APTN Newsletter - Issue 05: September 2010

Monthly Newsletter Issue 05- September 2010 Read Telecentre News from Philippines Sri Lanka Bangladesh APTN Secretariat Congratulates the Winner of Best Entrepreneur of the Year 2009 in Sri Lanka. APTN Secretariat congratulates G.A. Deepika Priyadarshani, proprietor, Suriyawewa Nenasala for winning the Best Entrepreneur of the Year 2009 award organised by the Hambantota Youth Business Program in Sri Lanka. Deepika is an experienced telecentre manager with over four years experience in telecentre activities. She is a Nenasala ambassador for the Hambantota district, southern part of Sri Lanka. Deepika is employed as a graduated instructor at Ministry of Youth affairs in Sri Lanka in her profession.  Over the past few years Suriyawewa Nenasala has rendered a valuable service to community who could not afford the benefits of ICT. 'Nenasakmana': mobile telecentre is one of the unique expansion of the IT services done by the Suriyawewa Nenasala not only for the people in Sooriyawewa, but also for the disadvantaged communities in remote areas as well." APTN Secretariat sends their warm wishes to Deforepika and Suriyawewa Nenasala for their future endeavor. News from telecentre.org Telecentre.org, Intel to hold webinar on Solar Power for Off-grid PC Deployments  Telecentre.org Foundation and Intel will hold a webinar on "Solar Power for Off-grid PC Deployments: Prospects, Challenges and Opportunities" on Thursday, 30 September at 16:00 - 17:30 Manila time (08:00 - 09:30 GMT). The objective of this webinar (seminar on the web) is to equip the audience with the knowledge to understand the major issues in designing a solar deployment and to provide some guidance on how to budget for a potential deployment. While this webinar is focused on locations in areas with no grid access, many of the learning's such as utilizing low power PC's will also be applicable to places with unreliable electricity supply.  Read MORE Quick Links... Our Website More About Us Telecentres in postal offices: Another innovation of the Philippines Commission on ICT Written By: Cuchie Echeverria The Philippine Community eCenter Program, spearheaded by the Commission on ICT (CICT), will be expanding its reach by making use of existing postal offices as telecentre service delivery channels. This development is a product of the partnership agreement inked by the CICT and the Philippine Postal Corporation during the launch of the "Get Online Philippines!" campaign (inspired by Telecentre Europe's Get Online Day initiative) in June in commemoration of national ICT month in the country. The partnership agreement covers the piloting of said initiative in six postal offices in different parts of the country. It seeks to promote community development through the use of ICT for effective and efficient governance by making use of existing government infrastructure. As such, the pilot postal offices will serve as telecentres (locally branded as Community eCenters or CeCs) and will offer various telecentre tools and products on top of their existing postal services. Relative to this, the designated staff of each of the six pilot sites will be made to undergo the necessary training for CeC knowledge workers under the telecentre.org-Philippine CeC Academy. In addition, the pilot sites will also be provided with equipment and one-year Internet connectivity grants to help the new telecentres get off the ground. For other updates on the Philippine CeC Program, Read MORE Nenasala Skill Development Training Program- Phase II Written by: Seuwandi Yapa In a further move to achieving the objective of empowering the rural community with the dividends of ICT, the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) organized their 2nd phase of Nenasala (telecentre) Skill Development Training Program for recently. Phase 2 training session accommodated 4 batches with over 230 Nenasala managers and operators came from round the country. The first batch included 63 of rural and youthful Nenasala operators spread from throughout the island assembled for a six-day tailor-made training at the well-equipped MAS Institute of Management and Technology (MIMT) in Tulhiriya, Sri Lanka. The skills development training program was organized as a residential training where food and accommodation for the participants were provided free of charge during the training. The training session for 63 participants from the 1st batch was held on 02nd to 06th of August. The second batch which consisted with 75 Nenasala Managers and operators participated for their training at the same premises from 26th to 31st August 2010. The training program for the batch 3 was specially arranged and dedicated to Tamil language speaking Nenasala managers and operators who are especially coming from North and East of Sri Lanka: former war torn areas of the country. The group included 44 Nenasala managers and operators whose training was allocated from 28th August to 03rd September 2010. The 4th batch of the Nenasala managers and operators will include 50 participants and their training program is scheduled to be