[UgaBYTES] telecentre.org Foundation Newsletter, March 2010

[Mwathi Francis]

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* **telecentre.org Foundation Newsletter *
 *March 2010*

*Events*

*telecentre.org's Ottawa team *The telecentre.org support team, based at
IDRC headquarters in Ottawa, wish to thank everyone involved in making
telecentre.org a success over the past five years.  We welcome the new
Philippine team, who will be publishing the next issue of this newsletter,
along with managing  all the other aspects of the telecentre.org program,
through the foundation. We wish them much success in the future.  We’ll be
supporting them every step of the way!

*Get Online Day
Europe, 4 March, 2010
*Through our partner, Telecentre-Europe, at least 20 European countries
sought to bring Europeans who have never accessed the Internet online for
‘Get Online Day’ scheduled for March 4th.  The event was part of eSkills
Week 2010 in Europe and was aimed at raising awareness of the benefits of
digital inclusion. 500 telecentres were expected to participate.

*Initiatives* [image:
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*Telecentre.org Foundation up and running*

[image: turnover.JPG]The

telecentre.org Foundation officially opened its doors in the Philippines
with two global launches:  one that took place earlier this month in Manila,
the home-city where the foundation is now based, and the second which
occurred late last year in Sri Lanka, before a crowd of international
leaders in the field of information and communication technologies for
development (ICT4D).
Philippine senator, Edgardo J. Angara, along with other dignitaries,
foundation funders and telecentre partners,  attended the recent launch in
Makati City, Manila, where day-long ceremonies completed the transfer of
telecentre.org, from start-up program, grown and housed at Canada’s
International Development Research Centre (IDRC), to independent, non-profit
organization, based in the Philippines.
To mark the occasion, Sec. Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua III, Chairman of the
Philippine government’s Commission on Information and Communications
Technology (CICT) spoke about what telecentre.org relocation to his country
represents:  “To locate this global initiative in the Philippines is truly
an honour that confirms our nation’s status as an emerging leader in rural
informatics.  We welcome telecentre.org with open arms”.
Earlier, this past December, at eAsia, one of the world’s leading
conferences on ITC4D, the President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa, was on
hand to announce telecentre.org’s 2010 transfer before the influential
international  crowd of hundreds who had gathered for the event.  This past
year, eAsia was staged in Colombo, Sri Lanka , where news of telecentre.org’s
transfer  was greeted with the same enthusiasm as in the Philippines.
Dr. Basheerhamad “Shaddy” Shadrach, the recently named executive director of
the foundation was at both launch events.  Shaddy, who was named to head the
new organization by the foundation’s Board of Trustees last December, is now
responsible for overseeing the implementation of the global telecentre
program.  Shaddy is well known in the telecentre movement, having dedicated
nearly two decades to working on its behalf.  Most recently, he’s been
IDRC’s Senior Program Officer in Asia and lead for the telecentre.org
Academy initiative.
“Shaddy will be an asset to the new organization.  He is a link to both our
past and our future, “says Richard Fuchs, co-founder of telecentre.org.
“His appointment represents a commitment to furthering our global mission of
increasing the impact of telecentres on development around the world.”
In addition to Shaddy’s recruitment, the foundation’s board also appointed
seven members to its Advisory Council during an inaugural meeting which took
place at the margins of the eAsia event.  Council members became familiar
with their roles and responsibilities and reviewed the business strategy for
the next stage of telecentre.org’s life, a strategy the foundation is now
finalizing.  More progress was made at the margins of the Manila launch,
when council members met for a second time.
The Advisory Council, made up of an international pool of telecentre
experts, partners and network leaders, is responsible for advising the board
and the executive director, based on their respective regional realities, on
matters pertaining to the telecentre.org program and its implementation.
The new council members are: Aminata Maiga of Mali’s  Afriklinks (Africa);
Reshan Dewapura of Sri Lanka’s Information and Communication Technology
Agency (Asia Pacific); Ian Clifford of Telecentre-Europe (Europe); José
Avando Souza Sales of ATN in Brazil (Latin America and the Carribean);
Sherif El Tokali of the United Nations Development Program in Egypt (Middle
East and North Africa); Dr. Latha Pillai of India’s Indira Gandhi National
Open University (Telecentre Academy); and Rebecca Masisak of Techsoup Global
(Social Enterprise).
Says Rohinton Medhora, Vice-President of IDRC, “We were proud to have helped
create and house the telecentre.org initiative.  And we are equally proud to
see it transferred successfully to the Philippines.”  He adds, “this is very
much in keeping with IDRC’s mandate of building capacity in the developing
world by incubating and then transferring programs when they are able to
function independently.”
IDRC and Microsoft will continue to support and be involved in the
telecentre.org Foundation, as will the Philippine’s CICT.

