Re: [GKD] RFI: ICT Demand Patterns in Africa

[Peter Baldwin]

Dear Colleagues,

To all who have provided suggestions for this infoDev study, please
accept my heartfelt thanks. The quantity and breadth of projects people
have proposed has been gratifying; I have learned about more than just
the same old five-or-so pet projects that everyone points to and studies
to death.

A list of case studies is shaping up. I am still seeking particularly
exciting examples of applied ICT in the field of local governance, which
has proved most nettlesome of all the five categories at which I am
looking. To reiterate the criteria, these projects needn't involve
computers perforce, but rather should simply be examples of for-profit
companies using handhelds, cellphones, even (I suppose) solar-powered
semaphore--anything that genuinely lowers the cost of information in a
sustainable fashion. However, I am not so interested in ISPs, but rather
what I like to think of as second-order companies--client companies of
ISPs, if you will. By sustainable, I mean exactly that--able to make it
on its own revenues by virtue of the fact that this company is providing
a product or service that the market values sufficiently. Foreign NGOs
can have provided initial seed money to overcome high capital investment
costs, but as for ongoing (marginal, to use the economics term) costs,
these must be covered by current revenue.

Knowledge is a public good; when this report is finished, it will be
available to all in some fashion.


Regards,

Peter Baldwin

-- 
URL: www.anapurnawebdesign.com
CV: www.peterbaldwin.info




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Re: [GKD] RFI: ICT Demand Patterns in Africa

[Peter Burgess]

Dear Peter Baldwin,

I would very much like to see the data that you are able to collect
about ICT demand patterns in Africa, and have a chance to do some
analysis on the data.

There is a huge need for information, but most of the information that
is available in the "north" about the "south" including Africa is either
too detailed or too macro. There is very little of management
information that can be used to control and help make best use of scarce
resources. An enormous amount of community information never gets
beyond the community because it is often assumed that this information
does not exist. In this connection, I often remind myself that if I
don't know it, it does not mean that it is not known.

There is a huge need for communications. Very little of the available
information is communicated. I would very much like to know the history
of all the ICT projects that have been funded by the official relief and
development assistance (ORDA) community ... how much was disbursed and
how much value was realized ... and while this information is almost
certainly available, there is hardly any mechanism for this information
to be communicated. I don't think this is any accident; the ORDA
community is apparently not very interested in transparency and
accountability when it comes to looking at development performance. If
any such communication process exists I would like to know about it.

With respect to technology, there exists low cost and very powerful
technology. But why is so much regulated so that the best cannot be
deployed. Why is/was VOIP so difficult to deploy? Why is/was radio
regulation the way it is? Why is monopoly use of technology the
preferred way to "develop" when it is no longer technologically and
economically favorable for national development (at any rate from a
people perspective).

>From my limited knowledge and understanding of development it seems that
there is a huge gap in the information needed to make a success of
development and very limited transparency and accountability. Good
things are not being identified enough and funded, meanwhile bad things
are not being made transparent and visible and appropriate
accountability and sanctions applied.

Sincerely,

Peter Burgess

Peter Burgess
Transparency and Accountability 
a global not-for-profit Network 
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Tel: 212 772 6918 
___
Kris Dev - Tr-Ac-Net in Chennai India
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://Tr-Ac-Net.blogspot.com
[EMAIL PROTECTED]




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Re: [GKD] RFI: ICT Demand Patterns in Africa

[John Dada]

Dear Peter,

You may also be interested in Fantsuam Foundations Community Learning
Centre that started with two 386 machines, and now offers four levels of
training as well as hosting Nigeria's first rural Cisco Networking
Academy 


On 4/18/2005, Peter Baldwin wrote:

> ...The reason for this posting is to request information on examples
> anywhere in Africa of sustainable and potentially scalable applications
> of ICT in the realm of local governance, education, health care, mobile
> banking, or private enterprise. I am preparing a report for infoDev
> which will examine up to five case studies in order to assess demand
> patterns for ICT in as-yet-unserved areas. This report will focus not so
> much on access providers as what people and companies are doing with
> that access. If you know of examples in any of these areas that you
> think provide particularly insightful information, please share them!




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Re: [GKD] RFI: ICT Demand Patterns in Africa

[Michael Breiner]

Hello Peter,

Paul's Computer Institute in Bamenda, Cameroon is a great example of a
self-sustaining ICT initiative:

http://www.paulscomputerinstitute.com/

This is a computer school founded by a retired American firefighter and
former Peace Corps Volunteer. It was founded in 1997, has successfully
educated hundreds of Cameroons in computer hardware and software
training, is a Certified Microsoft Testing Center, and now a Cicso
Network Academy.

They are in the process of building a new building there for the school.
I just returned from a recent Board Meeting in Beloit, Wisconsin.

I am a former Peace Corps Volunteer who taught Internet Web Design
classes at the school the past two years, am now home in the US but hope
to return.

Sincerely,

Michael Breiner



On 4/18/2005, Peter Baldwin wrote:

> ...The reason for this posting is to request information on examples
> anywhere in Africa of sustainable and potentially scalable applications
> of ICT in the realm of local governance, education, health care, mobile
> banking, or private enterprise. I am preparing a report for infoDev
> which will examine up to five case studies in order to assess demand
> patterns for ICT in as-yet-unserved areas. This report will focus not so
> much on access providers as what people and companies are doing with
> that access. If you know of examples in any of these areas that you
> think provide particularly insightful information, please share them!




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Re: [GKD] RFI: ICT Demand Patterns in Africa

[Barbara Fillip]

Hi Peter,

On the DOT-COM Alliance site, you will find a recent assessment report
for the Community Learning and Information Centers (CLICs) in Mali. This
is a USAID-funded project implemented by dot-ORG which includes 13
CLICs. The report includes some interesting data about demand in the
shape of the revenue share of specific services. The report does look
at the issue from the point of view of the access providers and in the
context of the access providers' efforts to supply services that are in
demand and that can help them become sustainable. I hope it helps in
some way!

See:



Best,


Barbara Fillip, Ph.D.
Communication Specialist
DOT-COM Alliance
http://www.dot-com-alliance.org
(202) 884-8003



On 4/18/2005, Peter Baldwin wrote:


> ...The reason for this posting is to request information on examples
> anywhere in Africa of sustainable and potentially scalable applications
> of ICT in the realm of local governance, education, health care, mobile
> banking, or private enterprise. I am preparing a report for infoDev
> which will examine up to five case studies in order to assess demand
> patterns for ICT in as-yet-unserved areas. This report will focus not so
> much on access providers as what people and companies are doing with
> that access. If you know of examples in any of these areas that you
> think provide particularly insightful information, please share them!




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[GKD] RFI: ICT Demand Patterns in Africa

[Peter Baldwin]

Dear GKD Members,

It has been a while since I have posted to this discussion board, though
I continue to enjoy the wealth of knowledge and experience represented
by its contributors.

The reason for this posting is to request information on examples
anywhere in Africa of sustainable and potentially scalable applications
of ICT in the realm of local governance, education, health care, mobile
banking, or private enterprise. I am preparing a report for infoDev
which will examine up to five case studies in order to assess demand
patterns for ICT in as-yet-unserved areas. This report will focus not so
much on access providers as what people and companies are doing with
that access. If you know of examples in any of these areas that you
think provide particularly insightful information, please share them!

Thanks in advance.

Regards,

Peter Baldwin
www.peterbaldwin.info




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