kicked off on 18th September 2010. Read MORE Bangladesh Telecentre Network Honored for ICT Innovation Written by Md.Sadikur Rahman Bangladesh Telecentre Network received two awards in the E-content & ICT4D Award 2010 jointly organized by MoSICT (Ministry of Science Information Communication Technology) and D Net. The award ceremony was held on August 9, 2010 at the National Museum auditorium where Finance Minister AMA Muhit attended the ceremony as the chief guest and State Minister for Science and ICT Yeafesh Osman was special guest. In category of 'e-Enterprise & livelihood'  'byabsharkhobor.com' and in category of 'Business & Commerce' 'msme.com.bd' both have been recognized as First Runner Up by the grand jury of the 'National e-content & ICT4D Award 2010'. The jury panel choices the winners out of 48 finalists. A total of 93 initiatives have been nominated for the contest. This is great achievement of BTN in the first national competition of its kind in Bangladesh. BTN express  heartfelt thanks to the team who really worked hard to make it successful and credit also goes to the implementing members / partners at field and other relevant stakeholders. Also BTN secretariat would like to give special thanks to the team members of the Advisory Committee of this initiative. It will be a great encouragement for all of BTN members to do more good works in coming days. Read MORE Telecentre News Beyond Asia Pacific Small tech grants, big differences for rural women in Africa Courtesy: www.apc.org Women in rural areas play a central role in the agricultural economy of African region, which means that they often work long hours, leaving little time for learning how to use new technologies. Yet, access to new technologies affect both men and women in remote areas. In a new publication, GenARDIS 2002 - 2010: Small grants that made big changes for women in agriculture Jenny Radloff explores how seed grants that were disbursed to innovative initiative -- Access to new information and communications technologies (ICTs) affects both men and women living in remote areas. Governments and the telecommunications sector do not prioritise infrastructure in rural areas because the population is generally poor and dispersed. Efforts to roll out infrastructure and training are focused in urban areas where the population is more concentrated and the profits more immediate and reliable. However, for women living in rural areas, access to ICTs means first overcoming multiple barriers relating not only to their location, but also their gender. Women play a central role in the agricultural economy, which means that their hours of work are long, leaving little time for learning how to use new technologies. Women cannot migrate as easily as men to towns and cities where training in new technologies is more available. Apart from agricultural production, women rather than men have the added responsibilities of caring for children and the elderly. In many communities cultural attitudes disallow women from visiting public access points, often because they are frequented by men or because women are not allowed out of their homes without being accompanied by men. Read MORE European Skills for Employability Awards Courtesy: www.telecentreeurope.ning.com The European Alliance on Skills for Employability has launched the European Skills for Employability Awards! Have you created or implemented an initiative that has used ICT training or digital technology skills development to raise employment prospects and improve digital and social inclusion? If so, you should enter the European Skills for Employability Awards. Your initiative could be recognized as one of the best skills for employability projects across Europe and showcased to the rest of the EU as an example of best practice. Additionally, by reaching this stage you could go onto win one of 3 individual category awards that will be presented at the European Employment Forum in Brussels on 24-25 November 2010. There are three competition categories: - Accessibility and Employability - Integrated employability model & use of collaboration technology - Youth and Employability Learn how you can apply: http://www.employabilityalliance.eu/news2.php?id=14 Closing date is 30th September 2010. Please contact Yanne Courcoux at secretariat@employabilityalliance.eu should you have any question. Read MORE Southern African Telecentre Network- Regional Planning Workshop Report- Download Available Courtesy: www.satnetwork.org The Southern African Telecentre Network (SATNET) and ICT organisations assembled in Lusaka from 23rd to 25th June 2010. In order to scale up the work of the regional telecentre network and facilitate economic development in Southern Africa, SATNET secretariat organised a regional planning workshop in June 2010 to respond to the needs and challenges of telecentres as well as information resource centres in southern Africa. The workshop was organised in line with its action plan for 2010. This was also a process to fulfill responses as recommended at the International Conference on sustainable telecentres in Africa that was held