Multipurpose Community Telecentres (MCTs) in Ethiopia: A Case Study

1
Multipurpose Community Telecentres (MCTs) in
Ethiopia A Case Study

• Abebe Chekol
• And
• Simon Ingram-Hill

2
Themes

• Concepts of telecentres
• Typologies of telecentres
• Movement of telecentres world-wide
• The case of telecentres in Ethiopia
• Issues around the establishment of telecentres
• Lessons and Recommendations

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What are telecentres?

• Telecentre a broad range of services
  commercial call centres, satellite offices and
  facilities (e.g. fax, telephone, computing,
  Internet) use.
• Fusion of telecommunications, information,
  multimedia and computing functions to help
  address community problems and needs.
• Alice Library Automation Project

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What are telecentres contd..

• Telecentre a staffed multipurpose centre aimed
  at providing computers and telecommunication
  facilities for a local community in remote, rural
  regions and in low-income urban settlements, so
  that these facilities can be used by all people
  in the community.

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MCTs as Community Information Support Centres

• MCTs support provision of two kinds of
  information for communities
• Survival information on health, childcare, etc.
• Citizens action information information
  concerning social, political and legal rights etc

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Typology

• Setup and application varies
• Tele-kiosks provide public phone, and fax
  services
• Telecentres for local small business and
  tele-workers - equipped with computers,
  printers, photocopiers etc. to provide access to
  data networks

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Typology contd..

• Commercial telecentres .. a.k.a cyber cafes-
  excellent means of increasing access to the
  Internet
• University telecentres
• School telecentres
• NGO-sponsored telecentres
• Multipurpose telecentre model.. ITU

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Movement of telecentres world-wide

• ITU, UNESCO/DANIDA and IDRC lead telecentre
  projects in 5 African countries Benin, Mali,
  Mozambique, Uganda and Tanzania
• A lot of other initiatives world-wide at
  http//www.itu.int/ITU-D-UniversalAccess/

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The Case of telecentres in Ethiopia

• First telecentre in Ethiopia was established at
  Wolisso by the British Council and ESTC in
  collaboration with the Wolisso City Council and
  with funding from British Embassy.
• Inaugurated on 26 February 2000

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Objectives of Wolisso MCTs

• To make the worlds pool information accessible
  to the communities and to develop awareness of
  these resources
• To link local and central systems (communities,
  government systems, etc.) through the ICTs and
  promote economic development
• To act as model to encourage similar local
  initiatives
• To support distance learning

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Started with the following hardware facilities

• 3 computers
• 1 printer
• 3 telephone lines for both the Internet, fax and
  public phone services
• 1 fax machine
• 1 photocopier

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Information resources

• CD-ROMs such as multimedia encyclopedias,
  dictionaries, etc.
• Books and manuals on ICTs
• Internet resource guides

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Manpower

• 1 telecentre administrator temporarily assigned
  by the project
• 1 assistant clerk provided by the Wolisso City
  Council

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Services provided

• Internet
• E-mail
• CD-ROM services
• Telephone
• Fax
• Word processing, desktop publishing
• Computer literacy training
• Library services

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Users include

• Local government and non-government officials
• Experts in various sectors
• Civil servants
• Secondary and post secondary school teachers and
  students
• Members of the private sector
• Women and youth

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Benefits

• It is community orientated, rooted in the
  community
• It has development information about health,
  agriculture, etc.
• The telecentre disseminated useful information to
  the informal sector and business community, thus
  promoting employment and devt
• Geared towards those who dont have other means
  of accessing information
• Links Wolisso with the world through the Internet
  and e-mail including its homepage

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What has been achieved?

• The centre mainly focused on raising awareness of
  the community on use of ICTs. Hence, computer
  literacy and internet training was given to
• 117 school teachers
• 13 health workers
• 17 agricultural development and extension workers
• 40 secondary school students
• 76 women and youth group
• 56 civil servants from various government dept

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Sample Internet and computer use of three months
Month Female Male Total
March 2000 70 225 295
April 2000 79 339 481
May 2000 53 160 213
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Survey on use and attitude of community towards
the telecentre

• 40 questionnaires with 25 completed and returned
• Respondents
• by age group by
  occupation
• 17-20 .. 19 - students
  6
• 31-40 3 - teachers
  9
• 41-50 .. 3 - govt
  bureau 7
• by gender - private
  sector 2
• Male 19 - others
  4
• Female 6

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Survey indicators

• Majority (76) said their feelings about
  themselves as a learner has much more positively
  changed
• Users feeling about computers and related
  technologies now have much more positive than
  before
• Developing their computer skills is the main goal
  of almost all users
• Majority believe that coming to the telecentre
  has made difference in their life

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Users comments

• ..I now learnt how to use computer and other
  technologies.. How to start computer, hot to
  search for information on the internet, how to
  print, and how to send letters through e-mail..
• ..I appreciate that you have changed my mind.. I
  have now more access to information and
  technology.. The world is in my hand, I can
  say..

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Users comments contd.

• ..It goes with my interest, the centre helps me
  learn new things every day..

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Other initiatives

• Sidama public information resource centre
  introduced Internet access supported by Ireland
  Aid

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Future plans

• Debre Berhan telecentre
• Aksum telecentre
• Gondar telecentre

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Issues

• Policy constraints
• The existing Ethiopian telecom policy doesnt
  allow establishment of telecentres (telecom
  services) except by the ETC
• Sustainability
• As opposed to cyber cafes that are mostly
  introduced by the private sector, telecentre are
  donor-driven initiatives.Thus their
  sustainability is as far as the donor support
  exists

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Some of the Challenges

• Affordability
• Content
• Connectivity

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Lessons and recommendations

• Community participation in governance
• An integral part of community development
  involving all stakeholders
• Telecom policy needs to support introduction of
  such services

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Thank you