The network TICBolivia dispels the myth that ICTs are there only to be used by urban ruling classes

On August 25th, Red TICBolivia organized an event at the Modesta Sanjines Hall of the Casa de la Cultura, in the city of La Paz. During the event, one of the most important conclusions drawn by the discussion panel, “ICT, a tool for well-being”, was the need to redirect the efforts in the field of ICT projects, (Information and Communication Technologies), in order to assure more benefits for the final users.

The voice of end users has to be heard
During the aforementioned event, four successful experiences were presented, concerning the use of ICT for Development. The peculiarity of these presentations was that they referred to experiences that had not been carried out by experts in the field of ICT or by project owners, but by the beneficiaries themselves, who had appropriated these tools, offered by modern technologies and used them efficiently to find solutions for their own problems and according to their particular needs.

Two of the experiences exposed during the event were the ones carried out by AYNI and APCOB in the sector of education. They were able to provide evidence that, by using ICT, pupils have less difficulty in understanding educational contents, as these technologies are an effective support for the teacher’s chore in the classroom.

Likewise, AOPEB, by means of the evidence offered by two final users of its projects, demonstrated the important role that ICT are playing to improve production in the sector of agriculture. “The information, available for us thanks to the Internet, facilitates our work and it is of great help when we want to identify new markets and to improve our crops.” This was one of the sentences emphasized by the final users of the information centers implemented by the AOPEB.

Finally, CIDOB explained how this institution is using the Internet and the different information technologies to make improvements in the mission of having indigenous peoples manage their own territories. Personal computers, community radios, short wave radios and other ICTs are not only allowing at present the flow of quick and effective information for final users but also they have managed to put together many mechanisms of solidarity among the different indigenous peoples. In this way, the members of the project are able to offer support for the demands of all the partners and to share their experiences in many specific fields of activity.

The need to focus more on the end user
Next, a discussion panel on ICT was presented, under the accurate direction of Carlos Soria Galvarro, director of PADEM. The panelists were: Leonidas Cabezas, Managing Director for Communications at MDRAMA, Geraldine Zeuner representative of the COSUDE, Amparo Subieta representative of the SITTEL, Marisol Murillo, the Web site manager of La Red in the FAM and Edwin Rocha, Managing Director of the network TIC Bolivia.

The initial issue for discussion was the need to produce changes, with a focus on the new social actors, indigenous peoples and small agricultural producers, in order to help them appropriate the new technologies. The subject was suggested by Leonidas Cabezas, from the Ministry of Rural, Agricultural and Environmental Development, who assured that it is now time for marginalized indigenous peoples to become the real actors of the projects. He added that these peoples are now prepared to be key participants and to start ignoring NGOs. He affirmed that these social actors must not go on being passive beneficiaries any more but that they deserve to get as much information as possible, in order to be able to make efficient decisions by them and choose the best way to manage their own resources. He concluded by saying that indigenous peoples and small rural producers are perfectly able to prioritize their needs.

According to Amparo Subieta, representative of the Superintendence of Telecommunications, SITTEL, the institution by her represented is at present undergoing a process of transformation, trying, precisely, to get closer to the end users of its projects. SITTEL is adopting new mechanisms of regulation in order to meet many unsatisfied needs. Listening to the people’s demands is not enough; the access to new technologies has to be strengthened in order to reach effectively the final users, mainly those residing in remote areas of the country. The Superintendence has a strong commitment to support the National Policy for Development being conducted by the present government. This policy is propped up by three main factors: the contents, the promotion of the universal access to the services and the implementation of community radios.

Marisol Murillo, representative of the FAM, put forward the experience of the portal Enlared Municipal. She stressed the role played by the portal in municipal issues and as a support for the management of local governments, mainly by fostering the use of ICT in every municipal government in the country. Thanks to this portal, local governments in rural areas have now the possibility to appear in the national mass media, something that would have been impossible without the use of these new technological tools. Now, in this way, rural areas can not only put their problems into words but also disseminate their achievements. Enlared Municipal has also managed to include these new technologies in the municipal management. At present, local governments are devoted to having their own web pages and they all use the tools offered by new technologies, as a way to facilitate the transparency of the management and to assure the flow of information. 

Geraldine Zeuner spoke on behalf of international cooperation and more specifically of COSUDE, the Swiss Agency of Cooperation for Development. She explained the priority given to ICT related projects in her institution, as a way to struggle against poverty and marginalization. According to Zeuner, the key factors for changes are inherent in the possibility to use ICT as a tool to gain access to information, as a means of communication and, particularly, as a channel to express the needs of end users. She also affirmed that any institutional work accomplished in the institution and involving the use of ICT has to start from a deep knowledge of the real needs of the communities that have been chosen as beneficiaries of the projects. This process of knowledge is not always easy. Nevertheless, it has to be done, particularly in rural areas, as a way to improve, as quickly as possible, life conditions for everybody. It is absolutely necessary to give empowerment to the communities that have succeeded in understanding that to gain access to ICT is a priority.

Finally, the network TICBolivia, through the words of its president, Edwin Rocha, focused on emphasizing the need to build up a strong network. A network capable to carry out effective actions with a positive influence on the decision making processes of policies concerning ICT for development. “Single-handed actions are condemned to be a failure, said Rocha, and this is the main reason why the different actors of ICT related projects have to work together for the achievement of their common goals”.

One of the most important accomplishments of the network TICBolivia has been its capacity to break many myths: one of them being that peasants and indigenous peoples are not able to use the new technologies and that these new tools are not useful for development purposes. The challenges for the network are many and very different. Luckily there are many opportunities and possibilities that are worth to be taken into consideration.

The conclusions
To end up the meeting, Carlos Soria defined some important points as conclusions of the panel.

• The government is trying to redirect the use of ICT in order to benefit rural and indigenous communities.  
• The need for universal access to ICT has to be stressed. Experiences like the one carried out by the FAM, in a process of technological merging, have proved to be successful and they are worth being replicated.
• Results are never automatic A serious work has to be done not only to develop appropriate technological conditions but also to generate the need to use the new information and communication technologies.  
• Isolated efforts are useless. Only the synergy among different institutions can lead to successful results. This is precisely the most important virtue of the Network TICBolivia. It has succeeded in showing to its partners the way to combine different forms of using ICT in favor of national development.