Asia-Pacific Telecentre Network | News

APTN Newsletter- December 2011

2012-01-02T12:55:00.001+05:30

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Volume 1- Issue XVII

December 2011

In This Issue News from

Strenthening APTN

Philippines

Bangladesh

India

APTN is a Collaborative Initiative of

Happy New Year 2012!!!!

With the dawn of the New Year 2012 accompanied with full of hopes and possibilities, APTN secretariat would like to thank everyone for their continued support to the secretariat. We wish you all a very happy new year 2012. Cheers!

APTN Secretariat Congratulates the

Winners of Telecentre Women Campaign
APTN Secretariat congratulates all winners of the Global Search for the 100 Outstanding Telecentre Women Managers, Saiyud Phoonsawat from Thailand in particular, the winner of the Asia- Pacific region. Telecentre Women Campaign is an initiative of Telecentre.org Foundation and ITU which was launched in April, 2011. Read MORE

Asia-Pacific Telecentre Network - Gearing up for 2012

Asia Pacific Telecentre Network (APTN) Secretariat in partnership with Telecentre.org Foundation (TCF) held a meeting on Strengthening the Asia Pacific Telecentre Network recently in Dhaka, Bangladesh. This meeting was held on December 3rd in parallel to eAsia 2011, Asia's primer ICT event held in Dhaka Bangladesh. The meeting offered a unique opportunity for APTN resource persons, telecentre experts, and practitioners to discuss and highlight the important role of APTN. The meeting aimed to discuss and come to a conclusion on how telecentre networks/stakeholders in the Asia Pacific Region can benefit from APTN and contribute to understanding on how resources can be mobilized by overcoming the current operating challenges. It is expected that by strengthening the APTN, the network will be to assist the national and regional telecentre networks in Asia-Pacific and become an access point into knowledge hubs of global knowledge network to provide, develop, organize, share, and disseminate knowledge pertinent to telecentre communities. Read MORE

7th Knowledge Exchange Conference: Self-reliant CeCs for Self-reliant communities in Philippines

The 7th Knowledge Exchange Conference on Community eCenters (KEC 7) marked the successful conclusion of a vision that shaped the CeC landscape of the country and the start of a new journey towards self-reliance. Approximately 350 delegates, the biggest KEC number yet, joined the annual knowledge exchange tradition, held from November 22-23 in Baguio City. This year's theme, Self-reliant CeCs for Self-reliant Communities, was a momentous departure from previous KEC themes of sustainability and celebration. Read MORE

e-Krishok Service scaled up at National Level: Road towards e-Agriculture in Bangladesh

On 4th December 2011, Bangladesh Institute of ICT in Development (BIID) had launched "Nationwide Scaling Up of e-Krishok" program aiming to broaden its activities of e-krishok and thus increase the number of beneficiary farmers through ICT (Information and Communication Technology) enabled services. BIID initiated to deliver the e-Krishok service nationwide across 493 Upazilas (Sub-District) of 64 districts to reach 500,000 farmers by 2012. Mr. Muhammad Faruk Khan, MP, the then Honorable Minister of Commerce (now tourism minister), People's Republic of Bangladesh inaugurated the event as chief guest where Mr. Nazrul Islam Khan, Personal Secretary 1 to the Prime Minister, Mr. Carel Richter, Deputy Head of Mission, The Embassy of the kingdom of the Netherlands and other high officials from Prime Minister Office, Agriculture Information Service (AIS) of MoA (Ministry of Agriculture), ACI Limited, Grameenphone (GP) and Katalyst attended the event. Farmers representing six divisions attended the event and shared their experiences. Speakers appreciated this innovative idea to serve the farmers in an efficient manner while the existing extension service is not sufficient enough to cater the demand of farmers. Read MORE

Farmer Registration Scheme In Common Sevice Centers in India

Farmer Registration is New Scheme under the Project Common Service Center (NICT) Under the supervision of MP Government (Government of India , Department of IT). The Madhya Pradesh Government is going for online registration of farmers to further simplify the procedure of procurement of wheat, paddy and other food grains at support price. With this facility farmers will not have to face any unnecessary problem during the procurement process. They will be intimated in advance on their mobile phones about the dates on which they have to reach the procurement centre to sell their produce. Read MORE

APTN

Asia-Pacific Telecentre Network (APTN) is a collaborative initiative of the United Nations' Economic and Social Commission for the Asia-Pacific (UN-ESCAP), ICT Agency of Sri Lanka and Telecentre.org. APTN Secretariat presently being hosted at ICT Agency (ICTA) Sri Lanka. The network will promote innovation and knowledge-sharing among telecentre organizations in the Asia-Pacific region and it will serve as the focal network or the knowledge hub for communication and information technology in the Asia Pacific region.