in June 2008, supported by Technical Centre for Agricultural Cooperation (CTA). The workshop provided opportunities to national networks and focal points to interact share their experiences and learn from each other. The workshop provided a coordinated institutional platform through which information sharing opportunities and experiences can be fostered to benefit and impact on social and economic development in the region. Being an emerging regional ICT initiative, the event was to facilitate regional interactions among national network member countries and share information, pursue knowledge sharing opportunities on the work of telecentres and ICT4D activities in Southern Africa. Specifically the workshop enabled selected member countries to review past activities and deliberate on current issues and plan for the strong regional knowledge sharing network for sustainable development of telecentres to impact on social and economic regional development in Southern Africa. Read MORE Contact Info: Asia-Pacific Telecentre Network Secretariat, ICT Agency of Sri Lanka, No. 160/24, Kirimandala Mawatha, Colombo 05, Sri Lanka. Tel: +94-11-23699099 Ext. 327 Fax: +94-11-2368387 email: info@aptn.asia / web: www.aptn.asia Asia Pacific Telecentre Network JOIN APTN The Asia-Pacific Telecentre Network (APTN) is a collaborative initiative of the United Nations' Economic and Social Commission for the Asia-Pacific (UN-ESCAP) and  telecentre.org and APTN Secretariat presently being hosted at ICT Agency (ICTA) Sri Lanka. The network will promote innovation and knowledge-sharing amongst Telecentre organizations in the Asia-Pacific region where Telecentres are growing exponentially each year. The APTN is expected to be developed into a unique network of Governments and Private sector supported telecentres, telecentre service providers, research & development organizations, telecentre experts, consultants and other stake holders active in the field of communication and information technology. APTN will serve as the focal network or the knowledge hub for communication and information technology in the Asia Pacific region. Join www.aptn.asia

APTN Newsletter - Issue 04: August 2010

Asia Pacific Telecentre Network By-Monthly Newsletter Issue 04- August 2010 Read Telecentre News from Bangladesh Sri Lanka India Africa APTN Secretariat Congratulates the Winner of Innovative Grassroot Telecentre Initiative of the Year 2010    APTN Secretariat sends their greetings to Murali Krishna for winning e-INDIA 2010 Award for best Telecentre initiative, for the project AraviKalanjam e-SDI project (Information Communication Technology Agency grant) that he managed to implemented. He is one of the youngest and successful Nenasala (telecentre) operator from Haldummulla, a rural village in Badulla district in Sri Lanka. The project that he managed to implement involved more than 500 students who use Tamil language (one of the local languages used in Sri Lanka) as their primary language. The project involved training, content creation  and hosting by students who had limited knowledge and some who had not used ICT before. APTN Secretariat wishes all the very best for Murali Krishna with his future endevour. See More Photos HERE News from Partners Telecentre.org Academy held LMS Workshop from 25 to 27 August in Colombo, Sri Lanka   The Telecentre.org Foundation and the University of Colombo, School of Computing (UCSC) are jointly organised an international workshop on "Learning Management System (LMS)" in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 25-27 August 2010.  The main objectives of the workshop were to review and agree upon the site architecture for telecentre.org Academy platform; share and learn LMS design and development experience among Academy partners; and gain exposure to this Platform for authoring, directing and implementing the Foundation's curriculum in various languages.  Read MORE Our Sponsors UNESCAP telecentre.org Quick Links... Our Website More About Us The Role of Community Radio in Establishing Good Governance Written By: AHM Bazlur Rahman  As there is no appropriate power and opportunity to complain for marginalized population in the centered democratic society, one kind of opportunists, politicians and local administration take the chance to deprive them of their legal rights. These marginalized rural and poor people may get an opportunity to discuss regarding these actual rights through the programs of Community Radio. Side by side, these sort of radio plays a role of mirror in the society and accelerates pro people endeavor of local administration and the politicians and arouses their responsibilities to the society. Community Radio can play the role regarding the discussion program with community members and the personnel of different administrations reviewing the problems of community people and indicating the things to be done.   