Summary of East African Network Staff Exchange

Created By: damasogwe on 22-Feb-2008 4:03 AM

The telecentres networks staff exchange concluded on Friday at UgaBYTES Initiative secretariat in Kampala. The exchange had representation from Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya and Uganda.

The five day intensive programme looked into issues of national networks status, creation of a vibrant regional telecentre eco-system, website and mailing lists management, introduction of an award system for telecentre practitioners in the region, issues of Social Enterprises for sustainability of telecentres and networks, the telecentre academy, regional exchange programme for network leaders and staff as well as partnership issues.

On the first day the matter of registration/legal status of national networks cropped up and it was resolved that all networks pursue the matter of registration within three months.

Some of the resolutions reached were:

A- Regional online telecentre ecosystem:

Ø There is a need to post content from national websites onto other national websites and international websites. Cross posting should only carry a summary of stories posted with a provision of links to ensure that readers visit the original website for more information on this and other subjects

Ø RSS Feeds would be up and running once all national sites in the website are fully operationally

Ø We need to establish a team at national network level to ensure posting information at national level and cross-posting of regional info. Proposed that two persons per network and met on a monthly basis

Ø All national networks to provide information for newsletters/ UgaBYTES news updates, to Telecentre.org

Ø Dynamic websites for each network within three months. Cost for the domain to be communicated later.

Ø Mailing lists for Burundi, Kenya and Rwanda to be created at the same time as the websites are being created

B- BYTES for Development Award

This would be an annual award which seek to encourage greater online sharing among practioners. The categories agreed upon were:

Ø Best researcher

Ø Best Blogger

Ø Best trainer

Ø Best Story.

Tokens will be given to the winner and two runners in each category. Finalists will be shortlisted and invited to attend the East African Telecentre Leaders Forum where the announcement of ultimate winner and presentations will be made.

A seven member jury made up of network representatives and UgaBytes will shortlist mailing lists, blogs postings on a monthly. The final short listing will be held each January.

C- Community Online Engagement Strategy

This strategy seeks to encourage community online sharing of experiences. The plan had three main components as highligheted below

i- Community Awareness and Sensitization Training

The intentions of this Plan Component are:

Ø Appreciation of community sites

Ø Quality of stories on site

Ø Utilization of site

Ø Gains/user feedback

ii- Research and Documentation

Intentions of this component are:

Ø Have research guidelines

Ø Have a team of community researchers and reporters

Ø Tell relevant untold stories

iii- Dissemination and sharing

Ø Intentions of this component are:

Ø Building a community of online collaborators

Ø Stakeholder engagement in telecentre issues

Website and Mailing List Management

Participants were taken through the session which entailed:

Configuring mailing list, how to subscribe/unsubscribe, unblocking/blocking members and checking for pending mailings

Participants were also introduced to the platform which UgaBYTES website (www.ugabytes.org is presently running, DRUPAL (www.drupal.org). Drupal is free open source content management platform and is more user friendly. All networks in the region will have new sites within three months which shall be set-up with support of UgaBYTES technical team.

D- Social Enterprises for Sustainability

This component seeks to address the issue of sustainability. The following formed part of the resoutions

On business Concepts

Ø Adopting new business concepts and improving

Ø Copy from other members where applicable

Ø All concepts need to be formalized on paper

Remittance and financial management system

Ø There have to be clear records

Ø Need for expertise

Ø Need for clear contracting between telecentres and networks

Ø Remittance system should be equitable

Follow-up

Ø Resolution of this meeting to be presented to network members to sell to them the concept of social enterprises

Ø Networks to work and consult with UgaBYTES

E- Telecentre Academy

It was agreed that this academy is needed for purposes of capacity building telecentre practitioners

Ø The telecentre would primarily target telecentre practitioners namely network leaders, telecentre managers and staff

Ø Academy to have both free and reasonably charged would be charged for trainings and services.

Timelines for the Academy.

Ø Development of guidelines for training needs assessment to be completed by end of March

Ø National representatives of the academy to be in place by end of March

Ø Outcome of needs assessment by end of April

Ø End of May, develop systems and strategies

Ø Curriculum development to be done in May -June

Ø Exploration and development of partnerships to continue e.g. seeking of training centres to be gazetted

Ø Official launch/first intake July

b- Should services be free?

Ø Some services could be free while others may be charged. This would depend on specific

Ø Commitment fee may be vital. Need to charge a reasonable fee which community members can afford.

Ø Sustainability has to be achieved by the academy hence some fee should be

Ø Academy should be viewed as a capacity building programme and also as a sustainable project

F- Regional Exchange Programme for Network leaders and telecentre Staff

This would encourage sharing and exchange of ideas

Resolutions

National networks in collaboration in conjunction with UgaBYTES

The exchange would be promoted through the mailing list, websites and the wiki

Obligation contracts to be signed by the beneficiaries of the programme

602 people have read this article