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APTN Secretariat | ICT Agency of Sri Lanka, | No 160.24, Kirimandala Mawatha, | Colombo 05 | Sri Lanka

APTN Newsletter- November 2011

2011-12-01T21:33:00.001+05:30

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Volume 1- Issue XVI

November 2011

In This Issue

Strenthening APTN

Training program in ICT missuse

7th Knowledge Exchange conference

Booming ICT projects in Sri Lanka

APTN is a Collaborative Initiative of

Upcoming Events
e-Asia 2011 Dhaka, Bangladesh Realizing Digital Nation

Asia Pacific Telecentre Network (APTN) will hold a planning Meeting with their resource persons to discuss the network's agenda for the year of 2012. The Meeting will take place on November 30 and December 3 at the 5th eAsia Conference in Bangladesh. The meeting is supported by the Telecentre.org Foundation and ICT Agency of Sri Lankan. The meeting aims to discuss and come to a conclusion on how telecentre networks/stakeholders in the Asia Pacific Region can benefit from APTN and contribute to understanding on how resources can be mobilized overcoming the current operating challenges. It is expected that meeting will brainstorm with APTN telecentre leaders of countries in the Asia Pacific region and to assist in preparation of an action plan for the enhancement of the telecentre networks in the region and to strengthen APTN.

Training Program for Preventive Education on ICT Misuse held in Thailand

Thaitelecentre Academy have the opportunity to attend APEC Training Program for preventive Rducation on ICT Misuse held by a partnership between Thailand - Korea Institute for Academic TOT Ngam Wong Wan Bangkok to train Train to Training 10 people from the Trainer 10 is a course Train to Training. The ICT Center to educate the community to be Trainner 40 people in the ICT community learning center under the supervision of expert trainers from the Republic of Korea. The main prow of information technology and communications. Academic institutions and TOT (TOT Academy) with the cooperation of Korea and KT cutural foundation, APWINC, Korea Communications Commission and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Read MORE

7th Knowledge Exchange Conference: Self-reliant CeCs for Self-reliant communities

The 7th Knowledge Exchange Conference on Community eCenters (KEC 7) marked the successful conclusion of a vision that shaped the CeC landscape of the country and the start of a new journey towards self-reliance.Approximately 350 delegates, the biggest KEC number yet, joined the annual knowledge exchange tradition, held from November 22-23 in Baguio City. This year's theme, Self-reliant CeCs for Self-reliant Communities, was a momentous departure from previous KEC themes of sustainability and celebration. Read MORE

ICTA projects contribute immensely towards Sri Lanka becoming Wonder of Asia

The Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) successfully carried out yet another of its endeavours of taking the benefits of ICT to the villages recently. Carried out under the patronage of Telecommunication and IT Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya at Anuradhapura, the exercise was the result of the combined efforts of two interdependent programmes of ICTA. Read MORE

APTN

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 among telecentre organizations in the Asia-Pacific region and it will serve as the focal network or the knowledge hub for communication and information technology in the Asia Pacific region.

APTN Newsletter- October 2011

2011-11-11T12:58:00.001+05:30

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October 2011 Volume 1- Issue xv

APTN
is a collaborative initiative of

News from Telecentre.org

Read, research, & share with Telecentre.org Online Library!

On October 28, Telecentre.org Foundation is officially opening the doors to our new and improved Online Library. The library is just one of the Foundation's many knowledge sharing initiatives.

Read More

My Telecentre@Work: Post a photo essay and get the chance to see your photos in a special edition e-card!

Images are powerful tools in telling a story. They can move people to feeling, thought, or action with barely a few words. For this contest, we want you to tell us a story about your telecentre through photos and captions. Read More

Strengthening Asia Pacific Telecentre Network

'Nenasara' to bring IT knowledge to rural areas in Sri Lanka

To uplift the IT literacy level in the rural areas of the country the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) launched the 'Nenasara' Mobile Library for Digital content. This is aimed at the underprivileged sectors of the society to supplement them with the knowledge in information technology and to motivate them to merge technology in their daily lives to enhance the productivity of their livelihoods. 'Nenasara' mobile library is to cover all districts in the next two to three months and hopes to visit at least 135 institutions in each district. There has been a very positive and large response for this provision and already thousands of applications have been sent by schools, libraries government and non-government institutions requesting this service. Read MORE

7th Knowledge Exchange Conference on Community eCenters in Philippines

The 7th Knowledge Exchange Conference (KEC7) on Community e-Centers is a continuation of the tradition to knowledge generation resulting from the active sharing of good practices. Members of the community will gather to address challenges, attain sustainability and relevance throughout the years. This year's KEC will be held in Hotel Elizabeth, Baguio City from November 22-23, 2011.

eAsia 2011- 'Realizing Digital Nation' to be held in Bangladesh

Source: http://www.e-asia.org/2011

Ministry of science and Information and Communication Technology, Government of Bangladesh welcome the World on the eve of the inauguration of e-Asia 2011 Bangladesh with the slogan Realizing Digital Nation.This event commemorates the 40th Independence Anniversary of Bangladesh celebrating the achievements Vision 2021: Digital Bangladesh. Bangladesh has made significant gains to realize the dreams of the Father of the Nation under the able leadership of his daughter the Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Information and Communication Technology is being used to leverage economic growth to achieve Vision 2021: Digital Bangladesh. The Government has taken initiatives such as formulating ICT Policy 2009 with action items, implementation of the ICT Act 2006 (amended 2009), inacting the Right to Information Act, establishing the independent Information Commission etc. They have mainstreamed ICT as a pro-poor tool so that we can empower citizens to eradicate poverty, establishing good governance by delivering better citizens services through promoting quality education, healthcare and law enforcement for all etc. Read MORE

