Telecentres and Sustainability Training Workshop, 23-25 May, 2011, Bangkok, Thailand: A Report

1. Introduction
The sustainability concern reigns supreme in the telecentre domain. It has become so important that in the telecentre context, Bill Gates’ statement, ‘Content is King’ can be slightly modified as ‘Sustainability is King’. If telecentres are not sustainable and are not capable of enduring themselves over a period of time, then everything right from developing local content and locally relevant services to implementing eGovernance at the grassroots level becomes redundant. And, if ignored, they may strike a nail in the coffin of network sustainability. Thus, it requires due consideration.

With the power of the ICTs available at the telecentres, they offer unlimited opportunities to streamline local development and governance to empower the rural and remote communities in addition to providing access to ICTs and capacity building to use the ICTs. As a result, they are increasingly being seen as delivery channels of e-Governance and welfare services in several developing countries and their governments are taking a keen interest in telecentres or public access centres.

In view of these growths in the development and governance sectors, it is imperative for telecentre stakeholders, especially the policy makers engaged in implementing or having a keen interest in implementing telecentre programmes to understand the concept of sustainability in a holistic way. Therefore, the Telecentre.org Foundation in association with International Telecommunication Union and several other organizations conceived a training programme around telecentre sustainability to augment the understanding of these telecentre stakeholders on its various aspects. This training workshop aimed to meet the following objectives:
•    Understand the key challenges to telecentre sustainability;
•    Learn about various dimensions of telecentre sustainability;
•    Learn about the role of technological convergence in telecentre sustainability;
•    Equip the participants to deal with various sustainability issues.

2. Training methodology: experiential learning based case studies, group exercises and quizzes
The training workshop was spread over a period of three days. It was modeled around the concept of training through experiential learning based case studies shared by experts. Through these case studies, they highlighted the challenges and issues affecting telecentre sustainability and also shared the way forward to achieve it. The learning part of the workshop was further strengthened through conducting group exercises on the lessons learned and spontaneous quizzes to keep the trainees mentally alert. Several distinguished experts were carefully selected to speak on various sustainability pillars based on their experience in their respective fields.

3. Formal opening session
The first day saw a combination of formal opening by distinguished guests and informal introductions by all the participants and experts representing approximately twelve countries. Basheerhamad Shadrach, Executive Director, Telecentre.org Foundation and Ashish Narayan, Advisor, ITU briefed the participants about the background of the workshop. The issue of sustainability was raised as an important concern by all the participants during a previous workshop on telecentres conducted by ITU. Therefore, they decided to develop a training programme around sustainability to make the policy makers aware of various issues and challenges afflicting the telecentres around the world and how these are being dealt with in various developing countries.

The current workshop was the culmination of all these efforts. It was declared open by Representative from the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, Government of Thailand. He reiterated the role of telecentres in development and the concurrent need to make them sustainable. It was followed by an informal introduction round by all the participants including the experts.

4. An overview of the training programme
OPSFO mnemonic for five sustainability pillars: In Session 1, Roger Harris gave a brief introduction to the five sustainability pillars – Organizational, Policy, Social, Financial and Operational - around which the whole workshop was conceived. He also talked about the key issues that determine or influence sustainability in each pillar. He came up with a beautiful formula for the trainees to remember these pillars – Old Printers Scramble Fuzzy Orders or the OPSFO mnemonic.

4.1 Organizational sustainability
The learning started from Session 2 where Roger provided a brief introduction to the organizational sustainability pillar where the main sustainability determinants are partnerships, community ownership and networking. He raised a few questions around these, like why partnerships and what partnerships; why community ownership and how to ensure it; what networks and how to ensure network participation. The case studies that followed the briefing tried to answer some of these questions.  

4.1.1 Key to UNESCO CLCs’ organizational sustainability: ownership, participation and external support
The UNESCO case study presented by Ichiro Miyazawa tried to answer some of the questions raised around these issues in the context of the Community Learning Centres or CLCs. They are spread across more than 25 countries in the Asia Pacific region. It is a local and easily accessible place of learning that imbibes the democratic principles – “of local people, by local people and for local people.” The main purpose of setting up CLCs is to help people improve their quality of life through education and skills development.

