To highlight different aspects in the recent expansion of telecentres, APDIP has developed a series of e-Notes dealing with telecentres. The first e-Note presents telecentres as a mature development mechanism. The second e-Note examines a number of models of financing telecentres, thus securing sustainability and establishing telecentres as a reliable public service. While the third e-Note, to be released shortly, will focus on FOSS applications in telecentres, as a way to keep costs of running telecentres low.
Telecentres are being promoted as an answer to the problems of the digital divide as there are still large sections of society that do not enjoy access to ICTs and are therefore at risk of being excluded from the socio-economic benefits that such access brings. Early experiments with telecentres have revealed promising development opportunities and as such, telecentres have been springing up across developing Asia.
e-Note 14: Telecentre 2.0 – beyond piloting telecentres
This e-Note argues that with telecentres now being part of national roll-out programmes in many countries throughout the Asia-Pacific region, a second generation of telecentres is evolving; Telecentre 2.0. Telecentre 2.0 is a general model that does away with further piloting of telecentres as a development mechanism. This e-Note outlines how the Telecentre 2.0 model can help countries that do not have established telecentres on a country-wide basis in doing so by drawing on previous and well-documented experiences from other countries.
e-Note 15: Telecentre sustainability – financing ICTs for the poor
In spite of their promising development opportunities telecentres have also been met with criticism, especially for not being sustainable. In response to this criticism this e-Note examines different ownership and financing models for telecentres, emphasizing the balance between subsidy and revenue. It examines how these models can assist in ensuring long-term financial sustainability and how both the private sector and civil society can be mutually involved in this process.
Both APDIP e-Notes are written by Roger Harris, Roger Harris Associates, Hong Kong
APDIP e-Notes are brief snapshots that present analyses of specific issues related to ICTs for sustainable human development in the Asia-Pacific region. This online series introduces readers to the who, what, where, why and how of a wide range of current issues related to ICTs such as Internet governance, ICTs and poverty reduction, e-governance, free and open source software, and many others.
APDIP or the Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme is an initiative of the United Nations Development Programme that aims to promote the development and application of information and communications technology for sustainable human development in the Asia-Pacific region.
Download APDIP e-Note 14 from http://www.apdip.net/apdipenote/14.pdf
Download APDIP e-Note 15 from http://www.apdip.net/apdipenote/15.pdf
All APDIP e-Notes are available at http://www.apdip.net/apdipenote/
All APDIP e-Resources are available at http://www.apdip.net/elibrary/
