Can community telecentres reach the most disadvantaged in Africa?

The first public telecentre in Africa is reported to have opened in 1998. Many more are now in operation and their popularity has grown. So too have claims about their potential to contribute to poverty alleviation by bringing the benefits of the information age to Africa’s most excluded and disadvantaged people. But what difference, if any, are the centres making?

A study funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Canada surveyed users and potential users of 36 telecentres in 5 African countries. Public access, through telecentres, to a range of information and communication technologies (ICTs), is considered a useful way of ensuring that their benefits are felt beyond the few individuals who can afford equipment.

Significant institutional changes and high-level declarations supporting activities aimed at bridging the digital divide have been made. However, commitment from governments is not yet apparent. The studies looked at the following four broad areas in order to understand impacts of telecentres to date and their relationship to development in Africa:

• Access: evidence suggests that women, older and disabled people used the telecentres far less than younger, educated men.
• Relevance: community telecentres are expected to serve communities and the individual. However, most use is personal and social. Relevant local content is lacking, which means telecentres are rarely utilised for community development purposes
• Sustainability: communities have very little power over local telecentres. Confusion over who is in charge and lack of expertise leads to poor management. Financial sustainability is rare.
• Environment: a bias towards urban infrastructure and connectivity causes problems for rural telecentres, as do bureaucratic obstacles and lack of community capacity to repair and maintain equipment.

Community telecentres are a relatively new concept in Africa and expectations are high. Despite the problems they show potential: community centres offer a broader range of services than those seeking a profit. The use of telecentres for community development is on the increase, although still low.

However, ICTs are still severely under-used by the most disadvantaged people in society. For telecentres to achieve their potential of providing access to everyone, greater attention must be paid to certain areas:

• Governments and funding agencies need to see access to information and communication as a basic human right and that this has an important role to play in poverty reduction.
• Short-term funding for community telecentres will not work: funders need to allow for longer term sustainability.
• Project-designers and government authorities should consider the requirements of people who currently do not use telecentres and establish centres that are, for example, accessible to disabled people or open during hours suitable for women.
• Increased connectivity requires the government commitment to regulate and encourage investment in ICTs, especially in rural areas.
• A major effort is needed to increase and improve the level of local content, which cannot happen without increased human capacity. Governments and other agencies need to invest in training and in using ICTs for education, health and income generation.
• Costs have to be reduced; governments can regulate for this, through reducing tariffs and bureaucracy and encouraging the private sector to partner with other players in making ICTs more accessible.

Source(s):
Information and Communication Technologies for Development in Africa: Volume 2. The experience with community telecentres. International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa by Florence Etta and Sheila Parvyn-Wamahiu. (eds), 2003 Full document.

Funded by: IDRC

id21 Research Highlight: 14 November 2005

Further Information:
Florence Etta
IDRC Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office
Liaison House 2nd and 3rd Floors
State House Avenue
PO Box 62084-00200
Nairobi
KENYA

Tel: +254 20 2713160/1
Fax: +254 20 2711063
Contact the contributor: fetta@idrc.or.ke

International Development Research Centre, Canada

Other related links:
'Community Multimedia Centres provide development services'

'Towards gender equality in ICTs in South India' >

'Overcoming rural India’s lack of communications infrastructure'

'ICTs bring multiple benefits to Indian farmers'

'Can ICTs help increase literacy?'