Last December 2, 2011, an audience of policy-makers, industry leaders, academics, and other members of the private sector and telecentre community, gathered around a panel of seven telecentre experts at eAsia 2011 in Bangladesh, Asia’s premier ICT event.

Telecentre.org Foundation, a global leader in the growing telecentre movement, teamed up with the eAsia 2011 organizers, namely Bangladesh Computer Council, Support to Digital Bangladesh, Prime Minister's office and CSDMS in India, to host the session “Five Pillars of Telecentre Sustainability”, under the theme “Connecting People”, one of the 5 thematic areas of eAsia 2011. 

The sustainability of telecentres is one of the crucial topics discussed and debated among the telecentre community. During the session, the audience had the opportunity to listen and participate in a productive discussion as the speakers delivered comprehensive presentations and discussions on each of the five sustainability components namely: financial, social, political, operational and organizational sustainability. 

The session began with the Welcome Address by Maria Teresa Camba, Director of Operations for Telecentre.org Foundation, who briefly introduced the session topic and the panel of speakers. She was followed by Miguel Raimilla, Executive Director of Telecentre.org Foundation, who delivered the Keynote Address. In his talk, Miguel highlighted the significance of telecentre sustainability and how sustainability can support telecentres to emerge as a social enterprise. Miguel, who is a telecentre expert with over 18 years of experience as a founding member of various multinational/multicultural initiatives linked with social enterprises, social development and youth throughout Latin America, Asia, Europe and the United States, further elaborated on the inter-relationship between the sustainability of telecentres with social entrepreneurship and the means by which telecentres can grow as a business entities.

The five pillars of telecentre sustainability were covered by the following resource persons:

1. Social Sustainability - Dil Piyaratna, Program Head of the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) and Head of the Asia-Pacific Telecentre Network Secretariat (APTN). Drawing attention to the Nenasala Network, a government initiated telecentre network in Sri Lanka, Ms. Piyaratna shared the success stories of the Rikillagaskada Nenasala and Hurikaduwa Nenasala: two nenasalas (telecentres) located in rural villages hundred miles away from the capital of Sri Lanka.
2. Operational/Technical Sustainability -  Prof. Kamolrat Intaratat, Director of Thaitelecentre.org, in Bangkok, Thailand. Prof. Intaratat explained how Thai telecentres work on diverse operational areas, comparing and contrasting two different services offered by telecentres in their country. In one scenario, she explained how Thai telecentre helps out one of their local communities to find market opportunities for their indigenous handicraft products and speaking about another experience, she discussed how telecentres performed a responsible duty in helping out the recent flood victims in Thailand.
3. Political Sustainability - Dr. Angelo Ramos, Executive Director of the Molave Development Foundation in Manila, Philippines. In his talk, Dr. Ramos shared the experience of the Philippine telecentres or eCommunity centres, as they are called in the country. He detailed the success of Philippine Community eCenter (PhilCeCnet) program and the means through which it was able to achieve political sustainability by working with government and political organizations. He emphasized the fact that government sponsorship and support will heavily affect the attainment of political sustainability, adding value and recognition to telecentre activities at the grassroots level.
4. Organizational Sustainability - Siaosi Sovaleni, Manager of the Pacific ICT Outreach Programme, Economic Development Division (EDD) and Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) from Fiji Islands talked about the organizational sustainability of telecentres which has the major determinants such as partnerships, community ownership, and networking. Drawing attention on case studies from telecentres operating in Fiji islands, Mr. Sovaleni clarified efficient and effective ways in which telecentres can work towards achieving organizational sustainability. He stated that cooperation and collaboration is crucial in helping telecentres deliver good service to their communities.
5. Financial Sustainability - Mukesh Hajela, Chairman and CEO for the Network for Information Computer Technology (NICC).  Sharing the lessons learned from Indian telecentres, Hajela  emphasized the significance of achieving the financial sustainability in achieving the rest of the sustainability components. He further stressed the importance of effective and efficient management of limited financial resources available in a telecentre by focusing on success stories heard from Indian telecentres.

Talks from the panel were followed by a question-and-answer (Q&A) with the audience who actively participated as they shared their concerns, ideas, and questions to the panel of speakers. All the session attendees had high regard on the session structure and thanked the speakers for their presentations. The session was successfully concluded as the speakers walked away with their token of appreciation received from the eAsia organizers.

The panel of speakers at the "Five Pillars of Telecentre Sustainability" session, hosted by Telecentre.org Foundation. From left to right: Kamolrat Intaratat (Thaitelecentre.org), Mukesh Hajela (NICC), Angelo Ramos (PhilCeCNet), Tess Camba (Telecentre.org Foundation), Siaosi Sovaleni (SPC), Miguel Raimilla (Telecentre.org Foundation), Dil Piyaratna (ICTA)

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