APTN Newsletter January, 2011

Issue 07                                                                                January 2011 APTN is a collaborative initiative of   News from Telecentre.org Telecentre.org Honoured at the International Congress of Telecentres in Spain Telecentre.org was recognized for its important contribution to the global telecentre movement at the International Congress of Telecentres held in Seville, Spain from 24-25 January. Richard Fuchs, Chair of the Telecentre.org Foundation, gave an opening keynote speech in the congress and received the award on behalf of Telecentre.org. This is the second time that Telecentre.org has been recognized for its work over the last five years.  First, the CICT recognized Telecentre.org's contribution to the growth of PhilCeCNet and the Philippine telecentre movement; and now, the Spanish Association for Telecentre.org's role in the global movement at large. Read MORE IGNOU and Telecentre.org Foundation launches the Certificate in Telecentre Management The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) in partnership with the Telecentre.org Foundation announces the launch of Certificate in Telecentre/ Village Knowledge Centre Management.   This programme is aimed at capacity building of telecentre managers/ operators in India. Through this unique programme, IGNOU and Telecentre.org Foundation desire to train 500,000 grassroots level knowledge workers and village level entrepreneurs spread across the entire country. This would empower them to become change agents and reap the benefits of the knowledge revolution.  Read MORE Upcoming ICT4D & Telecentre Related Events  APCICT to launch Academy and conduct Training of Trainers Workshop in India Online Course - Community eCenter Management II Training workshop on Migrating Licenses in a Converged Environment" Join Our List Greetings from APTN Secretariat!   Asia Pacific Telecentre Network (APTN) Secretariat warmly welcome you to our first newsletter edition for the year 2011. We want to take this opportunity to thank all APTN country partner networks, members, sponsors and all of you for your support during the year 2010. It was a great pleasure to be in touch with you all and APTN Secretatiat is hopefull that 2011 will be a great year for APTN where it could further expand their activities via Asia Pacific region.   Happy reading!!! In Philippines: 3rd online Telecentre course call for applications The telecentre.org - Philippine CeC Academy (tPCA), in coordination with the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) and the University of the Philippines - Open University (UPOU), is now accepting applications for the third online course for CeC managers, which will be held from January 31 - March 19. The course, entitled CeC Management Level II, is the third of the four distance learning courses being piloted by the Philippine CeC program, through the tPCA, its capability building arm. The first two courses, Development Perspective for CeC Managers and CeC Management Level I were equally successful in their pilot runs, drawing 31 and 20 official attendees respectively.  Read MORE In Sri Lanka:'Public service will be facilitated through e-Government programme' In Sri Lanka, public service will be made more people-friendly through e-Government programme says Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya. The Minister said that the Government had already been able to greatly facilitate public service through the Re-engineering Government  Programme implemented by the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) under the e-Sri Lanka initiative. Speaking further on the occasion the Minister said that there would be a huge transformation in the country's information technology sector. 'A programme that ensures that the public receive public service more comfortably by  increasing the people's IT knowledge will be prepared" , the Minister emphasised. Participating in the occasion ICTA Chief Executive Officer Reshan Devapura thanked Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya for the initiative taken to  bring the birth, marriage and death certificate automation project to the Kegalle District as a new year gift to the people of Kegalle. "This automation project has by now  been successfully completed in the Colombo District  and the 6 million people living in the Distrct were now able to obtain their birth certificate details in a few minutes by the use of IT", Devapura said. Placing the extension of the BMD automation project to the Kegalle District in its historical perspective ICTA CEO continued:  "Under the guidance of the President we all work towards making the optimum benefits of IT accrue to the people in rural areas. Five years ago we began the e-Sri Lanka programme to uplift the standard of life of the people by making every citizen of Sri Lanka  enjoy the optimum benefits of IT. For this purpose we have been able to provide optimum service to  the people of this country  through projects ranging from the  rural 'nenasala' wisdom outlets to the Government Information Centre and from the automation of activities of the Divisional Secretariats to the village level e-Society projects ".  