On 11/18/04, Arrigo della Gherardesca <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Let's assume one had developed an ICT product (or system), that could be > very helpful to rural communities.
We have initiated proof of concept work on the Jhai PC and communication system on the Navajo reservation in Arizona with follow-on betas in preparation in at least South Africa and China. We have had inquiries from over 65 countries. This system is for communities without electricity, telephone lines or cell phone connectivity. We have a business plan that lays out our strategy that I would be glad to share. There is an economist piece about the project on our website <http://www.jhai.org/economist.htm> > Now, how could one go about financing the TeleCentres, on a reasonably > wide scale? A mix of donor-grant and debt financing? Does anyone on this > List have any experience in this and would like to share it? We assume a mix of donor-grants and debt financing. For example, on the Navajo reservation the POC is financed mainly by the Cisco Corporation. In China the beta will be (in process, good reason to assume) financed by a Chinese corporation. In South Africa, we expect a mix of financing with lead donation from Cisco. In Laos, we expect to link with the Italian-financed STEA Center and have reason to expect to have funding from another European national funder. In the Philippines we hope for financing from both a Filipino corporation and the government. In Congo our partner is looking for funding from the French government. All these projects are implemented by and are done or expected to be done in cooperation with grounded local partners. With the exception of the Navajo, South African, and Lao implementations, local NGO's are seeking their own funding, often with our help, but not always. However, in all cases, *replacement*, maintenance, and running-cost financing will come from the centers run as businesses by families, communities or individuals. For big roll-outs the prices will necessarily come down greatly. Everything I mention above is either a POC or a beta test of the system and when I say 'system' I mean the entire technical/social/anthropological/economic/relational system. We expect help on big roll outs in South Africa, Philippines, India, China and/or perhaps in a location in South America (to be determined). Our system is open source, open design. We expect competitive pricing at runs of v.2+ of 10,000 or more. The hard work of the people in Phon Kham and elsewhere in Lao PDR cannot be over-emphasized. They defined the problems to be addressed, they searched for solutions that fit their situation, they helped us define and test their solution and worked hard to achieve permission for the first site, and we partnered with them to develop the business tools to make the project sustainable. This, I believe, is the most important information in this piece. End users defined the problem and helped solve it. We expect this in each implementation. End users are involved from day one. Here is a brief description of our project: The Jhai PC and Communication System is holistic and groundbreaking. It is developed to meet the expressed needs of one remote village for phone communication and office functions for business and connections, and for their children's education in business and IT. It is applicable to 900,000,000 people who have no phones, mobile connection or electricity, designed to make a profit for poor villagers, designed by villagers, leading IT pioneers and award-winning Jhai development staff. Jhai has assembled an outstanding team to drive the development of the Jhai PC and Communication System. Jhai has a strong team of partner engineers, as well as volunteers expert in finance, business development, marketing, and administration. Among the latter volunteers is Howard Neff, former senior executive of Applied Materials and founding executive of the Tech Laureate Venture Network. The system was assembled from off-the-shelf components to meet the extreme demands of rural Laos. It draws very low power and can survive dirt, heat, and immersion in water. The Village Jhai PC is powered by pedaling a bicycle. Villagers have a choice of using a telephone handset or a computer for communications. The system includes the village PC, an 802.11b (Wi-Fi) wireless Local Area Network (LAN) with a central relay station, powered by a solar array, and a regional server, which connects the system to the Internet and Lao telephone system. It also includes a Lao-language version of the free, Linux-based KDE graphical desktop and office suite tools. Everything in this system can be modified for local conditions on an open-source, open design basis. ***Jhai PC and Communication System includes localized business planning for profit*** With help from Lao IT entrepreneurs, villagers have created a for-profit micro-enterprise plan to ensure profitable long-term operation of the system. This plan includes provisions for wages for local youth to run the system, local technicians to maintain the system, and technical people for remote support, as well as running and replacement costs. This year the Jhai Foundation plans: (1) to complete testing and installation of the Jhai PC and Communication System in five villages, (2) to demonstrate that these village micro-enterprises can produce profit; and (3) to begin the early stages of facilitating the scaling of this project to many more locations. About Jhai The foundation's IT projects have been honored as 'best practices' by UN agencies and ASEAN and have won the Stockholm Challenge Award. This project was named a Laureate in the 2003 Tech Awards. The Jhai Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation, was started in 1998 by Lee Thorn, a Lao air war veteran, and Bounthanh Phommasathit, a Lao air war refugee. Jhai is a reconciliation effort focused on self-sufficient economic development. Since 1998, Jhai has started several locally driven entrepreneurial programs. These include a coffee growing/export program, an internet learning center program and the Jhai PC and Communication System. Hope this helps. yours, in Peace, Lee Jhai means hearts and minds working together -- Lee Thorn Chair Jhai Foundation www.jhai.org 350 Townsend St., Ste. 309 San Francisco, CA 94107 USA [EMAIL PROTECTED] tel: fax: 1 415 344 0360 mobile: 1 415 420 2870 ------------ This DOT-COM Discussion is funded by USAID's dot-ORG Cooperative Agreement with AED, in partnership with World Resources Institute's Digital Dividend Project, and hosted by GKD. http://www.dot-com-alliance.org and http://www.digitaldividend.org provide more information. To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.dot-com-alliance.org/archive.html>
