[UgaBYTES] Weekly highlights from telecentre.org

[Nasikye Esther]

Dear Telecentre friends,

Here are the latest highlights from telecentre.org

•    The telecentre.org Community Charter — Reaffirming the community's
vision, values, priorities
•    Software donations for non-profit organisations in India
•    Sustainability First Newsletter
•    ESPLAI, telecentres for free time and much more
•    Peru, agricultural organizations connected
•    The model of the Association of Information and Business Telecentres in
Brasil
•    Kimathi Information Centre: Changing the lives of Kenya's unemployed
youths
•    Sengerema multipurpose telecentre
•    Ugunja Community Resource Centre Profile
•    Weekly News Roundup - Africa January 25
•    Weekly news roundup - Asia, 23 January, 2008
•    Visit and take advantage of the new telecentre.org website

 * The telecentre.org Community Charter — Reaffirming the community's
vision, values, priorities
Join the community by adding your name to the telecentre.org Community
Charter

Once every two years, telecentre network leaders, researchers, and activists
gather at a global Telecentre Leaders Forum (TLF) to connect, exchange
experiences, and undertake a collective process to strengthen the telecentre
movement. The 2007 TLF, hosted by telecentre.org and its partners, took
place on December 9 and 10, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, just prior to the
Global Knowledge Partnership's GK3 conference. Over 90 people attended the
TLF, from 61 organizations and 42 countries.

Network leaders got involved in shaping, leading, and growing the
telecentre.org community. Together, they explored what it means to belong to
the telecentre.org community and developed a concrete vision that will guide
this community into the future. The outcome of this was the creation of the
telecentre.org Community Charter, a document that reaffirms the role of
telecentres in economic and social development, clarifies shared values, and
defines priorities for strengthening and expanding the community.

The telecentre.org Community Charter is now available in French, Spanish,
and English. We invite you to join the community by following the link below
and electronically "signing" the Charter before the April 20, 2008. Please
encourage others to do the same.
http://www.telecentre.org/en/news.detail/101783

* Software donations for non-profit organisations in India
BiG Tech (www.bigtech.in) assists non-profit organisations and charities in
India by offeringBigTech access to the software donation programs of donors.
NASSCOM Foundation (NF) supports Non Government Organizations (NGO),
Community Based Organizations (CBO) and Civil Society organizations (CSO) to
conserve their resources and money and help them make the most from their
ICT purchases and infrastructure. You may know about this initiative here:
http://www.telecentre.org/en/news.detail/101803

* Sustainability First Newsletter
Why does the eco-system matter? This had been a question raised during
Sustainability First panel discussion during GK3. Read the answers from
panellists here: http://www.telecentre.org/en/news.detail/101842

* Esplai, telecentres for free time and much more
ESPLAI is a Catalan word that means free time. But it is also the name of an
organisation based in Barcelona, Spain that seeks to strengthen and involve
the civil society in their fight for social.
To accomplish this task, ESPLAI works with telecentre networks. The
organisation supports 2,800 centres. The services provided by ESPLAI are
direct territorial coordination of the telecentres, ICT training,
e-learning, resource centres, collaboration work with development groups,
regional and national meetings, evaluation and consultancy, institutional
search of resources, research and development programs, transversal programs
(gender, accessibility) among others.
http://www.telecentre.org/en/news.detail/101807

* Peru, agricultural organizations connected
Peru is a country known for its history, cultural and ecological diversity,
and in the past years, for its exquisite cousine. In this country, the
telecentre movement is going through an interesting stage. The government
through their investment programme Fondo de Inversión en Telecomunicaciones
(FITEL) is aiming to implement Internet and IP telephone in 2,428 villages
by March 2008. Will this be a beneficial for the digital inclusion of the
less privileged?
http://www.telecentre.org/en/news.detail/101808

* Kimathi Information Centre: Changing the lives of Kenya's unemployed
youths
The Kimathi Information centre is comprised of a team of very young
entrepreneurs Jose Njuki-Imwe Ngunjiri (27 years) and Cathryne Agallo (22
years). With two years in operation, the team has created employment for up
to 150 people and trained up to 219 young entrepreneurs on proposal writing
and presentation. Read the rest of the story here:
http://www.telecentre.org/en/news.detail/101820