Share your regional telecentre news with APTN
APTN Secretariat sends out their sincere gratitude to all the APTN members who shared their telecentre news with APTN newsletter. APTN Secretariat is look for more further contributions from their country partners and willing to accommodate more news from different parts of the region. Kindy share all your telecentre news with us and email to us via info@aptn.asia or seuwandiy@icta.lk.
Thank you in advance,
APTN Secretariat

APTN

www.aptn.asia

APTN Secreatariat | ICTA, No 160/24 | Kirimandala Mawatha, | Colombo 05 | Sri Lanka

APTN Newsletter- September 2011

2011-10-04T10:31:00.001+05:30

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September 2011 Volume 1- Issue xiv

APTN
is a collaborative initiative of

News from Telecentre.org

NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR TC.ORG
Following an extensive search among several highly qualified candidates, Telecentre.org Foundation is pleased to announce that Miguel Raimilla has been selected as Telecentre.org Foundation's newest Executive Director. Miguel, a Chilean native based in California, is a Social Entrepreneur and the founder of several multinational/multicultural initiatives linked with youth, social development, and social enterprise throughout Latin America, Asia, Europe, and the United States.
APTN congratulate new executive director and wish him all the very best in the future.

ONLINE LIBRARY

A new and improved online library is on its way to serve telecentre.org members very soon. Before it officially open its services, Telecentre.org needs your help. If you have any resources on ICT for Development that you would like to sharewith the online library, please email the resources to library@telecentre.org Materials can be in any format (pdf, doc, mpeg, avi, etc) and in anay language. Kindly make sure you have permission to share this materials.

Training Workshops for Nenasala Operators in

Sri Lanka

Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA), the implementing agency for the Nenasala project has launched the training Workshops for Nenasala Operators for the year of 2011. The e-Sri Lanka initiative harnesses the benefits of information and communication technology and takes its dividends to every village, every citizen and every business including government in order to reduce poverty and enable growth. ICTA has addressed the information infrastructure deficiencies in rural areas by establishing rural multi-service platforms that are made available through ICT facility access centers known as Nenasala (Wisdom Outlet). Over 600 Nenasala centers across the island have been established and these centers are operated by community based organizations, religious institutions and individuals. The overall objective of these training workshops is to improve the skills and knowledge of Nenasala Operators 3 major areas: (i) Personal Computer Hardware, (ii) Local Area Networking and (iii) Content and Services to operate Nenasala sustainably by providing services to communities in areas of better access to knowledge and business opportunities. Read MORE

Basic Computer Literacy Training for municipal employees in Philippines

A total of 32 municipal employees, composed of 15 men and 17 women, attended the two-day Basic Computer Literacy training under the Philippine Digital Literacy for Women Campaign (PDLWC) held from September 6-7.

Using the Intel Easy Steps modules on MS Office applications and Introduction to the Internet, participants, composed of LGU employees and residents, and most of whom were beginners, found the Intel Teach program comprehensive and easy to follow. Simple tutorials on Internet surfing, search and email were likewise discussed by Claire Fernandez, IT Coordinator for Region 8.

Telemedicine project to assist flood stricken districts in Pakistan

Source: www.community.telecentre.org

Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani chaired 25th meeting of Board of Directors of Universal Service Fund (USF) as Minister-Information Technology, at Prime Minister's House recently and the meeting approved projects budget of Rs.9.9 billion for Financial Year 2001-12 including initiation of USF pilot Project to set-up telemedicine networks iaround Rawalpindi, Karachi and Multan. Jinnah Post graduate medical center, Karachi, Nishtar Medical College Multan and Holy Family hospital Rawalpindi will be connected with 12 remote sites to set up three telemedicine networks. Each of these remote sites will provide facilities of digital stethoscope, digital derma-scope, portable ultrasound, digital ECG and customized telemedicine software to the patients at their hometowns including consultations with the specialists sitting in the three main hospitals.

The Prime Minister directed USF that in addition to the proposed cities in Sindh, of Badin, Thatta, Dadu and Nausheroferoz, flood stricken districts like Nawabshah, Mirpur khas, Umerkot and Sanghar should also be included in the telemedicine network, immediately. Similarly he directed to include cities of Bahawalpur, Rahimyar Khan, Rajanpur, DG Khan, Qadirpur, Shuja'abad Mianwali and Kharian to the 12 cities initially planned. He also directed that as soon as USF Fiber cable islaid in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, similar Tele-medicine projects should be started there also. Read MORE

APTN

www.aptn.asia

APTN Secreatariat | ICTA, No 160/24 | Kirimandala Mawatha, | Colombo 05 | Sri Lanka

APTN Newsletter- August 2011

2011-09-02T15:26:00.001+05:30

August 2011 Volume 1- Issue 13

In this issue

Sri Lanka

Philippines

Bangladesh

APTN is an initiative of

News

from Telecentre.org

Telecentre.org Resource Mobilisation Guide now available for download

The complete Resource Mobilisation Guide by Telecentre.org Foundation Campaign Adviser Vivien Chiam is now available. This guide introduces a 5-step action plan for partners who want to get started on their resource mobilisation plans for the Telecentre Women: Digital Literacy Campaign.

