Many, many of you made valuable contributions to the subject of a 40
foot van -- one loaded for bear. While I couldn't make much progress
with the idea of placing these on the parking lots outside of large
retailers in the United States, they still seem to me worth serious
consideration for other places around the world.
With this in mind, let me share the entire post about a UN
undertaking to put 100 telecenters in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and
Burundi. It seems to me that The Powers would be well advised to
consider a big box van - as vs. putting the equipment inside brick
and mortar facilities...for dozens of good reasons.
Anyway, here is the post and the web site of the organization which
authored same:
John Hibbs
http://www.bfranklin.edu/friend
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Please view
http://www.ugabytes.org/
http://www.ugabytes.org/missions.html
http://www.ugabytes.org/maintele.html
Secretariat, UgaBYTES Initiative, writes:
The United Nations International Communications Union (ITU) is to
establish a network of at least 100 MCTs (Multipurpose Community
Telecenters), to provide communities with access to Information and
Communication Technologies (ICT). The project aims to enable the African
communities to obtain the social and economic benefits that accrue from
participation in the information society.
Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi are among 20 African countries that
are to benefit from dozens of these female-directed community telephone
and computer centers setup by the UN.
These MCTs are to be managed by women which will enable them to actively
participate in the development and decision-making process. This
initiative is in partial fulfillment of the commitment made by 175
countries to a Plan of Action at the first phase of the World Summit on
the Information Society (WSIS) to extend the benefits of ICTs to
everyone in the world.
ITU has already established four MCTs in Tanzania and Guinea Bissau that
are now providing basic training in the use of computers and will soon
supply other services such as public telephone, fax, Internet
connectivity and basic information.
Several African countries, including Benin, Burundi, the Central African
Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Guinea
Bissau, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zambia, requested help in
fulfilling the first phase of the December 2003 Plan of Action of the
World Summit on the Information Society
According to the director International Telecommunication Union
Development (ITU), Hamadoun Toure, Multipurpose Community Telecenters
(MCTs) are one of the most innovative and practical ways to bring the
benefits of the information society to the people of Africa. Not only
do they create employment and provide basic information services, they
establish community focal points for e-education, e-health and
e-governance initiatives through web-based multimedia contents. They
also stimulate the development and growth of local businesses, as well
as ICT skills among the local population, he said.
The second stage of the World Summit on the Information Society will be
held in November in Accra, Ghana. The three-day African preparatory
meeting is to negotiate an action plan on achieving continent-wide
distribution of communication technologies.
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Secretariat
UgaBYTES Initiative
P.O.Box 6081
Kampala-Uganda
[EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Check our website: www.ugabytes.org
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