Over the past year, Rwanda -- with a population of 10 million -- has continued to gain momentum in implementing its multimillion-dollar plan to transform the country into a knowledge-based society and economy by 2020.
As described in an Internet Evolution Web Wide World video documentary by Stephen Saunders last October, Rwanda has risen from the ashes of genocide and set its sights on becoming a “world class” information and communication technology (ICT) hub.
“Rwanda is [now] the most peaceful country in the region,” says Wilson Muyenzi, project coordinator with the Rwanda Information Technology Authority. “Hard to believe considering the recent past, but very true.”
The government is rolling out the last of 30 public access Internet sites (known as "telecentres") planned for the Maryland-sized country. In addition to providing basic Internet access, these telecentres offer services such as training clubs for computer literacy and English lessons, according to an article in The Independent, a Ugandan newspaper.
The paper also reports that in mid-July, two specially equipped buses went into service, bringing Internet access to rural areas. These mobile telecentres provide basic ICT training, along with access to printing, scanning, and photocopying gear.
“We are currently building [an internal] national fiber optic backbone that will reach all the 30 districts of Rwanda, all the border posts, and will along the way connect up schools, hospitals, government offices, police posts, and a host of other institutions,” says Muyenzi. “We are also building a national data center, a tier-three data center that will host all government data and applications but will also be available to the private sector.”
Indian and U.S. organizations are also playing major roles in bringing about Rwanda’s e-vision.
Last October, Drishtee, a provider of rural telecentres in India, and Nyamata Teleservice Centre, a rural Rwandan telecentre, signed a memorandum of understanding to develop and deliver a wide range of services, according to a telecentre blog. This is an important step, as Internet access alone will not allow telecentres to be financially viable.
Also providing support is the U.S.-based One Laptop per Child project, which last June launched a “Global Center for Excellence in Laptops and Learning” in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali. Besides raising education quality with connected laptops, the project is meant to “support ongoing laptop implementation plans in Rwanda, and create an African regional laptop network,” according to the sponsors.
Rwanda’s determination and follow-through on its Internet strategy continue to make the country a regional standout. According to regional publication allAfrica.com, Rwanda is among the only countries in the East African Community with a clear ICT policy. It also is among the handful of countries that have started on the One LapTop per Child policy, which is part of the UN Millennium Campaign.
Rwanda’s burgeoning e-infrastructure is even helping to improve relations with its neighbor, the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
“Just a week ago, the presidents of the two countries met at the border -- the very first time the two have met in the absence of an arbitrator,” says Muyenzi. “They went beyond security and political issues and agreed to jointly promote trade and other socioeconomic projects.”
Muyenzi points out an economic incentive behind these improved relations: Private companies are now vying to use Rwanda's fiber optic backbone network to reach the Congolese market.
— Deborah Nason is a freelance writer based in Connecticut.
I do understand what you are saying, but I thought I must mention that the mobile phone is not appropriate for all our needs. So depending on what we need, the Internet may not be indispensable.
It seems to me, that people choose different strategies of using either mobile phones or the Internet. For example, in Russia, for people, mobile phones are still much more important for the communication.Moreover, the Internet is used mostly as a communicative source through the cell phones as well. I mean, for most of the youth, the Internet is only for social networking and IM and they use IM (ICQ) through the cell phones, but other sources of the Internet are non discovered( except porn and p-2-p:))). So for the everyday use, Internet is not nessesary, people can't live without their cell phones
Princess-Dascho, I believe I understand your concerns, but it is interesting to note that if we learn from India (and I am sure other places) it is not that difficult to catch up. In East Africa, I hear mobile payment solutions are an impressive success and they are just being introduced in West Africa.
The increasing adoption of mobile phones across Africa, and yes, this includes rural Africa means that it wouldn't be that difficult to create systems that improve the total positive experience of rural workers in Africa. Appropriate implementation of ICT would help reduce the time and effort needed to "catch up".
Yes, there are many possibilities for creating revenue streams and to improve the livelihood of the rural community. There is so much we can learn from the success stories in India's effort in this regard.
But like we have been discussing can all begin to be realized when the leaders "get it" and become committed.
I do hope Rwanda will succeed and will be an example to many other countries on the continent. But after the deployment, let them not forget to train local engineers and technicians to maintain the installations. One of the biggest problem in Africa is that after the adoption of new technology, we still need western hands to service the equipments. Recently, Cable fault cuts off West Africa causing problem in Benin, Togo, Niger and Nigeria. They are still waiting for the western companies to repair the disruption. At what cost?
No doubt, there are many advantages that Rwanda can benefit from deploying broadband connectivity extended to rural areas. But my concern is whether the population is ready for online transaction. In western countries such as the US people have a long tradiction with credit and debit cards, online money tranfer in such a way that farmers in rural areas found it easy to sell their products online to people who are familiar with such way of doing commerce.
In the case of Rwanda and many other african countries I think this will take time to catch up. We may expect a breakthrough in international transaction, with the rural farmers being represented by a larger cooporate. But individually it will be difficult for them to sell their products on the internet.
But I do believe that this Rwanda's digital policy has the potential to improve people life and help the country forget the past and move forward.
Abdlah, your comments resonate with what I have been witnessing in the US.
Has there been any consideration given to the theory that access to the Internet would help the overall economy by allowing people living in rural areas to develop new businesses? Is that concept too nebulous to garner any support from governments?
My friends in rural areas of the US have started several small businesses where they sell products on the Internet. Still, using a dial up connection severely limits their ability to have any sort of store front on the Web.
Another example is the rural farmers, they are very proficient in commodities trading, but dial up connections are less than adequate for such a purpose.
There seems to be many possible revenue streams that could help people living in rural areas improve their situation.
You are welcome Mr. Kassner. In Ghana, there is both the financial and technical aspects of the divide.
It is true that infrastructure development is expensive. But thanks to the telecoms, there is proper dispersion and availability of connectivity. However it seems that the telecoms are more interested in making money quickly rather than smartly. By this, I mean they have systems that are not properly tuned to perform effectively and also they are always selling more services that their current infrastructure can support.
In effect we have connectivity that constantly drops, is busy, or cannot be reached.
On the other hand, though government in Ghana wants to extend connectivity to the rural areas, the telecoms have no such interest because they are sparsely populated. So there is a lopsided development in infrastructure. The government is trying to help in this area to a funded that subsidizes all ICT infrastructure development that is not government related.
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