With this in mind, let me share the entire post about a UN undertaking to put 100 telecenters in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. It seems to me that The Powers would be well advised to consider a "big box van" - as vs. putting the equipment inside brick and mortar facilities...for dozens of good reasons.
Anyway, here is the post and the web site of the organization which authored same:
John Hibbs http://www.bfranklin.edu/friend
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Please view
http://www.ugabytes.org/ http://www.ugabytes.org/missions.html http://www.ugabytes.org/maintele.html
Secretariat, UgaBYTES Initiative, writes:
The United Nations International Communications Union (ITU) is to establish a network of at least 100 MCTs (Multipurpose Community Telecenters), to provide communities with access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The project aims to enable the African communities to obtain the social and economic benefits that accrue from participation in the information society.
Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi are among 20 African countries that are to benefit from dozens of these female-directed community telephone and computer centers setup by the UN.
These MCTs are to be managed by women which will enable them to actively participate in the development and decision-making process. This initiative is in partial fulfillment of the commitment made by 175 countries to a Plan of Action at the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) to extend the benefits of ICTs to everyone in the world.
ITU has already established four MCTs in Tanzania and Guinea Bissau that are now providing basic training in the use of computers and will soon supply other services such as public telephone, fax, Internet connectivity and basic information.
Several African countries, including Benin, Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zambia, requested help in fulfilling the first phase of the December 2003 Plan of Action of the World Summit on the Information Society
According to the director International Telecommunication Union Development (ITU), Hamadoun Toure, Multipurpose Community Telecenters (MCTs) are one of the most innovative and practical ways to bring the benefits of the information society to the people of Africa. "Not only do they create employment and provide basic information services, they establish community focal points for e-education, e-health and e-governance initiatives through web-based multimedia contents. They also stimulate the development and growth of local businesses, as well as ICT skills among the local population," he said.
The second stage of the World Summit on the Information Society will be held in November in Accra, Ghana. The three-day African preparatory meeting is to negotiate an action plan on achieving continent-wide distribution of communication technologies.
-- Secretariat UgaBYTES Initiative P.O.Box 6081 Kampala-Uganda [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED] Check our website: www.ugabytes.org
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