commonspace

Sarvodaya circles (again)

Moratuwa, Sri Lanka – May 5+6, 2006: Sarvodaya is an organization that has brought millions of Sri Lankans together over the past five decades, all against a background of conflict, religious differences and poverty. They know how to make a movement based on shared labour (shramadana) and common consciousness (sarvodaya). They know how to make a network.

Watching Sarvodaya use its community organizing talents to bring together a family of telecentre operators from across Sri Lanka continues to amaze me. The event over the past two days included 150 people from a variety of telecentre programs: ICTA Nanasala's and eLibraries; Sarvodaya telecentres and village information centres; Ministry of Agriculture rural knowledge centres; and even the UNESCO CMC in Kotmale. There were also people from all parts of the country and all religions, despite the flare up in conflict last week.

Through a series of participatory exercises, these people became more than just friends with common interests. They became a functioning network ready to get things done, together. Over the course of the event, they mapped out concrete plans for each of the three main areas of the telecentre family project: awareness raising and grassroots marketing; training for telecentre managers; development of services and quality standards for telecentres in 1000 villages across the country. And, they did this with passion, many staying up until 2am the first night preparing presentations their parts of the project.

What impressed me most was the outdoor closing circle, with everyone (including me and Shaddy) sitting on straw mats and sharing dreams for the telecentre family in 2010. This included a hilarious role play story showing national unity emerging from increased access to communications and knowledge. The circle also surfaced 30 people willing to lead regional telecentre family activities, all of them village level telecentre operators and 1/3 of them women. It was in this circle that I really felt the sense of family at its deepest, feeling that this network really has started to gel. As I have said before, Sarvodaya circles are powerful things.

Smiles :-)

Cairo, Egypt

Seeing a huge smile on the face of an Egyptian telecentre trainer was the best reward I could have hoped for, and a good reminder of why I am in this game.

Visiting an IT Club (aka telecentre) called YES Giza in Cairo, I had a chance to meet four young trainers and their manager Eng. Sohair El Said Amira. They toured me around two of their centres, proudly showing me computer labs, training rooms and, in one case, a view of the Nile. With Arabic - English translation by Ghada Khalifa from Microsoft, they also told me about the services they offered and the community they work with.

As with many successful telecentres, YES Giza is a community organization that added in technology to supplement the services they already offer. YES offers employment counselling, support for young entrepreneurs, language training and, over the last few years, computer skills training and Internet access. The computer side of things was supported with an initial investment in hardware by Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, and has slowly woven into the rest of what YES does.

One key learning from the visit: Egyptian IT Clubs are a diverse lot. Before coming to Cairo, all I knew was that the government had helped establish 600 IT clubs – it sounded somewhat cookie cutter from the outside. But just like telecentres elsewhere, different organizations have taken the centralized program and run with it in their own ways, mixing computers and the Internet in with services like the ones YES Giza offers. Talking to Sohair, it was clear that a number of creative approaches had emerged.

Which brings me back to the smile. I was in a conversation with the first young trainer, asking whether or not he collaborated with other trainers and IT club staff. Big smile! "Yes, at the five other YES Giza sites." What about people in other IT Clubs in Cairo? Straight face. "No." Would that be useful, to connect up with others? Big smile again! "Yes, I learn so much, trade curriculum changes and stuff, with the other YES staff. We talk constantly. I would love to have more people to talk to like this."

Telecentre people are passionate people. But, often, they're also isolated – only a few peers, or none at all. So, when the potential of a connecting up and networking with others who share their passion arises, there are big smiles. It's like the idea of a telecentre party. Which makes me think that's what we need to do: help people throw telecentre parties, everywhere, and often. Time to get cracking.