telecentre.org, NESsT and TechSoup Global join forces to promote the sustainability of Telecentre Networks in Latin America

One of the main challenges facing telecentres over the years is how to achieve sustainability, a critical element in the long-term development of telecentres and their networks. While several initiatives have emerged to promote telecentre sustainability in Latin America, telecentre networks continue to seek strategies capable of addressing all aspects of a network and the organization that brings network members together. However, most of these have been isolated efforts, with few successful models and best practices that can be replicated.

To address this situation, an innovative, regional initiative has recently been launched to achieve the self-sustainability of telecentre networks by expanding and improving their revenue-generating services. The project is being carried out by telecentre.org and three of its Latin American partners (Brazil’s ATN, CDI Chile and Colombia’s Fundación EPM), in partnership with NESsT and TechSoup Global—worldwide leaders in the effort to promote social enterprise activities and technological empowerment, respectively. This initiative focuses on social entrepreneurship and management excellence to guarantee its social impact.

For more than 16 months NESsT and TechSoup Global will support the participating networks as they develop sustainability models based on building alliances with suppliers wishing to market their services in communities served by the telecentres.

The model is innovative because it seeks to position telecentre networks as distribution channels for services offered by private companies and governments. Telecentres play a key role in delivering services to their communities, which enables them to expand the services they offer while generating revenue for themselves and for the network and providing the community with more democratic access to new services.

According to Florencio Ceballos, Program Manager at telecentre.org, “The only way to achieve telecentre self-sustainability is to offer more and better services. The importance of this project promoted by telecentre.org in partnership with NESsT and TechSoup Global is that it will enable the exploration of future sustainability under real conditions. This approach will include concepts such as social entrepreneurship, business models for nonprofit organizations, distribution channels serving the base of the pyramid and second-generation services”.
Ceballos emphasizes that the project should also benefit the global telecentre movement—with more than 300,000 access points around the world—which must reinvent itself in order to successfully meet the challenges of the coming decades.

At the project launch in Santiago, Chile in February, telecentre network representatives agreed on the importance of developing effective distribution channels. Eugenio Vergara, executive director of CDI Chile, affirmed that “On a global level, community telecentres face tremendous difficulties because they lack the instruments, support and strategies to strengthen their sustainability. This project is extremely important not only to the participating networks but also to the worldwide telecentre movement”.

To build capacities in the three networks and consolidate them as effective distribution channels, NESsT and TechSoup Global will simultaneously strengthen each network's social enterprise and management skills, as well as their distribution channels.

A major contribution of this project will be the production and distribution of a toolbox to enable the replication of distribution channel business models and training processes in other telecentre networks.

Since the project launch, NESsT and TechSoup Global have conducted an extensive and detailed assessment of the participating networks in order to identify products that they could potentially introduce. The assessments have led to a rich discussion and reflection on current business models and partnerships, organizational management, performance of current product and service portfolios and the capacities and existing relationships with telecentres belonging to each network.

During July 13 - 17 the networks and projects partners will be meeting in Medellin, Colombia in order to complete training in channel elements development and Business Plan research and writing.

About the project partners:

ATN – Brazil

With 1,250 telecentres, the Asociación de Telecentros de Información y Negocios (Association of Information and Business Telecentres, known as ATN) states its mission as follows: To promote participation in inclusive processes by expanding telecentres and guiding and training operators, users and the general public in managing and utilizing technological tools to access or generate information that enhances community integration.
Further information: http://www.atn.org.br


CDI – Chile

The Comité para la Democratización de la Informática en Chile (Committee for the Democratization of Information Technology, known as CDI) is a member of the social franchise of CDI Internacional and operates 22 telecentres. Its mission is to promote educational activities through the use of information technology (Information Technology and Citizenship Schools), in order to integrate members of low-income communities and reduce levels of digital exclusion.
Further information: http://www.cdichile.org

Fundación EPM - Colombia

The mission of Fundación EPM, a public-private partnership which operates 11 telecentres, is to develop a knowledge-based culture that promotes active citizen participation in urban development through the use of information technologies.
Further information: http://www.fundacionepm.org.co/punto_comun/index.php


Telecentre.org

Based at the headquarters of the International Development Research Centre (IDR), telecentre.org is a joint initiative that connects telecentres, networks, innovators, social investors and other interest groups sharing the belief that information and communication technology use at the local level strengthens individuals and the communities to which they belong. Telecentre.org makes social investments and provides services to strengthen community-based telecentre networks.


NESsT

NESsT works to solve critical social problems in emerging market countries by developing and supporting social enterprise activities that strengthen civil society organizations' financial sustainability and maximize their social impact. NESsT invests in a portfolio of 40 social enterprise activities in Latin America and Central Europe. Since 2006, NESsT has supported the development of social enterprise activities by telecentre networks and their members in Latin America, Africa and Asia.
Further information: www.nesst.org


TechSoup Global:

With a model founded upon building partnerships among a range of different actors, TechSoup Global is a recognized leader in technological empowerment and the channeling of philanthropic resources toward social benefit organizations. With over six years in operation and 31 partners – software and hardware suppliers- TechSoupStock has used its donation channel to distribute products valued at more than $1 billion. In 2006, TechSoup Global launched a global donations program to expand the benefits of this model to 18 countries.
Further information: www.techsoupglobal.org

Contact
Jimena Betancourt
jbetancourt@nesst.org