Read MORE Private sectors' Helping Hand to Nenasalas Written By: Seuwandi Yapa Extending their helping hand to the need of the hour to empower rural mass with ICT, Sampath Bank, Digana branch, in Kandy district has donated 5 computers to a Nenasala. This far reaching donation to the Hurikaduwa Nenasala, one of the Nenasalas located in a remote village in Kandy district has heralded a new signs of hope for the Nenasala as well as the rural mass who regularly visit Nenasala for their IT services. The donation of computers officially presented to the Nenasala by the Sampath Bank- Digana branch manager, Niranjan Rathnasiri during the occasion of Hurikaduwa Nenasala's 2nd Certificate Awarding Ceremony held on 08th August 2010 at the Nenasala premises. Read MORE Email with a Pen, a Peper and a Mobile phone? Courtesy:FutureGov.asia Citizens in India will soon be able to send emails using a pen, paper and mobile phone camera. HP Labs based in Bangalore are in the final stages of developing new technology that would enable any mobile phone with a camera to become an emailing device. Simply write out the email text on a piece of paper and include the email address of the recipient, photograph the text using the mobile phone camera and the HP application software will send the message to the addressee as an email. If successful, this could be a major technological milestone for India - a country with the second largest population in the world, but with an internet penetration of only seven per cent. There are fewer than three PCs and only seven internet users for every 100 inhabitants in India, and these numbers are even lower in rural areas. "Usually, six villages have to share one cyber cafe, which means that villagers have to travel five to six kilometres just to use the computer. With this new technology, they would be able to send emails from where they are with their mobile phones," said Jacob Victor, former Joint Director of e-governance, Information Technology and Communications in the Government of Andhra Pradesh. Each email will cost approximately 10 rupees (US$0.22). Read MORE Phil Commission on ICTUunveils Online Courses for Telecentre Manager Writte By:Cuchie Echeverria In an effort to bring the opportunity for capacity building within reach of every telecentre (locally branded as Community eCenter or CeC) knowledge worker across the country, the Commission on ICT (CICT), through its Philippine CeC Program, has developed four distance learning courses in partnership with the telecentre.org-Philippine CeC Academy (tPCA) and the University of the Philippines - Open University (UPOU). These courses - namely 1) Development Perspectives for CeC Managers, 2) CeC Management Level I, 3) CeC Management Level II, and 4) Practical Research for CeC Managers - were originally piloted in 2009 as traditional classroom-based courses designed to support the startup activities of CeCs and the eventual sustainability of their operations. The pilot run of the online courses will kick off with the first course, Development Perspectives for CeC Managers, which will be held from September 6-October 16, 2010. For this course, only the first twenty-five qualified applicants will be accommodated and only one slot is allotted per CeC. CeC managers or alternate managers of different CeC initiatives nationwide (e.g. eLGU, FITS, eSkwela, etc) are invited to apply for a slot in the online courses' pilot run which will be conducted for free under the administration of UPOU and the tPCA. Succeeding batches will be charged a minimal training fee. Read MORE Telecentre News Beyond Asia Pacific Afro-Colombian Women Fight Prejudice by Embracing Technology Courtesy: www.apc.org On an improvised stage "Bombón de chocolate" (Chocolate Candy) is being performed. The play, which narrates the story of an African-Colombian girl who feels rejected because of the colour of her skin, is one of the events at a special day on drug addiction and violence organised in the city of Villa Paz, in South-West Colombia. Villa Paz has a population of 4000 inhabitants, of which 54% are are women and most of whom are African descendants and whose agricultural activities are mainly related to the sugar cane. The day's events attended by over a thousand people began with a peace march, followed by talks on violence and health, and the projection of videos filmed on cellphones at the local telecentre. The idea for the day arose some months earlier at a telecentre where local people discussed the community's most pressing problems, motivated to do something about them and getting everyone involved. But these were no ordinary discussions. For approximately eight months women and men of all ages had been getting together for workshops on gender and technology as part of piloted trials of the Gender Evaluation Methodology (GEM) in 24 government-sponsored1 telecentres throughout Colombia. The aim was to investigate how to increase the use of telecentres by members of the community, especially women, and how these might be used to change the way both men and women saw themselves. The GEM process leads people to discuss the community's problems beyond those of the technology. It's all part of the "learning for change" ethos which is central to GEM. Read MORE Telecentre-Europe Summit 2010 Courtesy: telecentre-Europe.org The third Telecentre-Europe