The East African region is a relatively dry area, strongly influenced by the Sahara Desert. The region has suffered from many social problems. The effects of war, combined with the severe climate, have placed increased pressure on the land and have had a heavy impact through deforestation. It is in this context that the telecentres in the region are functioning. The following article elucidates the key challenges and outcomes of the 5th East African Telecentre Leaders Forum (EATLF).   

Africa has seen different telecentre models. Most notable of them are as follows: multi-purpose community telecentres (MCTs), school-based telecentres (SBTs), community technology learning centres (CTLCs), digital villages (DVs), community learning and information centres (CLIC), and community multi-media centres (CMCs) 

The East African Telecentre Leaders Forum (EATLF) - Sudan, is fifth in the series of Telecentre Leaders Forum organised by UgaBYTES, in collaboration with telecentre.org (See box on left). The Gedaref Digital City Organisation (GDCO), Sudan hosted the fifth EATLF along with various other partners. The event took place between June 9-11, 2008 at Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. The uniqueness of Khartoum is that the Blue Nile and the White Nile meet here to form the River Nile. The event saw more than 20 international representatives and made it as one of the legendary EATLF events ever hosted.

EATLF: A quick recap

The biannual East African Telecentre Leaders Forum was first launched in the year 2006. Initially, it was started as 'Ugandan Forum', but, quickly building the strength of togetherness in the region, it became the East African Telecentre Leaders Forum. The UgaBYTES Initiative spearheaded this strategy, which its leadership learnt from the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS),  2005.

• The first EATLF took place on May 15, 2006, at Seeta Mukono, Uganda. It had seen more than 60 participants from the region
• The second EATLF took place between October 5-7, 2006, at Seeta Mukono, Uganda. It was attended by 75 Ugandans, 5 Tanzanians, 7 Rwandans, 1 Burundi, 9 Kenyans, 2 Americans, 1 British and 2 Canadian participants
• The third EATLF took place from June 3-4, 2007, at Siaya, Kenya. The event saw the participation of 45 telecentre practitioners, out of which 25 were Kenyans, 2 Tanzanians, 11 Ugandans, 2 Rwandans, 1 Sudanese, 2 Burundian, 1 British and 1 Canadian
• The fourth EATLF took place on November 4, 2007, at Uganda. It was participated by 48 telecentre practitioners. Among the participants were 18 Ugandans, 1 Sudanese, 7 Kenyans, 6 Tanzanians, 2 Rwandans, 7 Burundians, 1 Swedish and 1 Chilean

Telecentre Movement: The East African Scenario

Since the event was postponed by a day, on June 8, 2008, we had an opportunity to understand the telecentre movement in the region. In his usual way of making things work, Shaddy quickly cooked up the agenda for the day. In his opening remarks, Shaddy introduced the global telecentre.org team and their roles and responsibilities. It was followed by a quick introduction of the participants.

The first wave of telecentres in Africa started in the late 1990s in Mali, Uganda, Mozambique, Tanzania and South Africa. The telecentre approach presented an opportunity for addressing the digital divide and spur social development in developing countries. While each telecentre is different, the common focus is on the use of technologies to support community and social development – reducing isolation, bridging the digital divide, promoting health issues, creating economic opportunities, reaching out to people with special needs, including youths. The region has seen different telecentre models. Most notable of them are as follows1: multi-purpose community telecentres (MCTs), school-based telecentres (SBTs), community technology learning centres (CTLCs), digital villages (DVs), community learning and information centres (CLIC), and community multi-media centres (CMCs).

Senegal has more than 9,000 telecentres, one of the largest numbers in the African region. Sonatel, a private telephone company supports these telecentres. In Nairobi, Kenya, Africa Online, an Internet Service Provider, set up more than 250 e-Touch telecentres. Very different from the aforementioned social enterprise model are the donor-funded projects. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) have established most of these telecentres in the region. Most well known is the Nakaseke Multipurpose Community Telecentre in Uganda. In Mozambique two pilot telecentres were established in Manhiça and Namaacha (both in Maputo province), funded by the IDRC2. Sudan has more than 1000 telecentres distributed all over the country, set up under the Information Support Fund. The fund programme is managed by National Telecommunication Centre (NTI) and National Information Centre (NIC).

The region is home to one of the largest numbers of pilot telecentre projects. It is important to note that most of the telecentre models in Africa have been designed with the support of development organisations and civil society organisations. Given this backdrop, the participants brainstormed on the telecentre market trends, target audiences and key challenges facing the telecentre movement.

Telecentre market trends; target audiences

Kiringai Kamau from VACID Africa moderated this informal discussion. The  discussion identified the following as the key targets and potential groups for the telecentres: poor and marginalised sections of the society, farmers, students, religious institutions, hospitals, local enterprises, the disabled and the youths.

Key challenges

Pius Aggrey Omondi from Kenyan Telecentre Network (KenTel) moderated this session. This informal discussion elucidated the following key challenges facing the telecentre movement in the region. These are infrastructure (electricity and connectivity), sustainability, duplication of initiatives, lack of co-ordination, language (most of the languages are spoken), lack of commitment from the government, cost of maintenance, widespread illiteracy, lack of technical skills, relevant content, ownership by the communities, expert advise, research and development, and proper legislations.

Followed by this, Satyan Mishra and Nitin Kumar Gacchayat of Drishtee, India and Souza Sales Jose Avando from Brazilian Telecentre Network (ATN) shared their experiences.

