Chaîne de Télécentres - Mali

 During the project period, three private telecentres have experimented the technical operation and the management of a telecentre in semi-urban environments (Kita, Fana and Koulikoro). All managed to sustain their operation after the financial support by IICD ended – though it became obvious that setting up and sustaining a telecentre in the Malian context still remains a huge challenge – technically, financially and in terms of human resources.

 Mali has launched an ambitious programme to set up 701 télécentres over the next years to support the newly created local governments (701 municipalities) and to promote development. This project is a part of the 701-telecentre programme (see project ID: Strategy to set-up 701 municipal telecentres to make decentralisation effective). The strategy emphasises that the local community takes the initiative to establish a telecentre and to define its basic functionalities. Possible uses include:

• E-mail and voice messaging
• Secretarial services (writing letters, filling in forms etc.)
• Information exchange between councillors and the public
• Support services to councillors and the administration

Read more about IICD's Mali Country Programme.

The three telecentres acquired extra equipment during the extension period, which should allow them to set up print facilities and other non high-tech services.

Since 2006 the project is in independent continuation. Despite the severe challenges they have faced or still face, the three telecentres managed to continue their operation do respond to local community needs, and are able to generate income, but their financial basis remains weak.

The projects' general objective is to establish and operate 3 urban telecentres and to develop adequate and sustainable management formulae and practices, technical configurations and pricing policies.

The development impact of the three telecentres in the past three years of funding is difficult to measure. However some indicators highlighted that the existence of the telecentres in the three communes enabled the implementation of several activities and strengthened the capacities of numerous persons in the communes.

• In Koulikoro: 3 training workshops and 3 open house days were organised. In total, 200 students, 5 gendarmes , 3 policemen, 5 radio agents, 18 handicapped persons, 10 doctors, 7 collectivity agents, 3 photographers and 5 artisans benefited from ICT tools training.
• In Fana, 100 students, 25 teachers, 10 CMDT agents, 5 communal advisors, 6 young graduates and 1 lawyer benefited from the trainings.  The communes around Fana use the telecentre to develop their tender offers and do their archiving.
• In Kita, more than 350 students and 35 local elus from the communes of the Kita circle use the telecentre for their external contacts and general administration. The telecentre played a major role during the 2004 and 2006 elections, by helping to establish voting lists.

Read more about IICD's approach towards Livelihoods.

Project partner Datatech is a private Malian company that helps companies to profit from new information and communication technologies. In cooperation with foreign partners, Datatech has the ambition to bring a major contribution to knowledge transfer and learning new technologies.