Summit will take place in Budapest, Hungary during 13-14 October 2010, and will bring together an invited audience of over 100 telecentre network leaders from across Europe. Members of the network are drawn from more than 80 organisations, which represent 25,000 telecentres between them. Telecentres help disadvantaged people to benefit from technology, an estimated 12 million people each year. The key theme of the event will focus on how telecentres can maximize their contribution towards a successful European digital agenda. During the summit, participants will be able to explore exciting and challenging topics including: · Achieving European eCitizenship National networks of telecentres are catalysts of eInclusion across the European nations. Telecentres are facilitating eGovernment and eParticipation services for communities and people that need them. Closer relationships between Governments and telecentres will increase the understanding, the acceptance, and the reach of these services. · eSkills for everyone eSkills are important for all Europeans. Telecentres help the hard to reach day-by-day to improve their chances for a better quality of life, for employability, and for social inclusion. Telecentres' services rely on tools developed by IT companies. Amplified cooperation between companies and telecentres would result in diversified services and increased benefits for the digitally excluded. · Building telecentre capacity Telecentres need skilful and motivated operators to perform at their best. It is estimated that around 300,000 people currently work in different types of telecentres across Europe. Specific formal education opportunities could boost the chances to professionalize the telecentre/eInclusion workers. Read MORE Handbook for 1,000 telecentres in Rwanda to be launched soon Written By: Juriaan Deumer with Courtesy: telecentre.org Deumer from the Netherlands and Paul BARERA, Executive Director of Rwanda Telecentre Network (RTN), have just completed the handbook for 1,000 telecentres in Rwanda. This book, developed with the financial support of CTA (Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Cooperation), provides details of WHY and HOW 1,000 sustainable telecentres can be deployed in Rwanda. More specifically, the handbook provides answers to the following questions: · Why are 1.000 telecentres in Rwanda necessary? · What should be done at national level to realize a network of 1.000 telecentres? · What should be done at RTN level to realize a network of 1.000 telecentres? · What should be done at telecentre level to realize a network of 1.000 telecentres? This handbook is based on and includes numerous sources of input, such as: · A national baseline study, which was conducted country wide with the aim of identifying access gap to ICTs and information need at community level · Country visits to India and East African countries to learn from others' experiences; · Firsthand experience in developing and running a telecentre in Rwanda; · Input from key stakeholders from Rwanda and from the global telecentre movement; Read MORE Contact Info: Asia-Pacific Telecentre Network Secretariat, ICT Agency of Sri Lanka, No. 160/24, Kirimandala Mawatha, Colombo 05, Sri Lanka. Tel: +94-11-23699099 Ext. 327 Fax: +94-11-2368387 email: info@aptn.asia / web: www.aptn.asia Asia Pacific Telecentre Network JOIN APTN The Asia-Pacific Telecentre Network (APTN) is a collaborative initiative of the United Nations' Economic and Social Commission for the Asia-Pacific (UN-ESCAP) and  telecentre.org and APTN Secretariat presently being hosted at ICT Agency (ICTA) Sri Lanka. The network will promote innovation and knowledge-sharing amongst Telecentre organizations in the Asia-Pacific region where Telecentres are growing exponentially each year. The APTN is expected to be developed into a unique network of Governments and Private sector supported telecentres, telecentre service providers, research & development organizations, telecentre experts, consultants and other stake holders active in the field of communication and information technology. APTN will serve as the focal network or the knowledge hub for communication and information technology in the Asia Pacific region. Join www.aptn.asia

APTN Newsletter - 3rd Issue: July 2010

ASIA PACIFIC TELECENTRE NETWORK Monthly Newsletter ISSUE 03 JULY 2010  In This Issue News Digital Inclusion eSociety Day Common Service Centres Quick Links APTN web Portal About Us APTN Wiki  APTN in Facebook APTN in Twitter NEWS  Inviting nominations for 7th Convocation of NVA Fellows Reported By: Shipra Sharma  This is an announcement from M S Swaminathan Research Foundation - a non-profit research organization based at Chennai, India, inviting nominations for 7th Convocation of NVA Fellows. This announcement is being made on behalf of Mr. Senthilkumaran, Director, IEC, Jamshetji Tata National Virtual Academy, MSSRF, Chennai, India."Rural women and men are rich in grassroots wisdom based on experience of working with nature and natural resources. Their strength lies in the saying; "One ounce of practice is worth tons