Download a copy of the guide HERE.

5 Nenasalas (Telecentres) opened in Kegalle district, Sri Lanka

Two Nenasala centres were opened on 21st June 2011 in Ruwanwella and Dehiowita areas in the Kegalle district by Gamaneguma in collaboration with Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA).
Political leaders of the district, community of the area and representatives from ICTA and Sri Lanka Telecom were participated at the opening ceremonies held in two Gamaneguma villages. The Nenasala centres were set up by Kurupeththa Gami Pubudu and Imbulpitiya Samagi Gamaneguma People's Companies in Ruwanwella and Dehiowita divisions. Read MORE

Community eCentre Vsagun helps 2171 local constituents in Philippines

A total of 2,171 families were able to access food and other local government benefits without travelling to other municipalities through the Vincenzo Sagun Community eCenter in Philippines. June 16, 2011 saw the CeC of Vincenzo Sagun become the avenue for the implementation of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), in partnership with the WAHP Foundation. The program seeks to encourage poor households to invest in health and education, by, among other things, providing families with sustainable livelihood. The WAHP Foundation, on the other hand, is a charitable organization based in the Philippines which aims for poverty alleviation. Read MORE

Realizing Digital Nation

Source: www.e-asia.org/2011

eAsia 2011, with the slogan Realizing Digital Nation, is the annual international Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for development event with the objective of reinforcing technology and knowledge-centric growth and needs of Asia vis-à-vis Bangladesh, through capitalisation of market economy and boosting human development. This event commemorates the 40th birth anniversary of Bangladesh and celebrates the progress of Digital Bangladesh agenda of the government. Digital Bangladesh by 2021 vision is a 21st-century globalized-world form of a vision of equitable prosperity portrayed by the founding father of the nation 40 years ago. Since then, Bangladesh has made significant progress in human development index and ranks third in the world. The 5th annual eAsia 2011 conference and exhibition will take place in Dhaka, Bangladesh on December 1-3, 2011. Read MORE

News from External Resources

Telecentre-Europe Summit 2011: 27-28 October, Brussels

Telecentre-Europe is organizing the annually network gathering during 27-28 October, in Brussels, Belgium. The Summit will take place at Espace Moselle and will be co-hosted by Belgian member Interface3.This is the fourth annual gathering of the European telecentre leaders after Riga (2008), Istanbul (2009), and Budapest (2010). Following the event, the Telecentre-Europe AISBL General Assembly will be held. If interested in becoming a formal member of Telecentre-Europe, visit the membership section of our website. Please register for the Summit online by September 30th, 2011. Further details available at www.telecentre-europe.org

APTN

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 and it will serve as the focal network or the knowledge hub for communication and information technology in the Asia Pacific region.

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

APTN Newsletter- July 2011

2011-08-03T15:51:00.001+05:30

JULY 2011 Volume 1- Issue 12

In this issue

Sri Lanka

Philippines

Malaysia

APTN is an initiative of

News from Telecentre.org

More prizes have been added to the Global Search for the 100 Outstanding Telecentre Women Managers. The six winners of this the "Most Outstanding Telecentre Women Manager" distinction (one from each region), will each receive a brand-new netbook. So what are you waiting? Submit your nominations now! Download the nomination form and competition guidelines here at the Telecentre Women: Digital Literacy Campaign website.

615th Nenasala Opened in Kilinochchi

The 615th 'Nenasala' (telecentre) was declared open by Hambantota District MP Namal Rajapaksa in Kilinochchi on July 20th, 2011. Kilinochchi is a former war-torn area which is being recovered after 30 years of terrorist war.

Elaborating on the objectives of Nenasala, the ICTA Chairman Prof. P. W. Epasinghe , said that the objective of the Nenasala was to provide the optimal benefits of ICT to the community. He noted that Nenasala must act as a resource centre to the community and that the services offered by the Nenasala were varied and adapted to the needs of the milieu. These include information on government services and information for farmers and fishermen with regard to livelihoods. They help the youth in the community to find employment opportunities and start self-employment etc.

The centre is located in the Kilinochchi town and therefore easily accessible to the public, ICTA Project Manager, Gavashkar Subramanium said reporting from the site. Giving further details Gavashkar said that this was the first 'Nenasala' or 'Arivakam' wisdom outlet in the Kilinochchi district and the 6th in the Northern Province and the 615th in the island. The centre will be managed and operated by Tharunyata Hetak, This Nenasala is fully equipped with personal computers, laser printer, scanner, web camera and broadband internet connectivity provided on WiMAX technology.

