Rural Internet Kiosks -â Overview - Africa Rural Connect

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Knowledge Development Facilitates Skills Development ICT can help create and sustain new opportunities for economic development. Accelerated knowledge transfer and technological diffusion amplify the competitive advantages of fast-evolving economies. As the information requirements for innovation in economic and social activities increase, the importance of ICT for the development agenda will continue to expand. The first step in knowledge development is for rural people to learn basic computer skills. Most of the computer training in rural areas focuses on what are referred to as the “7 basic packages” which is restricted to the Microsoft Office suite. While understanding these productivity tools is important, the learning ends before the Internet is reached. Rural Internet Kiosk operators can take online training courses in ICT4D, Social Business, Web 2.0, and Local content generation among others. Youth who have been through training will have access to additional online trainings in subject areas seldom considered as potential employment opportunities thereby broadening their horizons. The central point in the training is to empower the people to seek knowledge to find solutions for their local development issues and to create sustainable employment. ICT Skills and Enterprise The youth of Africa are the key drivers in reaching the internationally agreed upon objectives for the creation of the Information Society outlined in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Plan of Action and the Vision 20-‐2020. An article published on 28 th of May on the eAfrica websites shows the immediate need for youth enterprise through ICT. “The e-‐Africa 2010 Conference was held in Abuja last week with the theme, National ICT4D: Implications for Vision 20-‐2020 at the Shehu Musa YarÁdua Centre in Abuja. By the time the two plenary sessions of the first day were concluded, it had become clear that the nation needed a lot of policies targeted at youths, urgently, if Vision 20-‐2020 is to be realized since they will be the drivers of the economy a few years hence.” iSustainable ICTs are an international agenda item as per the Millennium Declaration, the Monterrey Consensus and the Johannesburg Declaration and Plan of Implementation will require training in hardware, software, the Internet, business skills, and computer science. There are young people across the country who are willing and eager to take part in this Digital Age. What they lack is the opportunity. Opportunities such as education and capital for business development will lead Africa into the knowledge economy. If the roll out of Internet services is accompanied by low cost training and access, it will facilitate the educate
of the population. The central component missing from the field are ice-‐breaking technologies taught in a way that is easily understood. The Internet can be a tool for economic growth with particular emphasis on human capital development. Where there is human capital development, economic development is likely to follow. The benefits in terms of human and economic development will lead to business development. The Power of IT to help the low income population “In several major areas, IT can play a powerful role in bringing an end to poverty.” Some of the unique capabilities of new ITs for serving the world's poorest people are 1 : I. The new IT can help to integrate the poor in the process of globalization by expanding their markets through e-‐commerce. Properly applied, the new IT can largely eliminate middlemen who fail to add unique value, allowing people in the poorest countries to work directly with consumers (donors and investors) in the developed world and create international job opportunities through electronically enabled outsourcing. II.III.IV.The new IT can promote self-‐employment among the poor liberating them from reliance on corporate employment or government work programs. This unleashes untold potential in creativity, energy, and productivity. Armed with a cell phone and an Internet connection, a African villager can launch an enterprise that serves customers in Lagos or Abuja, London, or New York, transcending the vagaries of local economic fluctuations and market conditions. The new IT can bring education, knowledge and skill training to the poor in a very friendly way. One huge barrier to economic advancement for those in developing countries has been the sheer difficulty, cost, and inconvenience of bringing teachers, consultants and other suppliers of outside expertise into remote villages that are separated from capital cities by mountains, rivers, jungles, deserts, or hundreds of kilometers of inadequate roads. There are many purposes the Internet serves in helping to eliminate barriers making it possible, for example, for dairy farmers in a remote region of Bangladesh or Africa to consult with an agricultural expert in Beijing or Chicago about the latest techniques for improving the health of cattle or increasing crop yields. The best aspect of the new IT is that it cannot be controlled by a single owner or authority. It is an empowering tool that enhances opportunity and brings all the world's knowledge to everyone's doorstep. 1 The following is lifted directly from:
Page 1 and 2: Rural Internet Kiosks -‐ Ov
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Page 5: Infrastructure Challenges and So
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Rural Internet Kiosks -â Overview - Africa Rural Connect

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Rural Internet Kiosks -â Overview - Africa Rural Connect