of theory". If rural transformation is to take place, the contributions of grassroots academicians is essential since they know the problems of rural communities and also their solutions. Whether semi-literate or literate, rural families are able to master new technologies, provided the pedagogic methodology is learning by doing. This method of leapfrogging in acquisition of new skills was termed by Prof M S Swaminathan in 1972 as "techniracy". What the rural families, particularly women, need is social prestige and recognition. They take to new technologies like fish to water provided they are helped to do so through appropriate training and capacity building opportunities.Based on this concept, 1223 NVA Fellows (M:730; F:493) have been selected from 21 States (Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarkand, Bihar and West Bengal) and one Union Territory (Puducherry). NVA has also selected 31 International Fellows from Afghanistan, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Panama, Philippines, Nepal, Kenya, Nigeria and Sri Lanka. This programme started since 2005. NVA Fellows are socially committed grassroots experts in different thematic areas such as agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries, health, education, disaster management, etc. Read More  Dear APTN Members, It's a great pleasure for us to inform you that now you can join with APTN web portal by using our new URL: www.aptn.asia . We are looking forward for your participation and support  in our web portal. APTN Secreatariat Sabah government's first major digital inclusion project in Malayasia   Courtesy: FutureGo.asia                                                            Malaysia's second largest state, Sabah, announced its first major investment - worth a total of RM383 million (US$119 million) - to bridge the digital divide.Spanning from year 2010 to 2015, the project targets under-served areas where there are no telecommunication or broadband services. The initiative stems from the Universal Service Provider Programme, a scheme started by the Ministry of Energy, Communications and Multimedia (MECM) to promote the availability and usage of network and application services throughout the country.To extend internet coverage and telecommunication services, the state government has earmarked RM55 million (US$17 million) for Community Broadband Centres. These will be scattered across the rural regions of Sabah, a state with a population of 3.2 million. 14 broadband libraries which cost RM22 million (US$6.8 million), and 212 towers for expansion of cellular coverage - worth RM298 million (US$92 million) - will be constructed.As a result, more people will be able to enjoy broadband and cellular services. "With broadband centres set up, people from rural areas would be able to go online and get connected to the rest of the world," Mr Bruno Vun, Director of the State IT Advancement Unit told FutureGov. Read More  eSociety Day in East, Sri Lanka   Written By: Seuwandi Yapa Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) of Sri Lanka, the single apex body involved in ICT policy and direction for the nation which operates under the Presidents Secretariat, continued its efforts to empower the community in Sri Lanka and to spread the wealth of IT knowledge to the community  in the Eastern provinces through another 'eSociety Day' program. This was conducted with the support from Consortium of Humanitarian Agency (CHA) and resource persons from government departments and private organizations on 27th and 28th of July 2010 at the Open University Computer Lab in Batticaloa, Eastern province, Sri Lanka. eSociety team of ICTA, working under the e-Sri Lanka Initiative, has been actively taking part in national efforts to spreading the wealth of IT knowledge through similar programs conducted during the past few years. eSociety Day in Batiticaloa which is organized under the theme of  "ICT towards grassroots"  marked the 2nd eSociety Day program focused on ICT developments in North and East parts of the country, whereas the first eSociety Day program was conducted in Jaffna Peninsula, Northern Sri Lanka. With the cessation of the war, the Government of Sri Lanka has expedited development in the Northern and Eastern provinces and the community in this area is now able to look ahead to a brighter future which is being enlightened with ICT developments. Read More Common Service Centres running in rural India  Written By: Jayantha Pal The Government of India has launched the National e-Governance Plan, under the plan there are about 100,000 ICT enabled centers known as Common Service Centers are being opened all over rural India. These centers are set up through Public Private Partnership by rural entrepreneurs known as Village Level Entrepreneurs. These centers are set up in various Governmental Block Offices ,Panchayat Offices and some private places. These centers are set up to give the common people the G2C,G2G,B2c,B2B and various other services such as banking,agricultural, tele medicine, e-learning and various e-commerce services. I in the state of West Bengal