Telecentres, Access and Development: Experience and Lessons from Uganda and South Africa
Sarah Parkinson (2005)
This study examines the role that shared access centres play in government strategies to provide universal access to information and communication technologies (ICTs). It also aims to shed light on the external factors that affect the performance of these centres. The analysis draws on the experiences of South Africa and Uganda in 2003, at the policy and community levels. Both countries have policies regarding universal access and have taken steps to achieve their policy goals.
Four factors are posited as important to the success of shared access centres in achieving universal access and maximizing development potential: scalability, sustainability, reach and use.
They cumulatively contribute to the development impact of such centres.
The apparent impact of access centres is analysed in two ways. Firstly, the situation in communities is compared with the goals motivating universal access policy in each country. Secondly, characteristic usage of different access centres is analysed in the context of the livelihood strategies commonly used by different people within the case communities.
The key findings and recommendations from this report include:
Access centres are generally not adequate by themselves to build local demand. Policy makers should focus on creating an enabling environment for access centres, especially by focusing on liberalization of the national telecommunication market. Those with the task of setting up centres need to first assess the local situation, not just needs but also feasibility and potential risks.
ICTs should be harmonized with larger rural development strategies. Stand-alone access centres should be pursued as an option only where local markets have demonstrated capacity to support them.
Any attempt to implement ICT access centres will be strongly constrained (or enabled) by the national telecommunication market. This lesson reinforces the need for national telecommunication market liberalization and regulation.
Universal access for telephone requires strategies different from those needed for other ICTs (especially computer-related), since the former usually enjoys immediate demand while the latter does not. Telephone access and use are issues best considered separately from Internet access and use, especially since Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) cellular networks have contributed broadly to the spread of the former. Nevertheless, policy makers should maintain a holistic view that considers the possible relationship between the two.
ICT access centres are an important but politically weak part of the access chain. Regulators should consider encouraging or supporting preferential telecommunication service rates (and possibly electricity rates) to agencies, whether public or private, which provide public access.
Affordability is still a major barrier to accessibility in both countries. Since much of the affordability problem relates to lack of competition, the highest priority is to liberalize the market, and especially to allow different technologies, such as VoIP. Independent regulation is obviously crucial.
The popular view of ICTs casts computers as a tool for the educated only. This limits spontaneous appropriation of ICTs even where physical access is provided. Avoid assumptions about how people will choose to use ICTs; any policy that depends on people's interaction with ICTs should be based on evidence.
Where ICTs are available and used, not all uses yield financial returns for their users or their communities. Since national universal access strategies should be monitored through indicators which, going beyond mere access, are tied to national development priorities.
The relationship between the market and initiatives set up by external funders varies according to factors such as infrastructure and local economic activity. Any agency involved in implementing a not-for-profit access centre needs to assess the current and likely future market situation in the locale where the centre is to be located.
Sustainability implies managing costs and complexity. Embedding ICT services within, and building upon, existing institutions is one of the best ways to do this. That strategy can also help maximize the development impact of services.
One of the biggest impacts of ICT use appears to be the maintenance of links between geographically dispersed family members. The role of within-country migration and international Diaspora communities in maintaining and contributing to rural development, and the role of ICTs in supporting it, is an area requiring greater attention from both policy makers and researchers.
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