ICTO showcases PhilCeC Program for NSTW 2011

The Philippine Community eCenter (PhilCeC) program was one of the programs showcased during Expo Science 2011, a science exhibition fair spearheaded in celebration of the 2011 National Science and Technology Week (NSTW). The exhibition was held at the SMX Convention Center from July 27-30.

The NSTW is a celebration of Filipino genius and ingenuity in the field of science and technology. It describes the latest breakthroughs which have been made in the Philippine science community. The exhibition was graced by none other than President Benigno S. Aquino III himself. Read MORE

Malaysian Telecentre.org Academy makes its debut

Source: www.telecentre.org

After a year long discussion and planning between stakeholders in Malaysia, Telecentre.org Academy officially made its presence in Malaysia on July 26, 2011 as it held a Training of Trainers (ToT) Workshop for the Certificate in Telecentre Management (CTM) course soon to be offered to telecentre managers in Malaysia.

The workshop is the result of a multistakeholder partnership between the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) Malaysia, Open University Malaysia (OUM), and Telecentre.org Foundation, and is expected to benefit 100 telecentre managers nationally.

The three-day ToT workshop, which is held from the 26th to the 28th of July 2011 at OUM, will instruct 11 trainers in delivering the CTM course to the first two batches of learners. Workshop participants were identified and recruited from recommendations of EPU, OUM, TCF. The ToT workshop is facilitated by the two National Academic Counselors (Ybg Datin Dr Norizan Razak of UKM & Prof Abtar Kaur of OUM). The trainers are Pn. Zarina Bt. Jantan, Norhimah Aziz, Zuraina Harun, Assoc Prof Dr Jalaluddin Abdul Malek, Sharifah Raudhah AlQudsy, Assoc Prof Dr Wan Rozaini Sheik Osman, Prof. Dr. Zulkhairi Md Dahalin, Mr. Nantha Kumar Subramaniam, Lau Siong Hoe, PhD, Mr. Oh Ee Teik, and Ms. Helmi Eda binti Mahmood. Read MORE

News from External Resources

Expanding Microsoft software donations to more nonprofits

Microsoft is making a number of updates to their global software donations program designed to give more nonprofit organizations access to the technology they need, when they need it. Microsoft is currently reaching more than 40,000 organizations around the world each year - translating into over $3.9 billion of donated software since 1998 - but Microsoft knows there's a great opportunity to reach even more nonprofits and communities.

The updates to the program are part of their commitment to bring the benefits of software to more nonprofits to support positive social and economic development in local communities around the world. Every day we see first-hand how software is helping nonprofits reduce their costs, boost productivity, raise more funds, and ultimately deliver new and improved services in their local communities.

There are a number of updates Microsoft announcing, including... Read MORE

APTN

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

APTN Newsletter-June 2011

2011-07-01T10:52:00.001+05:30

JUNE, 2011 - Vol 1, Issue 11

APTN is an Initiative of

News from Telecentre.org

Telecentre Women Digital Literacy Campaign

Telecentre Women:Digital Literacy Campaign, organized by the ITU and Telecentre.org Foundation has gained immense support from over 30 partner organizations and networks located in round the world. Telecentre.org invite all telecentre women to join in and take part in their Global Search for 100 Women Telecentre Managers.Further information available

at women.telecentre.org

Philippines Celebrates National ICT Month in June

Source: philcecnet.ph

"A DIGITALLY EMPOWERED PHILIPPINES" - this battle cry formally ushers-in the celebration of National Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Month this June. The celebration of National ICT Month is mandated under Presidential Proclamation No. 1521 (Series of 2008), declaring every month of June as National ICT Month.

The month-long celebration features events and activities organized by government and the private sector. For its part, the CICT, together with various industry associations, will be holding the National ICT Summit, which will feature the official launch of the Philippine Digital Strategy (PDS) 2011-2016 and the launch of a limited edition Commemorative Stamp marking National ICT Month 2011. Another major event is the celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the establishment of the National Computer Center (NCC), a component agency of the CICT. Read MORE

Sri Lankan Telecentre: Thimbolketiya Nenasala Project places Ruwanpura treasure on Internet

The Thimbolketiya Nenasala (Telecentre) in Sri Lanka has provided full details pertaining to the environment, history and tourism of the Ratnapura District with the guidance of the Information Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) of Sri Lanka. This project is further facilitated by the e-Sri Lanka Community Project and the relevant website is www.ecopalace.lk
The site contains a valuable collection of professional notes on historical lore and human and fauna-flora diversity. The site is user friendly with the facility to use through both Sinhala and English languages. Details on lodging within the area, reliable safari transport services including tourist bungalows and campsites can be easily obtained. The designer of the website, Viraj Ekanayake said that in future, this project will be expanded to cover the whole island and and Tamil language facilities will be provided as well. Read MORE

Next Step of Thai Telecentre Movement

Source : ThaiTelecentre.org

The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) of Thailand together with the Research Center of Communication and Development Knowledge Management (CCDKM), and Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University (STOU) working for Thaitelecentre.org, recently announced their next steps of Thai Telecentre Movement. Aside of projects and service Thai Telecentre and involved organizations provided in the past, in 2011, there are two significant projects initiated by Thai Telecentre Foundation; one is Telecentre Women: The Digital Literacy Campaign and Telecentre.org Academy Consortium of Universities.