As mentioned by Ichiro, community ownership coupled with high participation and external support drive the CLCs towards sustainability. Thus, the main CLC stakeholders constitute of Learners, Teachers/ Facilitators, CLC Committee, Community, Governments, Donors and NGOs. All these stakeholders play key roles in CLC planning (Plan), Implementation (Do) and monitoring (See) and contribute towards CLC sustainability. It could be further enhanced through high participation, ownership, and effective external support, both financial and technical. Ichiro substantiated the CLC sustainability theory through examples from various countries for the benefit of the trainees.

4.1.2 Leadership, networks and partnerships as organizational sustainability drivers: the Philippines CeC experience

Another sustainability enabler in the CeC case was the creation of a national CeC network under the nomenclature – PhilCeCNet. Initially it was challenging to bring together all the organizations under one network, defining its charter and demonstrating its relevance to the members. But these challenges were conquered over a period of time. As per the Philippines experience, strong, committed leadership, networking, multi-sectoral partnership are all important considerations for telecentres’ organizational sustainability. 

4.1.3 Community ownership, involvement & acceptance for long term sustainability: the Intel experience with Akshaya Centres
One of the finest presentations of the day, the Intel perspective on organizational sustainability started off with sharing a few ‘human stories’. Ashutosh Chadha, Director, Corporate Affairs, South Asia, Intel Corporation, narrated how the power of technology coupled with 21st century education and creative thinking can address social issues at the grassroots level and bring about empowerment and social change too. The Intel programmes aim at not just imparting training on how to use the technology, but also the purposes for which technology can be used by the learners of all ages. Therefore, in a way, sustainability is embedded in their programmes itself.

Intel’s Greek temple structure of Akshaya centres sustainability
Elucidating the sustainability formula for the Akshaya centres based on their long term association with them, Ashutosh explained its multi-dimensional nature. eCentres’ sustainability emerges out of interplay of certain enablers like technology infrastructure and usage, relevant programmes and community involvement. These form the foundation of Intel’s Greek temple structure of sustainability. Further, the structure is supported through three sustenance pillars – social, economic and entrepreneurial. Institutional arrangements or partnerships form the roof of this structure and support requirements in the areas of infrastructure, capacity building, content and services and enterprise assistance. For partnership sustainability too, it is essential to show strong WIFM for the partners. In the end, long term sustainability results from local applications as well as local ownership, involvement, and acceptance.

4.2 Policy-related Sustainability
The next learning session focused on policy related sustainability, which included sustainability indicators like policies around ICT integration in poverty reduction and rural development programmes, ICTs, telecommunications and Internet. The questions largely centered on how the policies are formulated and implemented; why they require ICT integration and how do they support telecentre diffusion. The case studies answered these questions with examples and strengthened the trainees’ learning on policy related aspects of telecentre sustainability.

4.2.1 Policy-related sustainability: The Indian experience with Common Services Centres
At the outset, former Senior Director, DIT, Government of India, Ashis Sanyal’ presentation reiterated that telecentres cannot become financially and functionally sustainable by being mere access points. They can be sustainable only by addressing the livelihood needs of the target community. Moreover, multi-sectoral collaborations are extremely essential to translate a national telecentre programme into reality. The Indian government’s telecentre programme, the Common Services Centres (CSCs), is exemplary in terms of its scope and scale and presents a role model from policy and implementation point of view for other governments seeking to implement such a programme.

According to him, at the rural development and poverty reduction policy levels, the CSCs act as a single window delivery and information channel for various welfare schemes. At the same time, they empower the rural people with more choices to improve their lifestyle. With the ICTs available at the CSCs, they can help in streamlining local development and governance in the near future. In the same way, the growth of the telecommunication and Internet policies have facilitated CSC diffusion all over the country, though a lot is still desired in terms of broadband spread and coverage. Currently, the mobile platform too offers innumerable options for information and service delivery.