Read MORE In Bangladesh: Knowledge Sharing Session on Telecentre/ ICT4D Bangladesh Institute of ICT in Development (BIID) has organized a Knowledge sharing session on Telecentre/ICT4D practices in Bangladesh on 15th January 2011 at BRAC Center Inn, Mohakhali, Dhaka. Leading organizations who are working on ICT4D like Grameen Phone, D.net, Grameen Communication, BTN, A2I/PMO, AIS, Katalyst, ARBAN IT, WIN Incorporate, BRAC Net, Dhaka Ahsania Mission and CISCO participated in this event. Dr. Roger Harris (Telecentre/ICT4D specialist) was present as the key discussant. Mr. Md.N.I.Khan (PS-1 to PM and NPD, A2I) and Md.Shahid Uddin Akbar (CEO of BIID) were also present among others. Mr. Anir Chowdhury, Policy Advisor, A2I/PMO moderated this session. Participants shared their expert experiences and knowledge on various aspects on Telecentre/ICT4D. "The more a telecentre is required to generate revenues, the less emphasis it will place on supporting development and the more it will place on revenue-generating services."- Dr. Roger Harris (Telecentre/ICT4D specialist) opined during the session. Mr. Md. N.I. Khan highlighted on to provide the proper services through telecentre to make these sustain.  Read MORE In Taiwan: Taiwan to invest in computer centres The Taiwan Ministry of Education will strengthen its IT infrastructure through establishing additional digital opportunity centres in rural Taiwan over the next three years.From the total annual budget of NT$6 billion (US$206 million), the MOE will invest NT$3.1 billion (US$107 million) to establish more DOCs and upgrade bandwidth at centres in remote areas from 2 megabytes to 10 megabytes between 2012 and 2015. MOE Computer Center Chief, Chih-neng Hung, said the project aims to bridge the digital divide between urban and remote parts of the country. "We build these centres to provide a very easy access to computers and the Internet for the people in remote areas. The MOE has provided computer hardware, software, electricity and Internet access so that residents and students can use those utilities," he said. The MOE aims to increase Internet access for rural residents from 56.7 per cent in 2010 to 73 per cent by 2015. The project also aims to increase Internet access among women in rural Taiwan from 69.2 per cent to 77 per cent, and of Aboriginals from 63.5 per cent to 80 per cent.  Read MORE Asia Pacific Telecentre Network 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.

APTN Newsletter- October 2010

Monthly Newsletter - Issue 06 October, 2010 In This Issue Spotlight Philippines Sri Lanka India Bangadesh APTN is a Collaborative Initiative of Congratulations Nenansala & PhilCecNet   Nenasala & PhilCeCNet Shines at FutureGov Awards 2010 Being recognized for the excellence in programmes that use technology to bridge the digital divide, both Information & Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka's Nenasala (telecentre) initiative (ICTA) & the Commission on Information and Communication Technology's (CICT) Philippine Community eCenter Program emerged as the top winners for the Digital Inclusion category, one of the 22 categories of the FutureGov Awards 2010 recently. The awards, an annual celebration of public sector innovation and best practices in Asia, were conferred during the FutureGov Awards Gala Dinner on October 15 at Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. The FutureGov Awards was organized by the FutureGov Asia Pacific magazine, an independent trade journal focusing on public sector modernization. Read MORE Contact Us APTN Seceratiat C/O ICT Agency of Sri Lanka No. 160/24, Kirimandala Mawatha, Colombo 05, Sri Lanka Tel: +94-11-2369099  ext: 327 Fax:    +94-11-2368387 web: http://www.aptn.asia Dear APTN Members, Its a great pleasure for us to let you know that APTN Secretariat is currently working on redeveloping and restructuring the APTN web portal as it could better serve the community as a dynamic and user friendly knowledge sharing platform on telecentres. Therefore, you are kindly requested to be in touch with the APTN web portal and experience the new changes to come in next few days.   