Wednesday 31 October 2007

Elements of telecentre Eco-system


When the attention on Sustainability builds up, the challenge grows up to draw the lines between the stakeholders within the telecentre eco-system. Because, so far the research engagement did not try to distinguish the sectors (stakeholders) constituting the telecentre eco-system, instead attempted to map the issues, constraints, champions, best practices etc looking at the broader picture (overall eco-system). But, as the study goes on, as multiple professionals tend to interact with the subject, naturally the demand rises to recognize the specific demands at each stakeholder level.
So the question no 1 (Q1): Who are the stakeholders?
> Telecentre operators (at grassroots level)
> Telecentre networks (networking 10s, 100s & 1000s of telecentres under one umbrella)
> Community (who interact with telecentres )
> Service providers (who provide services to the telecentres / networks)

Q2: Why are these stakeholders important?
These stakeholders collectively thread the overall eco-system. They are interdependent and complementary.

Q3: Should we consider them individually in the sustainability journey?
Probably yes, because, the demand at each stakeholder is different.
> expectations of sustainability
> perception into the sustainability
> capacity to contribute to the sustainability
> urge / readiness to engage with sustainability

Here is one example:

There are four contrasting stakeholders in the telecentre eco-system of Polithathya model of Bangladesh; Prawn Farmer, Mobile Lady, Telecentre Owner, Telecentre Network facilitator (D.Net).

Prawn farmer: looking forward to have the most appropriate treatment to his epidemic at farm, quickly and cheaply.

Mobile lady: seeking to continue her job, find more community members with questions, generate bit more revenue, find a better incentive.

Telecentre owner: struggle to maintain / upgrade computes, pay bills, enhance services, and find the breakeven point, if not a small profit.

Network facilitator: grapple with more complex issues, maintain a good floor of knowledge services / products, add more value, maintain a competent carder of human resources (very expensive), expand institutional status, and all these add more into the final budgetary demands.

Thus it may require different approaches to the same question of sustainability, differently at each layer of eco-system.

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