The project -- developed by the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) in partnership with the UNDP -- and which aims to promote and expedite the development of ICT applications in poor rural areas, won the APEC Digital Opportunity Center Awards for ICT best practices for the Bridging the Digital Divide category.
The awards are given to programs that use ICT to improve the quality of people's lives.
The Pe-PP concept's win in the awards was a reflection of APEC members support for the concept, a statement sent to The Jakarta Post said.
Under the Pe-PP concept, a telecenter network is to be built in eight villages in rural poor areas, mostly in the eastern part of the country, Dinar Pandan Sari, a senior officer in the project, told the Post on Friday.
"The model -- and we have established six of them so far -- is not only equipped with all kinds of ICT applications -- from Internet to digital camera access -- but is also supported by teams in the areas that will be on hand to provide technical support, management, and community facilitation," Dinar said.
Targeted beneficiaries varied from students seeking to study online to SMEs seeking wider market access, Dinar added.
"This project is not all about widening ICT access; it also stresses the importance of developing a partnership between telecenter teams and the community. And I think that's why we have won the award."
If it proved a success, the model -- which will run until 2007 -- is expected to be a reference for central and regional governments in policy formulation.
The awards, which were first proposed by the Taiwanese government at the 11th APEC leaders meeting in Bangkok in 2003, was established to help APEC economies take advantage of the revolution in information technology.
Quelle/Source: The Jakarta Post, 10.07.2006
