Telecentre Sustainability: Lessons from India and Africa on Implementing a Social Enterprise Approach

Telecentres have been playing a growing role in empowering those without access to technology or information. Their users are found among school children in Zambia to farmers in India.

Increasingly governments have been spending money on establishing telecentre systems. In 2005, the Ghanian government began launching hundreds of telecentres across the country. Not only do telecentres extend access to ICT, they also foster the exchange of ideas, civil and government participation in development and so on.

Can telecentres be commercially-viable social enterprises? This is the question that Mayanja Meddie looks at in her paper, Rethinking Telecentre Sustainability: How to Implement A Social Enterprise Approach – Lessons from India and Africa. In this paper, the author explores different approaches — from Drishtee in India to Centre Songhai in Benin – to telecentre sustainability and analyzes the strengths and weakness of each approach.

Read the full paper here.