Internet Week: Bringing Internet to the People of Bassar

Author : DEJEAN-TCHAPO Obote
Date added : 2002-04-15

Brief Project Background

In many developing countries, information technology awareness and access are limited to the capital and some big cities. To address this digital divide the Information and Communication Initiative for Development (ICI-Dev), an NGO in Togo, West Africa, has undertaken to use a participatory approach to create Internet clubs in learning environments in Togo and support them in carrying out their activities. Our initiative worked to integrate the Internet with the lifestyle, customs and needs of the local community. This presentation will share results from a pilot initiative conducted in Bassar, a town with a population of about 10,000.

Some of the common problems of ICT use in remote areas in Africa include lack of awareness, access and training. In April 2000 during a planning visit to Bassar, a schoolboy asked the ICI-DEV team this question, "Many times I hear in radio some new words like "www", "Internet", "arobase (@ in French) " -- what do they mean?" We were so surprised that we decided to visit the high school of the town. It had only one good computer for the headmaster and a lab with some faulty computers (gifts from a French high school). But we were very happy to discover an original association -- Club Fan NTIC -- created and managed by schoolboys. "We have created this club as a lobby to have access to the computer lab," said Idrissou, the president of the club. However, their desire was not fulfilled due to the limited capacity of the school. Said the headmaster, “We don''t have the capacity to teach or train people to use computers. That is the reason the computer lab is closed."

In June 2000 a survey was carried out to identify the existing information infrastructures and information needs among people of Bassar. The results were so alarming: no Internet access, only 12 computers in the entire town, and most of the interviewers had ever touched a computer keyboard. That is why ICI-Dev decided to organize together with the Club Fan NTIC a two-day workshop for Internet demonstration in September 2000. Based on the feedback and interest of participants, one of the recommendations of this workshop was to organize a project composed of an extensive IT awareness campaign and training, not only for schoolboys but also for the all the levels of society. The "Internet Week in Bassar" project was launched in October 2000 on a pilot basis. The partners were the local government council, the Club Fan NTIC, the community radio (Radio Bassaria), and ICI-Dev.

Bassar is about 400 km from the capital, surrounded by mountains. There is a high school and 6 middle schools. The town is well known for its wide range of folk songs and the solidarity among people. The main idea of the project was to link these elements with IT with an aim to: a) build awareness on the new information and communication technology and the opportunities that they offer; b) initiate the self-financing of a new Community Multimedia Center (CMC) in the town. A week of socio-cultural activities was organized in December 2000 to accomplish these goals.

The Club Fan NTIC was responsible for organizing all the activities in Bassar, while ICI-Dev was responsible for providing technical assistance and organizing the “Internet Night” in Lomé. Prior to this event letters were sent to all the local authorities to ask for their contribution to the success of the project. During two weeks, a quiz program related to IT was conducted in collaboration with Radio Bassaria. Several fund raising activities took place in Lomé and Bassar. “Internet Night” invited a lot of expatriates and donors to enjoy and appreciate the folk dancing in the capital. In Bassar soccer matches, drama, “Miss Internet“ pageant, two conferences related to community information and communication systems and a 3-day Internet training were organized during the same week. All levels of the community were enthusiastic to participate willingly in the above activities: “I don’t have money, I choose to dance, it’s the way I can contribute.” said one woman.

Results

The success of this event was measured especially in the motivation of people in participating in the activities rather than gifts and funds collected.

·People in Bassar discovered the Internet in simple and familiar ways: by songs, dances, sports, etc
·Schoolboys and teachers trained in computer use and Internet
·About US $2,500 was raised
·Recognition and promotion of Bassar culture
·Bassar community worked together for a common cause
·Financial participation from local authorities was very low

The amount of money we collected was insignificant for the creation of the CMC. A part of this amount was used to pay for computer rental, and the activities’ organizational costs. The Club Fan NTIC manages the rest of the money and continues to give life to the club' activities with an increasing number of members.
The good news we had three months late was when Mr. Mbiba Issa, a former teacher in Bassar, asked for our assistance to open a private Internet café in Bassar and this became a reality in 2001. Most of the schoolboys in Bassar now have an email address, but the Internet use cost is still expensive for them.

Lessons

·Community participation and ownership is key to the adoption of new ideas, including the Internet
·Radio Bassaria was an important partner, we urge those undertaking awareness campaigns to use different deliverables to reach different audience
·The process of relationship building with local authorities and decision-makers takes time, and NGOs bringing new ideas must present tangible benefits in order to gain support for initiatives
·Integrating new technologies with cultural elements provides a connection between technology and local norms and allows for participation from a broad socio-economic spectrum of the community
·Setting up CMC structures is expensive and must be funded by income-generating activities or developed through existing facilities that already have a clientele
·End of year is not the suitable period for fund raising, companies are careful with their budget
·The project fund was well managed, the treasurer was a lady

Development Impacts

In most cases lack of awareness is one of the main causes of poor Information technology adoption. The Internet week project opened eyes of youth to possibilities they had not seen before and encouraged their curiosity. Some useful lessons were drawn from this experience. For that matter, the approach was undergoing some modifications before being applied for Sainte-Marie and Tsévié high schools. A collaborative learning community that includes schoolboys and teachers from these three schools is now effective through the national Internet clubs network. Teachers are providing exercises and markings for the "educational content" page of our web site, www.icidev.kabissa.org

Project Information

Organisation : ICI-Dev
Country of activity: Togo [TG]

Are there any partners involved : yes
What is partners role?: Local partners: Local council and Fan NTIC Club

Contact Information

DEJEAN-TCHAPO Obote
pidejean@yahoo.com
B.P. 80960
Lome
Togo

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