The goal of telecentres is to improve the life of their local communities. Each telecentre must therefore plan how they will meet the needs of their people when preparing training.

Ukraine has always been considered the bread basket of Europe and agriculture is an important part of the economy. For rural dwellers, the success of their local enterprises means even more. Depending on the well-being of the community, young people make choices about their future. If they move to the city for good, there is not much future prospect for the village.

In the village of Izmaylivka, Kirovohrad region, Ukraine, an answer has been found for the loss of population to cities. It is their local telecentre. There, librarian O.Syrovatka regularly organizes workshops and overviews of the web resources focused on agriculture. The program is titled Informational Field of an Agrarian, and hopes to help farmers expand their businesses.

V.Ponomarenko, a local farmer, attended these events and, as a result, found the opportunity to sell his corn for a better price than the one offered by wholesale traders.

It is heart-breaking that the local agrarians who do the main part of the job in order to feed us, city residents, often get the minimum payment. Ponomarenko’s success became a good example for his neighbours and now they are much more motivated to learn about new technologies and discover fresh resources at the local library.

This training became possible through the hard work of Bibliomist, a program that extends public access to the ICT, and helps local libraries receive and use both hardware and software as well as train librarians to use new technology.