The Experience With Community Telecentres: Information and Communication Technologies for Development in Africa

by Etta, Florence Ebam; Parvyn-Wamahiu, Sheila

• ISBN13: 9781552500064
• ISBN10: 1552500063
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-06-01
• Publisher: Stylus Pub Llc

Summary

Volume 2 examines the setting, operations and effects of community telecenters. It describes the telecenter experiences of a variety of local and often rural communities, exploring the management structures and mechanisms that have been established to support these telecenters. The book provides profiles of telecenter usage and discusses the potential and challenges of setting up and maintaining community telecenters in the context of poor information infrastructure and limited human capacity. It will be useful for researchers, policy- and decision-makers, and development practitioners and professionals with interests or active programs in the area of 'ICT for development,' particularly those with a focus on universal access and universal-service or public access centers. It will also be a very useful reference tool for scholars, students and academics.

Table of Contents

List of figures	vi
List of tables	vii
List of acronyms and abbreviations	ix
Foreword	xii
Preface	xiv
Acknowledgements	xvi
Executive summary	xvii
Chapter 1 Introduction: Joining the information society
Purpose	5	(2)
Background	7	(3)
Research issues	10	(1)
Methodology	11	(1)
Key concepts	12	(2)
Structure	14	(3)
Chapter 2 ICTs in Africa: The landscape for growing telecentres
Introduction	17	(3)
ICTs in Africa: Context and background	20	(7)
ICT equipment and other contextual factors	27	(2)
Toward universal service: Telecentres and public access	29	(1)
Definition and development of telecentres	30	(2)
Glimpses from the literature	32	(2)
Conclusion	34	(3)
Chapter 3 Timbuktu telecentre, Mali
Telecommunications context	37	(1)
Timbuktu	38	(2)
Findings	40	(12)
Sustainability	52	(6)
Summary and conclusion	58	(1)
Chapter 4 Telecentres in Mozambique
Telecommunications context	59	(1)
Telecentre context	60	(1)
Telecentre locations	61	(1)
Profile of users	61	(2)
Equipment and services offered	63	(6)
Management, ownership, and sustainability	69	(1)
Conclusion and recommendations	69	(3)
Chapter 5 Telecentres in Uganda
Telecommunications context	72	(3)
Telecentre context	75	(3)
Findings	78	(4)
Access	82	(6)
Service delivery	88	(3)
Impediments to use	91	(3)
Relevance	94	(9)
Ownership, management, and sustainability	103	(10)
Conclusion	113	(2)
Chapter 6 Telecentres in South Africa
Telecommunication context	115
Study sites	114	(5)
Findings	119	(4)
Relevance	123	(1)
Ownership, management, and sustainability	123	(3)
Conclusion	126	(1)
Chapter 7 Telecentres in Senegal
Telecommunications context	127	(3)
Context of telecentres	130	(1)
Findings	131	(8)
Relevance	139	(1)
Management, ownership, and sustainability	140	(8)
Summary and conclusion	148	(3)
Chapter 8 Conclusion
The political, socio-economic, and technological contexts	151	(3)
Access: Emerging pictures	154	(4)
Impediments to use	158	(3)
Relevance of telecentres	161	(1)
Ownership, management, and sustainability	162	(4)
Conclusion: Whither community telecentres?	166	(5)
Appendices	171	(10)
Bibliography	181