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The Five Pillars of Sustainable Telecentres. ISITI-UNIMAS. Dr. Roger Harris [email protected] http://www.rogharris.org /. The 5 Pillars of Sustainable Telecentres. Sustainable Telecentres. Policy. Social. Finance. Operations. Organisation. Partnerships. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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The Five Pillars of Sustainable Telecentres
ISITI-UNIMAS
Dr. Roger [email protected]://www.rogharris.org/
The 5 Pillars of Sustainable Telecentres
Finance
Business plans
Entrepreneurialism
Training
Subsidis-ation
Policy
Poverty reduction
Rural development
ICTsTelecomm-unications
Internet
Operations
Staff
Premises
Technology
Power supply
Location
Social
Needs and strengths analysis
Community Participation
Marketing
Outreach
Organisation
Partnerships
Community ownership
Networking
Sustainable Telecentres
A Mnemonic for the 5 Pillars
Something intended to assist the memory, such as a verse or formula.
FinancePolicy OperationsSocialOrganisation
P FO S O
Old Printers Scramble Fuzzy Orders
Old Printers Scramble Fuzzy Orders
The 5 Pillars of Telecentre Sustainability
Organisational Aspects of Telecentre Sustainability
Partnerships
Community Ownership
Networking
Organisation
Partnerships
• Why are telecentre partnerships essential for sustainability– Partners are essential. – Public-Private Partnerships bring in various skills and resources.– At the local level, typical Telecentre partnerships include; community
leaders, community organizations, schools, health centres, agricultural extension agents and input suppliers, and local cooperatives.
– Assist in identifying the demand for information and in promoting developmental activities that make good use of it.
– Also therefore; local agricultural extension agents, community health workers, schoolteachers and government officials
Partnerships
• What partners should telecentres have?– Government
• Public services, e-government– Donors
• Funding, networking– NGOs
• Development orientation– Private sector
• Financial sustainability– Education institutions
• Common service– Other telecentres
• Knowledge sharing
Community Ownership
• How to ensure community ownership of a telecentre– Include representatives within the governance
structure– Provide services that are responsive to known
needs• Why is it important?– The road to sustainability goes through the centre
of community acceptance
Networking
• What type of networks should telecentres belong to?– International telecentre networks– National telecentre networks– Regional and local telecentre networks– If they don’t exist, start one.
• How to foster participation in a network– Be active
• National level networking – Important for national programmes; government, NGOs,
private sector.
The 5 Pillars of Telecentre Sustainability
Policy Aspects of Telecentre Sustainability
PolicyPoverty
reductionRural
development
ICTs
Telecommun-ications
Internet
Poverty reduction
• Why are poverty reduction policies important?– To achieve the MDGs– To legitimise telecentres, that provide access to
ICTs for poor people, for whom domestic access is unaffordable.
• How are they formulated and why should they include ICTs?– National PRSPs, but ICT inclusion is patchy.
Rural development
• Why are rural development policies important?– Most of Asia’s poverty is rural.– Rural locations are least served with access to ICTs
• How are they formulated and why should they include ICTs?– Mostly under Ministries of Rural Development,
but their use of ICTs is generally low priority.
ICTs
• Why are ICT policies important?– To legitimise expenditure on expansion of the
infrastructure– To align policies for poverty reduction and rural
development with the formulation of telecentre programmes
• How are they formulated?– Often a national agency which is outside the
regular government structure, possibly directly under the head of government.
Telecommunications
• What are the stages of growth for telecommunications reform?– De-regulation, competition, foreign ownership,
independent regulator.• Why are they important for internet and
telecentre diffusion?– Deregulation accelerates technology diffusion
Internet
• Why is an internet policy required?– As a critical component of ICT policy– A mechanism for achieving digital inclusion – Policies for internet expansion underpin e-
government and telecentre diffusion• How is it developed and implemented?– As part of ICT policy formulations
The 5 Pillars of Telecentre Sustainability
Social Aspects of Telecentre Sustainability
SocialNeeds and strengths analysis
Community Participation
Marketing
Outreach
Needs and strengths analysis
• How to discover the information and communication needs of the community• Primary data collection:
• Community engagement• Interviews with representatives and officials• Household surveys• Focus group discussions
• Secondary data collection• Previous studies• Other organisations and NGOs
• Why this is crucial for telecentre sustainability?• To enable the provision of information-based services that
the community will appreciate.
Community Participation
• Why should communities participate in telecentre operation?• Info-mediaries who work in telecentres should be drawn
from the communities the centres serve.• Community representatives within the governance
structure facilitate responsiveness to community needs.• They also assist with outreach and marketing by the
telecentre, which increases its impact.
