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Telecentre.org Academy Global Meeting Who is Who

We are here

Who are we and where are we from

Country: ColombiaLeading organization: ColnodoAgents involved in the NTA: Ministerio de Comunicaciones de Colombia, Programa Compartel, Corporación Makaia, Corporación Colombia Digital, Universidad Autónoma de Occidente, UAOWorking languages in the NTA: Spanish

• Colnodo works on the following strategic programs:

• e-government and e-democracy: the core project of this program is internet for accountability, a software that allows the implementation and administration of webpages and has been installed in more than a thousand Colombian municipalities.

• Fostering citizen participation in the use and appropriation of ICTs: its main project is Telecentres strengthening, in which the projects National Telecentre Academy, Knowledge Management and the National Telecentre Network are developed.

• Policies for ICT: with the support of APC (Association for Communication Progress) ICT-related information useful for the civil society is monitored, researched and spread.

• Research, development and knowledge management.

What do we do

N...umber of telecentres in your country

I prefer leaving the N because it is difficult to establish an exact number of telecentres in Colombia. There are at least four kinds of telecentres:

1. Installed by the national government (Compartel with 1490 telecentres)

2. Installed by local governments (state or municipalities such as Infocali, Puntos comunes, telecentros in Manizales)

3. Installed by private companies (la Empresa de Teléfonos de Bogotá, Microsoft)

4. Installed by civil society organizations (Universidad Autónoma de Occidente, Universidad del Cauca, Colnodo, Fundación Renacer, etc., between one and three telecentres).

There are also the ICT public access centers that are not necessarily acknowledged as telecentres.

Which are the most outstanding telecentre networks or actions in your country?

There is a national telecentre network working as a non formal network. In the past Nacional Telecentre Meeting a Coordinating Committee was elected integrated by 7 organizations among which are Ministerio de Comunicaciones, Colnodo and other allied organizations in Colombia.

Some of the outstanding activities of Telecentre National Network are National Meetings. We have held 4 national meetings between the years 2001 and 2007. The next meeting will be held in Medellín, Colombia, from October 23 to October 25..

The objectives of meetings are training telecentre managers in topics related to their job and also discussing and planning the future of Red Nacional de Telecentros.

Telecentres in your country

N...umber of telecentres in your country

Does the NTA leading organization manage a telecentre network? If so, how many telecentres are in the network?

Colnodo, coordinator of the Academy, is a member of the Coordinating Committee and the Network. Other allied organizations are members of the Network.

The members of the Committee have proposed the Academy as the main project of the National Telecentre Network because of its national impact on hundreds of telecentres. The fact that this proposal has been made by the members is worthy of mention and we hope it will become reality in the next meeting.

What are the most popular tasks and usages in the telecentre?

In telecentres with a basic level or a limited appropriation, the use of the telecentre is based on the offer of internet services (email, chat, surfing, …) games and web search for school assignments .

In telecentres with a higher level of appropriation, alliances with local agents have been sought, training courses in the use of ICTs and varied topics are done, and information and communication contents are produced, among other activities.

Which social groups use the telecentre most frequently?

Children and youngsters. That is why we work on behalf of social appropriation so that other agents of the community – women, senior adults, male adults - may benefit from the use of ICTs.

Telecentres in your country

What word do you use to refer to a motivator in your country? Facilitator, but the person who manages the telecentre is known as manager, operator or coordinator.

How is a telecentre motivator’s professional profile in your country? Usually, the person who manages the telecentre has a high school education level. There is also a significant percentage of operators who only have a primary education level. Some managers have a technical profile and in many cases, they are very committed to their communities. These people do a volunteer work as they do not earn a salary and their incomes depend on the services rendered in the telecentre. Those who coordinate telecentre projects are usually professional people.

Facilitators

1500.umber of potential motivators who could be reached in the future

What is your experience on motivator training up to now?

About motivator training

Training

Training resources

E-learning training

Colnodo has been working on telecentres and training processes since1997 when it installed the Neighborhood Information Units. The training processes for telecentre managers have had a regular attendance format. National Telecentre Academy has been the opportunity to make regular attendance courses become virtual and especially to reach more telecentre managers. At present we have 7 online courses: Starting the telecentrePlanning the digital literacy workshop Creativity and ICTsBlogs in the telecentreWriting and editing in the telecentreSocial entrepreneurism in telecentresFostering telecentres and sensitizing regarding ICTs

What is your experience on motivator training up to now?

About motivator training

Training

Training resources

E-learning training

Each course lasts for a month, it is made up of 4 modules, and each module lasts for a week.Courses prioritize theoretical, methodological and practical aspects trying to make telecentre managers keep useful resources for the development of their telecentre. It has been a challenge to make courses didactic and have topics match the managers’ needs.

Describe shortly : how long have you been working on motivator training, for how many motivators, what kind of courses/training have been delivered, what e-learning platform are you using, what sort of resources are you offering, and the information you think is useful.

What is your experience on motivator training up to now?

About motivator training

Each course corresponds to a curricular plan that was designed based on a set of training needs identified in the National Telecentre Meetings. This plan has a thematic axis (leadership, communication, methodologies, technical training) and an advance axis (basic, intermediate, and advanced.)

At present we are using e-ducativa platform as advised by Fundación Esplai.

Describe shortly : how long have you been working on motivator training, for how many motivators, what kind of courses/training have been delivered, what e-learning platform are you using, what sort of resources are you offering, and the information you think is useful.

What are your expectations from the meeting? What is your motivation? What needs are you expecting to fulfill?

To know other experiences of National Telecentre academies in other countries all over the world. To take lessons, methodologies and resources from other academies that we can use in our academy in Colombia. To discuss possible alliances with other academies, especially those of other Spanish-speaking countries. To share our experience with the academy in Colombia.

Motivation, needs, contributions

What could you contribute to the meeting? What are your organization’s strengths?Mainly our experience in the development and strengthening of telecentres in Colombia and the lessons learned during the last year with the National Telecentre Academy. Something I am interested in sharing is the fact that the Academy is part of a process of strengthening that must be thought of as having several components: regular attendance training, social appropriation in telecentres, telecentre evaluation, and strengthening of telecentre networks. This is what we are doing in Colombia: a process that articulates several components and agents including Ministerio de Comunicaciones, of course, with the purpose of making an impact on the greatest number of telecentres in various topics and levels.

Motivation, needs, contributions

The Academy should articulate several alliances. In the Colombian case, although Colnodo is the coordinator, the alliance with the Ministery and organizations member of the National Telecentre Network guarantees a stronger impact and sustainability. We still have to articulate an alliance with an educational institution autorized by Ministerio de Educación to issue certificates.

Thank youTelecentre.org Academy Global Meeting