DIGITAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR AFRICA: COMMUNITY MULTIMEDIA CENTRES UNESCO/AMARC, Dakar, June, 2003 INFORMATION, EDUCATION, COMMUNICATION: HOW TO PROVIDE IT, HOW TO GET IT Polly Gaster, CIUEM, Mozambique

 Power = physical access to resources + capacity to use them  Development = circulation and redistribution of information resources  Information = a public good (not a market commodity)  Content & infrastructure = mutual interdependence STARTING POINTS

 CMC managers / committees / activists  CMC users  CMC outreach activities WHO NEEDS THE CONTENT?

 Language – Official? Local?  Target group – Direct? Indirect? External?  Technical level – User equipment? Skills?  Relevance – Usefulness to users? WHAT KIND OF CONTENT?

TECHNICAL FORMATS SoftwareAdaptations, training for use InternetProducing websites, discussion forums, hotmail, information searches Correspondence, networking, campaigns, news bulletins, discussion groups CD-RomsFlexible format, high volume, cheap, durable REDISTRIBUTIONRadio, newspaper, noticeboard, theatre, posters …

General information needs:  Health issues (eg AIDS, malaria, hygiene)  Education (material for teachers, students, non-formal)  Local and national news  Local events, deaths, etc  Weather, agriculture, disasters Women’s specific needs:  Help for income generation  Moral education for the young The need to speak and be heard:  Local production, national production MOZAMBIQUE’S EXPERIENCE

Websites:  for users, eg teachers, telecentre managers  about telecentres, for outside  about Mozambique/Mozambican matters CD-Roms:  for education  information – History of Mozambique, Census, investment, legislation, information for women …  open learning – Malaria project  resources for telecentres Networking and training:  discussion list, exchange visits Radio and other forms of communication/ transformation MOZAMBIQUE’S EXPERIENCE

 “I have used to spread the word about the products that I and my colleagues produce, and … it works! Our products earn our living and our children’s too.”  “I have two children studying in South Africa. Now I go to the telecentre every day to read their messages and send replies. They thought it was someone else sending s in my name because I wouldn’t be able to do it.” Two women from the Women’s Forum course CONCLUSIONS