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Community-Owned Telecenter Project

Challenges Entered: 
Narrowing the existing digital gap in Malawi through Telecenters

This project will also help build the capacity of our organization in providing training to members of the society. The dual purpose of this project therefore is build our capacity in responding to the computer literacy needs of the society and providing the missing link in the ICT development through the development of hard and soft capacities of the targeted communities.

It is our hope that by having the foregoing programs which are tailored to incorporate all community members and accord them the opportunity to use the centers’ facilities i.e. computers and the communication technologies to enhance their own lives through skills development we would also be empowering them to participate in society. On the other hand open lab times would help school going youth to reinforce their learning in formal classes by exploring the subjects further and practice what they have learnt. It will also help train the locales on how to use the available tools so that they are highly patronized. We expect to have full-fledged training in the first month of the project so that the locales are acquainted with the tools available at the two centers.

WHAT WE NEED:

The project requires computers, funds for space rentals, security fittings and personnel and the personnel running the centers among other things.

Currently we have already received a pledge from Computer Aid International (CAI) who are willing to donate computers to be used at the centers provided we provide the funds for shipping the computers to Malawi.

 

Volunteers are also required but they must proficient in Web designing and hosting.

Project Details
Project Assessment
Sustainability Model: 
In order to fully meet the needs of the selected communities there is need for sustaining the initiative. Throughout the project time line we will be revisiting the activities of the centers so that they are attractive so that the center is able to run beyond the project period. Given the importance of having such an initiative we expect to strike some collaboration with farmer organizations like the National Small holder Farmers Association of Malawi (NASFAM) and the Initiative for Development Equity in African Agriculture (IDEAA). Both NASFAM and IDEAA have projects that need passing information to the farmers in appropriate time and the centers would be ideal for that purpose. Similar arrangements would be made with schools so that students and pupils pay subsidized fees when using the center. We hope that by entrusting the running of the center in the hands of the community it will be able to run even after our pulling out after the first year. Some more services will be added so that the centers’ life span is long enough for more people to benefit from its services. The good thing is that the funds will not be removed from the project since nobody would claim ownership of them rather they would be used to support on going programs at the centers hence making them suatainable. Finally, Y.A.A.ICT-D is an organization that seeks to promote the use of ICTs in order to benefit the people and it will be there as long as people continue to dwell on this continent. However, donor agencies must continue to support its efforts because lack of technical and financial resources would create some resource constraint to meet some of the requirements in providing training and supporting people in dire need of ICTs. However, there is hope that if the impact of the achievements can be sustained by targeted communities, the organization will also survive in providing back up services wherever necessary. Therefore, the survival of the organization will depend on the continued perceived relevance of its role by people of the targeted communities in whose behalf this programme is facilitated.
Project goals: 
The first month of the project will involve securing space for the centers in the selected communities, recruiting new staff and training them, processing of the computer shipment and also completing all the procurements. The seciond month will involve community meetings and research studies to ascertain the needs of the communities so that the centres's activities are in line with their neeeds. Formation of the Coordinating and steering committes will also be done in the same month. The development of monitoring and evaluation tools will also be donein the same month. The third month is when the activities are expected to roll out
Identified Obstacles: 
During the project write up we took into consideration the lack of ICT initiatives and this manifests itself in the following ways; · Prevalence of high levels of ICT illiteracy; · Lack of participation in crucial national matters by the community members due to lack of information; · Lack of capacity and knowledge to start ICT centers; · Low entrepreneurship levels in the ICT sector especially in the rural areas;

Location

Lilongwe
Malawi

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Dear Kenneth Msiska

Yours is a laudable initiative. I especially like your search to find services that could be used to make the centres sustainable in financial and interest terms. May I point you to the Farmer 2 Farmer Learning project that I nominated, which aims at providing a tool for a service you could add to your list: assistance to farmers to make their farming more efficient and market oriented. Please feel free to contact me if/when you think Farmer 2 Farmer Learning could indeed be of interest to you.

Friendly greetings
Don Jansen

Hi Don

It would be of interestr to me if we can link up and see how your project's activities can be slotted in mine in future. My e-mail address is: kennethmsiska@yahoo.com

 Thanks fior the feedback.

Please write again!!  

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