    *telecentre.org Foundation @ eAsia*

December’s launch of the telecentre.org Foundation at eAsia by Sri Lanka’s
president was just one high profile example of why Colombo became the
unofficial capital of the global tele[image: eAsia - telecenter.org launched
by he the president.jpg]centre movement late last year.  In addition to
serving as the backdrop for the announcement about the foundation, we also
led and participated in important telecentre discussions that took place
during the event and we co-organized a resource mobilization workshop (one
session of which was dubbed “telecentre idol”) that occurred at its margins.
 More specifically, Florencio Ceballos, Shaddy Shadrach and Meddie Mayanja,
long-time telecentre.org leaders, presented at various eAsia sessions.
Among these:  training for networks, mobile telephony, and the future of the
telecentre movement itself. Florencio, Shaddy and Meddie also facilitated
and participated at other sessions.
In total, 1000 telecentre champions from across Asia and around the world
participated at this year’s event.  eAsia will be hosted in the Philippines
next year.

*Who wants to be the next telecentre idol?*

telecentre.org, in cooperation with the Asia Pacific Telecentre Network
(APTN), staged a resource mobilization workshop for telecentre networks on
December 1, 2009 in Colombo. One of its more memorable sessions was the
“telecentre idol” competition – a session that proved to be a fun way to
learn more around important telecentre topics like fundraising strategies
and business models for sustainability.  Twenty participants were divided
into teams to compete in challenges that ranged from crafting a compelling
business model to planning a winning fundraising event – all in under an
hour’s time.  Prizes were awarded to the winning teams thanks to Microsoft,
one of our funders.
In addition to idol, the workshop offered three other interactive sessions.
These were:
• ‘Ask the Experts’, a talk-show like presentation given by Murray Culshaw,
a fundraising consultant from India and Marianne Quebral, a resource
mobilization trainer from the Philippines;
•  Open Clinic, simultaneous consultations, 10 minutes in length, given on
various topics by participant experts; and,
• the ‘Seven Minutes of Fame” presentation by telecentre leaders who
participated in the workshop in 2008 and shared their resource mobilization
experiences.
Judging from the feedback, a good time was had and lots of information was
shared.

*telecentre.org’s online consultations *

>From November 12-30, 2009, you talked; we listened.  Over 200 people
participated in telecentre.org’s online consultations about the move to our
new base in the Philippines.  Online and in moderated discussion groups, you
provided your thoughts on how to make us stronger, better, and more relevant
to the people and organizations we serve.  Your input – along with that of
our partners and other stakeholders – was important to us. So much so that
we presented it at the first Advisory Council meeting for the new foundation
in Colombo, Sri Lanka this past December. Your input is helping to inform
the business strategy the foundation is currently finalizing. That strategy
is designed to map out the future priorities of the
telecentre.orgFoundation from 2010-2015 including:
• Making the initiative more relevant, particularly in regions around the
world,
• Increasing the participation and engagement of our 200+ partner networks
and organizations, and,
• Exploring potential new program offerings.
Thanks to all of who got involved in the consultations and who have helped
make a difference.
 To view the consultation summaries, go to:
http://telecentre.org/group/onlineconsultation2009<http://cts.vresp.com/c/?IDRC/3198aad9e5/817e97abc1/f4dba05824>