Sincerely, APTN Secretariat ICT Agency of Sri Lanka PhilCecNet Program gets ready for KEC6  Written by: Jasmine Alexandra The 6th Knowledge Exchange Conference (KEC), an annual affair that gathers Community eCenters (CeCs) throughout the Philippines, is all set to take place on November 24-25 at the Cebu Parklane International Hotel in Cebu City. This year's theme, Innovate for Strength and Sustainability, is a nod to the need to find creative ways to address the challenges that CeCs will have to face to remain viable and relevant to their communities. Aside from gathering leaders, champions, stakeholders and knowledge workers, a highlight of this year's KEC are the learning sessions on five thematic areas: e-governance, health, livelihood, agriculture and environment. The KEC6 will also see the launch of the Philippine CeC Strategic Roadmap for 2011-2016, the successor roadmap that will chart the future directions of the Philippine CeC Program in the next 6 years, the launch of the telecentre Women Campaign and the 2nd PhilCeCNet General Assembly. The KEC6 will be spearheaded by the Philippine CeC Network, in partnership with the Commission on ICT and the telecentre.org. Please visit the PhilCeCNet portal at www.philcecnet.ph for updates on the KEC6. Knowledge Sharing Workshop for Nenasalas in Sri Lanka Written by: Seuwandi Yapa IIn a concerted effort to empower the Nenasala managers & operators, Information & Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) of Sri Lanka in collaboration with Asia Pacific Telecentre Network (APTN) recently held a knowledge sharing Workshop to empower ICT and educate effective communication skills among Nenasala operators, and also to build the capacity of telecentre managers & operators, so that they can become community trainers in ICT and other know how for their communities. Among others, one of the main outcomes expected from such training programs is to encourage the Nenasala community to use web based communication channels for the marketing & promotional activities of the Nenasalas. Read MORE E District Project Launched in West Bengal By CM of West Bengal in India Written by: Jayanta Pal Chief Minister of West Bengal Shri Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee inaugurated the e-district project through video conferencing from Writers' Building with Jalpaiguri and Bankura districts. Present on the occasion was Dr. Debesh Das, Minister-in-Charge, Department of Information Technology and Biotechnology and Shrimati Jaya Dasgupta, Additional Chief Secretary. The project is one of the State Category Mission Mode Projects taken up under National e-Governance Plan. The main feature of e-district project is that it is totally driven by software and computer network.  Any citizen can walk into a Tathyamitra(CSC) / Citizens' Kiosk and apply online for necessary service with relevant documents. He/she will not have to fill up any form on paper. The assistant in Tathyamitra / Citizens' Kiosk will help the citizen to apply for online service. After the application of requisite service is complete, the same will be delivered to the concerned official in no time. Thus application, information and file noting will move seamlessly eliminating all transactions on paper. For example, when a citizen applies for domicile certificate, his application will immediately reach to the respective office of the Sub-Divisional Officer if that person is residing in a town/city or it will reach to the BDO concerned if that person is residing in a village through computer network. Read MORE Bangladesh Consultation on AMARC10:    Written by: AHM Baslur Rahman Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC) is in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations. BNNRC promoting the advocacy with the government in relations to community radio with other organizations since its emergence. The objective of the Community Radio intervention is to address crucial social issues at community level, such as poverty and social exclusion, empower marginalized rural groups and catalyze democratic processes and ongoing development efforts. Bangladesh Consultation on World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) 10th World Conference of Community Radio Broadcasters will be held at LGED Meeting Room, Level - 4, Sher- e - Bangla Nagor, Dhaka 1207 on 23 October 2010 at 11: 00 AM -1:00 PM. Dr. Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury, Honorable Secretary, Ministry of Information, Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh has kindly consented to be present as Chief Guest in the Bangladesh Consultation on 10th World Conference of Community Radio Broadcasters. Dr. Akram H. Chowdhury, Honorable MP and Chairperson, Center for e-Parliament Research will moderate the consultation. Mr. S.M. Shameem Reza, Associate Professor of Mass Communication and Journalism Department, University of Dhaka will present a paper based on Community Radio so far in Bangladesh. Bangladesh Consultation will organize by Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC) with support from UNICEF - Bangladesh through Empowering Communities: Strengthening and Building Capacity of the Community Radio in Bangladesh project. The focus of the consultation is Recovering Memory Building the Future: Community Radio and Poverty Reduction, Social Inclusion, Good Governance and Sustainable Human Development. . Read MORE 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