4.2.2 Networks, partnerships and new approaches and activities for sustainability: the UMIC experience
Margarida Ribeiro from Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC), Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Portugal, presented a case study on networks, partnerships and new approaches and activities for sustainability of the telecentre programme in Portugal. The Portuguese telecentre network emerged out of the need for establishing a national collaborative framework for Internet spaces. As a national network, it is fostering the exchange of best practices and disseminating new initiatives among the shared access spaces as well as taking the benefits of appropriate partnerships to all its constituents. It uses a combination of approaches and activities, such as social inclusion, empowerment, providing eGovernance services, computer literacy and talent development among the disadvantaged, and so on, to make the telecentre programme sustainable and retain user interest.

4.3 Social Sustainability
Day 2 of the training workshop began with sharing case studies on the social aspects of telecentre sustainability. Telecentres’ social sustainability depends on a number of factors, such as community participation, community need analysis for determining relevant services for the community, community outreach to popularize the telecentre among the community members, and so on. With the help of the case studies, the trainees were briefed about social sustainability.

4.3.1 Rethinking telecentre sustainability in the context of next generation telecentres
Michael Gurstein’s presentation on the social aspects of telecentre sustainability emphasized on rethinking sustainability issues in the context of the new generation telecentres. According to him, if the telecentres have to become sustainable, then one has to rethink about the nature and use of telecentres in terms of support to locally relevant activities, such as small business development and support; after school tutoring and mentoring; public health support; continuing/adult education; and so on.

In order to carry out all these activities, telecentres should have trained staff and support facilities for particular functions; delegate management and operation of telecentre to local NGO or community organization linked to function (and support development of those organizations); have individual telecentres linked into regional and national network of telecentres for training, peer support; have telecentres co-ordinated (and funded) through an arms length agency (NGO/NPO); undertake on-going research and evaluation of telecentre activities through this agency as a feedback and feedforward mechanism, etc. Telecetre programmes should also strive to be linked to broader national priorities and initiatives to attain sustainability.

4.3.2 Sustaining ‘excitement’ leads to successful and sustained ICT4D project: the eBario experience
The case study presented by John Tarawe explained social and financial sustainability in the context of eBario project. With limited basic infrastructure, no telecommunication services and no road communication facilities, the Bario presented a real case of ‘digital divide’ and ‘digital poverty’. In spite of all this, there was a strong community readiness to participate in the project that led it to success. The eBario project emphasized the need to focus on people, organisations, contents and processes rather than just on the technologies.

The project succeeded because of several factors, like community participation, being relevant to community needs, local champions, multidisciplinary team and smart partnerships with the community, university, government and industry. Apart from these, ongoing training and business plan are conducive to sustainability. The eBario project has proved that contemporary ICTs can deliver sustainable economic and social development to remote rural communities if applied innovatively. Only then, they are able to sustain ‘excitement’ in the community on a long term basis.

4.3.3 Titian Digital Project Malaysia
Mohd Syazwan Abdullah, Fellow, ITU-UUM, Malaysia presented the case study on the Titian Digital Project Malaysia. It was started by Port Klang Hindu Youth Organisation (HYO) as an Indian community project for underserved people in the private plantations sector. The main stakeholders of the project are the school, Parents Teachers Association (PTA), community champions, policy makers and project team. In this project too community participation has been the enabling factor to achieve sustainability. This programme aims to amplify ICT literacy among vernacular Tamil and economically disadvantage primary school pupils and teachers.
 
The project testifies that sustainability is hard to achieve, however, it is possible if everyone involved understands and are taught the ways to be sustainable. From project point of view, sustainability means - “Revenue > or = Cost.” In other words, for becoming sustainable, the project must generate more or enough revenue to cover the cost. The project employs several methods of cost cutting, like encouraging community participation through volunteerism; minimum charges to avoid total dependency; lowering maintenance cost of labs (CS architecture and adoption of open source softwares); promoting contribution from community (empowering the community through donations). The project substantiates that from sustainability point of view, it is vital to generate revenue and, at the same time, lower the operational costs.

