Building e-Community Centers for Rural Development Workshop

Over 60% of the people in the Asia-Pacific region live in rural areas. Rural populations tend to be the poor, neglected, and marginalized groups of society. In comparison to urban areas, the accessibility and availability of information and communications technology (ICT) is significantly lower in rural areas. Government and the private sector do not invest much in infrastructure development for ICT in rural areas, as it is not cost-effective. If infrastructure is available, rural communities cannot afford to purchase needed communications equipment such as telephones, radios, and computers or pay for connectivity to the Internet. Lack of funds to purchase needed equipment or establish connectivity plus the lack of awareness regarding the use of these technologies, have greatly contributed to the growing rural-urban digital divide.

Low accessibility to ICT leads the rural community lack of basic information that could assist them to improve their livelihood. Often farmers do not have knowledge about market prices causing them to sell their products at lower rates. The inability to access proper health information also leads to diseases and illnesses that could have easily been avoided if farmers had access to proper health and sanitation information. Farmers could also take part in public decision making processes if they were provided with accurate information and opportunities to participate.

An affordable method to improve access to ICT in rural areas is through community centers that have integrated ICT infrastructure to provide information services. The community center, which is ICT-equipped, is commonly referred to as a community e-center (also referred to as a telecenter, tele-cottage, cyber café, or information kiosk).

Through the community e-center, rural people can obtain necessary information and knowledge that can improve their livelihoods and empower themselves.

There are several models of community e-centers that provide basic Internet services, including the telecenter franchise, civic telecenter, phone shop and multipurpose community telecenter. These models are not exclusive, since some community e-centers are in fact hybrid versions of two or three different types. For example, phone shops offer basic telephone services, but several shops are now moving into fax and even Internet services, as the market develops.

Community e-centers have sprung up across developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region at a rapid rate. The growing need to become part of the knowledge society or knowledge economy has encouraged many countries to take this initiative. Developing the community e-center is not only about providing ICT equipment, but also understanding the needs of the people who would use them, and providing locally useful information content and applications in local languages. In many cases, these centers have been established by development agencies on a pilot basis and often their sustainability is not guaranteed after the initial project period.

Experiences show that through proper technology, community ownership through participatory development approach, capacity of community in the use of ICT, and private sector operation contribute to sustainability of the centers. However, there are not enough studies on the issues of how to set up and how to sustain them. Therefore, there is a need to examine various issues related to community e-centers to develop guidelines or models for successful development and operation of these centers for developing countries to reap the most benefits from ICT for rural development.