* The model of the Association of Information and Business Telecentres in
Brasil
To talk of Brazil, is to talk of football, carnival, music and nature. In
this country, which is the fifth largest in the world, there is a large
number of Telecentres and an institution that supports them; the Association
of Information and Business Telecentres (ATN ). ATN supports 4,848
telecentres implemented by the government, the Bradesco Foundation and other
associated organizations. Through an alliance network, ATN provides services
for the implementation and management of telecentres' networks; digital
literacy; professional training courses; financial services; collaboration
and business networks; and support to public development policies, among
others.
http://www.telecentre.org/en/news.detail/101806

* Sengerema multipurpose telecentre
The challenges we faced include:
1.    Insufficient funds for; hiring skilled personnel, obtain quality
equipment and materials, and committees and community motivations
2.    High connectivity costs
3.    Unreliable power and network supplies
4.    Insufficient proper content
Read their strategies to overcome these challenges here:
http://www.telecentre.org/en/news.detail/101796
Ugunja Community Resource Centre Profile
Ugunja Community Resource Centre (UCRC), a community based non-governmental
organization located in Ugunja Division -Siaya District of Nyanza province
Western Kenya is one of the few NGOs headquartered in a rural part of Kenya.
UCRC, coordinates many innovative activities in collaboration with local
communities, community based organizations as well as national and
international NGOs.
We sincerely believe in our motto "A working community" and theme "Local
action is beautiful" and do our best to bring these words to life through
our many activities.
http://www.telecentre.org/en/news.detail/101799

* Weekly News Roundup - Africa January 25
- Nigeria's 2020 ICT Action Plan Soon
- Limpopo to Implement Wireless Internet
- Cameroon: Schools, Councils Receive 1,000 Computers
- India's greener IT revolution
- Investing in ICT 'll Reduce Poverty
Read more news here: http://www.telecentre.org/en/news.detail/101845

* Weekly news roundup - Asia, 23 January, 2008
- Iran envisages to set up 2,500 rural ICT bureaus
- Philippines opts for the ICT roadmap
- Quarter million panchayats in India to be computersied
- UNESCO to launch ICT guidelines/standards to improve education
- HCL unveils the future of personal computing


* Visit and take advantage of the new telecentre.org website
•    Find and get help from experts, as well as from people like you with
similar goals and challenges Learn about the latest and most helpful
technology, business ideas, and services
•    Connect with funders, partners and supporters
•    Find solutions to your technical or management problems
•    Download free toolkits, curricula, and resources to use in your
telecentre or network
•    Get news about the best events for you to attend
Join, blog, and benefit: Signing up only takes a few minutes. Just visit
telecentre.org, click Join Today on the right top corner and tell us about
you. That's all. Now you can get started. Start a conversation today!

Read more news here: http://www.telecentre.org/en/news.detail/101805

Cheers
Vignesh
Community Content Facilitator – Asia
telecentre.org (www.telecentre.org)
CSDMS, India (www.csdms.in)
---------------------------------------------------------
telecentre.org is a global community of people and organizations committed
to increasing the social and economic impact of grassroots telecentres.
Working together, we provide the resources that telecentres need to succeed:
locally relevant content and services, support and learning opportunities,
and networks that help telecentre activists connect to each other. With
these things in hand, tens of thousands of telecentres will be in a better
position to enrich the communities they serve. Our founding investors
include Canada's International Development Research Centre, Microsoft, and
the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. We invite others who share
our vision and commitment to join us. Visit www.telecentre.org to learn
more.




-- 
Esther Nasikye
Community Content Facilitator
UgaBYTES Initiative
Plot 2218 Ggaba Road
Kampala, Uganda
Tel: 25641370163
skype:esther.nasikye

-- 
Esther Nasikye
Community Content Facilitator
UgaBYTES Initiative
Plot 2218 Ggaba Road
Kampala, Uganda
Tel: 25641370163
skype:esther.nasikye
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