Fwd: APTN Newsletter- May 2011

2011-06-02T16:52:00.001+05:30

May, 2011 - Vol 1, Issue 10

APTN is an Initiative of

News from Telecentre.org

Telecentre.org website is live

Telecentre.org Foundation is pleased to announce that the new corporate website is now available at www.telecentre.org. The new website offer a user-friendly, easy to navigate interface which provides easy access to information on the Foundation's programme pillars, core activities, and many more. Read more

Nominate your Outstanding Telecentre Women Managers now!

The Global Search for 100 Outstanding Telecentre Women Managers 2011 is an integral part of the Telecentre Women:Digital Literacy Campaign, organized by the ITU and Telecentre.org Foundation.

Nominations now open for this year's Global Search for 100 Outstanding Telecentre Women Managers and nomination guidelines have been posted on the Telecentre Women: Digital Literacy Campaign website. Read More

605th Nenasala (Telecentre) is opened in Sri Lanka

"Computer and information and communication technology are powerful weapons in the country's development war", Telecommunication and Information Technology Minister of Sri Lanka, Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said recently. The Minister said so while participating at the inauguration of the 605th Nenasala 'wisdom outlet' under President Mahinda Rajapaksa's concept of setting up 1000 Nenasala wisdom outlets island-wide. This 605th wisdom outlet was set up at the Udowita Undugoda Sri Bimbarama temple in Mabopitiya in Kegalle, Sri Lanka.

Speaking further on the occasion the Minister said: "The war of restoring peace in the country has by now been successfully completed under the leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. What we now have is the war of developing the country. Information and Communication Technology is pivotal in the development war. Read MORE

Region 3 Community e Centre managers in Philippines: One for all, all for one

The CeC Managers of various LGUs in Region 3 converged at the Central Luzon State University on May 16-20, 2011 for the Basic Technical Training for CeC Managers. It was attended by eighteen (18) CeC Managers and their alternates coming from the provinces of Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Pampanga, Tarlac and DepEd member from Jaen Central School, Nueva Ecija.

The activity was hosted by the Information Systems Institute (ISI) of CLSU, the implementing partner of the CICT- NCC- Field Operations Office in the effort of putting up a Community e-Center in every municipality in the Philippines. Read MORE

Wiring Thailand

Source : www.unspecial.org

Rice farmers using 3G and 4G mobile phones. Migrant tribesmen downloading satellite weather information. Children of subsistence loggers opening Facebook accounts. Buddhist monks hosting open-air IT classrooms beside their temples.Wiring Thailand opens all these perspectives. The country already has a big jump on its regional neighbours in the extent of ICT (information and communication technology) coverage. Now, however, the Government along with UN partners, is looking to extend Internet and mobile phone use throughout Thai society, including to its most remote and unconnected inhabitants.

Jumped on board When word of the UN Special mission to Thailand started getting around Geneva in late 2010, the first body to jump on board was ITU (International Telecommunications Union). ITU was eager to show off its projects throughout Thailand. Once the Geneva team landed at Bangkok, an interview was quickly held at ITU regional office. It is housed in the suburban locale of the national Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT). ITU cooperates with the host administration (MICT), rather than being housed at UNESCAP downtown or in its own building. Read MORE

20 million Bangladeshi to access internet by year-end

Source: www.futuregov.asia

The government of Bangladesh is planning to double the coverage of internet access in less than a year as part of the government's vision of Digital Bangladesh. Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications said internet users in Bangladesh would be around 20 million by the end of this year with a phenomenal increase in the internet connections. Currently, 10 million people are using internet regularly from 1.1 million internet connections.

According to Internet Service Provider Association of Bangladesh, 60 internet service providers in the private sector are now offering internet services, besides the state-owned Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited.
Citing the findings of a report, the official said on an average, 10 people used a connection for sending emails and browsing web sites.
Considering the phenomenal growth rate, driven by increasing number of 'internet population', he said they were expecting another 10 million people on the online trail from 1 million new connections by the end of 2011. Read MORE

APTN

APTN Newsletter- April 2011

2011-05-02T10:46:00.001+05:30

April, 2011 Issue 09

In This Issue

News from Philippines

News from Thailand

News from Sri Lanka

APTN is an Initiative of

APTN supports Telecentre.org Women Digital Literacy Campaign

Santiago, Chile, April 7, 2011 - On Behalf of Asia Pacific Telecentre network, Reshan Dewapura, Chief Operating Officer, ICT Agency of Sri Lanka pledge its true heated support to Telecentre.org Women Digital Literacy Campaign at the 3rd Global Forum on Telecentres in Santiago, Chile during the global launch of the campaign on April 7, 2011. The initiative aims to provide digital literacy and skills to underserved and underprivileged women worldwide. Read MORE

