Meeting between IICD/Afriklinks and telecentre stakeholders in Mali: which telecentre models should be propagated in the long term?

This process comprises three major activities: production of a video documentary; a meeting with key players in the field; a debate on national television in Mali.

The meeting of key stakeholders was held on Tuesday, 30 October 2007, at the headquarters of Afriklinks in Bamako, Mali. The day-long meeting included projection of the film produced by IICD, various presentations, workshops and discussion in plenary sessions.

It must be recognised that IICD was quite right to produce a film giving a comparative perspective on Mali’s experiences with telecentres. The film has been screened several times on Mali’s national television and during other meetings in Mali and elsewhere. This provided the first grounds for satisfaction on the part of meeting participants, as the video brought them all up to date. Even better, according to UNESCO representative Mr Ousmane Bamba, “it is a unifying film”.

Some participants, however, found the film somewhat pessimistic as to the future of telecentres. This depends rather on the behaviour of the direct administrators. Otherwise, the terms of reference are not at all negative, pointed out Mrs Bénédicte Marcilly, “Knowledge Sharing” Programme Officer at IICD.

One partner wanted to see a change in the behaviour of telecentres, which show a tendency to conceal their successful experiences and all they have learned.  In fact, however, all telecentres recognise the persistence of basic problems such as connectivity, community ownership, viability / sustainability, government participation, etc.

Fortunately, all the organisations and resource persons invited were able to attend the meeting: the state, local authorities, the Telecentres Federation of Mali (FETEMA), technical and financial partners, telecom operators, etc.

The assessment presented by the film was supplemented by a presentation made by the chairperson of Afriklinks, Mrs Maiga Aminata. Afriklinks is an organisation that works with the FETEMA, with support from the IDRC, telecentre.org, USAID Mali, Microsoft and the Swiss cooperation agency.

After the presentations by Bénédicte Marcilly of the IICD and Maiga Aminata of Afriklinks, the participants were better informed on the situation of telecentres, from the moment when former President Alpha Oumar KONARE called for the promotion of such centres to the present day. The main revelation is that all parties involved, except the central government, have played a remarkable role. They are all working together on the project to connect all 703 municipalities in Mali to the Internet. Unfortunately, the state agency in charge of ICT (Agence des Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication, or AGETIC) does not seem to be building on the efforts made to this point by the partners. To date, some 50 of the 703 municipalities have been connected.

It emerged from the discussions that the state needs to be more receptive to the requests of telecentres. For telecentre stakeholders, however, this requires setting up a real advocacy and lobbying programme. In this regard, the FETEMA can work with the ToguNet network, which has experience in this area. Themes to be addressed include better connectivity, the revival of the ICT resource centre and the start-up of the guarantee fund at the level of the Telecommunications Regulation Committee (CRT).

In terms of connectivity, the meeting provided the occasion for the telecoms operator Orange Mali to present its products. Orange might provide Internet access throughout Mali. Although it is a commercial enterprise, the company is open to dialogue on matters of public interest. Its representative Mr Guindo even reminded participants that the Ikatel Foundation might also contribute through grants if approached by telecentre operators.

The representative of local authorities made the last presentation of the day. But his mere presence was a comfort, as the local communities that host the telecentres are always conspicuous by their absence at such meetings. This despite the fact that the Malian Municipalities Association (AMM) has a very large ICT resource centre and that local communities were involved from the outset in bringing ICT to Mali.

The day of discussions was highly rewarding. Now that all these stakeholders have met, they must not lose sight of one another. They will continue to work in synergy through other consultations and advocacy activities.

IICD’s process of documentation and evaluation of the three leading models of telecentres (IICD, USAID, UNESCO) in Mali is thus nearly complete; only the debate on national TV remains to be held.

By Filifing Diakite