the first online and face to face training
workshops on policies, regulations and advocacy of telecentres,
concentrating very much on supporting the profile of practitioners of
telecentres in the national chapters of somos at telecentros network for
lobbying and advocacy.  So in this way will be these leaders who will
advocate the needs of the telecentres practitioners and thier
communties. They will  do  the link from the ground level to the
national, regional and global level.  So practitioners can be trained
and be in the places were the decisions are taking place in the national
and regional level. It is very important to define a regional agenda and
participate in spaces like WSIS in order to advocate their needs. Please
see the summary of this process in
http://www.tele-centros.org/politicas/cursopoliticasonline.htm
A book and a cd is going to be printed very soon, manual for
practitioners of telecentres for lobbying and advocacy of polices and
regulations to advocate the needs of the communities that are using
telecentres will be launch at the end of this month. This process has
been supported by IDRC and ICA. We are still working hard in the
training process of the practitioners of telecentres to advocate, lobby
and influence in policies and regulations for telecentres. The second
phase of this process is to consolidate a regional team of influencing
in policies and regulations of somos at telecentros based on the national
agendas of the telecentres. We are still still search for support to
strength this process.

One of my biggest concerns in the creation of this list and defining a
work group  is that it still exist a gap of those who are in the
international scenarios such as in WSIS and the real communities  and
practitioners of telecentres who are in the ground facing challenges to
survive. It is not linked the process of wsis with the real needs and
demands that practitioners of telecentres and their communities are
facing. It exist of course intermediaries that interpret their needs but
the real appropriation and mechanism of communication are not in place.
So it would be a role and responsibility of this group to find
mechanisms to express the voice of those who are directly on the ground.

In what way WSIS can be a platform to advocate their needs and find
strategies to full fill their demands by establish methods and
mechanisms from the ground level to the global level?  Elisabeth would
be great if you incorporate in the workgroup that you are suggesting,
how it should be address this challenge?.

I am thinking loudly in order to find common understanding of what are
the real issues that as telecentres should advocate based on the needs
of its constituencies and use the scenarios as WSIS or others in order
to advocate their needs and influence in policies.

I am a person that instead of doing new things we should use the spaces
that has been already created, make bridges in order to have a better
influence and brake the isolation, use the capacities of organizations
that are already working in this issues and define mechanisms to have a
stronger impact. I strongly belief on networks so I would suggest to
focus on the challenges of the past, our failures in this process and
find a common strategy based on the needs of our constituencies  so
mechanisms are in place as well.
.
I would love to know what has been the experience of practitioners of
telecentres and networks that has bee participating in the WSIS process.
How are linking the needs of their constituencies and what process was
set up in place in order to have a better impact.

This are my five cents.

Karin
Board Member somos at telecentres
Latin American and the Caribbean community 
base telecentre Network
www.tele-centros.org




Michael Gurstein wrote:


	Andy and all,
	
	The Community Informatics Research Network (CIRN) with which a
number of
	those on this list are affiliated will be meeting f2f next week
in
	Prato, Italy. One of the topics of discussion will be a possible
role
	for CIRN in WSIS (while CIRN is not directly registered as a
Civil
	Society group within the WSIS context, several national
representative
	and other formally registered CS organizations are active
participants
	in CIRN and will be represented at the Prato meeting). 
	
	CIRN as a network of researchers and practitioner/researchers
concerned
	with enabling communities with Information and Communications
	Technologies has a very strong and active interest in supporting
the
	development of Telecentres as points of community internet
access.  I
	should mention as well though, that our interest goes beyond
simple
	access through Telecentres to working with communities to make
effective
	use of this access in support of locally based development
including for
	health, local economic and social development, environmental
management
	and others.
	
	I'm sure CIRN's on-going relationship with this Network will be
an
	element in our discussions and I would guess that our conclusion
would
	be to actively support this initiative in whatever manner seems
to be
	most useful and generally productive.
	
	As to a preferred organizational structure for this working
group, there
	seems no particular reason at this point to move towards a
formalized
	structure (but perhaps I'm wrong) and that it might be more
useful for
	the group to get to know each other a bit better first and also
to
	further explore the issues of concern to determine what the
appropriate
	nature of the "representativeness" for this group should be.
	