4.4 Financial Sustainability
Entrepreneurship is the backbone of financial sustainability. A good entrepreneur understands the market mechanisms and operates his/ her business accordingly. For the training purpose, a business plan, entrepreneurialism, training and subsidization were identified as the financial sustainability indicators. For the benefit of the trainees, Ashis Sanyal presented his empirical model for achieving financial sustainability. He has come up with this general model after analyzing CSC transactions over a period of time.

4.4.1 The Common Services Centres’ financial sustainability: An empirical model
Financial sustainability is extremely essential for making the CSC or any telecentre to continue and remain operational. According to Ashis, an assured revenue per month (for example, USD 150) for the CSC operator is the most desirable to help proliferation of business. This assured revenue may come by servicing 15-20% of the village population with an average population of 5000 people in the Indian context. In any given Indian village, approximately 25% of the households would not be able to pay for the services sold by the telecentre, but 75% families would afford to pay for one or another telecentre services. The telecentres should target this market. A variety of services could be offered through the telecentre. 
 
In all rural areas, telecentre services can be divided into three kinds: Savings – these services reduce the opportunity cost of a service against its conventional delivery system, like eGovernance, market prices, etc. Buying - these services lead to utilization of villagers’ disposable income for future benefits, like insurance, computer education, etc. Income – these services help to increase the per capita income of a villager, like photocopying, digital photography and videography, Desk Top Publishing or DTP, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) involving villagers, like data entry.

The income generating potential of a service can be calculated by analyzing the frequency and volume of transaction per service. Moreover, services need to be priced both in standard and local categories, for example, government services come under the standard category and these need to be priced uniformly across the network. Local services may be customized as per local needs and they can be non-uniformly priced across the network, depending on local economic and social conditions. Telecentres can achieve financial sustainability by following these basic rules.

4.5 Operational Sustainability
Efficient management of telecentre operations is critical to its sustainability. Both the telecentre manager and the staff play an important role in the smooth functioning of the telecentre. In addition, the location of the telecentre, optimum utilization of the telecentre space, appropriate technologies, regular electricity and connectivity are also essential for the success of a telecentre.

4.5.1 Operational aspects of telecentre sustainability: the Philippines experience  
Tess Camba shared that the operational sustainability of Philippines’ CeCs is strengthened through a rigorous implementation process that also looks into the sustainability aspects. It starts with social mobilization for CeC set up; application and assessment process, establishing the CeC under Public Private Partnership (PPP) with all stakeholders having well defined commitments; formation of a CeC Steering Committee; assignment of roles; infrastructure set-up and system installation; training of the staff; learner selection, orientation and blended learning sessions; regular maintenance and periodic assessment of center performance.

CeC sites are carefully selected based on their proposed usage, commitment of the host, location, potential users, power and connectivity availability. The CeC core group plays a vital role in telecentre operations. Composed of selected community leaders, it sets policy and guidelines for the use and operation of the center; promotes CeC and assists in defining services. In Philippines, there are different CeC models. Most of these CeCs have between 2 to 25 computers, printers, copiers and fax machines. Most of them are also connected to the Internet through dial up, DSL, wireless devices and some of them also have satellite connection.

4.5.2 Information Network Village (INVIL) project: creating a self sufficient rural community with sustainable growth in the digital era
The main purpose of the Information Network Village Project (INVIL) is to create a favourable living environment by reducing the digital divide; increasing the income of village residents; encouraging the use of e-Governance and accelerating balanced local development. As explained by Hyo-Joong KIM, Principal Manager (Information Access Center project) NIA, Korea, the project has seven major components - establishing the IT infrastructure, building village information centers, distributing free PCs to households, IT training for residents, developing information contents, establishing an operation system, and business model development and marketing.

