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

3. 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

4. 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”.

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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/

9. 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

10. Objectives of Wolisso MCTs • To make the world’s 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

11. 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

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

13. Manpower • 1 telecentre administrator – temporarily assigned by the project • 1 assistant clerk provided by the Wolisso City Council

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

15. 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

16. 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 don’t have other means of accessing information • Links Wolisso with the world through the Internet and e-mail including its homepage

17. 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

18. Sample Internet and computer use of three months

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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..’

22. Users’ comments contd. • ‘..It goes with my interest, the centre helps me learn new things every day..’

23. Other initiatives • Sidama public information resource centre introduced Internet access supported by Ireland Aid

24. Future plans • Debre Berhan telecentre • Aksum telecentre • Gondar telecentre

25. Issues • Policy constraints • The existing Ethiopian telecom policy doesn’t 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

26. Some of the Challenges • Affordability • Content • Connectivity

27. 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

28. Thank you