Marketing
• Newsletters• Open days• Special offers• Posters• Notices and billboards• Fliers
•School open days•Competitions•Advertising campaigns•Health campaigns•Demonstrations•Meetings
• How to market telecentre services
Outreach
• How to maintain constant engagement with the community• Regular focus groups; farmers, women, youths, elderly,
businessmen, etc.• Regular surveys• Regular meetings of the council / steering committee,
which will contain community representatives.• Regular functions; open days, promotions, events, etc.
The 5 Pillars of Telecentre Sustainability
Financial Aspects of Telecentre Sustainability
Finance
Business plans
Entrepreneu-rialism
Training
Subsidisation
Business plans
• What is a business plan?• A formal statement of a set of business goals, the reasons why they are believed
attainable, and the plan for reaching those goals• How to build one
• Should have these components;• The product or service• A market analysis• Strategy and Implementation• Management and staff • Financial analysis, income and cost estimates, cash flow.
• Publicly sponsored telecentres often lack a business plan • Private sector managed telecentres have performed better financially.• The telecentre manager’s entrepreneurial dedication is a key success factor.• They require a combination of technical, managerial and social development
skills that are sometimes difficult to learn spontaneously by local entrepreneurs.
• Pressure for financial can force those that succeed to narrow their targeted users to the groups that can afford the services most, typically urban dwellers and the better off.
Entrepreneurialism
• What is an entrepreneur?– A person who organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking
on financial risk to do so• What essential skills are required by one?
– Self-Motivation, Self-Confidence, Salesmanship, Risk-taker, Financial, Management, Customer-oriented, etc.
• Why are they important for telecentre sustainability?– Local investment fosters community orientation and fiscal discipline.– However, a drive for financial sustainability that relies solely on local
entrepreneurialism risks a drift away from the social agenda. – Arrangements for financing Telecentres need to find a balance
between ensuring financial viability (which may or may not include subsidisation) and equality in sharing the benefits among those in most need of them
Training
• What training can and should be provided for entrepreneurs?– Some of the skills can be learned, but they are
probably not the most important ones;• Salesmanship, Financial, Management
– The more important attributes are inborn;• Self-Motivation, Self-Confidence, Risk-taker
• The challenge is in finding such people and nurturing them towards success.
Subsidisation• Why, when and how are subsidies used to support telecentres?
• A sum of money granted by the government or a public body to assist an industry or business so that the price of a commodity or service may remain low or competitive.
• Most governments, including those of the poorest countries, subsidise services that even the well-off benefit from, including schools, libraries, fuel, food, transportation and health services.
• Subsidies to telecentres can help them become viable .They generally fall into two categories: • those aimed at expanding telecommunications infrastructure into under-served areas
(rural and remote), and • those designed to enhance telecentre performance for development purposes.
• Many countries are crafting market-oriented reforms intended to privatize and deregulate their telecommunications sectors and to improve access and investment in rural, underserved and un-served areas.
• Example mechanisms include; – license obligations to serve rural communities, – minimum subsidies schemes, – telecommunications development funds, and – variations of build-transfer-operate arrangements.
The 5 Pillars of Telecentre Sustainability
Operational Aspects of Telecentre Sustainability
Operations
Staff
Premises
Technology
Power Supply
Location
Staff
• What is the role of telecentre staff?– To provide information services to the community– Act as infomediaries– Local capacity building
• How should they be selected and trained– Drawn from the community– Women are best
• Why are they critical for telecentre performance and sustainability?– Strong evidence links community acceptance of
telecentres to quality of interaction with staff.
Technology
• What technology should telecentres use?– Computers• Laptops draw less power• Thin clients are less complicated
– Internet• VSAT, Wi,Fi, WiMax,
– Peripherals– Other ICTs, TV, video– Community radio broadcasting
Power Supply
• How to organise power supplies where they are unreliable?– Generators– Solar– Batteries– Micro-hydro– Wind turbine
Location
• Why is telecentre location fundamental to sustainability?– Same reason as a retail shop– To attract customers– Best is next to a market, main street, ground floor,
central location.– Upstairs in government offices don’t work;
• Hidden• Official• Intimidating• “Not for us”
The 5 Pillars of Telecentre Sustainability
The Ecosystem Perspective on Telecentre Sustainability
Drawing together a diverse set of constructs
ICT PolicyPro-poor
Development StrategiesPoverty reduction
GovernmentAs a user of ICTs
InfrastructureUniversal Service
InstitutionsAgriculture, enterprise development, education, health…
ServicesExtension, micro-finance, public health…
Local AccessTelecentres, schools, libraries,
MethodsParticipatory, local, gender
PeopleFarmers, women, disadvantaged, entrepreneurs, youth…