	Best,
	
	Mike Gurstein
	(Interim) Chair: CIRN 
	http://www.ciresearcher.net
	
	 
	
	-----Original Message-----
	From: telecentres-bounces at wsis-cs.org
	[mailto:telecentres-bounces at wsis-cs.org] On Behalf Of Andy
Carvin
	Sent: September 24, 2004 12:51 AM
	To: telecentres at wsis-cs.org
	Subject: [Telecentres] working group background, organizing
principles
	
	
	Stuart Mathison wrote:
	
	
	 >> - My suggestion is that we advocate on the two previous
questions. 
	An issue,
	 >> however, is the mechanics through which the collective voice
of this
	working  >> group can make itself heard. Are we "official"? Can
we be
	registered 
	as a
	 >> civil society entity? How do we appoint people to represent
the
	group?  >>
	
	
	In the simplest terms, yes, we are already "official." When the
UN
	decided to host the WSIS meetings, it was agreed that civil
society
	organizations could become accredited delegates, along with
governments,
	UN agencies, international donors, etc. This meant that civil
society
	organizations would have a voice in the deliberations, though
not a
	vote. Prior to the first WSIS meeting in Geneva, civil society
	organizations began to organize, setting up caucuses and working
groups
	on a variety of issues, such as human rights, gender, education,
youth;
	there were also groups set up by region (Latin American family,
North
	American family, etc). Participation in these working groups is
	voluntary, with each working group existing because there was
critical
	mass of volunteers to work in that area. Civil society also
created a
	plenary email list (plenary at wsis-cs.org) for all working group
members
	to join, as well as a civil society bureau comprised of
representatives
	from each working group to represent civil society's interests
when it
	comes to logistical planning for each summit and prepcom, etc.
	
	This June, at the CTCNet conference in Seattle, I co-hosted a
meeting of
	the North American group. During the meeting we discussed civil
	society's wsis activities, and the role telecenter activists
were
	playing in the process. Some of us noted how the telecenter
movement
	could fall through the cracks because its interests were spread
out
	amongst various other working groups. So I proposed the idea of
	organizing a new civil society working group for telecenters.
	
	Following recommendations of members of the civil society
bureau, I
	proposed the idea on the CS plenary list, and proposed it during
CS
	plenary meetings in Tunisia at the most recent Prepcom meeting.
	Participants were supportive of the idea, and there were no
objections,
	so I was encouraged to found the new working group. The bureau
then
	created the email discussion group for us on the official WSIS
civil
	society server (www.wsis-cs.org) in late August, which brings us
to
	where we are now.
	
	So to summarize: our group is an official civil society working
group,
	and we can offer input to the civil society plenary and
participate in
	other civil society activities. I'm the one who proposed and
founded the
	group, and so far I'm facilitating the group. If the group would
like to
	be more formal, we could have a discussion about who is serving
as
	chairperson, or "focal point," to use the civil society bureau
	terminology. I'm perfectly happy to serve in this role, but
would not
	want to force myself upon the group either simply because I came
up with
	the idea.
	
	Most other groups have a sole focal point serving as
chairperson, but
	others have co-chairs, or a chairperson and a couple of vice
chairs.
	Personally, I think this is a good idea, since it would allow
for some
	geographic diversity.
	
	So I suppose we have three models to consider:
	
	1. One person (I or someone else) could serve as sole focal
point
	(chairperson) for the working group.
	
	2. Two people - perhaps one from the North, one from the South -
could
	serve as co-chairs.
	
	3. One person as focal point, with multiple people (two or three
others)
	as vice chairs.
	
	So I'd like to propose we discuss this. Does anyone have any
strong
	feelings as to how the group's leadership shall be organized?
And are
	there nominations for people to play any of these roles? As I
said, I'm
	perfectly happy to do this myself, but think it would be good to
share
	some of the responsibility with one or more people representing
other
	parts of the world, particularly the South....
	
	
	ac
	
	--------------------------------------
	Andy Carvin
	Program Director
	EDC Center for Media & Community
	acarvin @ edc . org
	http://www.digitaldividenetwork.org
	http://www.edwebproject.org/andy/blog/
	--------------------------------------
	
	
	
	
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