am a VLE and is running such a center in the Berhampore Block Office of Murshidabad District. Read More Telecentre News Beyond Asia Pacific Southern Africa regional telecentre network institutes a three year regional development plan  Courtesy: www.satnet.org                                                          The Southern Africa Telecenter Network (SATNET) held its first regional telecentre planning workshop. The event was organized by SATNET secretariat with support from the Technical  Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA) and was held at Lusaka's Cresta View Hotel from 23rd to 25th June 2010. The participants were mainly national telecentre network leaders, representatives from network focal points and telecentre project managers drawn from eight (8) selected southern African countries. The main purpose was to provide a direction and explore ways to up-scale the work and future of telecentres in southern African region. The objective of the workshop was to enable selected and active member countries from the region to review the activities of telecentres, national networks and plan for a strong regional telecentre knowledge sharing platform for sustainable development that will impact on regional development in Southern Africa. The regional planning workshop was held as a follow-up from the Sustainable Telecentre Africa International Workshop, which was held under a joint auspices of CTA, InfoBridge Foundation, ZAA-ICT/SATNET project, IDRC and IICD that took place at the Cresta Hotel in Lusaka, Zambia from 17-19 June 2008 and attended by over 55 participants from all over Africa.  The exchange of experiences and outcome of the regional telecentre steering committee meetings during the Lusaka June 2008 workshop resulted in the planning and implementation of this regional planning workshop. Read More Using ICT to empower people with disabilities   Written By: Nabil Eid   ICT opens up great opportunities to improve the quality of life of Persons with Disabilities. We must make the most of these opportunities without substantial efforts throughout society, there is a risk that these technical developments will only give us products and services which increase the information gap. However, if determined efforts are made, ICT can become an effective tool, allowing a greater number of people to play a part in society. ICT has contributed towards the greater independence of Persons with Disabilities. But at the same time, developments in ICT have changed society as a whole. A host of new products and services have become part of our everyday lives. However, only some of these developments have benefited disabled people. More information about ICT4D find the link: http://www.gg.rhul.ac.uk/ict4d/Disability.html Key Competences for All  courtesy: Telecentre-Europe      This project by Telecentre- Europe proposes to support enhancement of basic Key Competences of Low Qualified Adults in order to improve their Employability, by means of an alternative learning approach (ICT-based, user-centred, interest-oriented). The main deliverables of the project are a research and analysis of local context conditions in Latvia, Romania, Belgium, United Kindom and Spain, a toolkit to improve job-focused key competences of users at a risk of exclusion, a handbook for telecentre/PIAP facilitators and a guidelines for other social and educational organisations interested in incorporating the toolkit in their offer for disadvantaged users. The project is born from two interlinked processes. On one side, the increasing demand of users of telecentre and other public internet access points to develop their digital competences for job seeking and job performing (digital literacy focused on employability). On the other, the political recognition of the role that ICT is increasingly playing in the job market across Europe. (cf. "New Skills for New Jobs" EC Communication, 2008). Read More Contact Info: Asia-Pacific Telecentre Network Secretariat, ICT Agency of Sri Lanka, No. 160/24, Kirimandala Mawatha, Colombo 05, Sri Lanka. Tel: +94-11-23699099 Ext. 327 Fax: +94-11-2368387 email: info@aptn.asia / web: www.aptn.asia The Asia-Pacific Telecentre Network (APTN) is a collaborative initiative of the United Nations' Economic and Social Commission for the Asia-Pacific (UN-ESCAP) and  telecentre.org and APTN Secretariat presently being hosted at ICT Agency (ICTA) Sri Lanka. The network will promote innovation and knowledge-sharing amongst Telecentre organizations in the Asia-Pacific region where Telecentres are growing exponentially each year. The APTN is expected to be developed into a unique network of Governments and Private sector supported telecentres, telecentre service providers, research & development organizations, telecentre experts, consultants and other stake holders active in the field of communication and information technology. APTN will serve as the focal network or the knowledge hub for communication and information technology in the Asia Pacific region. Join www.aptn.asia

APTN Secretariat | No. 160/24, Kirimandala Mawatha, | Colombo 05 | Sri Lanka