Telecentre, a solution for rural community

A workshop on telecentres was organized on 11th may 2007 at Novotel Umubano. The theme of this workshop was Progress of telecentre project and sustainability issues.

The aim of this workshop was to give an overview on National telecentre status and discuss on subjects like sustainability, connectivity and ownership models. It was expected that the participants have a unique opportunity to exchange their understanding and views on telecentre practice, but also to discuss on how to make national telecentre a success for the rural development.

In his opening remarks, Hon. Albert BUTARE, Minister of state at the Ministry of Infrastructure, said that the telecentre will be developed through provision of ICT facilities especially in the Districts where it is to be constructed.

He added that the Telecenter will improve literacy and speed up social and economic development. Therefore, among the pillars of the National Information and Communication Infrastructure (NICI), one of the strongest is the "Rural and Community Access" as it has the role to improve the greatest part of the population (94% of the population) which resides in rural areas. He ends up saying that a lot is expected from the workshop and he is therefore opening the workshop officially.

The program was divided into two main parts: Presentations and group discussion. During the meeting, presentations were made in a way to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and a way to find solution to a number of challenges that can be faced and addressed in the telecentre. The first presentation gave on overview of the National Telecentre project, pointing out the challenges faced and the critical factors of success. It has been followed by the presentation of a sector in one of the Southern Province districts, giving the situational analysis of this area, the opportunities present and how the telecentre can be a tool to improve their community.

The next presentation gave an example of a case study of successful telecentre in India, showing different context in which the telecentre can be seen and government services offered. This was followed by Ugabytes Initiatives presentation- a Ugandan Telecentre network, which gave to the audience the Ugandan experience on telecentre in the approaches, connectivity and financial sustainability. The last presentation talked about the connectivity challenges in rural areas and possible ways to face them.

In the second session, participants choose groups of discussions to answer the following questions: What type of ownership should be adopted to a telecentre in Rwanda?: Two type of ownership were presented  Public ownership or Public Private ownership (PPP). A special PPP model was presented involving the community in turns. It has been agreed that the two models can be adopted for the current telecentres considering the area in which they are located.

How can the problem of connectivity and energy in rural areas be addressed?: It has been realized that the cost of connectivity is still high in rural areas caused by the low demand but the use of Universal Access can be one of the solution or preferential tariffs for local calls. For energy, the telecentre budget should be revised and include the energy strategy or use low cost power equipment.

How will content generation be achieved to suit community needs and government service delivery?: For the content, the group agreed on a participative approach model involving the community through out the whole process of content generation. The suggested champion will therefore be the community.

How can we ensure that telecentres are financially self-sustainable? : Four major factors were considered for sustainability (start-up capital, income greater than expenses on a long-term basis, future investment and expansion and finally management and technical skills on sustainability) but also sustainability is depended on the ownership model.

Here are the presentations:

• Presentation of the status of MCTs Project by RITA/RCA
• Presentation of Community needs in Muhanga District
• Presentation of Successful telecentre-case study of India
• Presentation of Ugabytes-Ugandan telecentre network
• Presentation on solution to connectivity in rural areas.

Here are the presentations done as results from the group discussions:

1. Ownership models
2. Connectivity and energy observations
3. Telecentre content generation
4. Telecentre financial sustainability

The workshop ended by the vote of thanks by MININFRA ICT Director saying that the inputs obtained will greatly contribute to the success of the Telecentre project in Rwanda thus achieving the vision 2020.

Prepared by:

Rural and community Access Unit
Rwanda Information Technology Authority.
Date: May 18, 2007.