Dear Colleagues,
We would like to invite you to take part in the video-seminar in person
or via the Internet broadcast. If you have questions to the speakers,
feel free to send them to me in advance or during the video-seminar. You
can join in one of the participating cities or via the Internet
broadcast at: <http://webcast-ext.worldbank.org/streaming/live.ram>
(which will start at 9 AM Washington DC time on March 23).
Looking forward to your participation!
Oleg Petrov,
on behalf of World Bank's e-Development Services Thematic Group
***************************************************************
'Ensuring Universal Access to Knowledge and Services
through Telecenters'
The seminar is part of the e-Development Dialogues Seminar Series*
Participating sites: Washington DC, Chennai (India), Rome (Italy),
Colombo (Sri Lanka), Bucharest (Romania) and Santiago (Chile)
Tuesday, March 23, 2004
9:00 - 11:30 AM (EST)
World Bank 'I' Building
1850 I Street, NW Washington DC USA
Conference Room I-1-200
Program Description:
Telecenters are an essential element of broader strategies to provide
universal access and connectivity in developing and transitional
countries. There has been growing demand from the client countries to
provide assistance and advice related to telecenters and connectivity
solutions in rural, disadvantage and remote areas. Countries are also
increasingly interested in packaging Internet access with certain
high-demand services to provide value beyond simple connectivity
and insure long-term sustainability of telecenters.
The purpose of the seminar is to discuss how telecenters can help
developing and transitional countries provide universal access to
Knowledge and Services in disadvantaged, remote and rural areas. The
seminar will cover a broad range of high-value added telecenter
services, including eGovernment and eBusiness services, and provide an
overview of the latest supporting technologies, such as WI-FI.
The video-seminar will connect speakers and participants in Washington
DC with experts in India, Italy, Sri Lanka, Romania and Chile. It will
be broadcast live on the internet.
Speakers:
Francisco Proenza of the FAO, connected via videoconference from Rome,
will provide an overview of telecenter experiences around the world and
will specifically address the type and range of services that can be
successfully delivered to the community through telecenters.
Our second speaker will be John Broomfield of Social Venture Partners.
John will focus on an integrated approach to SME development and
Telecenter sustainability and some of the problems and solutions in
providing this type of assistance to Small and Medium Enterprises.
Ashok Jhunjhunwala, will join us from India to talk about best practices
in deploying locally adapted connectivity solutions to provide access to
online government services, education, health and veterinarian services,
agricultural extension, etc? making telecenters an essential tool for
unlocking the development potential of local communities.
A key challenge to date has been to find relatively inexpensive
connectivity solutions for telecenters in areas where the
telecommunication infrastructure is still deficient. New technologies,
such as Wi-Fi, provide new avenues for expanding universal access. Our
last speaker - Klaus Stoll of Chasquinet - will focus his presentation
on the potential of various wireless technologies for remote and rural
areas.
The seminar will be chaired by Nagy Hanna, Senior Advisor on
e-Development, World Bank. We will be joined by participants in Romania
and Sri Lanka where there has been a strong interest in World Bank's
assistance in telecenter development.
Discussants:
Samia Melhem, Sr Informatics Specialist, World Bank
James Hanna, Lead Operations Officer, World Bank
Simone Cecchini, Economic Projections Division - Social Statistics Unit,
ECLAC, United Nations (via videoconference from Chile)
Agenda:
9:00-9:05: Opening Remarks: Nagy Hanna
9:05-9:20: Francisco Proenza (15 minutes)
9:20-9:25: Questions
9:25-9:40: John Broomfield (15 minutes)
9:40-9:45: Questions
9:45-10:00: Ashok Jhunjhunwala (15 minutes)
10:00-10:05: Questions
10:05-10:20: Klaus Stoll (15 minutes)
10:20-10:55: Questions
10:55-11:25: Discussions (30 minutes)
- Questions from Romania
- Questions from Sri Lanka
- Questions/ comments from all
11:25-11:30: Closing Remarks: Nagy Hanna
For further information on this seminar, please contact Asheeta Bhavnani
at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or Oleg Petrov at +1 202-4738861.
No building passes or RSVP is necessary to attend the seminar in
Washington DC, so everyone is welcome!
View recent coverage on Telecenters on the Development Gateway at:
http://www.developmentgateway.org/ict/telecenters
Visit the e-Development Services Thematic Group site at:
http://www.developmentgateway.org/edevelopment
------------
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