Dear Participants, The ATCnet view regarding the cost of bridging the digital divide may be at odds with some of the participants in this group, and indeed many of the experts in the development community.
First of all, cost is of vital importance because for an equal amount of output or outcome, a lower cost input is better than a higher cost input. The development community has argued that cost is not important and the net result over a period of decades is very high cost development with lower and lower expectations about outputs and outcomes ...... until eventually we have ended up with a development systems that hardly works at all. If resources are scarce, as they always are, then it is essential to think in terms of costs. By ridiculing cost control and making it irrelevant in the field of development has made it possible for a whole array of inappropriate behavior to take place. By costs being a low priority in analysis and oversight review, corrective action has not taken place, and the result of failed development is now very evident. But the participants who are saying that it does not really matter what the aggregate cost is, that we should just get the job done, have a very valid point. ATCnet's position is that at the project level low cost is better than high cost for the same output and outcome. And we also say that it is essential for progress to be made in tangible activities done now as fast as possible, rather than using scarce resources simply for studies and analysis and studies and analysis ad infinitum. The impression we have at the moment is that the development experts are studying and measuring failed development more and more accurately as the years go by, but are doing almost nothing to change the paradigm and the performance of development. The ATCnet mindset is clear. Telecenters need to be established as fast as possible. They should be as low cost as it is possible to establish them, and provide the products and services that are needed and priority for the community. In our work we are very clear about how costs must be minimised so that the products and services are affordable. And we are also very clear about the role that technology plays and the role that people play, and the costs of these different elements. We are also very clear about the need for a low cost of capital. But we are also very clear about the need for the telecenter to be worthwhile for the community. Does the telecenter have the potential to do something of value for the community. This is absolutely critical, and value is not what ATCnet might think as the promoter of the telecenter, but what the community thinks as the user of the telecenter. If anyone would like further clarification of the ATCnet argument regarding cost and performance of telecenters, I would be pleased to go into more detail off-list. With regards Peter Burgess ______________ T. Peter Burgess VP and CFO ATCnet New York USA Tel 212 772 6918 Fax 707 371 7805 website: www.atcnet.org email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------ ***GKD is an initiative of the Global Knowledge Partnership*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.globalknowledge.org>
