The telecentre forum intends to give a platform for telecentre practitioners for learning and sharing experience; discuss subjects like sustainability, connectivity and relevant content .More importantly, the forum will offer to the participants a unique occasion to exchange their understanding and views on how to transform Telecentres from a mere ICT access point to community service and knowledge hub.
Gatare said that the government will support Rwanda Telecentre Network (RTN) towards the setting up of 1,000 community tele-centres countrywide, before the end of 2015.
RTN is a national network of centres where people access internet connection at affordable prices. The tele-centres strengthen the social, economic, educational, and cultural lives of the communities through technolog.
“We highly value the 1,000 Tele-centres initiative and express our full support to any partnership in achieving this noble goal,” Gatare said. The Minister also told the delegates that the government has set up a number of e-Government applications to improve the efficiency of government-to-government, government-to-citizen and government to business processes.
In a bid to move from an agriculture-based economy to a knowledge-based one, Gatare noted that they need to increase the number of ICT community access points to provide affordable connectivity bandwidth. “I do believe that synergies between public and private sectors are of paramount importance in order to put in place the needed building blocs of the project,” he added.
Paul Butera, the founder and Executive Director of RTN said that the Government’s support in the project of 1,000 telecentres is crucial for success and its close cooperation with RTN is desired. He further noted that the telecentres will unlock the potential of rural areas through local ICT access “The goal is to have a tele-centre in every village which will boost the employment in rural areas and reduce urban migration and as well facilitate local content creation, dissemination and sharing in Rwanda,” he stressed.
Currently, each of the 30 Districts in Rwanda has one tele-centre. There are also a few tele-centres that are privately owned. The forum brought together ICT stakeholders from Malawi, Uganda and Burkina Faso, among others.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Ruth Kang'ong'oi
Quelle/Source: Africa News, 18.02.2011
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