Enabling the island inhabitants through the Enrique Villanueva CeC in Philippines

Enrique Villanueva is one of the six municipalities of the smallest province in Central Visayas, the Siquijor Island. With the establishment of its Community eCenter (CeC), Enrique Villanueva is now gaining popularity amongst its constituents and neighboring towns.
The town considers the CeC an achievement for it has opened the municipality's doors to the world's largest and most widely used network which is the internet. The CeC's fast VSAT connection will empower the inhabitants and at the same time, continue to boost the government unit's growing potential for eco-cultural tourism. Read MORE

ICT brainstorming to find ways to drive ICT community learning centers in Thailand

Department of Information and Communication Technology in Thailand has recently held a brainstoming workshop in finding possible ways in which they can improve the performance of Community learning centres. During the meeting it was revealded that an evaluation is being carried out to assess the activities done by the ICT Learning Centers. It was further noted that people who use 279 centres operates successfully while less than 10% of centres needs to be upgraded.
"Department of ICT has recognized the importance of providing support for community ICT learning centers, both successful as well and the center of the problem. ICT centres have being helpful to improve the lives of community members such as support for agriculture, to check crop prices, exchange traded products. (E-Agriculture) to support education in a manner both Online and Offline (e-Education) as well as various disaster alert (e-Warning), etc. The department will work collaborate with other agencies that are related in determining what type of projects needs to be proceed, "said Siri Art Rat Thani Cha I, Vice Minister of Information and Communication Technology. Read MORE

Tsunami-hit villa now centre for learning and earning thanks to ICTA initiated IT-BPO project in Sri Lanka

A tsunami affected villa in Seenigama, Galle, Sri Lanka has become the centre of development with many sectors of empowerment including education and entrepreneurship. The most recent development has been an IT-BPO set up by the FARO with the support of the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA). Through IT-BPO projects initiated by ICT Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA).
In the face of disaster some give into despondency while some rise up to be more successful than even the pre-disaster era. What then makes the difference? Kushil Gunasekera, the founder of the Foundation of Goodness (FoG) and the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Centre of Excellence at Temple Road, Seenigama explained the root cause of the villa becoming a community centre of prosperity: " It is compassion and desire to be good. I got my education from Ananda College, Colombo and I had access to modern facilities. I was moved by compassion and a desire to be good and to do something to make distressed people enjoy the blessings that were available to me but not to them. Read MORE

News Beyond Asia Pacific

3rd Global Forum on Telecentres staged in Chile

Telecentre leaders from close to 40 nations gathered last April 5-7, 2011 to attend the 3rd Global Forum on Telecentres at the Centro Cultural Gabriela Mistal-GAM in Santiago, Chile. The forum, which has been held in Tunisia and Malaysia in previous years, is a bi-annual event that aims to provide a platform for sharing knowledge among members of the global telecentre movement and various actors and organizations working towards the achievement of social development through the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). Read MORE

Europe Get Online Week 2011

When the Telecentre Europe Get Online Week counter was stopped it stood at 112,074. More than one hundred thousand people had answered a few simple questions in a short survey to show they had been reached by the campaign. This simple figure however doesn't tell the whole story. Who were these people, why did they get involved, and why are they heroes?

They had been supported to use the internet in about 5,000 telecentres in 30 countries across Europe - education venues, libraries and NGOs providing support to use computers and the internet. Of the 112,074 that were supported to use the internet, or a new online service for the first time, about one in ten were unemployed (9.6%), and one in seven were retired (14.5%), and just under a third were in employment (31%). About half were under 25, one third between 25-55, and just under a fifth, almost 20,000 people, over 55. There was a majority of women (56%) to men (44%). These demographics however still don't tell the whole story.

APTN

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 and it will serve as the focal network or the knowledge hub for communication and information technology in the Asia Pacific region.

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APTN Newsletter - February, 2011

2011-03-09T18:20:00.000+05:30

Issue 08 February 2011

APTN
is a collaborative initiative
of

News from Telecentre.org

Localisation of Telecentre.org Academy Courses in Malaysia

Telecentre.org Academy is gearing up to introduce the Telecentre Management course to initially one hundred (100) Malaysian telecentre managers in 2011 through its partnership with the Open University Malaysia (OUM) and the Economic Planning Unit, Government of Malaysia. In early February, Telecentre.org Foundation entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with OUM, for introducing its telecentre management courses in Malaysia. This localized telecentre management course is fully sponsored by the Prime Minister's Department in Malaysia and Telecentre.org Academy is confident that this effort will be a huge success in future days to come.

Read MORE

3rd Global Forum on Telecentres

The Global Forum on Telecentres is a bi-annual event that aims to provide a platform for sharingknowledge among members of the global telecentre movement and all the differentactors and organizations working towards the achievement of social developmentthrough the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). Withinthis framework, the Forum promotes the exchange of innovative ideas, bestpractices, development projects, research results from the different sectors ofsociety to make use of the relevant and meaningful ICTs for development. Also,the Forum provides a venue to learn about emerging technologies that contributeto overcoming poverty.
This event willbe hosted in Santiago Chile from 5 to 7 April 2011 to promote the role oftelecentres as community resources that facilitate employment, productivity andcommunity empowerment.

