Gov’t offers grants for strengthening Philippine telecentres

The Philippine government, through the Philippine Community eCenter Program Management Office (PhilCeC PMO) which is under the stewardship of the Commission on ICT, has announced the availability of grant packages for the strengthening of existing telecentres – locally branded as “Community eCenters” or “CeCs”.

Packages include:

• Equipment package
The equipment package grant seeks to augment the CeC’s need for hardware and equipment to reinforce the services and output of the CeC and, possibly, to expand the number of services offered by the CeC.

• Scholarship package
This grant seeks to provide CeC workers the knowledge and skills necessary in CeC management, through the formal courses of the telecentre.org-Philippine CeC Academy (tPCA).

• Connectivity package
The connectivity grant will address the CeC’s need for connectivity and access through the provision of a free subscription to an Internet service for one year.

• Study visit package
In the study visit grant, CeC knowledge workers will be given the opportunity to visit other CeCs to exchange knowledge, experiences and success stories in CeC management. A study visit is a valuable tool for learning as it allows CeC managers nationwide to share and replicate successful practices in their own CeCs.

With 250 slots available, application for any of the grant packages is open to all telecentre initiatives nationwide, to include privately funded telecentres.

Additional information is available at the Philippine CeC portal.