*New LAC regional network a hub of activity*

In the last issue of our newsletter, we told you about the launch of the
Latin American telecentre network.  Since then, there’s been lots of
activity around finalizing the network’s governance structure; its programme
activities; and finding a home for its secretariat.
Among the first orders of business was the election of an advisory council.
Late last year, five inaugural members were voted in by the network
membership:  José Avando, of ATN, Brazil as new council president; and,
Angélica Celedón, of ATACH, Chile; Olga Paz, of Colnodo, Colombia; Ethel de
Kuri, Conexión, El Salvador; and, Maicu Alvarado, of CEPES, Peru, who
complete the council and, together, reflect the network’s geographic and
linguistic diversity.
Also announced was the network’s future program focus which takes in
knowledge sharing, networks, and policy influence (i.e. representation of
network interests at national and international policy discussions). Voces
de Telecentres http://www.scribd.com/doc/24760559/voces-de-telecentros-2<http://cts.vresp.com/c/?IDRC/3198aad9e5/817e97abc1/ed4576ae77>,
a Spanish and Portuguese-language publication about the telecentre movement
in Latin America, will serve as one of the key tools for communicating
between and among the network members.
Finally, last month, a call for proposal went out to network members for
help in determining the future home of the network’s secretariat. The
council is about to hire an executive director to lead the day-to-day
operations, and, it is finalizing a business plan to present to the
telecentre.org Foundation.
Meanwhile, other activities of note that LAC networks are doing in their own
right include:
• New online training cycles were launched by the telecentre.org academies
in Chile, Peru, and
Colombia. Trained instructors lead courses aimed at telecentre operators and
cover such topics as telecentre programs for children, seniors and the
disabled and fundraising.  900 people have registered so far.
• In Colombia, a project to map telecentres in the country has logged over
one thousand telecentres and counting.  You can view this work in progress
at: http://www.telecentros.org.co/mapeo<http://cts.vresp.com/c/?IDRC/3198aad9e5/817e97abc1/79242783ac>
• Six Latin American networks benefitted from a resource mobilization
project that was supported by one of telecentre.org’s funders, the
International Development Research Centre.  The project aimed to improve the
following networks’ abilities to fundraise: Red Nacional de Telecentros in
Colombia; Conexión in El Salvador;   Infodesarrollo, Ecuador; Red TIC,
Bolivia; ATACH, Chile, and ATN, Brazil.

*Telecentre leaders' forum **(TLF)-MENA region*

l[image: IMG_6995.JPG]

Telecentre leaders from across MENA gathered in Cairo last January in Smart
Village, Egypt’s answer to Silicon Valley, to take stock of network building
and sustainability in the region, efforts that have been supported by
telecentre.org and the telecentre.org Academy in Egypt.  About 60
participants, drawn from Syria, Palestine, Morocco, Algeria, Sudan, Yemen,
Jordan and, of course, Egypt, as well as Germany, took part. They were
joined by Munir Thabet, the Regional Director of the United Nations
Development Programme and representatives of development organizations, the
Islamic Development Bank and the private sector.
 At the forum, Eng. Hoda Dahroug, Deputy Director of the ICT Trust Fund,
confirmed that it would continue supporting network-building activities in
that country, and across the region, and would also open lines of
communication with the telecentre.org Foundation about how best to work
together in the future.
The forum was organized by Egypt’s Ministry of Information and Communication
Technology, with the support of the telecentre.org Foundation and the UNDP.

*telecentre.org Foundation announces network guide live on wikipedia  *

telecentre.org’s *Network Management Guide*, a step-by-step how-to on
creating and building strong and sustainable telecentre networks, is now
live on Wikipedia in English, with Spanish and Arabic soon to follow.
 The guide, written collaboratively with network leaders from across our
global family, represents the best of what we are all about:  people and
organizations working together to share experiences and best practices from
across the globe in order to make telecentres better and to increase their
impact on development.
 Based on the practical experiences of some of the most successful
telecentre networks, the guide focuses on areas such as business planning
and management, fundraising, alliance-building, communications, advocacy,
service development and delivery, among others.
We want to thank our partners at the Bangladesh Open Source Network who
wikified and uploaded the guide on our behalf; the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) that has offered to translate the guide into
Arabic; and, Meddie Mayanja, the Senior Program Officer responsible for
networks at telecentre.org who led this project to its successful
completion.
The guide is now a living document, available for constant updating by and
for the members of our global telecentre community. Check it out at:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Telecentre_Network_Management_Guidebook<http://cts.vresp.com/c/?IDRC/3198aad9e5/817e97abc1/53241a839f>

*Read all about it!*

The telecentre.org library, a public, web-based repository made up of
hundreds of knowledge resources on all things telecentre in now online in
English. This one-stop shop of valuable training materials and other
telecentre resources can be found at
http://library.telecentre.org<http://cts.vresp.com/c/?IDRC/3198aad9e5/817e97abc1/50bba15fdc>or
http://www.telecentreacademy.org<http://cts.vresp.com/c/?IDRC/3198aad9e5/817e97abc1/0a9dc63d9a>.
 Spanish- and French-language resources will be added and the entire
library will eventually be available through the telecentre.org Foundation’s
four-language community websites soon.  The library was developed in
collaboration with UNESCO’s Open Training Platform.
The telecentre.org Foundation will also continue to partner with Development
Gateway, a non-profit organization that originally housed our library, in
order to promote our offerings, library and activities.


   *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
social investors include Canada's International Development Research Centre,
Microsoft, and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.*


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