Are telecentres economically sustainable? The five telecentre networks of Brazil, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have seen great vibrancy and maturity over the last five years and were the subject of a two year long examination to answer the two core questions posed:
What are the constraints for their sustainability?
How do champions overcome these constraints?
The book - 'Sustainability First' illustrates the answers to the above two questions in detail.
Sustainability First – is a FREE online book for people interested in the economic sustainability of telecentres. (Download or Read online)
The presentation by Harsha Liyanage of eNovation, as an invited speaker at Wireless World Research Forum, (16-18th Nov, 2010 at London), organised by University of Kingston, captures the lessons learned from Social Impact assessment activities carried out in Sri Lanka, under Sarvodaya-Fusion. eNovation suggests the wider applicability of this knowledge at technology innovation for Bottom of the Pyramid initiatives.
In principle telecentres were designed having PC and internet at the heart of it. It was 1990s to early 2000s, an era where mobile phones were a luxury item and PC based internet was defining the digital world. .
Now 2011~
mobile phone ubiquity at bottom of the pyramid
WiFi, WiMax, mobile broad-band define internet access
iPad is challenging the survival of PCs
digital devices are smart enough to bypass barriers of literacy and education
Are we supporting the digital divide, by promoting telecentres?
We are consultants for European organisations working in international development. Specialized in Innovation - Economic Sustainability - Social Impact Assessment in ICT4D and Mobile for Development (M4D) sectors. We have 20 + years of experiences and our clients include UN Agencies, EU, IDRC.
Are you involved in International development, introducing Information Communication Technologies and Mobile Phone applications to support disadvantage communities? Are you concerned about effective products and services in this sector, we can help to innovate them. Do you want to see their sustainability beyond funding cycle? We can help converting the project into a social enterprise. Do you want to understand the social impact? We can design a tailor made model to surface the social impact.
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