Connecting communities by creating digital
opportunities in rural Rwanda
Brussels Policy Briefing
Brussels,14th September 2011
European Commission, Building Borschette, Rue Froissart, 36Brussels
by Paul BARERA
Executive Director, RTN
pbarera@yahoo.fr;pbarera@rtnrwanda.org
ww.rtnrwanda.org
Content
1. The face of rural Rwanda
2. Me and Nyamata Telecentre
3. Taking the Nyamata model to 1,000 villages
4. How does our model addresses development
challenges of rural Rwanda
5. What I have learned….
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Key specifications of a mid- size village in Rwanda
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Population size:5,000 people
Population under 35: 64%
Subsistence farmers:89%
Illiteracy rate:15%
Household with electricity:1.3%
Mob phone penetration
(General):30%
• Internet
penetration(General):1.8%
• Pop with less than 2
USD/day:62%
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Here is where my Ambition started...
 2004:Paul is a graduate in
Management with a passion to setup
a rural ICT enterprise
 2004:Paul establish Nyamata
Telecentre with the support of AED
To day the centre operates in its own
building
 In 2004 :it is a small centre with 6
computers,6 tables,6 chairs, all –inone printer and 2 employees
 Today : the centre employs 25 full
time staff and more than 100 people
visit the centre every day
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The sustainability and impact are possible due to service
diversification
Community product delivery
Partner services
Non-ICT service
Basic ICT services
Financial
Sustainability
Impact at community level
5
We are in partnership with the government of Rwanda to
replicate Nyamata model in 1,000 Rwandan villages
Handbook for
1.000 Telecentres in Rwanda
August 2010
Paul BARERA
Juriaan Deumer
•The 1,000 telecentre project is
part of government priorities for
NICI 2011-2015
•The idea is to support local
entrepreneurs to deploy and run
Telecentres. Telecentres act as
act as the first, the last and the
most reliable point of delivery of
key services to rural citizens.
•So far 150 centers are
operational and each centre
employs at least 3 peoples. Our
aim is to deploy additional 850
centers in coming 4 years.
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Our model contributes to community development
and increased market efficiency
1) Product, service & information delivery
channel for organizations
Community
Rwandan
organizations
RTN
Telecentres
2. Community
employment
3) Community
development
through ICT
access
4) Product delivery channel for community
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The network of telecentres results in improvements for
Rwanda at all levels
Local entrepreneur
•
Steady income outside
agriculture
•
Access to information
and knowledge using ICT
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RTN services increase
sustainability and impact
of Telecentres
•
Employment
opportunities
•
Easy access to products,
services and information
•
Efficient product delivery
•
Networking increases
chance of success
Private and civil society
organizations
•
•
Rwandan community
Efficient channel to
deliver products, services
and information to
community
Efficient channel to
procure products from
community
Government Institutions
Rwanda as a country
•
Efficient channel to
deliver e-government
services to community
•
Essential step towards
goal of knowledge-based
economy
•
Government’s telecentres
more efficiently run and
more successful
•
Develop rural Rwanda
and reduce urban
migration
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What I have learned…
Natural rural entrepreneurs have huge psychological
barriers(lower self -esteem, fear of failure, depression etc…)
Rural entrepreneurs can reach out to villagers who are otherwise
inaccessible
Local entrepreneurs can address critical development challenges
which cannot be addressed by the government or large
organisations
ICT should be viewed as tool and not an end in rural
development
Demand driven Services are the key to sustainability of
Telecentres
Every service should impact present concerns to become
compelling applications
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THANK YOU AND WELCOME TO A COUNTRY OF
THOUSAND HILLS
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