The INVIL operations are managed at two levels. At the top lies the Central Operation Agency, which is responsible for the operation and management of the main website, publicity, member management, e-commerce operations, professional training and also provides consulting services to the villages. The Self Operating Committee is formed at the village level and comprises 15 community members. The professional management worker is the person responsible for all information centre operations. In this project, the success factors leading to sustainability are – business model, strengthening of village organization, good IT infrastructure and systematic training.

4.6 Technological convergence for sustainability
The session on technological convergence for sustainability helped the trainees to understand the role of technological convergence in leading telecentres towards sustainability; and appreciating the apparent challenges and opportunities therein with evidential support from the ground. The main speakers were Roger Harris, Ashish Narayan and Basheerhamad Shadrach.

Presenting the case for technological convergence, Roger explained that each technology has its merits and drawbacks. Therefore, in the telecentre context, it is important to look for a convergence of applications and services which interoperate seamlessly over mobile networks and the Internet, and possibly run it from a Telecentre. One such technology is the community radio and it can be combined very well with the technology available at the telecentre to come up with innovative uses, like radio browsing.

4.6.1 From Universal service obligation to universal access to broadband: Implications for telecentres
The presentation by Ashish Narayan focused on the Universal Access to Broadband (UAB) policy that is going to provide direct or indirect stimulus to governments to extend broadband penetration in rural and remote areas. Therefore, with this policy objective aimed at broadband for all, telecentres need to add value beyond access. They are already adding value through addressing community needs. In the current enabling environment, it is important for the telecentres to rise to the occasion and align with the broadband policy objectives. At the same time, these policies should also tap the innovation potential of entrepreneurial telecentres initiatives in the areas of governance, health, education, commerce, BPO, etc.

4.6.2 mTelecentres: the key to technological convergence
Next, Basheerhamad Shadrach put forward the mTelecentre concept. According to him, this can be turned into an opportunity for telecentre operators. The technology can be used to solve issues that are locale specific and demand based. Here, it is essential to select the ones that require intermediary attention and daily dynamism and develop applications that are conducive to local service ecosystem. At the same time, the technology should accommodate local innovations - “Get the big boys to notice the cinderellas.” Therefore, technology should be put in the hands of telecentres, not merely as facilitators of service, but also as initiators and managers of service.

In order to implement the mTelecentre concept, due attention should be paid to develop technology management techniques, which can be easily adopted and adapted by the grassroots knowledge workers. The same can be used to evolve a service ecosystem conducive to local service provision. In this context, accessibility, affordability, reliability and authenticity of services and products are the key words. In addition, it also requires critical knowledge/ service level partnerships and coordination. Such a business model can be developed only with the telecentre operators at the centre of business.

4.7 Telecentre sustainability ecosystem
As explained by Roger Harris, the telecentre sustainability ecosystem emerges by drawing together all the constructs, like government, pro-poor ICT policies and development strategies, local access, infrastructure, institutions, services, community, etc.  together in an interconnected and interdependent relationship. Once functional, this ecosystem will ensure the long term sustainability of telecentres.  
      
5. Strengthening the learning: Group Exercise
The first day of the workshop ended with the following group exercise given by Roger Harris to all the trainees, who were already divided into different groups:
“You are the Minister of Information in the Kingdom of Cambodia. You have been put in charge of a national telecentre programme that was recently announced by the Government. Your task is to devise and implement a plan that will set up 200 sustainable telecentres throughout the Nation.
You are required to devise a plan for establishing each of the telecentre sustainability pillars, stating:
a. The responsible institution(s) for implementing it.
b. The activities to be undertaken.
c. The time scale for implementation.
The groups were asked to work on it and present the same on the last day of the workshop. The presentations wonderfully incorporated all the learnings acquired over the period of three days and each group came out with its own detailed implementation plans.
All the workshop presentations are available at: http://academy.itu.int/moodle/course/view.php?id=303

6. Concluding Session
On the third day, the workshop concluded with a vote of thanks by Ashish Narayan, Basheerhamad Shadrach, and Dr. Eun-Ju Kim, Regional Director, ITU Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. Dr. Kim appreciated the first effort to hold a training workshop on telecentre sustainability, a critical issue that all telecentres around the world are tackling.