Discussion Summary: Other Discussions in the Online Consultation Group

Other Discussions:

Alain Berranger started a discussion about sustainability of telecentre.org on November 18, he started by praising the online consultation calling it ‘democratic, inclusive and effective’. He added that tc.org cares about its audience and respect its stakeholders. He called for transparency about the sustainability parameters of TCF, including financial sustainability during the online consultation. He invited members to review the IDRC/IISD document on IDRC's experience with the sustainability of international networks .The document is accessible on this link:
http://api.ning.com/files/nkZDvPmceWUF-GLIILUJwc4u33oGs7cCaoSWMOJtE...*Iq/networks_sus_int_dev.pdf (Discussion answered Q 5)__Jan Herder responded to the discussion by adding that that Telecentre.org should create wiki or knowledge base, that can aggregate the knowledge harvested from the rich interaction and hard work of our community, inclusive networking with on the ground TC Managers and Telecentre users as well as have a solid financial and organizational structure based on a next generation, innovative and emergent, change management model. Alain also stressed on the need for Telecentre.org to aid in dissemination of knowledge to grassroots networks which in effect would be able to reach the communities the serve. (Response answered Q1)__Felician Ncheye for Tanzania Telecentre Network started a discussion on significant changes telecentre.org brought to the network in the past. He gave an example of how it had been difficult in Tanzania to bring together members of Tanzania Telecentre Network to share experiences and deliberate the way forward until in April 2009 when Telecentre.org supported one and lead to that among other outcomes lead to starting of preparations for TTN 2010-2012 Strategic Plan. Ananya Raihan seconded Felician by giving an example of Bangladesh Telecentre Network who through support from telecentre.org was started and has now emerged as a strong player in national ICT4D map and a recognized stakeholder in Bangladesh. Ananya also started a discussion on November 13th about telecentres as educational models in addition to the business model concept, vocational training for the community, adult literacy especially where long distance learning can be integrated through use of Technologies. (Discussion answered Q 4)__Felician also had two other discussions he started one being on how to make grassroots telecentre operators more active member of global telecentre movement. He further went ahead and gave his suggestions like improving on-line knowledge sharing, more advocacy by the foundation to governments and international practitioners. He also added that Telecentre.org could continually represent the ideas and plans of the Telecentre movement on the global arena, establish capacity building facilities like; academy, training opportunities and other technical support mechanisms_and assist them in accessing important requirements. (Discussion answered Q 2)__The other discussion by Felician was on how the telecentre.org can be made more influential both thematically and regionally on behalf of telecentre movement. He again gave suggestions, first being that Telecentre.org should very importantly clearly understand the strengths and weaknesses of the telecentre movement; involve telecentre practitioners to devise ways to facilitate achievement of objectives , develop an efficient way of communication and knowledge sharing and enlighten participants on the areas the foundation will be involved and its capacity. (Discussion answered Q 2)__Niranjan Meegammana started a discussion on November 9 entitled The Future is now, and in his view he said that telecentre.org is more than a website; it’s a melting pot for new ideas and people working together to make TC movement more beneficial to human kind. In this discussion he raised an issue of strategies to be developed that would be used to get the grass roots involved in telecentre.org and increase interaction of telecentre.org members to maximize participation and collaboration. He also added that strategies to help Telecentre.org become more democratic further enhance sharing of Telecentre resources and influence the other communities to take interest in Telecenter concepts. He gave an example of projecbrainsaver from the UK that makes use of virtual technology. The discussion so far has two discussions one from Mark Aldiss who seconded Niranjan’s suggestions. (Discussion answered Q 1 & 5)__Other discussions that are yet to receive responses include one by a member called Jannat on November 21 on promotion of ICT in education who contributed that Telecentres have to be credited for promoting ICT education. (Discussion answered Q 4)__Another discussion by another member called Anuradha.K.T, on November 18 addressed the issue of development of multilingual access model for multilingual knowledge bases using available Digital Library Software in agriculture, medicine and environmental science. (Discussion answered Q 1)__Evans Veens in his discussion on November 17 asked if there are any strategies being laid down to see that even the middle income earners can access the fiber connection boom going on around and enjoy the benefits. (Discussion answered Q 1).__Responses from the website members are still trickling in and hopefully they will help capture as many thoughts, wishes and expectations as possible from the telecentre community.