The Fifth East African Telecentre Leaders Forum

Opening session

 Microsoft has donated 40,000 software licenses to the Brazilian Telecentre Network (ATN). Senegal has more than 9,000 telecentres, one of the largest numbers in the African region, supported by Sonatel. In Nairobi, Kenya, Africa Online set up more than 250 e-Touch telecentres. Sudan has more than 1000 telecentres distributed all over the country, set up under the Information Support Fund managed by the National Telecommunication Centre (NTI) and National Information Centre (NIC)

The forum started off with a welcome address by Ahmed M M Eisa, Founder, Gedaref Digital City Organisation (GDCO), Sudan. The opening session was graced by the presence of Hon Eisa Bashari, Minister of Science and Technology and Hon Abdul Gadir Mohammad Ali, Minister of Social Welfare, Government of Sudan. In his keynote address, Eisa Bashri extended his complete support to set up the Sudan telecentre academy. Speaking at the forum, Meddie Mayanja, Sr Programme Officer, telecentre.org emphasised the key objectives and outlined the strategic importance of the forum. In his introductory remarks, Ahamed Abdul Gadir, Chairman, National Information Centre said that the Government of Sudan has liberalised the information and communication industries, which has led to the growth of telecentres in the country and the provision for practitioners to operate smoothly.

Telecentre experiences: An East African perspective

This session focused on sharing different telecentre success stories across the region. Meddie Mayanja moderated this session. Daniel Richard Methusela from Tanzania Telecentre Network (TTN) shared the different telecentre related research initiatives of the University of Dar e Salam. Rita Mijumbi, Uganda Digital Services, Uganda, shared the development centres initiative and emphasised the importance of strategic multi-stakeholder partnerships. Kiringai Kamau, VACID Africa, Kenya explained the innovative use of telecentres to improve the functional efficiency of co-operatives in the rural parts of Kenya. Yasir Elsadig, GDCO, Sudan briefed the GDCO's telecentres to empower the hearing impaired. Nabil Eid, Syria shared the IT Clubs experience in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region. Guillaume Ruberintwari, Burundi briefed the opportunities for telecentres to work with the women self-help groups.

National telecentre networks: A status update

The objective of the session was to understand the current status of different national telecentre networks. This session was also moderated by Meddie Mayanja. Karim Kasim represented the Middle East and North African (MENA) Telecentre Network. He said that this network was born during the Third Global Knowledge Conference (GK3) last year. Currently, the network is using different knowledge sharing tools to raise awareness among the telecentre practitioners. Souza Sales Jose Avando, Brazilian Telecentre Network (ATN) said that the country has more than 16,000 telecentres in total. The network has acted as an incubator for different services like distance education through telecentres, creating a bank account, etc. In another partnership, Microsoft has donated 40,000 software licenses to the network. In the near future, it has plans to work with the Mozambique Telecentre Network. Felician Bakoya Ncheye, Tanzanian Telecentre Network is working to deploy the wireless mess networks to improve connectivity in the country. Pius Aggrey Omondi of KenTel, Ndirima Falcon Godwin of Rwanda Telecentre Network, Muhamad Said Alkatim of Sudan, Nkurunziza Jean Paul of Burundi and Ndaula Sulah of UgaBYTES, Uganda shared the current status of their respective networks.

The Telecentre Academy: An overview
In this session, Basheerhamad Shadrach gave an overview of the telecentre academy. He said that the academy is aimed to introduce professionalism among the telecentre practitioners. The academy will supplement the telecentre.org's efforts to support professional development needs of telecentre managers and practitioners across the globe. The academy targets four different groups namely, the telecentre operators, the policy/decision-makers, the network leaders, and the community at large. The academy aims to train 500,000 telecentre practitioners across the globe by 2012. In his concluding remarks, he raised three important questions and asked the participants to brainstorm on them.

After this brief introduction, the participants separated into three small groups and brainstormed on the following topics: Group 1 focused on 'why do we need the telecentre academy?' Group 2 focused on 'what and how of the curriculum for the academy?' and Group 3 focused on 'the business model for the academy'. On the second day of the forum, each group presented the key outcomes of its discussions.

Knowledge exchange: The need of the hour

In this session, Betty Iyamuremye, Vignesh Sornamohan and Karim Kasim, Community Content Facilitators from telecentre.org emphasised the need for knowledge sharing and working together. They offered technical support to all the participants to share their story at the telecentre.org site.

In the following session, Meddie Mayanja outlined the importance of telecentre staff exchange programme. He said that through telecentre networks, telecentre.org should support telecentre practitioners and network leaders on short-term placements, to travel, work, innovate and learn with peers at telecentre or network level until April 2009. He further mentioned that telecentre.org will provide beneficiaries with travel and subsistence costs as well as other limited expenses for hosts, while telecentres or networks will share the cost of basic expenses. The global programme is part of the telecentre.org network building programmes that bring practitioners together on intensive learning and problem solving activities.

Satyan Mishra, Managing Director, Drishtee, India and Nitin Kumar Gacchayat, Co-Founder, Drishtee, India shared their telecentre model with the participants and offered their support to replicate and upscale the social enterprise model in the African continent. Drishtee has franchised more than 4,000 telecentres in rural India.

Key outcomes

• Telecentre networks went away with concrete opportunities for supporting staff exchange, knowledge sharing and strengthening operations at the national level
• Knowledge shared amongst practitioners from Brazil, India, Mozambique, Syria, Zambia, Somalia and Egypt
• Different collaborative initiatives launched between Brazil and Mozambique; India and Sudan
• Decision made to establish an East African telecentre academy in Uganda
• Sudan will establish the first telecentre academy in Africa

The way forward

The event has given a new direction to the telecentre movement in the region. For the first time, the event was attended by the telecentre.org partners from Brazil and India. It added a new energy and enthusiasm among the East African telecentre leaders. The event also saw active participation by the government and private players. It shows the interest among other stakeholders in taking the movement forward.