Problem statement

Approach to reduce poverty through the use of ICTs and knowledge sharing is becoming a priority among civil society organizations and development agencies through out the world.  Local institutions with ICT tools e.g. Telecentres are increasingly becoming important institutional platforms for poverty reduction interventions particularly among rural communities around Africa. They provide various opportunities for local people who use the institutions and ICT tools to share knowledge, acquire agricultural information services, to advance their development agenda and reduce poverty and access to social justice.

However, like any other local institutions telecentres cannot sustainably exist without institutional or capacity support either from within countries or externally.

A number of regional and national telecentre groupings are emerging in Africa and Asia to catalyze the work of telecentres and provide necessary capacities to support local populations; an example is the East African Telecentre Forum. The EATF is now becoming a formidable information platform is East Africa through which national networks and community telecentres are deriving and sharing development information services and practical development experiences that they use in poverty alleviation activities.  

In southern African countries, community telecentres exist but remain uncoordinated. The example of Botswana Telecentre Network and Telecentre Association of South Africa (TASA) are examples that can be used and nurtured to benefit other countries in the region through a regional telecentre network. Telecentres and ICT based organizations in the region lack coordinated institutional platform through which information sharing opportunities and experiences can be fostered to benefit populations for development. National telecentre initiatives remain unsupported and lack regional and international linkages as well as capacity to scale up their activities and reach out to their communities.

Therefore, increasing need for regional coordination and an institutional network for development have become more paramount than before in southern Africa.

The Southern Africa telecentre Network (SATNET) is an emerging regional ICT initiative in the region that will provide opportunities for fostering information sharing and capacity building the work of telecentres and ICT4D in Southern Africa. The concept to establish a SATNET as regional ICT4D network was born in October 2006 during a conference hosted by the first Africa Telecentre Leaders Forum in Port Novo Benin, West Africa. The conference, sponsored by IDRC, Telecenter.org, Microsoft, UNESCO and Swiss Development Cooperation who brought together over 80 telecentre leaders from Africa and other continents such as the Caribbean and South Asia.

SATNET was further endorsed by the International Sustainable Telecentre Africa workshop held in Lusaka in June 2008. The workshop was supported by ACP Centre for Agricultural and Technical Cooperation (CTA). During the workshop sessions, Southern Africa participants met and resolved to upscale the work of SATNET whose secretariat is based in Lusaka, Zambia.

SATNET existence is further justified by regional protocols such as

• African Information Society Initiative (AISI)
• NEPAD ICT Framework
• African Regional Action Plan on the Knowledge Economy (ARAPKE)
• SADC Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP).

Written by :

Koda Traoré