Join Our List

Dear APTN Members,
Greetings from APTN Secretariat!
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 and experience the new changes to come in next few days.
Sincerely,
APTN Secretariat

In Philippines: CICT, PhilCeCNet to launch digital literacy campaign for women

On March 2, the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) will mark the beginning of its participation to the global campaign for women empowerment, spearheaded by the telecentre.org, with the launch of the year-long Philippine Digital Literacy Campaign for Women at the UPOU headquarters Los Baños, Laguna, from 11:30 am to 12:00 nn.

The campaign, which will be implemented by the Commission together with its partners, the Philippine Community eCenter Network (PhilCeCNet) and the telecentre.org Foundation, will be an on-going crusade to train and equip women from the poor and marginalized communities with basic ICT skills and proficiencies - functional digital literacy - which will allow them to explore and reach their highest potential as women in the digital information age.

Expected to be the highlight of the launch is the presentation of the campaign champions - individuals who will serve as the main driving force behind the campaign, bringing it down to the grassroots women in local communities. Aside from the champions, the launch will also officially kick off the search for women like Myrna Padilla, whose life was changed for the better by ICT, to serve as the face of the digital literacy campaign as women ambassadors.

Read MORE

In Sri Lanka:'President launches computerised issue of birth certificates at 'Deyata Kirula 2011'

President Mahinda Rajapaksa handed over the first computerised birth certificate to a Moneragala resident at the ICTA exhibition stall. Minister of Telecommunication and IT Ranjith Siyambalapitiya is also in the picture.

In the sidelines of the 'Deyata Kirula' 2011 (National Development Exhibition) in Buttala, Sri Lanka, President Mahinda Rajapaksa launched the computerised issue of birth certificates project, thus enabling thousands of people in the Moneragala District to get their certificates with ease.

With Information & Communication Technology Agency (ICTA)'s internationally acclaimed Birth Marriage & Death (BMD) Certificate project going live in Moneragala from 04th February, the people of the Moneragala District are able to get certified copies of the birth, marriage and death certificates they require within five minutes. Thanks to this kick-off, BMD relevant to anyone in the District could be obtained with hither-to-unknown ease irrespective of the Divisional Secretariat or Grama Niladhari Division in the District he belongs to.

"Within two months we have computerised the birth certificates of the entire Moneragala District totalling almost 600,000," ICTA CEO Reshan Dewapura says.

Read MORE

In Bangladesh: National Digital Innovation Awards 2011

Launching Ceremony of the National Digital Innovation Award 2011 held on 30th January, 2011.

The "National Digital Innovation Award 2011" is top award in the field of ICT for Development in Bangladesh. It isbeing organized second time in Bangladesh. First time, in 2011 the name of the award was "E-content and ICT for Development Award 2010". This is a public-private partnership initiative. D.Net, a not-for-profit ICT4D social enterprise jointly with Ministry of Science and ICT organizes this annual contest. This time, Access to Information Programme at Prime Minister's Office is the principal partner, which raises the prestige of the award further. Leading daily English newspaper The Daily Star and Bangla daily Prothom Alo are the organizing partners of the award contest. The organization of the award is designed in a way that gradually implementation responsibility will be transferred to the Access to Information Programme. The winners of the award are eligible for the final selection for World SummitAward contest. The next World Summit Award contest will be held in summer 2011, where selected winners will be nominated for World Summit Award contest.

Read MORE

In Malaysia: Malaysia continues IT literacy push through training centres

The Rural and Regional Development Ministry continues to equip the rural community with Medan Infodesa (MIDs) or IT centres and ICT training.

Under the MID programme, launched in 2002, each rural district will have an MID complete with computer and Internet facilities.

The number of computers in each telecentre varies from two to 20, depending on the size of the local community being served.
Zarina Jantan, the Principal Assistant Secretary of Community Empowerment and Infodesa Division of MRRD told FutureGov Asia Pacific that 142 MIDs were already in operation.

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 January, 2011

2011-02-05T13:48:00.000+05:30

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.

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.

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.

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 ".

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.

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.

Asia Pacific
Telecentre
Network

APTN Newsletter- October 2010

2011-02-05T13:46:00.000+05:30

Monthly Newsletter - Issue 06

October, 2010

In This Issue

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.

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 05: September 2010

2010-10-01T22:24:00.000+05:30

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.

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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,

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.

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.

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
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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.
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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.

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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.

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

2010-09-06T10:47:00.001+05:30

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.

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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.

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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

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APTN Newsletter - 3rd Issue: July 2010

2010-08-02T18:11:00.007+05:30

ASIA PACIFIC TELECENTRE NETWORK Monthly Newsletter

ISSUE 03 JULY 2010

In This Issue

News

Digital Inclusion

eSociety Day

Common Service Centres

Quick Links

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.

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.

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 27^th and 28^th 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 2^nd 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.

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.

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.

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).

	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

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