[kictanet] Article on Digital Villages in the Daily Nation

[warigia bowman]

You can get the PDF here

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1621502&show=abstract

You do not need university access

Yours, Rigia

On Thu, Sep 1, 2011 at 1:34 PM, warigia bowman <warigia at aucegypt.edu> wrote:

> Dear colleagues
>
> Here is an article I had written many years ago. I did not think it was
> worth much, but it seems very relevant to the discussion we are having on
> digital villages. The PDF is available free online here.
>
> This is what digital villages COULD BE.
>
> http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1621502&show=html
>
> The promise of public access: Lessons from the American experience
> ------------------------------
> The Authors Warigia Bowman, *Harvard University, USA*
> Arifa Khandwalla, *University of Massachusetts, USA* Abstract
>
> This essay surveys and synthesizes the academic literature, archival
> sources and interviews with key policy makers regarding the emergence of
> community technology centers in the US. Community Technology Centers (CTCs)
> came to the fore in the late 1990s through an activist nonprofit sector
> combined with federal government and private sector funding. Federal data
> indicates that CTCs now represent the most important access points to
> information communications technology for the poor in the US. This essay
> reviews the latest arguments for and against continued investment in CTCs
> and public access in general. In addition to providing access, which is
> often used beneficially for employment and education related purposes, CTCs
> appear to contribute to social capital as they become social gathering
> points. This paper concludes, that both government and nonprofits play a
> vital role in ensuring public access for the poor and that continued
> investment in CTCs is warranted.
> Article Type:
>
> Literature review
> Keyword(s):
>
> Access; ICT; Community; Technology centres; Government.
> Journal:
>
> Journal of Information, Communication & Ethics in Society
> Volume:
>
> 1
> Number:
>
> 2
> Year:
>
> 2003
> pp:
>
> 87-98
> Copyright ©
>
> MCB UP Ltd
> ISSN: 1477-996X
>
> On Wed, Aug 31, 2011 at 5:00 PM, warigia bowman <warigia at aucegypt.edu>wrote:
>
>>  Dear colleagues
>>
>> Here is an article I wrote which appeared in Smart Company in the Daily
>> Nation on Tuesday. Victor Gathara and I will be writing a more comprehensive
>> report in the coming months. I had put in some compliments to the ICT Board
>> staff and the Safaricom staff, but those were edited out by the nation.
>>
>> Yours, Rigia
>>
>> BY WARIGIA BOWMAN
>>
>> warigia at aucegypt.edu
>>
>>
>>
>> Plans are afoot to improve access to computing and Internet
>> infrastructure in rural Kenya, thanks to an initiative between the
>> government and the private sector.   In April 2010, the ICT Board, which
>> is part of the Ministry of Information and Communication, promised to
>> connect each constituency by setting up a digital centre, complete with five
>> computers and Internet connectivity, under the Pasha Centres programme.
>>
>> Kupasha is Kiswahili for “to inform”. The Pasha Centre project is being
>> supported by $4 million (about Sh36 million) in revolving World Bank funds
>> administered by Family Bank.
>>
>> Indeed, the Kenya Communication Amendment Act 2009 stipulates that the
>> Communication Commission of Kenya (CCK) should levy telecoms operators a
>> universal access fund of one per cent of their total revenue to be used for
>> rural connectivity.
>>
>> Access to portals
>>
>> According to the regulator, 90 per cent of Kenya’s 6.4 million Internet
>> users (2010) are in Nairobi and Mombasa. Both the digital villages and the
>> pasha centres are to offer services such as access to government portals
>> like NSSF, identity and driver licensing services, Teacher Service
>> Commission information, HELB loans and information on farming, as well as
>> access to e-health and e-learning.
>>
>> This all sounds fantastic and exciting... on paper. Unfortunately, the
>> reality on the ground is different. A multi-sectoral group of academics,
>> private sector consultants and civil society activists have visited 20 per
>> cent of all pasha centres in Kenya, as well as 15 digital villages, over the
>> past two months.
>>
>> What the group found is a matter of concern to anyone interested in rural
>> connectivity in Africa.
>>
>> The number of digital villages and pasha centres that are actually open
>> for business is only a fraction of the reported total. The ICT Board
>> provided the research team with the list of all approved centres.
>>
>> Only 37 have actually been approved, although each of Kenya’s 210
>> constituencies is entitled to one. Of these, only two in the sample of 10
>> had actually received all of the money awarded to them and had opened for
>> business.
>>
>> In addition, Safaricom provided the research team with a list of 147
>> digital villages, not 500. On the list of 147, the identifying information
>> was incomplete and vague.
>>
>> The team visited pashas and digital villages in Malindi, Embu, Meru,
>> Muranga, Maragwa, Nyeri, Isiolo, Samburu, Oloitoktok, Machakos, Wote and
>> Mbumbuni. It was, however, yet to visit and evaluate pashas in Western,
>> Kisii and Nyanza regions.
>>
>> Overall, the conditions in the ICT Board run pashas were better than those
>> in the Safaricom-run digital villages, although the pashas also needed
>> improvements.
>>
>> Owners were, on the whole, fairly well educated IT experts, good
>> businesspeople and visionaries. The two pashas (Mbumbuni and Maragwa) that
>> had actually opened offered a range of services, including photocopying,
>> printing, typesetting, printing photos, browsing and IT training.
>>
>> Most of the centres had heard of  e-health and e-learning, but did not
>> really know what these terms meant and had received no training from the ICT
>> Board in these areas, although the topics were mentioned at one training the
>> pasha owners received in late May.
>>
>> Further, owners had little knowledge of what government services they
>> could offer other than the registration of KRA pin details and downloading
>> of police abstracts.  Most had received little or no support regarding
>> branding and marketing, and one of the open facilities was making a serious
>> financial loss.
>>
>> However, it is easy to criticise and hard to build. In that spirit, here
>> are some constructive suggestions.
>>
>> First, the MOIC, CCK and ICT Board should work together to implement the
>> tax of one per cent on all telecommunications operators this year.
>>
>> Based on a quick back of the envelope calculation, this will amount to
>> approximately Sh4 billion per year. Part of this money should support extra
>> staff on the pasha centre project.Right now, there are only two people
>> working on the pasha project at the ICT Board.
>>
>> Second, tariffs must come down. Every pasha owner and digital village
>> operator we spoke to said tariffs were too high. Indeed, the ICT Board had
>> promised pasha operators free connectivity for a year.
>>
>> Regardless, operators and digital village operators must be given highly
>> preferential rates by telecommunications operators.
>>
>> In addition, pasha owners and digital village operators need support and
>> training in  marketing, branding, and proper use of government portals.
>>
>> Owners need to be sensitised on the wealth of information with regard to
>> farming and husbandry, including Kenya Seeds, www.infonet-biovision.org,
>> icow, and www.nafis.go.ke.
>>
>> Finally, Safaricom should expand the resources it invests in each digital
>> village.
>>
>> There are many other reforms needed, but if the government and
>> telecommunications operators can pay attention to these few suggestions,
>> Kenya can attain true rural connectivity.
>>
>>
>>
>> Dr Bowman is an ICT expert in the American University, Cairo
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
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